Blood Knight / Anime & Manga

Blood Knights of Anime and Manga.

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• Maki from Air Master is not exactly bloodthirsty and prefers to just knock her opponents out cold, but she clearly fights for the thrill of it. So do most of her major competitors in Fukamichi Rankings.
• Akagi's title character doesn't just live for fighting, he would gladly die for a good fight, and believes that death is the essence of fighting. Only replace "fighting" with "mahjong".
• Armored Trooper VOTOMS. "The only place... I feel at home... is in battle!" Though to be fair, it's not so much that Chirico enjoys war, as he doesn't fit into normal society.
• Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Ashigara is a Genki Girl (especially in the Ars Nova Cadenza film) who loves nothing more than to fight. Fairly, as she won't take advantage of the situation for an easy victory if it doesn't involve a battle at full capacity.
• Justified in Aruosumente. As a child, Dante was made to fight the invading army from Finfield by Oracle Kian, just to get rid of Dante, and could never shake the memories. Just the smell of blood alone turns him into a Blood Knight and makes him go on a rampage, attacking people at random and enjoying it. For this reason, he is forbidden from participating in tournaments.
• Karma in Assassination Classroom is one. He is one of the few characters who takes major pride in fighting. He managed to earn himself a violent reputation before the series began, and even doubles as Axe-Crazy at times. One thing that sets him apart from the rest, noted in chapters 147-149, is that he takes his time beating people up, and relishes actual combat. Whereas characters like Nagisa stick to taking out opponents instantly.
• Baki the Grappler:
  • Yujiro Hanma. He once fought and beat the entire American Military in Vietnam as a teenager JUST for something to do, only to walk away disgusted when America surrendered to him. Unfortunately for him he is so far beyond the other characters in strength he belongs in a higher tier series and the mangaka has had to go GO VERY far to find a potential worthy opponent in Pickle.
  • In fact, the entire series (by now, it has more than 600 chapters) is about Baki powering up to beat Yujiro. And Baki was on roughly the same level as, say, the most famous karate master in the world, at the beginning.
  • It's not just Yujiro that loves to fight, almost every fighter in the series gets a hard on for fighting. Best example of this is when Pickle, a cavemen who was frozen for 65 million years (long story), was being held at a military base after being unfrozen. Nearly every major character in the series broke into the base to fight it.
• Battle Angel Alita: Last Order:
  • Sechs fits this trope. His only reason for joining Alita's Team in the big ZOTT Tournament is to not miss any action which might make Alita stronger, to become stronger himself, and to have to another fight to death with Alita after the tournament (Alita spared his life in their first battle). Sechs shows no interest in any political or personal events behind the ZOTT, unlike Alita who for example gets a Heroic BSoD after refusing to fight a team which stands in for children rights (which are unwanted in the dark future of that manga).
  • Alita herself would count for most of the series. Sure, she might fight for a cause every now and then, but is just as happy to fight just because.
• Berserk:
  • Guts is always given a reason to fight, what with him attracting all supernatural evil wherever he goes, so much so that he has adopted an emotional reaction of cold, merciless satisfaction as a defense mechanism because of still winning and surviving another day, provoking more or less the next enemies to "bring it on". He also went to look for revenge because, after being completely broken, it was the only thing that was left for him to live for, adding a much more poignant source to this rather than entertainment like other examples. To make it even more obvious, he gets a Slasher Smile every time he is about to go into combat. He reaches absurd levels in the "Lost Children" Arc, when his inner beast takes a definite shape and starts haunting him.
  • Nosferatu Zodd, who loved combat so much he became a demon in order to continue raising the stakes. It goes beyond saying that their encounters have been insanely rough, in their first meeting Zodd became very excited when Guts was the first human able to hurt him in years. Later when Guts is stronger and equipped with a outrageous sword Zodd is literally laughing with glee while fighting him.
  • Grunbeld much like Zodd took a interest in Guts’s fighting ability and was initially disappointed that the swordsman seemed like a pushover... until Guts got the Berserker Armour. Throughout his fight with Guts Grunbeld marvled at his tenacity and power, even in One-Winged Angel form Grunbeld complimented Guts for being able to damage him.
  • A lot of the Apostles are this, apart from taking twisted delight in bloodshed, rape and chaos (enough to make the morally unstable protagonist look like a saint compared to them) some of the stronger apostles even hunt out the strongest prey just for the thrill of it. So battling the swordsmen that killed 1000 of their kind (Guts) is an absolute treat to them.
• Black Clover:
  • Luck Voltia is very eager for strong opponents to fight, so much that he's more than willing to leave his teammates in an extremely deadly dungeon with enemies abound if he thinks he'll get a good fight. It's the reason why Yami describes Luck as having a shitty personality despite his talent. Because his distant mother only started showing him affection after he defeated a noble, he developed a pathological need to find and defeat strong opponents so that she would continue to love him.
  • Vanica Zogratis loves fighting strong opponents, so much so that she had her Dark Disciples attack places where people live so Lolopechka would be more invested in the fight. When fighting Noelle she maniacally enjoys it, telling her not to die too fast. She captures Lolopechka to the Spade Kingdom instead of killing her to goad Noelle into becoming a stronger opponent to fight. When Noelle beats her in said rematch with her newest power-up, Vanica is more excited at the idea they could someday fight each other again than the fact she lost and Noelle is ready to kill her.
• Black Lagoon:
  • Revy is a Sociopathic Hero who gleefully indulges in the carnage that she finds herself in, often sporting a Slasher Smile and becomes obsessed with an enemy if they are shown to be particularly deadly or skilled.
  • Balalaika's love of war and carnage unsettle even Revy.
• Bleach:
  • It's been lampshaded by Kenpachi, Grimmjow and his own Inner Hollow that Ichigo is a Blood Knight who is simply living in denial.
  • Kenpachi Zaraki, captain of an entire division of this trope. Fighting is his only reason for living and he will deliberately handicap himself in battle to ensure a good fight. He turns on his own people to help Ichigo, not because he believes in Ichigo's cause, but just because it'll get him close enough to Ichigo to instigate another fight with this Worthy Opponent. Deconstructed later on when it's revealed his interpretation of his idol Yachiru Unohana led him to erroneous conclusions about both fighting and her. As a result, his interpretation of this trope has been making him subconsciously weaker than he really is. Yachiru Unohana has to thrash him with the truth (and literally) to make him understand the truth.
  • Kenpachi's main subordinates (Yachiru, Ikkaku and Yumichika) revel in being this trope just as much as Kenpachi does. It's also made clear that ex-division members Iba and Renji are the same.
  • Grimmjow and Nnoitra live for fighting. Both have the goal to become the absolute strongest and through battle as the only way. The main difference between them is that Grimmjow wants to succeed at becoming the strongest whereas Nnoitra is the Death Seeker who wants to die in glorious battle to a Worthy Opponent.
  • Abirama Redder, one of Baraggan's Fracciones, performs a ritual prior to his fight with Izuru where he psychs himself up by screaming out loud the gruesome manner in which he intends to kill him. He believes that battles are all about crushing your enemies after pushing yourself to the limit, and that they are meant to be exhilarating.
  • Byakuya eventually learns, to his surprise, that not only does he have a capacity for instigating the madness of battle that is associated with a Blood Knight, he thoroughly enjoys fighting that way, too. He even thanks the opponent that created the insane fight that led to this discovery (right after blasting a hole through said opponent's chest, of course).
