The 15 Best Anime Training Arcs Of All Time
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When Gon and Killua enter Greed Island, they aren't exactly well-prepared for the challenges that lay ahead. Frustrated by their incompetence, Biscuit Kreuger, also known by her cutesy nickname Bisky, offers to help them. They're reluctant at first since they already have a teacher and she doesn't exactly look intimidating - but Biscuit quickly proves her worth as a teacher. She puts them through a brutal training regimen that involves physical strength, Nen training, and more - even forcing them to sleep while trying to magically prevent a rock from crushing them. With Biscuit's harsh techniques and tough love, the two are able to make meaningful progress toward clearing the game.
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As a sprawling shonen epic that starts with totally inexperienced characters who become masters of their craft, Naruto is naturally rife with training arcs. While all of them have something to recommend them, one stands out in particular. During the Sage Training arc, Naruto learns how to use Sage Mode from his mentor from the toad sages at Mount Myōboku. The technique itself, which allows the user to pull in energy from the natural world and use it as an offensive weapon, is awesome enough. But what really stands out about this arc isn't the awesome techniques that Naruto picks up - it's the character development that the arc allows for. Before learning Sage Mode, Naruto was never able to sit still or learn anything that took intense, prolonged concentration. With the help of his mentor, he manages to make that leap.
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The Dark Tournament Saga is focused mostly on the titular competition, but it also involves some major training moments. That's because Yusuke and the rest of his team didn't enter the tournament after carefully conditioning themselves to meet its challenges - they're basically roped into it against their will. In order to prepare, Yusuke trains under his mentor Genkai. Meanwhile, Hiei and Kurama, who are both powerful demons, train Kuwabara so that he'll be able to stand up against demons of similar caliber. This arc not only shows what challenges Team Urameshi will have to overcome during the tournament, it also depicts the growing bonds between its members.
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- ufotable
In order to prepare for the Demon Slayer Corps' Final Selection test, Tanjiro spends two years in the mountains with his new teacher, Urokodaki. Urokodaki teaches him the Water Style swordsmanship for a year before leaving him on his own to train. He claims that there is nothing more to teach him, and that his final task is to slice a big boulder. If Tanjiro succeeds, he will be ready for the Final Selection.
With the help of Urokodaki's former students, Sabito and Makomo, Tanjiro improves his techniques and manages to cut down the boulder. It's only after his training that he realizes Sabito and Makomo are actually dead, and it was their spirits who appeared before him. Although it's a short arc, it manages to pack an emotional punch with Tanjiro avenging Sabito and Makomo's deaths during the Final Selection.
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Assassination Classroom is one of those shows that's almost exclusively composed of a gigantic training arc. After a tentacle monster claims he destroyed the Moon and will soon destroy the Earth, humankind wants desperately to stop him. Because he's composed of anti-matter and can move at Mach 10, this is much easier said than done. The tentacle monster has a condition - he'll give the military a chance to defeat him if he's also allowed to train a particular middle school class in the fine art of assassination.
Over the course of the next few months, this tentacle monster, who gains the name Koro-sensei, teaches his students all the physical fitness and strategy they need to take him down - while also giving them a genuinely good middle school education. Sure, some of them become fighting machines, but more importantly, they gain confidence in themselves and form lasting bonds with one another - and with Koro-sensei. Will their training be enough to achieve their goal?
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The Straw Hats Train For Two Years In 'One Piece'
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- Toei
One Piece is one of the few shonen anime that doesn't focus on training arcs. Yet it's worth mentioning the one they do have. After the dramatic aftermath of the Marineford Arc, the Straw Hats each go their separate ways to train and improve themsleves for two years. Luffy works on mastering his Haki with Rayleigh while the others embark on their own personal journeys to become stronger. Althought it was sad to see the crew separate temporarily, the ending scene where Luffy leaves his signature straw hat on the rock while the song "We Are!" plays is a touching moment that'll get you in the feels.
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My Hero Academia is a series that focuses on a group of kids training to be superheroes, so naturally, there are quite a few training arcs that make up the series. While all of them have something to recommend them, one of the most interesting training arcs is the one where the members of class 1-A and 1-B team with up professional heroes for internships. Most of the arc is focused on Izuku Midoriya's experience working under Gran Torino, All Might's former mentor. Gran Torino appears to be a senile old man with nothing to teach, but he ends up being instrumental in Izuku's quest to find a way to control his powers more effectively. He's able to test out his new abilities when Nomu attacks the city.
The arc also gives viewers insight into the other heroes internships. Sometimes these are funny - like when Best Jeanist gives Katsuki a makeover - but others are upsetting, like when Tenya uses the intership as an excuse to track down Stain and avenge his brother.
