Ask John: Which Anime Started the Cosmic Battle Anime Genre

Question:
What series started the whole cosmic battle anime genre like DBZ and S-cry-ed?

Answer:
Your question is a bit difficult to approach because it’s a bit vague. Generalizing your criteria by defining “cosmic battle” not as science-fiction starship battles but rather as a reference to superhuman pugilism still becomes difficult because of your examples. Your examples include Dragonball Z, which is “superhuman,” and Scryed, which is “supernatural.” The martial arts of Dragonball are based on the ancient Chinese concept of channeling inner, personal spiritual energy. The fights in Scryed are directly descended from those from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, which are not natural spiritual energy, but rather supernatural spiritual energy. The “Stands” in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures and “Alters” in Scryed are a natural part of the human characters that posses them, but are not normal to all human beings. Dragonball Z is based on the concept that any normal human, through discipline and training, can learn to control natural energy to perform superhuman feats including super speed and flight. The fighters of Scryed and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures are not average humans. They should be classified as mutants that have unnatural abilities.

Based on the Scryed example, it’s necessary to refer back to the 1983 movie Genma Taisen (Harmageddon), the first film I’m aware of that prominently featured psychic battles. The concept of physical fights with non-corporeal power appeared again notably in the 1984 movie Chojin Locke (Locke the Superman), and 1985’s Cosmo Police Justy movie. The protagonists of these films did not utilize any form of disciplined martial arts. (However, it’s also fair to say that the characters of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures and Scryed also don’t use formal martial arts.)

Probably the first anime to use superhuman martial arts was the 1984 Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) anime TV series. Hokuto no Ken adopted the ancient Chinese theories of “chi” inner energy and controlling chi through martial arts. While Chinese and Indian teachings stated that balancing the chi would bring inner peace and harmony, Hokuto no Ken developed the opposite idea- that disrupting chi would produce catastrophic, fatal results.

Two years later, the Dragonball TV series, which debuted in February 1986, took further cues from Chinese legend and introduced the idea that, with intense training, a martial artist could condense and release chi energy in a concentrated projectile energy wave. Later, in Dragonball Z, the show would evolve to suggest that mastery of chi would even allow a person to levitate and fly- an idea that had appeared decadea earlier in live action Chinese kung-fu films which featured swordsmen that could fly and walk on water.

Closely following on the heels of the Dragonball animation came the St. Seiya TV series, which debuted in October 1986. While it took some time for Dragonball to introduce its bone breaking martial arts filled with amazing, seemingly supernatural techniques, St. Seiya introduced both concepts from its very first episode.

The Dragonball manga premiered in 1984; the St. Seiya manga in 1986. But it was, I think, the duo of the simultaneous broadcast of the Dragonball and St. Seiya anime that established the anime sub-genre of superhuman/supernatural fighting anime that continued in series such as Yoroiden Samurai Troopers, Heavenly Sphere Shurato, Yu Yu Hakusho, Flame of Recca, and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures.

Addendum:
Japanese reader “Mori” wrote in to suggest: I think the “cosmic battle” genre begins with Astro Boy or Mitsuteru (Gigantor) Yokoyama’s ninja manga Iga no Kagemaru. In [the Tetsuwan Atom] manga around ’63 Tezuka drew a long series where Astro fights with a much stronger robot after stronger robot untill he encounters the strongest robot. The series is famous for the title “Shijo Saikyo no Robot” (The Strongest Robot that The World Has Ever Seen), although Tezuka is said to have hated it because his beloved Astro was getting monsterous as he defeated his enemies.