  • Unohana is eventually revealed to be a blood knight who has been repressing this side of herself for centuries until brought out of retirement by the Vandenreich's attack on Soul Society. She is, in fact, the original Yachiru that Zaraki idolised, who sees Zaraki's battle attitude as her greatest mistake that needs to be fixed. Her own idea of what it means to be a blood knight is much different, much more brutal, and definitely does not involve holding back in battle. Instead, she takes opponents to the brink of death and then uses her healing powers to bring them back so she can keep on ripping them to shreds. It's equal parts disturbing and awesome.
  • Gremmy Thoumeaux's incredible Imagination-Based Superpower made him bored, as everyone is either too scared to fight him or unable to put up a fight. Then he faces Kenpachi... and for the first time he finds himself enjoying the fight and relishing the prospect of crushing a Worthy Opponent.
  • Despite his proclaimed love for peace, the Big Bad, Yhwach, literally thrives on warfare. During his second battle with Ichigo, he could've used The Almighty to immediately defeat him at any time he wanted to, but chose not to because he personally wanted to enjoy the fight for as much as he could, seeing it as some twisted form of "father-son bonding time".
• In Brave10, Date Masamune is willing to make any number of impulsive decisions if they'll get him the war he wants so badly. He spends both manga runs practically chomping at the bit for some action and mass turmoil.
• Girge from Broken Blade is a unique case. While being clearly an ax-crazed example in the battlefield, he maintains a polite attitude outside of it. His appearance alone played this trope straight; red hair, red uniform (despite being his standard uniform as a soldier), and red golem. Not to mention the glasses, and his reputation for killing his teammate in the past. Makes you wonder if he's a reincarnation of something evil...
• In Casshern Sins:
  • Sophita is a odd case. She loves to fight because its the her way of sharing her feelings with others Subverted in the end of "her episode" when she gives up of fighting after her fight with Casshern.
  • Dio is another example, but he is only focused in defeating Casshern.
• Cells at Work!: The White Blood Cells. Outside of combat they're cordial, if a bit reserved and with a vaguely creepy vibe. When they're fighting, or sense threats nearby? They'll tear enemies apart with their knives or bare hands if needed, sporting Slasher Smiles and screaming for more enemies to slay. Bonus points for being literal blood knights.
• Cells At Work! White Brigade: As in its parent series, the mature White Blood Cells are all fairly laid-back...until they sense invading bacteria, after which they immediately take a bloodlust-fueled charge into battle — sometimes even forgetting to make sure Band Cell can keep up with them.
• A Certain Magical Index:
  • Accelerator tries to avoid fighting if possible, because he secretly hates hurting others. However, once he's in a fight, he turns psychotic with glee and bloodlust.
  • Saflee Opendays is a martial artist who enjoys challenges so she can create "pure destruction": the right amount of force to defeat an opponent, no more, no less. However, she only likes fighting in official matches, and thinks people who pick on others have no right to call themselves fighters.
• In Claymore, all warriornesses are proud of their abilities, and like to use them in the fight against youma and Awakened Beings. Even the most Awakened Beings like to fight. But there are some among them which deserve special mention:
  • Rigardo, who was number two in the first generation, loves to fight against strong opponents. During the battle of Pieta he is annoyed by Clare and Deneve because they attack him again and again but he is not interested in weaklings. When Clare gets better and better in the fight, he is happy to finally have a worthy opponent. Especially since his last good fight has long been over.
  • The Awakened Being from the mountains of Paburo also qualifies for this. He likes to provoke his enemies by attacking him. With him it is also a case to be a Smug Snake.
  • Ophelia is also a warrior who really loves fighting. She sometimes tortures her opponents sadistically. She likes especially fond of fighting against Awakend Beings. This even goes so far as to make other warriornesses awaken, so that she can kill her.
• Cowboy Bebop:
  • Nothing makes Spike Spiegel's eyes light up like a decent fight. It's also inferred that Spike already sees himself as dead and puts himself in harms way to find some enjoyment in life which is both sad and unhealthy.
  • Vicious is just as boisterous, if not even more considering the REALLY bloody way in which he massacres the higher ups of the Red Dragons.
• From Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, the Final Boss Adam Smasher is just as blood-thirsty as he is in Cyberpunk 2077. He is obsessed with mass carnage or collateral damage for the shits and giggles of it and enjoys beating his enemies to a pulp whenever he is given the opportunity to do so. In fact, if it wasn't for David attacking Smasher and wounding his ego enough to refocus on him, Smasher would have killed Lucy and Falco too simply because they were trying to escape.
• Cain the Psychic Assassin from Cyborg 009. His Face–Heel Turn and the murder of his ex-friend Nicholas (his "Abel") are prompted by both his loss of faith in the goodness of people and embracing his increasing blood lust. And saying so in front of Nicholas's grieving girlfriend and fellow psychic Lina was his perdition.
• Wei Zhijun from Darker than Black acts in stark contrast to the supposed rationality of most Contractors by joining Evening Primrose for the sole purpose of defeating Hei after the latter not-quite-killed him, for the sole purpose of getting a chance to fight him again. Right before he gets Killed Off for Real, he admits that he didn't think he'd win, anyways.
• Date A Live:
  • Played for Laughs by Ryoko Kusakabe. She shows shades of this when ordering her troops to continue firing non-stop.
  • Played straight with Kotori Itsuka as Efreet. She slowly starts losing control of herself and practically begs for a good fight, taunting a defeated Kurumi about how disappointing of a performance the latter put up.
  • Ellen Mira Mathers plays even more straight than two above. When the opportunity arises, she's very eager to fight a powerful opponent. In fact, she even made a vow to ''never lose to anyone'', not even "an atrocity that kills the world" (referring to the Spirits).
• Deadman Wonderland:
  • Senji, hitting all his opponents Dead Center.
  • Karako, who literally attacks Ganta as soon as she meets him simply because she'd heard he was strong and wanted to fight him. There's also Minnatsuki, who gets off to seeing people in pain. Naturally, in a series like this, all three of these characters are good guys.
• Laios from Delicious in Dungeon is an odd example: he loves to fight and kill monsters, not for the thrill of the battle, but so he can cook and eat them.
• Digimon Tamers:
  • Cyberdramon. Just to drive the point home, his catchphrase is "Are you my enemy?" and his Image Song is "Dead or Dead". For a guy with multiple personalities, he seems to have his priorities sorted out.
  • Craniamon is a Royal Knight who wants nothing more than a good fight. Unfortunately, because he's so strong, he can never find one.
• Double Arts. It has Sui, a female pureblood humanoid who follows the protagonist Kiri to fight the strong people who are after him. She has a slasher smile and an iron hula hoop to help as well. Oh yes, and she seems to run on canned cherries.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Goku is this even as a child, gleefully entering into battle at any chance he gets. As the series progresses, he becomes more serious about it. There have been countless instances where Goku could EASILY end the fight with the villain of the week, but prolongs it just for the sheer sake of a good fight. This, on occasion, comes back to bite him (and the universe around him) in the ass royally.
  • After winning against Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z, who was responsible for the deaths of several Goku's friends and tried to destroy the Earth, Goku (who's in just as bad shape as Vegeta) tells Krillin to let him live so they can have a rematch. This works to the world's advantage, as Vegeta ends up becoming The Lancer two arcs later.
