The Tournament of Tournaments

[@FourStarBento]

Unfortunately, we had mic issues while working on this episode. We've gotten a replacement mic and hopefully this shouldn't be an problem in the future. Sorry for the wonky audio.

[@kenjincapers]

It happens man. Not the first time you guys did good stuff with a goofy mic or 2 involved.

[@Feasco]

"Live from the back of a cave, it's the *TOURNAMENT OF TOURNAMENTS!"*

[@johncrowther8150]

I was watching the 1st one when it got taken down, I thought the audio was funky but didn’t really mind, having to wait a day to finish watching it was more of an issue but get why you reuplouded it

[@Deathnote2539]

Man what I would give to watch dropping the weights again for the first time

[@kokkinosman9]

not me thinking the audio being split between ears was intentional XD like Nail and Kami from DBZA

[@2011multisam]

"This is a fair competition to see which tournament is better, but also we included the Dark Tournament so you all know what to expect"

[@blunk778]

Yeah felt scuffed

[@Velindian]

Every "tier list" Lani looks significantly more cut. Man is hitting that gym harder than Yujiro hits his son.

[@trailersforfun2669]

So I’m not the only one who noticed

[@MidNightSniak]

Oh yeah no I noticed immediately

[@MidNightSniak]

Oh yeah no I noticed immediately

[@Lanipator]

For everyone talking about Kengen Ashura. It isnt on the list because the latest season hadnt even been released on NF by the time we recorded this.

[@markthetopfabricator6047]

That's ok, because if your talking anime only then i guss you can't put on because the tournament isn't over yet, but it will when part 2 of the season comes out in 2024. I will say this has a SUPER hard core fan of Yu Yu Hakusho the only tournament that i have watch/read that can give the Dark Tournament a run for it's money is the Kengan Annihilation from Kengan Ashura (because i've gone and read the manga to) and i can't wait for the rest of it to be adapted.

[@drite7758]

I would say the manga is better anyway kek

[@EmperorSeramir]

Hey, just wanted to point this out real quick, not trying to be rude. In the fight with Bakugou and Uraraka, it wasn't Bakugou who said that to the crowd, it was Aizawa. Just thought I'd throw in that little correction there.

[@MrSGZone]

I figured, but if I were to give the dark tournament arc a challenger, it would be Kengan Ashura.

[@thehulk86]

I love Kengan Asura (don't bother with Omega) but it wouldn't have changed the result, not even close.

[@tvftw1]

57:16 "Some of you are doubling up, and some of you are Dublin up" Standing ovation for Scott please

[@archerscars7380]

I like that Stephan is just part of the people ranking them now. He had to step in so many times in past rankings that they said screw it and made him one of them.

[@ThePrestonMN]

Yeah, I don't. He's constantly talking over everyone else.

[@ThePokemonSplicer]

@@ThePrestonMN They are all constantly talking over each other.

[@mennykickens486]

Also impossible to tie if you have three people.

[@JJ_R]

“Ever get that feeling of déjà vu?”

[@coreylemon]

Now to try and suss out why it was reuploaded lol

[@BlizzWaveEdits]

Why was it reuploaded?

[@JJ_R]

@@coreylemon Audio error. The sound got messed up along the way.

[@zombieslayer2016]

glad im not the only one, thought i was losing it for a second

[@caedis_]

@@JJ_R yeah, it was really echoy

[@Magni4cent_Pose]

Fun fact! Hanzo vs Gon (1999) and Rock Lee vs Gaara both had a significant chunk of animation contributed by the same guy (Norio Matsumoto)!

[@santiagosalas7088]

And both look great too!

[@adonai3676]

HxH 1999 is SO SO SO SO fucking good artistically. I would kill to see Greed Island redone (the OVA sucks) and the CA arc done in that style

[@Magni4cent_Pose]

@@adonai3676 Same here. The grittier style would fit the tone of the arc so much better than the polished 2011 look.

[@TheRelicsPoint]

It truly is the culmination of Yusuke's growth emotionally. When he essentially says "I wanted to be like you, I wanted what you had, but I saw what you threw away to get it". Dark tournament is one of the best arcs in anime, not just best tournament.

[@razkable]

Chunnin exams is an all time story saga too if you include the invasion plot garra vs. naruto and hiruzen oochimaru stuff after the exams get put to a stop...it introduced most of the cast even characters like jiraya kisame hashirama tobirama and itachi appear in this saga first giving it major points

[@ringkunmori]

Adding the Dark Tournament to this is like inviting Mike Tyson as a contestant at a high school foam battering game.

[@BaalFridge]

Exactly

[@FatPieceOfGarbage]

The Dark Tournament still being this highly regarded decades later is so damn impressive man😩

[@joshjames582]

@@FatPieceOfGarbage It's the G.O.A.T. of shonen tourneys.

[@ViltrumiteIsRite99]

I just watched it in full, and it’s pretty damn good. Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama all pop off. Such a fantastic group.

