‘Avengers: Infinity War’ May Be The Most Anime Movie Ever

Although the Marvel Cinematic Universe pulls stories from the most fantastical stories in comic books, the more the films increase in scale the more they begin to draw parallels to other mediums as well.

Anime fans noticed Avengers: Infinity War plays out much like a special episode within a long anime series. The Marvel Cinematic Universe may be the first of its kind with cinema, but its production and connective narrative threads have been seen in anime since the medium’s inception.

Unlike any superhero before film before it, Avengers: Infinity War is looking less like a film inspired by comic books and more like an anime series.

Read on to find out several reasons why Avengers: Infinity War just may be the most anime movie ever.

Warning! Massive spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War below! Read at your own risk!

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Focused On A Villain

Like any good anime series, the villain gets a lot more attention than the heroes this time around. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken its time to build up every character before this team-up, and the same had to be done with Thanos. It’s sort of like any anime arc, where fans learn more about the villain’s past and how they came to be before the final confrontation. 

Now that fans know that Avengers: Infinity War is the first step toward the climax of this ten year long arc, the villain had to be fleshed out more in order to give the final conflict more meaning. It’s like in One Piece‘s Dressrosa arc where fans learned more about Donflamingo before Luffy took him down. 

There Are Henchmen To Add More Fights

Another particular quality that anime uses to extend the action is by adding more speedbumps before the heroes fight the final villain. In anime, these “Mini-Boss” styled henchman allow a series creator to get multiple characters into the final climax and give each of them a cool moment before the arc comes to an end. 

Thanos’ Black Order serves to give characters like Black Widow, Okoye, and Scarlet Witch cool moments without having them clash with the main villain of the story. It’s best seen during the Android arc of Dragon Ball Z in which Cell creates a lot of Cell Jr. clones which Tien and the other Z Warriors fought until Gohan powered up. 

It Has A Huge Cast

Anime series are known for having large casts of characters. One of the most popular series, One Piece, is especially known for its giant battles balancing tons of characters in the same space. Much like One Piece, Avengers: Infinity War breaks up its narrative into three separate stories in order to find a balance between its numerous characters. 

Each of three narratives provides a key role, or at least a shining moment for each character (which is also accomplished with the previously mentioned henchmen) that fans will surely remember. On the other hand does come with the negative side of this as well. Some anime are even plagued by the fact that some characters don’t get as much time or shine as others. It’s a criticism shared with Infinity War as well, unfortunately. 

Nanomachines Make Iron Man And Black Panther Magical Girls

First introduced in Black Panther, the heroes in Avengers can now morph suits over themselves in a cool way. Tony Stark’s use of nanomachines now allows him to form a suit at will much like T’Challa. Transformations are a huge deal in action anime and ranges anywhere from the Super Saiyans of Dragon Ball Z to the magical girls of Sailor Moon. 

In anime, suits magically appear around heroes in various ways as well (not to mention shows like Power Rangers) with the new armor transformations bringing magical girls to mind. But there’s a better 1:1 comparison with the warriors of Saint Seiya, who don armor cloths of various gods and celestial beings to fight evil like Strak and T’Challa do. 

Thanos Throws The Moon

Along with sharing focus, story, and transformation cues from anime, Avengers: Infinity War has some of the most imaginative fights in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. The fight on Titan in particular shares many vibes with the operatic space battles that can be found in anime. 

Not only is it a battle that balances multiple characters against one united foe, the visuals in this battle are flourished with fantastical elements like Thanos building a Space Infinity Stone blast before firing (much like an anime character would charge ki) and Thanos grabbing the moon and throwing it down. The famous angle of the moon behind Thanos as he grabs it is reminiscent of the giant ki blasts found in Dragon Ball Z and other shonen action series. 

But the biggest thing? Everyone can breathe in space just fine. 

Dr. Strange vs. Anyone Is An Anime Battle

While fans have had a taste of Dr. Strange‘s fantastical comic book powers in his solo film and Thor: Ragnarok, Strange reaches a new level of wonder here as his powers come out in full against characters like the telekinectic Ebony Maw, whose aerial battles crashing them through buildings proved that anime-esque visuals could be done in live-action. 

Bringing up Thanos throwing the moon on Titan again, his entire exchange with Strange was anime great as well. Spider-Man and Star Lord had help with his tricky portals and magic, but Strange stands out against by pulling a Shadow Clone Jutsu from Naruto before trying to seal him away much like the shinobi did against that series’ Tailed Beasts. 

Thanos Powers Up

Like transformations, many successful action anime series provide a power scale for its heroes to grow and aspire to. Avengers: Infinity War does this as well as Thanos as a visual representation of how much stronger he becomes every time he claims another Infinity Stone. 

Each time the film shows Thanos putting a new stone into the Infinity Gauntlet, fans saw as power rushed through his veins. This was most obvious when Thanos gathered every stones as rainbow lights ran through his veins before he adjusted to his new power level. Going even deeper, gathering the six magical stones and getting stronger each time is a motif shared with anime series like Inuyasha‘s Shikon Jewel shards, or even anime-inspired action cartoons like Jackie Chan Adventures. 

It Ends On A Downer To Get You To Watch The Next “Episode”

One of the major criticisms of the film is that the ending’s cliffhanger makes Infinity War feel incomplete, but that’s only because fans are not used to anime style storytelling. 

As many anime series are animated adaptations of previously written material, anime are released in more of a seasonal fashion (premiering in the Spring, taking a break, and coming back in the Winter months) in order to keep from catching up with the original source. This leads to the film’s conclusion, that carries a nihilistic tone that some anime can end with. 

By completely destroying the world, the “season” ends on a note where fans want to see the heroes claw their way back. Nothing makes you wake up at 6AM the next Saturday morning like a heartbreaking cliffhanger. You just want to watch the villain get what’s coming to them. 

Like a cinematic representation of “Will Goku survive? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z!” 

Did Avengers: Infinity War remind you of anime as well? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me @Valdezology!