  • Even later, he goes as far as training the (redeemed) reincarnation of the most destructive being in the Universe just so he could fight him again.
  • Vegeta himself is an extreme evil example of one. When he hears about the Dragon Balls, he doesn't care about reviving his dead race, or even Raditz, his comrade. The only thing he wants is immortality... to live "an eternity of combat." What is hell to others is a life goal to Vegeta.
  • Once the Saiyans are introduced, it's established that almost all of them are Blood Knights too (even the ladies). An obsessive desire to fight, particularly against strong opponents, is innate to Saiyans. In fact, baby Saiyans are sent to planets in need of depopulation, since it's in their nature to happily fight and kill until there's no one left. Saiyans are practically made to fight. That is why they age very slowly, because they need their youthfulness to fight as long as they live.
  • Dragon Ball Super: Broly subverts this, showing that a good percent of Saiyans aren't Blood Knights at all, but more into science and technology. Though this doesn't lessen the effect of them being a Warrior Race; if anything it just makes them more pragmatic, such as setting up snipers for Frieza's arrival.
  • It could be argued that a lot Dragon Ball Z is actually a deconstruction of the Blood Knight trope, since due to Goku and Vegeta's Blood Knight tendencies, they allow a lot of the problems that the Earth faces to escalate due to them never just killing the villains when they get the chance.
  • The collective Z-Fighters even lampshade this trope early in the Android Saga, when Bulma the pragmatist suggests they use Dragons Balls to find Gero before Androids can be born. However all the boys hate Bulma's idea and shut it down, preferring to face the Androids after three years of training. Despite the fact they’ve been explicitly told by Trunks that the Androids will slaughter them all effortlessly in the Bad Future. This moment shows fighting is everything to the Z-Fighters and even the risk of death isn't enough to dissuade them from a good battle.
  • Piccolo almost never cracks a grin but in battle he's all smiles and chuckles. Even against the foes who can ruin his day, Piccolo rarely acts fearful or concerned (except when Gohan is involved). This trope is especially evident with Piccolo in the movies where he literally toys with Elite Mooks and in Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound, where he leaves the tournament at the start knowing he won’t get a good fight (it helps that his opponent at the time was Krillin). Piccolo makes a return later but only when bad guys, i.e some worthy opponents, show up.
  • Cell, being made partially from Saiyan DNA, becomes a Blood Knight to the fullest once he achieves "perfection". He's only concerned with testing out his new body and strength, and sets up the Cell Games just so he can fight Earth's strongest warriors and have a little fun before he destroys the planet. Subverted in that while Cell likes a good fight, he loathes getting his ass handed to him, becoming a complete Sore Loser whenever a battle swings against him.
  • Frieza is a nasty mix of this trope and Sadist. He's just a Jerkass who loves fighting, killing and generally throwing his power around. In Dragon Ball Super Broly, when Frieza’s minion suggests that he use the Dragon Balls to make himself invulnerable to taking damage, Frieza says that'd take all fun out of fights.
  • Frieza's uncanonised but awesome brother Cooler is excited to see the power which defeated his brother. Even when Goku goes Super Saiyan and punches him in the gut, Cooler laughs saying Goku is "too much".
  • Majin Buu the Manchild enjoys scrapping with the heroes. Goku is able to sow the seeds of Buu’s Heel–Face Turn against Babidi by promising Buu that he would fight him again, something that annoys Babidi, who just wants Buu to destroy him.
  • Gohan starts off as a massive subversion before becoming a downplayed version of this trope. While he has Saiyan blood in his veins and is absurdly strong, Gohan as a kid severely dislikes fighting. In fact the majority of his battles only come about when villains are stupid enough to hurt his loved ones, which Gohan cannot stand. And even when he gets driven over the edge, Gohan's attitude is more to destroy the evildoers than to enjoy fighting them. Against Cell this proves problematic because in his rage Gohan isn't satisfied with merely destroying Cell physically, he wants to make Cell suffer until he is also mentally destroyed... which pushes Cell into a Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum and costs him Goku's life, something Gohan is utterly horrified about, especially when Cell survives. When Gohan grows older, it's shown that he has come to get some enjoyment out of fighting when the opportunity arises, but moreso as a hobby than the flat-out obsession his father shows. For this reason, Gohan often prioritizes his studies and social life above his training, which means he Can't Catch Up to his constantly-training father despite his greater latent potential. He is a different type of Blood Knight compared to Goku and Vegeta, as while Gohan hates needless violence he still revels in dressing up as a hero and stopping crime. Gohan "likes" fighting, but only when it comes to protecting others.
  • The Androids (namely 17 and 18) have a lot of fun fighting the Z-Fighters, and unlike their Bad Future counterparts, choose not to kill the heroes after defeating them, saying it was all just "a game" to them. Not even Gentle Giant 16 is above this, as he cracks a smile while beating the piss out of Imperfect Cell.
  • Originally Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan is this dialed up, taking sadistic joy out of giving the Z-Fighters (especially his nemesis Goku) the beatdown of their lives. At certain points he reveals himself as a Combat Sadomasochist, and when Piccolo calls him out on his bloodthirsty nature, Broly justifies himself by saying he's "a demon". Averted with Broly's canonisation, as Morality Pet Cheelai is quick to note Broly (much like Gohan) doesn’t like fighting at all and only does so out of necessity or to please his father Paragus. Though when he unleashes his powers, Broly gets his Slasher Smile back, which suggests fighting and powering up does make him more psychotic.
• The Fire Civilization from Duel Masters is, essentially, an copy of Red from Magic: The Gathering, so it's no surprise that this is the attitude you get from its cards.
• The Elusive Samurai: Kojiro loves doing battle just as much as Tokiyuki loves dodging things. He is eager to make a name for himself and revels in every opportunity he gets to throw himself at powerful enemy warriors.
• In Endride, while most of the Truculent are doing their dirty work for the money, Ibelda seems more in it for the fight, disobeying orders not to kill and eventually going full-on Ax-Crazy.
• Eyeshield 21:
  • Gaoh is Large and in Charge, the biggest person on the entire cast, and so tough he has to wear a titanium mouthpiece because he'll chew through anything weaker. Doesn't feel any need to hold back his incredible strength because he expects his opponents to give it their all as well. Despite that, and the fact that he's caused several career-ending injuries, he's actually a pretty decent guy.
  • Gaoh's also shown a good deal of respect for individuals simply because they were willing to face him head on, even if they had no strength to provide him a challenge. Sena managed to do this when he moved towards Gaoh (and risking horrible injury) rather than another player who while they wouldn't have hurt Sena would have very likely taken the ball due to that players skills.
  • In fact, when Banba prevents him from crushing the quarter back for the first time in his career, he pays silent tribute to him. When an idiot in the crowd jeers at Banba for 'being weak', Gaou demands he turn himself in for punishment. IF he didn't, he'd just destroy the entire audience so as not to miss him! Luckily Riku defused the situation.
  • Gaou also won't break the rules, a fact the Kid used to try and beat him, by using his Quick Draw to throw the ball just before Gaou got to him, since if he wasn't holding the ball, Gaou wouldn't attack him. He did this despite knowing if he messed up once, he was finished, a point emphasized by the fact that when Gaou's pinky brushed him, leaving a large and nasty looking bruise. Sadly he did become 0.1 seconds late as Gaou's speed improved due to 'battle lust', resulting in him being crushed.