[@FatPieceOfGarbage]

@@ViltrumiteIsRite99 between them and the Strawhats as my favorite protagonists groups.

[@fireandthunder9862]

Honorable mention to Shaman King, aka, "what if Freeza entered a Dragonball era World Martial Arts Tournament and everyone just had to deal with it?"

[@theemeraldboars484]

Probably my favorite tournament in anime.

[@Jade_Bunbun]

Pretty good in the anime, and from what I hear about the manga, fuck that manga ending

[@Aarik1]

@@Jade_Bunbun On one hand, he had to rush because he got canceled, on the other, I actually love that the solution to the Actually Invincible Final Boss was "Fuck, I dunno... Tell his mom on him?" > "... Holy shit that worked!?!"

[@Jade_Bunbun]

@@Aarik1 didnt the ending come out after the series got canceled tho? i thought that was why the anime had to make its own ending. also doesnt the manga end with Hao winning the tournament, saying hell destroy the worlld in one year unless the characters can prove humanity an change their ways, timeskip to show the depressed characters after failing and saying humanity cant change and then hao just goes "eh, i dont care, the humans can live"? ive seen a bunch of the panels and people talking about the ending its just discouraged me from reading the manga, but if it ends on something funny like what you said i might just read the manga

[@Aarik1]

@@Jade_Bunbun the manga has a super rushed bit, Hao gets the Great Spirit- and then Thanos Snaps every single human alive to death on the spot. The main characters gather the other five great elemental spirits in the afterlife and try to take down Shaman King Hao to, I guess, revive everyone so the world doesn't end- and. Uhh. He's god. The best they managed is surviving while he's screwing with them. Hana, who learned Hao's backstory, since she's dead now, goes looking through the afterlife to find Hao's mother from his first life, and when Hana brings Hao's mom to him, she makes him stop. He drops some vague nonsense and things move on, he might have said something like that, might not have, don't remember, but the original manga ending was that, with a rushed Epilogue on what the five warriors are doing as adults and stuff. There was an add on years later about Yoh's son and stuff but I haven't read that yet. The anime just did the FMA thing because they overtook the manga, iirc, they diverged before it was cancelled.

[@Frankerzoid]

One thing overlooked for the Yu-Gi-Oh Battle City arc I think that makes it an amazing arc in general is the character focus and growth of Jounochi (Joey) in the Japanese version. This is his arc, and about his engagement with the tournament. He rejects being given his Red-eyes by Yugi feeling he has to earn it back, and by doing so defeats characters Yugi faced in Duelist kingdom. Then you have his investment to face off Marik because of the whole mind control and threatening Anzu's (Tea) life and then later on with Mai with her mind being destroyed because of Marik. His duel with the big bad was because HE wanted to face him, beat him, and was invested in what's going on which is what made his lost so heart breaking considering he was about to win. Then you have Kaiba vs Yugi which was just by far the best duels in all of Yu-Gi-Oh as they both just played mind games with each other predicting what the other would do next having what I refer to as a three-phase duel. First was the battle to get their god cards out, because whoever did early enough wins. They both got each other's out around the same time not getting enough advantage to call a winner. Second phase was God vs God, which ever one left standing would win the duel at that point but both being destroyed at the same time. Then you have the third phase of ace vs ace. Both Yugi and Kaiba have little left to really win and put all their stocks in a hail marry. Kaiba forcing himself and Yugi to be limited to just 3 cards left, and with those 3 cards would decide who wins. Adding onto a very fun theme dynamic between the two as Yami-Yugi is fighting to learn about his past life whereas Kaiba is fighting to forget his past and move to a new future.

[@thegrimminal9461]

Battle City is just so fucking peak and I’m so sad people overlook it just cuz it’s Yugioh

[@collector8502]

I will say i have much fonder memories of battle city than duelist kingdom because i had the yugioh the sacred cards video game, and played a lot of that when i was young.

[@justinhurowitz70]

Battle City also just generally has better duels than Duelist Kingdom, the rules of the card game were much better-defined at that point and Takahashi was better at coming up with interesting scenarios for the characters to deal with.

[@TheLordofMetroids]

I would also bring up Yugi vs "Strings," as a great battle. This whole time we've been told how good the Gods are and how unbeatable they are. We have seen their power firsthand with Kaiba. Here we have Yugi, facing an opponent with not only a god, but a deck built specifically to counter Yugi. Yugi is put in a horrible position, yet he comes out from it, it's a great duel.

[@noahmiller4780]

Yeah, I love baki, but battle City should've won

[@MrBrawler16]

I've had a special fondness for the MHA sports festival because honestly, Deku winning the race without using a single Quirk is my favorite moment in the whole show it is hype af.