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In order to prepare themselves to take on Cell, Goku and Gohan enter the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. There, they lift weights, fight, and otherwise condition their bodies under gravity that's ten times as strong as what they're used to on Earth. Not only is the work intense, it's also prolonged. A year inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber is the same as a day outside of it, which means that one can achieve a year's worth of training in a single day - but it also means that they have to train for a year. During that time, Gohan achieves his Super Saiyan form for the first time, while Goku perfects his control over his own.
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- Production I.G
When Nekoma invites Karasuno to their training camp, the members of Karasuno use this golden opportunity to improve their skills and work on new moves for the Spring Nationals. Most sports anime run the risk of having repetitive, boring training arcs. But not Haikyuu!! Karasuno's training camp arc is filled with hilarious and entertaining moments that show off the series' diverse array of characters. This is the arc that introduces many fan-favorite characters like Bokuto and Akaashi, while further developing its main cast. It also foreshadows what's to come later in the series as they engage in practice matches against Nekoma and Fukurōdani.
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- CloverWorks
The first season of The Promised Neverland can be looked at as a training arc, if a nontraditional one. In order to escape from Grace Field House - an orphanage that's secretly feeding its residents to a race of powerful demons - the children must prepare themselves physically and mentally. As Emma, Norman, and Ray try to determine the best strategy for escape, they're conditioning their bodies and leading the younger children in drills that lend them the speed and stamina needed to make a run for it. Because the consequences for failure are so dire, it's hard not to get invested in their training exercises, even if most of them just involve elaborate games of tag.
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Most anime are divided into training arcs and competition or battle arcs. In Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, the training is the whole point. To combat a variety of challenges from bullies and gang members - and to protect a cute girl named Miu - Kenichi must go from wimpy nerd to master of his own style of martial arts. To create this style, he'll have to endure a torturous regimen of training that leaves him utterly exhausted, but capable of defeating even the most dangerous opponents.
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- Run With The Wind
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Run With The Wind is essentially one gigantic training arc in preparation for competition in the Hakone Ekiden, a prestigious relay race that actually exists in the real world. What begins as a ragtag group of college students with little to no athletic training and even less enthusiasm becomes a real team with real skills and real ambition. While they do spend basically the entire series training, there is a brief arc that involves going to a training camp in a cabin in the woods. It's during this arc that Kakeru's reasons for being reluctant to run come to light, and that revelation serves as a bonding moment for the whole team.
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Though it does occasionally get serious, Gintama is best known for its parodies of shonen tropes - so of course, it has a training arc parody, too! The Otsu arc, which some people consider to be a send up of Hunter X Hunter's Greed Island arc, focuses on two rival idol fan clubs training for a competition. Whoever wins the competition gets to be Otsu's official fan club. Shipachi is completely obsessed with Otsu, and is dedicated to his club duties, so he wants that title - but Hijikata's alternate identity, Tosshi, wants it just as badly. Who will win the coveted title? You'll have to watch this ridiculous arc to find out.
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Most sports anime training arcs don't have particularly high stakes. While it's important to the team that they win, the consequences for not doing so are just, well, that. Losing a competition stings, but it's not life-threatening.
How, then, can a sports anime up the ante and give their training arc the same kind of tension that's present in action-adventure anime? By putting one of the characters' lives at risk, of course! Free! Iwatobi Swim Club begins the protagonists' training camp in a typical way: there are jokes about Gou's inedible protein concoctions and muscle fetish, Nagisa hugs people, Haru claims that he only swims free - the usual. There's some brewing tension, however, with Rei. Rei is beginning to feel how far behind his swimming skills are, and wants to catch up to his teammates by doing extra training.
Extra training, unfortunately, means swimming at night. Rei isn't prepared to deal with the ocean's stronger tide, and quickly loses control and nearly drowns. When Makoto tries to save him, he nearly drowns too. While everything turns out okay, the drama of the drowning scene - as well as the heartwarming bonding scene that follows - sets this training arc apart from those that appear in other sports anime.
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Yowamushi Pedal is a sports anime where the characters share the goal of competing in and winning the Inter-High, a cycling competition that takes place during the summer. While each season contains multiple training arcs, Season 4 had a mini-arc that focused on a minor character, and it's arguably one of the best that the series has to offer.
Despite possessing only average skills, Terufumi Sugimoto has spent the whole series bragging about being an 'expert' in cycling. At first, this is all he does - but as he spends more time with the team, he begins to realize what his own shortcomings are. He decides that he wants to earn a spot on the Inter-High team and that he's going to stop pretending to be an expert and really try to learn. This isn't easy - it means humbling himself and asking for help from someone more skilled than he is - and he isn't successful this time around. But while Sugimoto fails at his goal, he changes as a person, and it's so satisfying to watch.