  • Gaou's fanboy, Kisiragi is one as well, taking it to near Psycho for Hire levels.
• Fairy Tail:
  • Natsu from Fairy Tail has undertones of this, though it depends on the situation. While his more serious and plot-important battles are to protect his True Companions, the rest are mostly for fun. He also shows plenty of Slasher Smile and picks fights with stronger guild members for apparently no reason other than this, and he's the most destructive member of Fairy Tail. At one point in the Nirvana arc, his friends worry that he has been turned evil and imagine an evil Natsu shouting that he wants to fight anyone/everyone. They then realize that evil Natsu sounds just like regular Natsu.
  • Fellow Dragon Slayer Gajeel is just as enthusiastic about fighting as Natsu, if not more so. During the S-Class exam, he was actually upset that he and Levi picked the "easy" path that had no fighting. He also wasn't happy when the second part of the test didn't involve any fighting.
  • Azuma of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory becomes Not So Stoic when facing a Worthy Opponent. He is ecstatic about having a chance to fight "Demon" Mirajane and sticks a time bomb on her sister Lisanna to force her to go all out. Azuma is noticeably upset when Mirajane cuts their fight short and sacrifices herself to save Lisanna and solemnly leaves. Later still, Azuma invokes the Villain Ball by gambling Grimoire Heart's assured victory after taking control of the Sirius Tree and draining the magic power of all of Fairy Tail's wizards to force Erza Scarlet the only one he didn't drain to come at him with everything she has. When he loses and is badly injured, he's so satisfied that even as he's turning into a tree from burning out his magic, he still fulfills his promise to her despite the setback this presents his own side.
  • Sting Eucliffe, another Dragon Slayer, loves getting into fights and, to a lesser extent, watching good fights. When a teammate one-shots an opponent, Sting complains that he should have gone easy to prolong the fight. Sting also does everything in his power to piss off Natsu so when they finally fight, Natsu will be at his best. He gets his ass handed to him when Natsu proves that he is more than a Worthy Opponent.
  • Acnologia is one to the point he relished slaughtering the entire dragon race, the most powerful living beings in the world. Zeref believes that his greatest desire is to go all out in a battle. Although it turns out his love of battle was partially brought on by his growing power and dragon transformation. Originally, he killed solely out of Revenge before Motive Decay hit very hard and the thrill of destruction got even better.
• Fire Force has a rare inversion. While most blood knights seek worthy opponents, Kurono revels in fighting the weak. This is not cowardice as he isn't afraid of fighting strong opponents but the weaker they are, the more fun he has.
• Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Lust from the manga and second anime is bloodthirsty and loves watching her opponents die slowly and painfully. It's to the point her bloodlust is so great she's the only one of the Homunculi willing to kill a sacrifice, which even Envy knows not to do.
  • Wrath, a.k.a. President-Fuhrer King Bradley, from the manga and second anime. Near the end of the story, he's fulfilled his part in the Big Bad's plan and is bleeding to death with no chance of getting healed anymore. He challenges the good guys to a fight just because.
    Wrath: It's nice to be face-to-face with death every once in a while. Right now, the only thing in my mind is the fact that I'll fight to the death with you. Social status, career, origin, race, gender, name... none of that matters. Not being bound by anyone and fighting just for the sake of it. How astounding. I've finally reached this stage.
  • Solf J. Kimblee. Not only is his detonation-based alchemy designed primarily for combat, but he willingly lays his very existence on the line by intentionally orchestrating violent conflicts and battles simply to see which race will survive in the end — humans or Homunculi.
  • Slicer from the Fifth Laboratory arc frequently gives his "prey" the location of his weakspot for the sake of a challenging fight.
• Gantz's Kaze is a perfect example for the Eastern 'wandering warrior.' Also Izumi doesn't fight to revive someone or be freed, he only feels alive when fighting/hunting.
• The Garden of Sinners's Shiki is a fusion of this and Sociopathic Hero. She loves killing people who are worth killing, but dislikes killing those who won't effectively fight back, as well as fighting when it's not to the death. At one point she laments something along the lines of: "I thought it would be fun to kill you, but it turns out that I simply dislike the fact that you exist, so I'll make this quick." The novel goes into much more detail on her reasons for being so than the anime, but both versions are explained in-story: Following the suicide of her second personality and subsequent two-years-long coma, Shiki suffered a bad case of disassociation from her old identity, unable to accept the memories of her past self as her own. Lacking this essential context, Shiki's new life is empty and apathetic, which she compares to not being alive at all — except in situations of extreme physical and psychological stress, like a pitched battle to the death. In other words, it's not so much that Shiki loves fighting as such, but rather, she hates her inner emptiness so much, she desperately grasps at any action that makes her feel anchored in the world again, with lethal violence being the tried and true solution.
• Kurodo Akabane from Get Backers is a perfect example; he only takes on Transporter assignments that can provide him with "the greatest possible amount of amusement" through the conflicts that inevitably ensue.
• Kamui of Gintama is this with a generous helping of Ax-Crazy.
• Pretty much any of the delinquent characters in GTO: The Early Years, which is almost all of the males.
  • The Onibaku duo didn't get as infamous as they are by being reluctant to fight. Onizuka can be a One-Man Army when he needs to.
  • The Kamakura Wild Dogs too, especially Saejima.
  • Fumiya and his cronies from Kyokuto High School are more violent than any previously seen in the series, and Fumiya actually brings a knife to a fist fight (and uses it).
  • Katsuyuki is so violent (beating people up as a greeting) that even the Onibaku are embarrassed to be associated with him. He idolizes them, though.
  • Yasha uses a wooden katana to beat rival gang members.
  • Akutsu went to prison for nearly burning someone to death and attempts to finish the job once he gets out.
• Gundam:
  • Char Aznable and Zechs Merquise are dedicated warriors, finding their only true purpose in battle. Even better examples are Domon Kasshu and Master Asia, though they don't seek to kill their opponents, their main purpose to live is to fight and therefore show their feelings. Domon in particular admits that the only way he knows to express his feelings is by punching people.
  • Gym Ghingnham from ∀ Gundam. In Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden, he even blatantly admits it.
  • The brutal Ali Al-Saachez of Gundam 00 has no qualms against admitting that all he lives for is war, and fears the day that men like him will no longer be necessary. During his final battle with Lockon Stratos, he is asked why he carried out a series of bombings in Ireland some years ago. His response? "Because I'm a mercenary, It's What I Do!'' It's worth noting Ali doesn't so much love to fight as love to kill and destroy and generally wage war. Far from loving a good fight he actively gets angry if his opponent is matching him and will pull cheap shots as a result. It's what seperates him from Graham. While he wants a glorious battle with Setsuna and only gets more happy as Setsuna's skills improve because it makes their duels all the more fun when he's keeping Graham on his toes, Ali just gets pissed when he can't effortlessly bully Setsuna into submission anymore in season 2.
  • Desil Galette from Gundam Age is quite possibly WORSE than Ali when it comes to this trope. He believes that wars are fun and that the soldiers and mobile suits are his toys. During episode 14, Flit asks why he killed Yurin. He admits that there was no reason; to Desil, it just meant that he lost another toy.
  • Yazan Gable of Zeta Gundam is almost as bad as Ali. He specifically joined the army so he'd get the chance to fight and kill AEUG members. Yazan is a more rational fighter than most Blood Knights, though.