[@samt3412]

I honestly think people constantly downplay MHA super hard. The Sports Festival is a great tournament arc, but nobody ever hypes it up because people treat MHA like it's Boruto-quality

[@y0sh_]

@@samt3412Imo MHA season 1- the all might vs all for one fight is good with the best arc of them all being the sports festival. After that it dips a lot in quality. I've heard that season 6 is good but I haven't watched it and don't really want to go through season 4 and 5 just to get to it

[@samt3412]

@y0sh_ I honestly enjoy all but one of the "boring" arcs of MHA because they give more shine to the supporting cast. The one I don't really enjoy is the one at the start of S5, but that one's a solid 5/10. All the other arcs are very solid imo, especially the ones at the start of S4 and the end of S5.

[@calebcamp2458]

@@y0sh_ season four is honestly my favorite season. Overhaul has a really awesome quirk, and there are a lot of fun characters introduced and expanded upon. Season five is aggressively mid though, I agree. And yes, season 6 is quite good.

[@y0sh_]

@@calebcamp2458I tried getting into season 4 and don't remember exactly where I ended but I just remember feeling that Deku should never have gotten OFA from All Might and that Overhaul and a lot of of the pro heroes introduced were meh in terms of character writing so I dropped it. It just felt to me that Overhaul was evil simply for the sake of being evil (I don't really remember the story so I could be missing a lot).

[@Tsuchiryu]

Friendly reminder that Lani will consider doing a YYH Abridged on the Dark Tournament if his (currently ongoing) YYHA commentary videos on his channel reach 20k views and 2k likes. 🙂

[@jeffsullivan4182]

There.

[@ft1992]

Loved YYH abridged as a teen. But I don't see that happening.

[@jimmydaddo9357]

I want him to do flame of recca

[@06yarbrougha]

The moment I saw the line-up there was NO question Dark Tournement was gonna win... heck, even just seeing the concept mentioned, Dark Tournament is uncontested

[@razkable]

It's the best tourney but naruto tourney ends and becomes a big battle royale and if we include that part of it they are even imo as arcs...aka the garra naruto fight and orochimaru hiruzen stuff and the entire village fighting...

[@ConductorElcrest]

I think Kaiser needs to rewatch battle city, like there are a TON of moments that goes way harder than Duelist Kingdom

[@donovanbradford8231]

Absolutely because the Duelist Kingdom rules were the biggest bunch of bs, to tye fact most of them wouldn't pop up in any games or arcs after that tournament.

[@NinjaPieceLOL]

@@donovanbradford8231 It was basically whoever could BS the most. "I use multiply to make an infinite amount of Kuriboh. Your monster is forced to suck them up. And the Kuriboh blow up and blind your monster leaving it open to attack!"

[@razkable]

Battle city had marik...unless they don't include the blimp stuff

[@seriouslydon_t]

"I don't care about Ishizu and Odion" As someone who thinks the whole Ishtar family and their dynamics are possibly the best part of Yu Gi Oh, this hurt me a lot

[@DG_Raizen]

The problem is in an anime/manga where most of the character development is done through dueling, Ishizu and Odion dueled once each... and lost. They faded into obscurity afterwards save for a scene here and there.

[@stinkyroadhog1347]

@@DG_Raizen Ishizu's duel was awesome though hw she strung Kaiba through his inescapable fate to lose but it was only because of the intervention of the Millenium Rod that Kaiba was able to break free from destiny, summon Blue Eyes and win.

[@Steamboat2016]

As a massive fan of the chuunin exam, i loved hearing yall gush and praise it. Lee vs Gaara is still my favorite fight in anime

[@Blucham]

I begrudgingly accept that Dark Tournament is better, but it’s definitely closer than they made it out to be.

[@thundergozon6439]

That fight is undeniably amazing, I just have a tiny grudge against it because it takes all the attention from Hinata vs Neji, which ends up being the most underrated fight in anime as a whole probably

[@Steamboat2016]

@@Blucham I went into it knowing that they're massive Yu Yu and HxH fans. I'm a massive Naruto fan (at least before Shippuden) so I'll accept a second place finish here

[@Steamboat2016]

@@thundergozon6439 that fight is amazing from the character moments to the story or tells to the choreography. Lee vs Gaara I think just has higher highs and is more bombastic. Great character moments and a great story with amazing choreography

[@t3hfrankie1]

What makes Dark Tournament so good to watch is that because of the 5 man 3 win format, you could have a character lose and still win next round if they advance. Made every fight exciting and unpredictable

[@razkable]

Except with hiei

[@JoeMH1995]

I'll say this about one tournament. While it doesn't all work in practice, Fairy Tail's Grand Magic Games had a lot of really fun rules and setups for competitions that lent themselves to creativity. Erza ruining the 100 monster challenge by taking on all 100 right at the start was one of the best flexes in any manga. Even in the last Battle Royale round, you got points for KOing any enemyt or 5 points for taking out the strongest person on a team. It was much better than the barely-existent rules of Tournament of Power which just rewarded doing nothing and waiting for everyone to get tired. Unfortunately I've heard the animation took a hit, so there's less sakuga for action or 'plot'. But I read the manga and it was great.

