Top 10 Epic Scenes in Anime/Manga
BEWARE OF A TON MORE SPOILERS THAN USUAL!!
1. MERGING OF THE WORLDS (Berserk)
This is the single biggest event in all of Berserk. It started with a battle against a gargantuan tentacled demigod of doom and his endless army of hellspawn. Of course, this did not deter Griffith. He unleashed the full power of his Apostle minions, revealing their demonic forms to his human army for the first time, while he himself rode Zodd to the top of the demigod and used him to tear a giant hole in the fabric of reality. It enveloped the entire planet in a brilliant light. The veils separating the physical and astral worlds were instantaneously dissolved, allowing all creatures of the human imagination to run wild.
2. THE GREAT ECLIPSE (Berserk)
Though the scale of this is small compared to the Merging of the Worlds and the False Eclipse at Albion in the same series, this one hits you the hardest on a personal level. In the chronological sequence of events of Berserk, the Great Eclipse represents the moment when you realize that this relatively mundane medieval world is not what it seems. Even though you get a glimpse of this reality in volume 3, it still can't prepare you for the absolute horror of watching the characters you grew to love get torn to shreds physically and mentally. The emotions involved here are on a scale of epicness all to themselves.
3. TETSUO LOSES CONTROL (Akira)
The infinite power of God permeates all things. If you liken this power to a river, then an individual's sense of self acts as a psychological dam to tame the flow. But some awaken to this current faster than they could contain it, and then it spirals out of control, disintegrating the ego-personality and overwhelming its vessel. The power of God bursts forth, first as spontaneously created matter, and finally as raw energy itself, distorting even time and space, with the creative potential to manifest a whole new universe. This is what happened to Tetsuo in the apocalyptic finale of Akira, leaving Neo-Tokyo in ruins once again.
4. FALSE ECLIPSE AT ALBION (Berserk)
The False Eclipse was made possible by the gathering of several individuals with the Brand of Sacrifice in one place. This gave spirits of the dead from the Interstice free reign in the world of the living, and allowed them to recreate the conditions of a genuine sacrificial ceremony on a much larger scale. The spirits swarmed into monstrous blobs that overran the town of Albion, shaking its very foundations. Those humans who weren't swept clean off the ground fell from above to be devoured by a sea of teeth. Rivers of blood and gore poured through the streets, all for glory of their newborn Savior.
5. FIRST KAIDATEN BATTLE (Shin Angyo Onshi)
This was a massive battle between the demonic armies of Kaidaten, the mother of monsters, and the human armies of Jushin under the leadership of General Munsu. While helpless civilians prayed to the heroes of the past for help, new heroes were made on the warfront as soldiers braved explosions, lightning, claws, and fangs in desperate defense of their lands. Won Sul in particular came out victorious, but even he couldn't prevent the deaths of his comrades. Weapons gleamed, blood splattered, and body parts went flying everywhere. The sheer scale and brutality of this spectacle is the definition of epic.
6. MARINEFORD (One Piece)
Towering tsunamis, ocean freezing over, city-tipping earthquakes, rampaging giants, scorching magma - Marineford had it all and more! This was a historic conflict between the Marines, Shichibukai, Whitebeard, Blackbeard, Luffy, escaped prisoners, and a small army of transvestites. Truly a clusterfuck of epic proportions. Half the sea raised hell in an attempt to rescue one man through an unprecedented assault on a fortress thought to be impregnable, and the heart-rending aftermath was a huge blow to the balance of power in the world. This was a battle that marked the end of one age and the beginning of a new one.
7. LINA INVERSE'S GIGA SLAVE (Slayers Next)
The Giga Slave is probably the most devastating spell ever conceived. It calls on the Lord of Nightmares: the darkness beyond blackest pitch, deeper than the deepest night, mother and destroyer of worlds, who shines like gold upon the primeval sea of chaos. Using this spell invokes this goddess into the caster, and should she lose control of it, the entire world could be destroyed since it would be left at the mercy of this enormously powerful being. Once Lina understood the implications of the Giga Slave, she resolved to never use it again, but Hellmaster Phibrizzo forced her to by holding her friends hostage.
8. THE WAILING WALL (Saint Seiya)
Only gods and spirits can pass through the Wailing Wall of Hades that guards the way to Elysion, yet the valiant Saints of Athena must pass through it in order to protect their beloved goddess. It is said that the wall could only be pierced by sunlight. Luckily, the Gold armors of the Zodiac have bathed in the light of stars for millennia. And so, in an inspiring display of selfless courage, the 12 Gold Saints decided to come together as one and burn their Cosmo to the fullest, focusing all their strength into a single arrow in order to bring the power of a star into the sunless Underworld, consuming them along with the wall.
9. LUCIFER VS. GOD (Angel Sanctuary)
Lucifer always had a problem with God prescribing everyone's fate. He didn't like the fate he was given, and neither did he like the fate of the Organic Angel Alexiel. Given how corrupt Heaven is in Angel Sanctuary I can't say that I blame him. In fact, I was rooting for him. In the climax of Angel Sanctuary, Lucifer pretended to follow the mandates of Heaven only to get close enough to God and enact his revenge. And that he did. He unmasked the God machine as the insidious thing that it was, and the Heavenly regime came crashing down as all the ugliness festering beneath the surface ran amuck.
10. TRAGEDY OF SALBIER (Pandora Hearts)
The bloodbath that was the Tragedy of Sablier left a painful mark on the history of the land. Not only were a whole mansion of people ruthlessly massacred and left to burn, but the chaotic power of the Abyss surged into the human world, engulfing most of the city in a freakish explosion, tearing up flesh and stone, and warping the flow of time. A handful of survivors were thrust into other eras, and people from other eras got drawn into the temporal crossroads. Even 100 years later, ghosts from the past still haunted the ruins of Sablier, and everyone who valued their sanity knew to stay clear of it.

 

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