  • Dorothy Catalonia of Gundam Wing is a female example, obsessed with the glory of war. She controls Zechs' mobile dolls for him, watches battles with almost orgasmic fervour, and in her final duel with Quatre seems to be actively trying to get him to kill her. Possibly subverted by Treize Khushreneda; he claims to be a Blood Knight but it may well have been a pose.
  • The "Boosted Men" of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED are this. They're drugged up super soldiers kept loyal by the torturously painful and fatal withdrawal symptoms, but its clear that they also just enjoy fighting and killing and put up with Azrael's denigrations because he gives them a chance to do so. Their successors in the sequel, the Extended, are more stable (if less effective), with only Auel shown to be killing for fun.
• Hajime no Ippo:
  • Ryuuhei Sawamura doesn't fight to win, he fights to torture his opponents. Only after his fight with Ippo does he start wanting to win.
  • A good case can be made for Ryo Mashiba, too. He might be slightly less blood-oriented, but still more than enough to qualify.
  • Takeshi Sendo is the one example that isn't a sociopath, channeling the trope into hunting down delinquents and protecting the weak instead. The guy lives to fight and in fact was brought into boxing by his trainer after street fights proved too boring. Hilariously, he even tries to explain to Ippo once that he's this trope without sounding like a dumb brute - He doesn't exactly succeed.
• Hakuron (doubling as Domestic Abuser and prospect Combat Sadomasochist) and Di Long from Haou Airen are the rare Shoujo manga example. Justified since both of them are Triad members and their fighting skills are what brought them as high in the hierarchy as they are.
• Ju Ensuu from Hayate × Blade cares not for prestige or ranking, and is so obsessed with fighting her "same kind" Ayana that she throws all restrictions out the window when finally seeing the latter after a long wait. It takes some quick reflexes and two of the strongest people in school to hold her back.
• Hellsing: Oh, where to begin: Alucard, Alexander Anderson, basically all of the members of Millennium as well as several additional members in both the Hellsing and Iscariot organizations, the list goes on and on. Pick any random character in Hellsing, and he or she is probably a blood knight (except Seras Victoria). The Major takes it beyond Ax-Crazy and has a five-minute long speech about how much he absolutely loves war - not just winning wars, but even suffering humiliating defeat so long as someone is suffering. Alucard himself is even willingly to let certain humans actually kill him if they prove to be badass enough.
  • Pip Bernadotte comes from a line of blood knights. According to his grandfather, the men of his family have been "fighting for pennies" since the time of his "grandfather's grandfather's grandfather" but implies that they're mercenaries because it lets them earn a living from fighting. Pip proves to be more battle hungry than even his vampire crush Seras.
  • This trope is discussed and deconstructed by Arthur Hellsing in a flashback. After seeing such "monsters" like Alucard hanging around battlefields for so long, Arthur Hellsing came to the conclusion that these blood knights were "frail, sobbing children" who just wanted to die. Indeed, Alucard believes that Humans Are Special and if he's going to fall, it has to be by a human's hands.
  • While she’s only one to truly avert it, Seras still becomes overly excited when tapping into her vampirism. She loses the blood lust immediately after calming down though.
• The Heroic Tribe in Heroic Age were a race of Kaiju who apparently had little desire to do anything else but fight each other. They annihilated entire star systems in their civil war, and by the time the Golden Tribe put a stop to their fighting, only five individuals of the species remained.
• Prussia of Hetalia: Axis Powers in spades: He started as the personification of The Teutonic Knights, and was a boisterous and very Cute Bruiser. As an adult, becoming the personification of the Kingdom of Prussia, he went out of his way to advance himself through war and fighting, strictly avoiding making alliances and marriage. An army with a country, indeed.
• High School D×D:
  • Given a choice between sex and a fight, Vali Lucifer would choose a fight. He hates being born into a time of relative peace and commented that he would commit suicide if the world ran out of Worthy Opponents to face.
  • The entire "Hero" faction of the Khaos Brigade has this as a secondary motivation: they're full-blooded human descendants of legendary heroes who, in addition to defending humanity from supernatural threats, also just want to see how far they can push their strength against all these gods, demons, and dragons.
• Highschool of the Dead: Saeko Busujima turns out to be one. Takashi also has hints of becoming one.
• Himeji in Himawari! loves fighting and things blowing up, even without an actual goal. She's on the side of the good guys, so she's reined in a little bit, but when investigating an explosion at the nearby boys' ninja school, she wishes she could've been there to see how the school blew up. Not to investigate the cause, just to see the wonderful explosion.
• Hoshin Engi:
  • Nataku is a bit of a Sociopathic Hero who only cares about fighting strong opponents and has nearly zero interest in anything else aside from his mother. Except when she is involved, his immediate solution in any situation is to attack, and when he is not fighting, he is trying to get stronger to be able to face stronger opponents.
  • Chokomei might not look like it at first sight, but he enjoys nothing more than a good fight. Contrary to most of the cast, he doesn't even have a particular reason to participate in the conflict, he just thinks that fights are beautiful on their own and don't need a reason to happen. He even petrify Supushan to provoke Taikobo, who he considers a Worthy Opponent, into fighting him seriously instead of half-assing it like he usually does.
• Hisoka from Hunter × Hunter is a rather standout example of this. His sole purpose is to find the strongest opponents he can and either kill them or be killed by them. Although he has a rather narrower focus than most: once he has selected his target, he'll patiently stalk them for years, if necessary, in order to get his fight. Even if he finds other strong opponents in that time period, he'll usually pass them over in favour of continuing to stalk his chosen target. Also has the distinction of raising up, and protecting to a certain degree, young fighters he thinks might give him a good fight in the future — he calls them "unripe fruit", although there are hints of a, uhm, somewhat unhealthier interest in them as well.
• Hakufu from Ikki Tousen is another example; in a series full of You Can't Fight Fate and Serious Business replays of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, she's an Idiot Heroine who only wants to beat her opponents bloody in a nice, friendly way.
• Imaizumin-chi wa Douyara Gal no Tamariba ni Natteru Rashii: ~DEEP~: Tsutsumi Mari used to find punks in alleyways and beat them up because of own impulses, before becoming Ruri's servant, as she's clam near her. She's still prone to violence.
• Inuyasha qualifies as one particularly when he goes berserk. The entire Band of Seven are blood knights. Particularly Jakotsu.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • The Pillar Man Wamuu relishes finding a Worthy Opponent to fight and kill. So much so that Joseph Joestar is able to convince Wamuu to spare his life by promising to get stronger and fight him someday. Esidci and Kars similarly thought Joseph’s pragmatism was wonderful and expressed their fun while fighting him.
  • Ringo Roadagain's entire reason of living is to fight honorable fights to the death. He also goes well out of his way to ensure that the duel's results are only based on the fighters' skills, and not on random chance - specifically, by using his time-rewinding power to completely eliminate the element of surprise from everyone's attacks. But not before he explains exactly how his power works and how he himself acts before the battle even begins.
• Jujutsu Kaisen: Hanami is normally passive and reserved for a cursed spirit, but much to his own surprise he begins to enjoy the thrill of battle once he starts fighting Yuji and Todo, even as the duo momentarily dominate the fight.
• Sukuna in K: Return of Kings is like this, and implied to be too young to really understand what he's doing.