[@megabladechronicles962]

Yeah it's a shame they didn't include it because that's one of Fairy Tail's best arcs. That said, its not beating the Dark Tournament

[@kogadragneel5601]

As someone that start the series at that time in the anime i can confirm, end of season 1 and start of season 2 are day and night in animation quality, i don't know what happen but shees only few episodes were okay, and that was in the last 1/3 of the tournament.

[@kogadragneel5601]

​@@megabladechronicles962brother, nothing can beat the dark tournament, it's literally hydrogen bomb vs baby meme, it's not even fair

[@cruderschmidt]

The actual tournament is great, it’s just sad that the backdrop story almost seems filler-like.

[@JohnCharb87]

The Dark Tournament was amazing. Damian Clark the voice of Cell was also the Younger Toguro brother. Also Linda Young the voice of Frieza as Genkai.

[@Saxdude26]

Clark and Young have such fascinating repertoires under their belts.

[@Animewatcher23]

Oozaru Gohan vs. giant Piccolo during the Saiyan Arc would have been awesome.

[@tenkenroo]

Or oozaru nappa would have been neat

[@leemaster777]

The problem with that is that Piccolo going giant doesn't make him stronger, it just makes him bigger. It's why Piccolo never brings it out anymore, it just makes him a bigger target. Going Oozaru, however, DOES make you stronger. So, it's actually more beneficial to fight a great ape while you're small, as then you're a smaller target.

[@valentds]

that's not a tournament

[@sandrosliske]

​@@tenkenroowould he still be bald?

[@durlan222]

Didn't the fact that he doesn't get stronger only come up in DBS super hero? Anyway, the idea implies that the show was written differently so he would be stronger.@@leemaster777

[@CineThumper-qm6vs]

The Hiei black dragon reveal is such a cool moment that doesn't get talked about more.

[@The810kid]

There's the Dark Tournament and then there's everything else. The premise and personal stakes and build up to team Urameshi vs Team Toguro is unmatched. The best side characters in the series also introduced.

[@TheDman.G]

Kengan Asura was deff a good Tournament, you were hit with several upsets during it making it unpredictable which was fun

[@somethingwithultra7231]

The way characters actually seemed damaged for the rest of the tournament really helped set some stakes. Especially with how the main character's technique was utilized because of that.

[@EditDeath]

The Kengan tournament's great, but I think the fact that the anime hasn't finished it yet is probably a big part of why it's not on this list. I personally love the voice acting choices, especially since it makes Cosmo seem like what would happen if Chat Noir stopped taking his dad's bulls#!t and manned up. It's the right blend of silly and awesome, which I think is a positive reflection of the series in general

[@fkeyae4217]

I wish it had a better anime cause that’s one of the best tournaments evrr

[@DMBLaan]

Is that the manga that shares a universe with How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? If so that's on my read list

[@gabagoooby]

​@@DMBLaanyeah it shares a universe with that series as well as fist of the seeker. You should read Ashura and then definitely don't read the sequel series kengan omega

[@patrickwilson3428]

When Taka’s not on screen, everyone should be asking “where’s Taka?”

[@saltyk9869]

Honestly, the Dark Tournament basically sets the standard for tournaments arcs. The tournament is relevant, our heroes feel like they are struggling (even Hiei), the fights are incredible, the opponents are always fun, and the story is compelling. There were only a few that could give it a run, and one of them was the Chunin Exam. Though, I would argue that plenty of the others had their merits and deserved to be in the conversation.

[@silorion9967]

Lani's gremlin crab walk is the ultimate "someone insulted my favorite anime" reaction.

[@gengar464]

I always love when kaiba played the suicide card against yugi

[@Combo55gamer]

True to any real tournament in anime we all knew who the winner was before it even started.

[@UndefeatableKing]

Didn't Goku lose most of the tournaments in Dragonball? Deku didn't win in the sports festival.

[@kai_824]

Tbh yall REALLY underrated Battle city. Like its THE arx that got most people into Yugioh. The Egyptian gods are some of the most iconic beings in anime at least from what's I've seen. Like on its iconicness alone.

[@thethunderstriker9416]

As someone who is a little younger (I’m 24), and is a fan of Fairy Tail, My Hero, Dragon Ball, Naruto, and a few others mentioned… the first time I watched Yu Yu Hakusho, I could not stop watching when I got to the Dark Tournament. It’s definitely the best arc in the show, one of my favorite arcs in anime, and deserves to win. And thank you Lani for hyping it up so many years ago, that’s how I first heard about the show and finally watched it, and it’s one of my favorite anime now!

[@Aaron-Fife]

The audio problems are still there in the beginning, but it's not gonna stop me from watching this.

[@ArchangelAsias]

for me the chunin exams hold such a special place in my heart. I started watching Naruto after being so immersed in Dragonball Z and when they started throwing side characters at us my first thought was "Why should I care about these people? None of them are the main character so like... why bother?" and then you get those backstories, and all these moments and all this stuff and i'm like "Oh... THATS why i should care!"

