Looking for a specific 90s style anime

[SoThankful]

Don't think there's a thread for this, but I’m trying to track down an anime I watched as a kid. I don’t remember much, but I do recall this pretty vividly:

There was a scene where two characters were in a gritty underground fight or tournament. One of the fighters was this massive guy, and at one point, he crushes a ball that came out of a box and inhales whatever substance was inside. It seemed like it gave him a boost or had some kind of impact on the fight.

The overall vibe was very dark and 90s, kind of like Yu Yu Hakusho or Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. The description might sound a bit strange, but yeah I can't really search for "anime with balls crushing".

Does this ring a bell for anyone? It’s been on my mind for years, and I’d love to find it again.

 

[bjork]

Maybe Grappler Baki? I haven't seen it, but I know there was a 90s OVA

 

[Deleted member 797290]

Cowboy bebop is also from the 90s, wasn't bad.

 

[SecretStrategist]

Perhaps Flame of Recca?

 

[Anim8rDude Anim8rDude]

One of the fighters was this massive guy, and at one point, he crushes a ball that came out of a box and inhales whatever substance was inside. It seemed like it gave him a boost or had some kind of impact on the fight.

This kinda sucks to narrow down because it pretty much sounds like every 90s anime/OVA haha.
I don't suppose you remember the genre, do you? Like if it was a modern age show, or if it was more cyberpunk (this cliche does seem to happen a lot in those too!).
Did he mutate? Because there's also a lot of "I'll take this substance & transform into a bioweapon" scenarios too across 90s anime.

 

[beefbowl]

Grappler Baki?

Grappler Baki is a strong contender. Jack is a pretty huge guy and uses drugs to boost himself. There's also an underground fighting tournament going on. Obviously we need more details.

Cowboy bebop is also from the 90s, wasn't bad.

Now what does that have to do with anything related to the thread?

 

[Cantarella]

Grappler Baki is a strong contender. Jack is a pretty huge guy and uses drugs to boost himself. There's also an underground fighting tournament going on. Obviously we need more details.


Now what does that have to do with anything related to the thread?

this forum has a lot of people who just read keywords and then spit out an unrelated response like malfunctioning chatgpt.

If you can remember physical details of the characters at all, you might have some luck trying to search for them on this site. https://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/index.php

 

[freebie#47]

Definitely sounds like Baki. Trying to find anime based on a scene is quite difficult. Lucky there a few sites that have descriptions of each episode, include animes.

 

[XenoVeritas]

Sounds very much like Yu Yu Hakusho, but you have already discounted that so I'm not sure, sorry.

 

[yungmysterymane]

this forum has a lot of people who just read keywords and then spit out an unrelated response like malfunctioning chatgpt.

If you can remember physical details of the characters at all, you might have some luck trying to search for them on this site. https://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/index.php

I wish someone would put a "tournament arc" tag on this site for anime. That would actually narrow it down, since it has a bunch of year filters.

To be fair, a large chunk of anime had tournament arcs in the 1990s, but it's SOMETHING.

 

[Deleted member 560402]

Don't think there's a thread for this, but I’m trying to track down an anime I watched as a kid. I don’t remember much, but I do recall this pretty vividly:

There was a scene where two characters were in a gritty underground fight or tournament. One of the fighters was this massive guy, and at one point, he crushes a ball that came out of a box and inhales whatever substance was inside. It seemed like it gave him a boost or had some kind of impact on the fight.

The overall vibe was very dark and 90s, kind of like Yu Yu Hakusho or Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. The description might sound a bit strange, but yeah I can't really search for "anime with balls crushing".

Does this ring a bell for anyone? It’s been on my mind for years, and I’d love to find it again.

Rurouni Kenshin has the fight between Sanosuke and one of the Oniwaban ninjas working for Aoshi, he swung around a giant ball n chain. Sano called him a "glued together piece of crap" in the manga where they fought inside the mansion to save Megumi. The anime had them fight outside the front gate.

Post automatically merged: Jul 15, 2025

Don't think there's a thread for this, but I’m trying to track down an anime I watched as a kid. I don’t remember much, but I do recall this pretty vividly:

There was a scene where two characters were in a gritty underground fight or tournament. One of the fighters was this massive guy, and at one point, he crushes a ball that came out of a box and inhales whatever substance was inside. It seemed like it gave him a boost or had some kind of impact on the fight.

The overall vibe was very dark and 90s, kind of like Yu Yu Hakusho or Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. The description might sound a bit strange, but yeah I can't really search for "anime with balls crushing".

Does this ring a bell for anyone? It’s been on my mind for years, and I’d love to find it again.

wait a ball that came outside a box? Oh wait i misread that. @.@ sorry.

 

[SoThankful]

Someone I’m no longer in contact with showed me that scene briefly, so everything I described is just what I remember. I don’t know anything else about the anime, but I’ll check out the suggestions. I need to find that specific scene to confirm if it’s the one.

Post automatically merged: Jul 15, 2025

This kinda sucks to narrow down because it pretty much sounds like every 90s anime/OVA haha.
I don't suppose you remember the genre, do you? Like if it was a modern age show, or if it was more cyberpunk (this cliche does seem to happen a lot in those too!).
Did he mutate? Because there's also a lot of "I'll take this substance & transform into a bioweapon" scenarios too across 90s anime.

If you could name a few big characters that specifically inhaled stuff from crushed balls out of a box that would help a lot I think.

 

[qw90700]

If you could name a few big characters that specifically inhaled stuff from crushed balls out of a box that would help a lot I think.

Dude it seems like an anime directly stole this idea from Dragon Ball lol:

 

[Deleted member 560402]

Honestly it sounds shonen.

 

[DanCalibur]

Sounds very much like Yu Yu Hakusho, but you have already discounted that so I'm not sure, sorry.

Yeah, specially the the Hiei vs Kuro Momotarou fight from one of the many tournaments

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

Sounds a bit like Apocalypse Zero .
The MC had steel balls on His Body but He fought with a female in a snow-field .

Really weird but somehow a cool anime .
A shame it didnt was continued .

 

[Heku]

A very entertaining series. I recommend Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, and also the Gun Smith Cats OVAs.

and I forgot about the nadesico series and OVAs

Post automatically merged: Jul 16, 2025

and Dancalibur is very funny your avatar photo

 

[DanCalibur]

 

[Heku]

Dancalibur time is moneeeeeeeeeey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

 

[DanCalibur]

Dancalibur time is moneeeeeeeeeey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

Ohhhhhhhh yeah

 

[SoThankful]

Yeah, specially the the Hiei vs Kuro Momotarou fight from one of the many tournaments

I said Yu Yu Hakusho because someone mentioned it before, but they were talking about a different fight. The one you brought up is honestly the closest I’ve seen! It’s not exactly how I remembered it, but maybe my memory’s just off. I thought the guy looked a bit different, and I remember the balls coming out of a box. Gonna check what other people suggested too, and if nothing else matches, it’s probably your answer.

Post automatically merged: Jul 16, 2025

I checked out all the suggestions, and yeah, it must be Kuro Momotaro.

In my memory, he had dark hair already, but it's just too long ago to remember correctly. In part 2 of the fight, he inhales it again when his hair is dark, so it could be that that's what I saw.

Thanks everyone! (especially @DanCalibur and @XenoVeritas ).