• Kekkaishi has Kaguro from Kokuborou who's fixated on fighting Yoshimori at his full power even killed his best friend to do so. To a lesser extent, Gagin, a fellow fighter, is elated when he gets the chance to fight strong opponents except when losing to weak humans.
• Assassin Ken Hidaka starts Knight Hunters as a genuinely nice guy, but eventually goes crazy and begins to enjoy killing people. At one point, after he's been decommissioned, he begs two of his friends to start assigning him missions again so that he can kill people with a clear conscience.
• In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2016), pulling the Master Sword awakens in Link a thrill for combat that persists to some extent even after getting over his power trip. He genuinely enjoys his Training from Hell; and in an Ironic Echo of the story's beginning, he briefly wishes his duel with Ganondorf would last forever, as he's never felt more alive.
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • Both Nanoha and Signum absolutely love fighting. It's reassuring to know that both of them are good guys, but that won't stop either of them from enjoying a good fight. Adding to that is the fact that the two are generally seen as the two strongest mages of the cast. In the manga, we even get to see a flashback glimpse of a time where they actually fought each other. Let's just say that both of them had extremely over-the-top bloodthirsty looks on their faces.
  • Nanoha's status as a Blood Knight was only minimal at first, but after the aforementioned training fight scene with Signum (that had to be stopped due to both of them getting "too into it"). Fans have never forgotten about it.
  • Veyron. His introductory chapter in Force has him constantly laughing and generally enjoying himself as he trades blows with Tohma in a church shootout.
  • His "sibling", Cypha, also tends to flash out Grimmjow-esque grins whenever fighting, harming, and/or killing something. Unsurprisingly, she and Signum are slowly developing a sort of rivalry.
• In Mahou Shoujo Pretty Bell the demon "Mad Dog" Sakura goes to fight Atsushi not to advance the demons' agenda but because he likes fighting strong opponents. When the other demons want him to kill his Worthy Opponent, he turns on them.
• May I Ask for One Final Thing?: Protagonist Scarlet El Vandimion, daughter of ducal house Vandimion, (initial) fiancée to second prince Kyle von Pallistan, loves nothing more than hitting people who've pissed her off. This list includes, but is not limited to, childhood bullies, invading monsters, slavetraders, slavetakers, corrupt aristocrats, manipulative would-be otome genre protagonists, and second prince Kyle von Pallistan (all of whom had it coming).
• Mazinger Z: Several Mechanical Beasts -like Spartan K-5, whose A. I. was patterned after gladiators and barbarian warriors- loved fighting with whoever was capable of challenging them.
• MD Geist fits this trope perfectly. He joined a group of freedom fighters who were trying to stop the military from releasing a horde of doomsday machines called the Death Force. After Geist kills all the bad guys, he releases the Death Force anyway so he'll still have something to fight!
• Turkes Verafoult from Mother Keeper, the first time we see him he is terrorising Eden and killing anyone he can get his hands on. He's overjoyed to get in a fight with Ricalna and is extremely eager to fight him whenever possible.
• My Hero Academia:
  • Muscular's only passion in life is participating in bloody fights to the death. He joined the League of Villains for that purpose and doesn't care for their cause at all. He doesn't even care for revenge either. The reason he likes Midoriya is because the hero was the only opponent who could put up a thrilling fight against Muscular.
  • Rappa, one of the Eight Expendables from the Internship Arc LOVES fighting to the point where he alienated himself from his family and had to fight in underground fight clubs to state his need for battle. He even openly admits that he only follows Overhaul for the chance to beat him in a fight, as the latter had been the only one to best him until his clash with Fat Gum and Kirishima. After Fat Gum beats him, he even directs him and Kirishima to their infirmary so they can tend to their wounds in the hopes of fighting them again one day.
• Naruto:
  • Zabuza is one as well, going at a whole horde of armed men with just a kunai in his mouth (since Kakashi disabled his arms), then savagely attacks Gato and either beheads him (manga) or stabs him and kicks him off a bridge (anime), despite having a few spears and swords stuck in his back.
  • Kisame is a rare mix of this and Affably Evil: he may be polite, but he also has a great love of fighting and mutilating his opponents. When he was told that he needed to capture Naruto alive, he suggested cutting off his legs so he couldn't get away and would be easier to carry. While the databooks mention who characters want to fight, his entry says "anyone". However, we do eventually find out that he's also somewhat of an Anti-Villain who's in Akatsuki primarily because he wants to see Tobi's "world of truth".
  • Suigetsu of Sasuke's Team Snake/Hawk has shades of this, too, given that he initially intends to kill Sasuke if he gets the chance, complains when Sasuke tells him not to kill the prisoners that get in the way while searching for Jugo, and has the backstory of being a murder prodigy who liked hacking off people's limbs before he killed them. His general motivation for all this is about a hair away from For the Evulz.
  • Hidan seems to live for absolutely nothing but bloodshed and slaughter, to a seriously fucked-up degree.
  • In the past, there was the entire Kaguya clan except Kimimaro. They all ended up dying out because they spontaneously decided to attack the Village Hidden in the Mist down to their last man (minus Kimimaro, who never joined in) without any strategy, just so they could kill people.
  • Surprisingly Naruto was one before becoming the next messiah, as he was elated to hear Zabuza was alive and he considered him a strong enemy.
  • Nagato/Pain was this as well. According to the databooks, Pain wanted to fight Naruto in his Kyuubi form. This explains why he almost killed Hinata in front of Naruto, especially right after she sincerely confessed her love to him; Pain knew that it would piss off Naruto enough for him to unleash the Kyuubi.
  • Gaara was this before becoming a more well-balanced person with Naruto's help.
  • The second Mizukage was one as well.
  • Madara Uchiha is this as he and announces that he sees the world as mere "entertainment". Upon sensing the presence of Edo-Tensei Hashirama, he ditches his plan in favor of being able to fight Hashirama his Worthy Opponent once again as it brings him very great excitement. He even gets to the point of letting himself almost get killed because he wanted to see the full abilities of Guy's eighth gate.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
  • Kotaro is a self-admitted example... mostly because, as he admits, fighting is really the only thing he knows. Once he does a Heel–Face Turn this is turned more into a love of testing his strength, while fighting for his friends. In this respect, as in many others, Kotarou is a Generation Xerox of Negi's father's rival, Jack Rakan. When Rakan dies, his last words are to tell his killer that it was fun, and he should really learn to enjoy this sort of thing more.
  • The series also has a much darker version of this in Kotarou's former partner Tsukuyomi, who gets her fix from killing innocents or taking on the strongest men and women she can find.
  • Akamatsu once made a point through Anti-Villain Wilhelm about the advantage of being blood-thirsty and fight-happy because there simply isn't any logical reason to do so otherwise; if one can't fight all-out, then there's no reason to fight at all.
  • Fate, of all people, eventually turns into one — though only when it's about fighting Negi.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion:
  • Asuka Langley Soryu in the anime and manga appears to fall under this category at first, but she's actually a subversion. While she appears to enjoy the heat of battle against the Angels, she doesn't fight out of a true warrior spirit — rather, she's really trying to upstage and surpass everyone else to draw attention to her because she is frightened of being alone and ignored. Unfortunately, Shinji (unintentionally) starts to outshine her, which begins to gnaw at her resolve. Worse, she's only being used on the condition that she can pilot an Eva. If she falters, she's going to be tossed aside. Unfortunately, she suffers a horrific failure in battle that leaves her in turmoil... followed by a diabolical assault on her mind.