[@razkable]

Not to mention orochimaru brought the drama to another level and garra was a good foe and had a good change of heart arc and if we include the naruto garra fight and orochimaru hirzuen fight that story arc is probably ahead of dark tournament...but it seems they stopped at garra vs. sasuke to make it fair and just tourney based...

[@Derekrife1]

Okay, I fucking LOVE Stephan's Venture Bros. shirt, and I'm honestly kind of dissapointed that there was never a Talk Cast Pod Show about Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart.

[@asmcint]

The reason G Gundam has a lot of dub defenders is because FOR THE TIME the dub was pretty phenomenal. And even though it's cheesy by the standard now, you can still tell that there was a lot of earnest effort behind it, especially in the later parts of the show.

[@GreekGodAngus]

Just starting the video but I want to say Lani looks like he's in amazing shape. I was following his self improvement vids and I'm stoked that he has made so much progress.

[@vallraffs]

Was kinda hoping for some kind of *announcement* to come in this video, talking about the Dark Tournament... looking at you, Lani.

[@labomba1228]

Tournament so good, they had to post it twice, and ill gladly watch it all again!

[@Ashberryvillage10]

Didn't even need to watch to know that the Dark Tournament was gonna win. Togashi was way ahead of his time in that regard

[@kokroughtoss1257]

I'm honestly surprised the Demon World Tournament from YYH's finale isn't on here. People give that Arc so much shit, but I think it's underrated as hell. It's a great send-off for Hiei, Kurama, and Yusuke. Even Yomi gets some fantastic development here. Everyone’s grudges fade away to enjoy the competition.

[@steveita2162]

Probably cause they skip over like half the tournament

[@PopeDuwang]

The Whole Arc as a whole is underrated. The reason of course is because we go from Two 10/10 arguably 11/10 Arcs to what is a 7.5 to an 8/10 Arc. Anything would feel like crap in comparison. Compare this arc to other Final Arcs in other Series and this one would actually be higher then most imo.

[@TheShockVox]

It's notoriously lack luster as a tournament. The character work is fine, it's just rushed (which makes sense when you consider the context of the author being super burnt out)

[@PopeDuwang]

@@TheShockVox As a Tournament it’s lackluster but it did at least give good conclusions to main characters. Hiei and Kurama in particular had great conclusions.

[@danielquinlan2457]

Yeah, the Demon World arc is very underrated imo. It may not be as tightly written as the Dark Tournament or even Chapter Black, but I love it as a culmination of those characters' arcs and a send-off to the series.

[@Dwheel_91]

Also as a die hard Dragon Ball fan, Yu Yu Hakusho's Dark Tournament kept me more tuned into Toonami those years than DBZ going through Freiza and Cell; so damn was i torn for both in this bracket battle. Natuto's Chunin Exam is easily my 3rd place bronze medal for this

[@SageVallant]

33:10 It's not just that Todoroki sort of gave up that pissed of Bakugo, it's because Deku got Todoroki to give 100%. Bakugo is pissed that Todoroki "didn't take him seriously". When we all know that had nothing to do with it and Todoroki still jprocessing some shit and wasn't there yet.

[@DemonDragon000]

Dark tournament just kicking butt in this tournament is why we need more people to watch Lani's commentary of YYHA so we CAN FINALLY HAVE THAT GLORY!

[@FoaL1991]

“My Jagan eye may not be natural… but it does give me exactly what I need!” That line and the use of the Darkness Flame after have stuck with me for 20 years.

[@shannonturnbull1398]

Just got to say Lani. You are looking awesome and all your hard work really shows. Good job man.

[@bearerofbadnews1375]

1:31 make sense Fate Stay nights holy grail war has three different routes. With three different conclusions so it would be hard to include that.

[@TheRexisFern]

After watching this (the first time) I started rewatching the dark tournament and as of right now, the first fight of the last match just finished. Holy shit, the emotional moments are S+ tier.

[@KudoTsurugi]

20:13 Slight correction, Shining Gundam was a thing in the sub for G-Gundam, but it got severely damaged halfway through the series, which led to Domon upgrading to the titular God Gundam.

[@joeshanklin2791]

After dark tournament Flame of Recca is my 2nd favorite tournament arc in anime. I enjoy that every main character who fights gets to have their moment.

[@syanofflame]

Manga to Manga, Flame of Recca honestly may be the better tournament. Unfortunately the anime didn’t live up to it

[@leossier]

I get the feel of getting hooked by strange anime on a niche hobby/sport. I think that the tournaments of both Onimaru Zumou and Hikaru no Go would have been good here too, and they fit that description perfectly. Making Sumo and Go strangely passionating

[@ultimatedespairgamer6722]

Dang this is the first time I’ve seen lani in a long time and wow he looks great congrats dude

[@imaloony8]

Pulling for the Dark Tournament, baby!

[@cmurphy0707]

I would like to throw in an honorable mention to Hajime No Ippo’s Eastern Japan Rookie Championship Tournament.

[@representativejoints1188]

In Naruto the exams kind of finished correctly because Shikamaru was the only one deserving of the chunin title whereas others could have probably been promoted to Anbu but I don't think a team leader was really on their bucket list.

[@thepyrostickfigure7637]

I'd say the annihilation tournament from kengan ashura deserve a mention as I believe it's one of the best fighting tournaments in manga. I'll freely admit though that the dark tournament is the best tournament in manga but I'm still sad it didn't get a mention.

[@mrdupo]

kengan ashura is the only thing i can think of that can compete with the dark tournament but it probably still loses, i love tournament bullshit and both of those are fucking excellent

[@drite7758]

The problem is that the Kengan Ashura anime hasn't finished yet and the Kengan Ashura manga isn't fully out commercially yet (I believe they are on chapter 100something on comikey) But yeah, I agree, kengan is quite up there

[@vexaria7939]

I love Fairy Tail’s Grand Magic Games Arc. With my favorite moment being Erza taking on 100 monsters in the tower episode

[@mattrare4459]

Not my favorite moment, but Fairy Tail is my all time favorite series

[@camdude7234]

Glad that this is back up and glad they took care of the audio problem

[@loganhunter2119]

This will keep me entertained as i drive today...you guys are the best!!!!

[@TheBlueArmageddon]

Tbh the Pokemon tournaments have some amazing moments and made Pokemon really interesting as a battle anime

[@livefastshowfeet]

Personally only watched journeys since I started getting into pokemon during gen 4/5 (anime wasn't great, especially in my native dub) but every championship match of ash is fucking incredible. You really can believe he wins because of his outlandish strategies and it highlights ash's skill as a trainer greatly.

[@ryaniversen8653]

Kinda sad that Black Clover's Royal Knight Exam tournament isnt mentioned. That had many stand out character moments.

[@Crocogator]

I'm unfamiliar with most of these, but I just love listening to you guys bounce off each other.

[@annenxf]

There was a clear winner from the start and it deserves the win. Fun to make it a tournament and not just a tier list. Either way loving these kind of videos.

[@AlexAndersonJD]

Where The Tournament of Tournaments of accidently posted videos. That would be a must watch.

[@VivaLaDnDLogs]

My favorite part of the MHA Sports Festival was Midoriya winning the first round without his Quirk. That was such a *HUGE* catharsis after so much time spent struggling, hitting setbacks, fearing every chapter that he's going to be sent home and his dream will be over. That was the first big victory Midoriya had, and everyone saw it. He competed against all these amazing Quirks and came out on top by his own merits.

[@2centschange]

Oddly, my favorite part was todoroki vs sero, purely because Sero got instantly destroyed and the crowd cheered "You tried your best". It was just wholesome as hell.

[@tyrant-den884]

it makes me upset that Shounen Jump wouldn't just let Midoria NOT have powers though. I guess 1st For All is the revenge of that concept.

[@rapsody230]

@@tyrant-den884 what do you mean "shonen jump wouldn't just let midoria NOT have powers" The entire origin story of Midoriya is getting powers because he deserves them instead of winning the genetic lottery like Bakutrash. I am nt on par with the anime or manga so maybe its something later on...? if so no manga spoilers possibly.

[@tyrant-den884]

@@rapsody230 the original plan was for him to just use his smarts and intelligence. Same Naruto originally WAS a nine tailed fox. Same way there was originally a separate turn for a pirate who only caught and stole from other pirates, and that was what Luffy wanted to be. Same way Hunter was originally prince. This is all alpha stuff.

[@rapsody230]

@@tyrant-den884 ohhh, interesting. I think if Togashi was the one behind My Hero he could have done it. damn now i kinda want to see it too, a my hero that is actually strategic and cool.

[@FujiCahn]

I love how the last 10 minutes of this was just them drooling over the Dark Tournament.

[@darkaaron21]

I knew one of my favorite manga was never gonna make it, but still I think Eyeshield 21 with the Christmas bowl is a good tournament, Im not into American football but I still loved this story, I'd definitely recommend it.

[@WesleyKinkaid]

56:43 Throughout this entire video I was hoping for some mention of Jin the "Wind Leprechaun" and I was not disappointed.

[@DidgeridudeEX]

Dark Tournament wipes the floor with the competition. I wish DB Supers Tournament of Power was even half as well written

[@imaloony8]

I was so hyped for it in concept because Dragon Ball so rarely does group fights, and the idea of bringing in characters who haven't been relevant for a long time to fight also excited me. Unfortunately, a lot of those less relevant characters did roughly one thing and then got eliminated, and a lot of the tournament still ended up being one-on-one bouts. Toriyama also stupidly shot himself in the foot with the "The tournament will only last 45 minutes!" Like.. why the fuck? We all knew it was going to end with 20 (probably somewhat of an exaggeration, been a minute since I've seen it) episodes ending with "Just over a minute remains!" "One minute remains!" "Less than a minute remains!" "Seconds remain!" Like FFS, just have it go until there's a winner. There's no reason for there to be such a stringent time limit. However, I will say that the very, VERY end of the ToP, the last 3-ish minutes with Goku, Frieza, and 17 vs. Jiren is legitimately the best fight in Super, no contest (low as that bar may be).