  • Mari Illustrious Makinami from the Rebuild of Evangelion series seems to be a straighter example. At one point she even asks Shinji why he doesn't want to fight because fighting is so much fun.
• Tsuchigumo from Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, who doesn't care about joining any group in the series and only cares about fighting strong warriors. He's also The Juggernaut which make him very hard to beat.
• One Piece:
  • During his normal day, Roronoa Zoro does nothing but drink, sleep, and get lost when he's going around anywhere. Then someone wielding a sword pops out and... magic! Zoro becomes super energetic, draws his three (3!!) swords and starts to happily swing them. Which usually results into his enemy being sliced up pretty well. He often says he loves the fights; he can be really brutal; and, after all, his dream is to become the world's best swordsman (but, okay, that's to fulfill a promise to his long dead childhood friend). In Dressrosa Zoro was extremely disappointed he wasn't involved in the Gladiator Games.
  • Most swordsmen not aligned with The Government, being Daz Bones, Ryuuma and Ohm. Kaku is an affable exception, though.
  • Dracule Mihawk. The World's Greatest Swordsman, he has no crew, area of influence, or ongoing schemes. His only interest is fighting strong enemies — which is why he's perpetually bored, because, as the strongest swordsman on the planet, what would count as 'strong' for him is short in supply. The entire reason he even took an interest in Zoro is because he believes Zoro has the potential to become the challenge he's been seeking.
  • Rob Lucci from Cipher Pol is one taken to the evil extreme, he states to Spandam the only reason he follows orders is because The Government lets him kill people. When fighting Luffy, Lucci even uses his Animorphism Devil Fruit power to maul Luffy's shoulder as a leopard. Wolf Man Jabra from the same organisation is a lesser one while he takes delight in hunting foes, he prefers to kill them quickly, still that doesn't stop him licking his lips like a hungry wolf when a good fight (i.e Sanji) comes his way. Since both Lucci and Jabra are Carnivorous Zoans this blood thirsty nature is probably a given. According to Chopper, Carnivorous Zoans are naturally more vicious in combat as a result.
  • Luffy can be considered one as well. It's obvious that his two best talents are eating and fighting, not to mention how he solves most problems with violence. He (along with Zoro) also had the desire to fight Burgess at Mock Town in the Jaya Arc simply because Burgess was a "champion". Luffy also took part in Dressrosa Gladiator Games and expressed that he couldn't wait to fight. When it does show him fighting, he's having the time of his life with a big grin on his face. In Whole Cake Island Luffy states his desire to grow stronger and beat Katakuri seeing him as a Worthy Opponent, and Luffy manages to do so. This love of combat is further shown in Wano where Luffy many times gets a Slasher Smile while wrecking Kaido's Mooks and happily took part in a Sumo Wrestling competition.
  • Sanji seems like he averts this despite being a Chef of Iron, it usually takes his foes really pissing him off to incite a fight and unlike Zoro and Luffy, Sanji will pragmatically avoid needless fights when he can. However in midst of battle Sanji puts up no pretense, he cracked a Slasher Smile when kicking buildings at Oars and earlier on told Luffy not to hog all the Mooks to himself in Arlong Park and even thanked Mr. 2 Bon Clay after beating him, showing that he does actually enjoy a good scrape. Sanji also took part in a dinosaur hunting competition with Zoro and refused back down from the Davy Back Fight mainly due to this trope. Ironically as a kid Sanji was the Black Sheep in his family for being compassionate and disposed to combat.
  • Eustass Kid is the most vicious and bloodthirsty of the Worst Generation, long beyond the point of common sense. He's disappointed that he didn't get a chance to participate in the Battle of Marineford when he hears about it, and picks as many fights as he can once he reaches the New World. Of the four people who were in the running for the title of World's Strongest Man at the time, the only one he didn't intentionally provoke was Blackbeard, and that was simply due to lack of opportunity. He attacks Big Mom's subordinates at the first opportunity, and when Kaido shows up in front of Kid and two of his peers, Kid decides to fight Kaido even after the other two swear loyalty to him, then attempted to kill several of Shanks's subordinates to get his attention. Kid's philosophy when it comes to picking his battles is to pick all of them. It bites him in the back when Shanks, incensed at his attempt to kill his subordinates, effortlessly beats him, destroys his ship, and leaves him to drown.
  • Niji Sanji's older brother is this trope being the most sadistic out of his already inhuman brothers, Niji relishes hurting others and is gleeful during battles. Niji also enjoys hurting weaker foes such beating poor Cosette half to death with a Slasher Smile all to get back at Sanji.
  • Jesus Burgess loves to fight and considers himself a "champion". On his first appearance, he's shown going around town and fighting random people simply because he felt like it. Not to mention that when he is shown fighting, he always has a huge smile on his face. A Blood Knight indeed. Though it’s clear Burgess is a Dirty Coward and Sore Loser as well given he tried killing Luffy when he was weakened and he called in the Blackbeard Pirates to attack the Revolutionaries after Sabo kicked his ass.
  • Donquixote Doflamingo fitting his Ax-Crazy nature absolutely relishes bloodshed, murder and chaos to sadistic degrees as seen in Marineford where amidst all the fighting and death he's just laughing with glee like a maniac. He also has near permanent Slasher Smile plastered on his face while he commits violence, in Dressrosa he even punished brutally punished a gladiator for not shedding any blood for the spectators of his Colosseum fights and casually licked some of the blood from his gladiator victim off his own face. Doffy also shows enjoyment when fighting the likes of Sanji, Law and Luffy mocking complimenting their strength, though when Luffy does start overpowering him with Gear 4, Doffy becomes quite annoyed. Evidently it's more about the thrill of the violence, than the fight itself for Doflamingo.
  • Dice The Brute from One Piece Film: Gold is a extreme example as he takes way too much pleasure in giving and receiving pain. It's suggested at multiple times that getting hit hard is enough by the heroes turns him right on to their disgust.
  • Many members of the Charlotte Family, but the Ax-Crazy Cracker is foremost example of this trope and there's Katakuri who wounded himself on purpose during his fight with Luffy, when he learned that Luffy had been unable to avoid his stabbing attack due to outside interference.
  • Emperor Kaido is this too given he nearly joined in on Marineford before being stopped by Shanks. In his first appearance in the manga he declared to the everybody present that he was going to start another war and Kaido is also a Death Seeker wanting to test his Nigh-Invulnerability out of boredom. However conversely while Kaido likes conflict he doesn’t want needless damage to his country which is why he did his best to keep Big Mom out of Wano. Kaido is also a surprisingly honorable Blood Knight as seen when he fought Worthy Opponent Oden Kozuki and a henchwoman tricked the latter into defeat, Kaido killed her and even apologized to Oden during his execution. Then there's recent events in Onigashima where Kaido reveals his plan for "Final War" against The World Government and the finding Ancient Weapons along with One Piece, and starts off by killing Shogun Orochi (whom he previously worked with) and turning Wano into a pirate nation aka a "Lawless Area" or in his worlds a "paradise".
  • One of Kaido's Co-Dragons Queen is a Blood Knight as he arranges Gladiator Games in Kaido's prison and is delighted to see Luffy's abilities in the arena. Although Queen does eventually get fed up and angry with at how long Luffy is surviving in the arena.