[@joegreen3802]

Toriyama needs to stop putting an actual time limit in Dragon Ball. It never seems to work for him.

[@spiro3142]

@@imaloony8yeah i honestly agree.

[@JusticeJanitor]

The 23rd Budokai Tenkaichi was my introduction to Dragonball while randomly picking up the Manga volume 15 at the library when I was a kid. It holds a special place in my heart.

[@jwall1646]

The tournament of tournaments is a bunch of different tournaments compiled into a tournament

[@twister9771]

Love tournaments, love anime, love this style of content, love you guys!

[@aarovit4257]

Hey I remember this! But to reissue my comment Fairy tail’s Grand magic games is awesome with a few hiccups and Record of Ragnarock manga is amazing Edit: Also read Kengan Ashura best tournament in manga (anime is good too but works as a supplement to the manga)

[@FFKonoko]

48:30 Legitimately thought nick started talking about dark tournament again, before I remembered jack.

[@jarondratman]

Calling Heaven’s Arena a tournament would be like calling Muscle Tower a tournament, or calling Dressrosa a tournament arc because of the colosseum match.

[@VaporYTVideo]

Dark Tournament is such a good arc. You get amazing fights, amazing character moments, the slow turn around where everyone starts out hating Yusuke's team and over time realizing they have some merit. It's awesome.

[@TheFrozenpeppers]

I would love to see either a tournament or tier list format stuff for like Halloween movies given the crew's love of spooky season

[@OtakuJuanma2]

Frankly I prefer Battle City over Duelist Kingdom because I really don't like the Dungeons and Dragons rules. "Shoot the levitation ring" is the first that comes the mind but almost every duel ends like that, with a made up non-rule that makes someone left completely nullified until they lose. The other one is more about the proper card strategy and outplaying the other by, for example decking them out by leaving them in a loop of drawing cards. They have the same feeling of free form (everyone has the one card that makes them win even if that card makes no sense in their decks) but you know the rules so it doesnt come out of nowhere.

[@droppedhero]

To be fair...it wasn't a filler that interrupted the battle city arc, but it was Team Four Star that interrupted the main arc... According to YGO abridge lol

[@Corn_Curls]

Scott mentioning March Comes in like a Lion there made my dumbass happy. Considering I barely know most of these tournaments, that made this video for me.

[@burrito9327]

The Anime hasn't finished, but the Kengan Anhilation Tournament in Kengan Ashura is one of the best tourneys in Manga/Anime. Every fight can go either way, each character is given atleast a moment to show off, and there's more to the story than just "Winning"

[@tyrant-den884]

Dark Tournamet is also just so well paced. Most other tournament arks, even the best ones, either go short or long.

[@arbknight12]

My favorite tournament is the first one Goku and Krillin took part in. It shows how much potential they both have. How skilled Roshi is. And how much Roshi loves his students.

[@Kaminoke]

I missed the Rookie Tournament of Hajime no Ippo ... Miata's broken promisse was not something I was expecting on an Anime ... and it broke my heart !

[@vankampwn674]

"I am in more episodes of Fairy Tail than i have seen" As someone who knows too much about that show, yeah thats totally fair lmao and pretty much all of the tournaments in that show wouldn't advance past the second round at best anyways

[@gokublack9724]

Can't believe I actually watched that anime the whole way through 😒

[@vankampwn674]

@@gokublack9724 honestly it's not quite as bad as everyone says, in my opinion. No it's not exactly good by any means, I'd call it bare minimum watchable most of the time. Just kinda mid lmao

[@gokublack9724]

@@vankampwn674 i can get behind that, though personally the only note worthy thing i got out of that show was mavis and zeref because their writing was actually pretty good and the only reason why i watched the show in the first place

[@vankampwn674]

​@@gokublack9724that's true yeah, there's something about their relationship and story that just *works* in a way not much else in the show really does

[@GeminiRosche]

Mmm, this video’s so much better with all the audio coming in through both ears rather than Stephan only being in the left ear and Nick only in the right.

[@tekias5536]

I made the comment that Scott was Piccolo while Stephan and Nick were Nail and Kami in the last upload. Kinda liked it, but I get why it doesn't a good video make.

[@SpiritKitten]

It is very unfair to put Dark Tournament against G Gundam. G Gundam deserved to go farther. But Yu yu hakusho Dark Tournament is the best Tournament arc in anime!❤

[@VivaLaDnDLogs]

This is the problem with Tournaments; someone's gotta fight the champ in the first round.

[@ArcCaravan]

​@@VivaLaDnDLogsTrue that. Unfortunately it wasn't Megalo Box that went against Dark Tournament.

[@RobynLeSueur]

Looks like this needs an algorythm boost since it's a re-upload. No worries TFS, you have been there when I needed cheering up, I'm here when you need a boost. So here's a comment and a like.

[@UnwantedGhost1]

Missed opportunity to have Pokemon Journeys Masters 8 World Championship tournament included. Ash Ketchum finally became the best.

[@aidanvandeveer2926]

41:46 I can only speak for myself, but half the reason Zabuza is still one of my favorite characters in the whole series, is due to Steve Blum's insane dub performance. Blum has always been a great character actor, look no further than Spike in Bebop, or Shishio in Kenshin, but his performance as Zabuza hits insanely hard.

[@maxwellermeav]

Can we all appreciate how swole Lani's looking in the vid. Keep up the good work, Man soon you'll be winning some irl torunaments🔥💪

[@crazyfool333]

He is jacked!

[@Buznik_]

It was hilarious seeing the Ragnarok bit take Lani from anime critic to barfight dudebro to gremlin to space invader in 20 seconds. Also as a Fairy Tail apologist I will say the thing it actually does right is building hype and the GMG is one of the times it actually pays that off relatively well, so this is one of the few rankings I think it could have done okay at. I think it would have beat out Battle City and Baki but lost to the rest of that rank.

[@pixelbomb97]

Man, I'm gonna throw hands with Scott about him not caring about not caring about Ishizu. She's probably the best female duelist in the whole of duel monsters, and Kaiba vs. Ishizu is one of my favorite duels in yugioh.

[@ArnulfoSalgado]

I would Argue Mai is better. Being able to see the future takes away from her skill

[@AnonEcho98]

I mean.... sorta? Like, Ishizu had a strat that didn't rely on psyching out her opponent, or sitting on a continous trap that's p easy to avoid.... but Ishizu did also dead-ass have a cheat that lets her see into the future.

[@thatoneguyluke4358]

Poor Odion... Odeon? lost and forgotten

[@Azurek1991]

I'm not clicking off this halfway through again in case they take it down.

[@TheShindomaru]

Lanni’s pained look when Record of Ragnarok was brought up, I felt that 😂

[@aivalera]

Gremlin Lani's gotta be some premium ad material ngl.

[@joebobjon1127]

I’m kind of surprised the Corrida Colosseum tournament in One Piece wasn’t discussed. Admittedly, tournaments aren’t ever the focus of One Piece except this specific arc, and even then it’s one of like four things happening at the same time, but it’s handled very well for what it is.

[@BaalFridge]

Its not reallt a tournament as much as multiple free for all fights that get interrupted

[@joebobjon1127]

@@BaalFridge it’s about as much a tournament as DBSuper’s Tournament of Power

[@ArnulfoSalgado]

@@joebobjon1127to be fair, the Corrida Colosseum’s doesn’t feel like a tournament. It feels more like a spectacle. Elimination isn’t treated with any seriousness until you find out that being Eliminated means you get turned into a toy and Luffy gets replaced by Sabo before the final battle

[@samt3412]

I don't think Corrida Coliseum really counts, and that's coming from a massive OP fan. It is a tournament, sure, but it's also a smaller part of the much larger narrative that is Dressrosa. Hell, the tournament's over and done with well before the climax of the arc as a whole.

[@KingOfGames2491]

It might be because it isn’t a tournament “Arc” but like 10 episodes within the Dressrosa Arc. It is a good tournament though.

[@cadenhammontre]

I respectfully disagree with Stephan about Yusuke's growth ending with the Dark Tournament. Even though it's a major point in him realizing what path he doesn't want to go down, it isn't the end of his self-discovery. In the Three Kings Arc when it's finally down to him and Yomi fighting for the fate of the Demon Realm, Yusuke starts to shut down and give up during the fight because he doesn't know what he's ultimately fighting for. He reflects on how the last two major villains that he's defeated, Toguro and Sensui, wanted to be beaten and he really had no choice but to end them for the sake of the world. Yusuke's fight in the Demon Realm Tournament was the first time he helped set things in motion with no one forcing him, but he wasn't even sure why he's going about it the way he is. He's unable to find a reason for his fighting since the reason was always given to him in the past. Then it dawns on him, he's fighting for the people he loves. Throughout the whole series he's tried to come across as someone who doesn't really care about anything and that he only helps people because it's right, but his fight against Yomi makes him realize that his friends and people he truly cares about are his reason for fighting. No longer a tough guy who doesn't need to feel connected to others and the people who care about him, because he's fighting for them. They're his reason.

[@ultim8lifeform697]

These results were painful the entire way through but at least Lani had my back every time.

[@Lanipator]

I got you!

[@neodav00001]

I'd have been interested to hear their thoughts on Flame of Recca's tournament. It probably wouldn't rank too incredibly highly, it's a little too similar to the Dark Tournament for its own good, but it had some great moments throughout, and it was really cool that you got to see the various "bad guy" groups competing in their own matches too. It's not too common that you see various sub-groups of the antagonists who each kind of have their own factions and differing motivations, even though they're all ostensibly on the same side.