• One-Punch Man:
  • Saitama took on the job of being a superhero for fun. Sadly for him, he can't enjoy fights, since most enemies can't withstand more than one punch from him. Actually, the first serious punch from him was able to overpower a planet-busting attack,kill the attacker and create a continent-sized gap in the clouds behind him. . And, according to his enemy, he was still holding back.
  • Boros, the first enemy able to withstand more than one punch from Saitama (mostly due to his regeneration powers keeping him alive), searched the entire universe for a worthy opponent. Well, he definitely found one. Not that he was complaining; as the fight with Saitama goes on, and Saitama keeps overpowering everything Boros does, Boros just gets more and more excited and gleeful. However, he's so happy that he doesn't notice that after the first exchange Saitama is clearly bored and disappointed. He ends up pushing himself harder and harder as he realizes Saitama isn't even struggling and by the end completely exhausts himself. During his final speech he's somewhere between satisfied that he was able to go all out and disappointed that he wasn't even close to a match for Saitama.
  • Tatsumaki, the No. 2 S-Class Hero. While she normally doesn't appear to be this, it's shown that on her off days from the Association she quickly gets bored of the monotony and willing goes out to find powerful monsters to kill. In fact, one time she did this she nearly went crazy because every monster she found Saitama had already killed before she finally nailed a small-fry to sate her boredom. Hilariously, she often kills monsters just as easily as Saitama can.
  • Subverted with Superalloy Darkshine/Blackluster. He thought that he wanted someone that could push him to use 100% of his massive strength and have a good battle with, but when Garou starts to match or even surpass him, he loses his will to fight. The truth of the matter is he wanted an enemy that would push him to use his full strength but not have a serious chance of actually winning. He wanted something to prop up his secretly fragile self esteem, so when he came across a real challenge he got scared. After being beaten, he starts to get paranoid, not excited, about there being people that could beat him no matter how hard he trains.
• Kajiwara Ryou from Popcorn Avatar. He's only joined the Avatar fight because "it was fun", and loves a good scrap.
• The Prince of Tennis:
  • Kirihara Akaya takes this as far as the refs are willing to go. In the anime, he gets a bit nicer and less violent, but in the manga he stays just as psychotic... if even more so. It doesn't help that his team condones that, to some degree
  • Tachibana Kippei started out like this, but cleaned up after injuring and almost blinding his best friend.
  • The Higa players seem to enjoy injuring their rivals if they can. To be fair, it's done per instructions of their Sadist Teacher of a coach, but they still do it with a smile — specially Kai Yuujiro.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica:
  • Kyoko is a rare female, Magical Girl example. She gets better, though.
  • Kyoko's foil Sayaka, interestingly, evolves into this example from being The Cape as the weight of all that being a Magical Girl entails bears down on her psyche, mostly after Episode 6. Unlike Kyoko, she gets worse, culminating into becoming a Witch at the end of Episode 8.
• Most of the characters of Ranma ½ hit this trope to some degree or another at various times.
• Rave Master:
  • Let, the dragon dude. He won't even use Shadow Stones when he was one of King's elite guard.
  • Uta an embodiment of this trope, Megido as well as Beryl.
• Reborn! (2004), Superbi Squalo is the Varia's resident swordsman and second-in-command to Xanxus. He went on a killing spree when he was young to absorb news style to perfect his own.
• Rebuild World: The Ninja Maid Kanae, one of Reina's bodyguards, is this. She was Recruited from the Gutter alongside her sister Shiori and put in a Lion Steel MegaCorp brainwashing and training program to make obedient servants. Kanae seems like a bubbly Genki Girl and informal tomboy, but Beneath the Mask when she's fighting a human opponent, she reveals a cold disdainful side. At first, Kanae is more interested in provoking fights than guarding her charge Reina, but after she comes to respect Reina's Character Development, she's even willing to do a Heroic Sacrifice for her.
• Recordof Ragnarok's premise rests upon a set of thirteen duels between the finest warriors the world's divine pantheons and the history of mankind can hope to yield. As such, there is no shortage of warriors with a taste for battle on either side of the conflict:
  • On humanity's side, Lu Bu, the strongest warrior in China's history, had in life become so bored due to being unable to find an opponent strong enough to challenge him, he let himself get hanged to get it over with. Safe to say, the prospect of facing a god of simmilar disposition allows him to enjoy himself for the first time in his existence.
  • Lu Bu's opponent, Thor, suffered from a similar issue, being one of the strongest gods period and having defeated most of his previous opponents with a single hit from Mjolnir. After finding Lu Bu to be strong enough to have a proper fight, he even asks the mortal not to die before they've both had their fun.
  • Zeus, the ruler of the gods, gets so excited at the mere prospect of showing off his prowess he rips the head off of a massive dragon just because, and cannot hold himself back from fighting as soon as possible, bullying Shiva out of the second fight despite it being his turn. When fighting Adam, who can mirror anything Zeus tries to do, and is therefore a near equal copy of the God-Father, Zeus is besides himself with joy.
  • Shiva, the god of destruction, finds worthy combat to be one of his favourite pastimes, and is more than eager to fight after hacing been passed over by the Greek gods for several turns. He outright states that his blood is running hotter than in the last couple of millenia, which turns out not to be a metaphor.
• Ginei Morioka of Rosario + Vampire used to be like this. "No wonder they call him 'Mad Dog Morioka!'." Then San whacked him upside the head with her notebook, screamed in his ear, and basically cleared him up.
• Rurouni Kenshin has a few examples. The best example would be Sanosuke, who in the beginning of the series is a fighter for hire who determines his rate by how much he enjoyed the fight. After getting his ass handed to him by Kenshin, he decides to quit being a fighter for hire, but he still enjoys fighting. Then there's Shinomori Aoshi, who has a stone-cold desire for battle and to prove that he and his Quirky Miniboss Squad are the strongest around. Saitou has elements of this, as he wishes to conclude his fight with Kenshin from the Bakumatsu.
• Saint Seiya's had a couple of these, with both Cancer Deathmask and his 18th Century equivalent Manigoldo loving to fight and then kill opponents. However, the REALLY HARDCORE Blood Knight in Lost Canvas was Scorpio Kardia, who doesn't just want to kill his opponents, but wants them to suffer at every point along the way.
• Mugen in Samurai Champloo frequently ditches his companions to go out and challenge the various tough guys he hears about on the journey. And while he's not as in-your-face about it due to his stoic personality, Jin is every bit as much of a Blood Knight as Mugen. They both live for duels to the death, and fully intend to finish their own interrupted duel once their quest ends, because they've just got to know who's better. A handful of the antagonists also have this trait, particularly Shouryuu, the renegade, psychotic samurai whose goal is to get everyone to realize what a great fighter he is by hunting down, challenging, and killing all the best fighters in the region.
• Most of the characters in Samurai Deeper Kyo, but notably the titular character.
• In the manga of Sands of Destruction, Morte enjoys fighting to the point of being an Omnicidal Maniac. So long as she's destroying something, she's happy. Averted in the anime adaptation, where she's still an Action Girl with a Hair-Trigger Temper, but doesn't seem to enjoy fighting so much as see it as a means to an end.
• Benares from 3×3 Eyes is exactly this, up to the point of leaving his master unprotected in the final battle just to join the bigger fight... Although the anime is too short to give him that much personality.
• #04 "Karasuba", from Sekirei. Karasuba is one of the most powerful of the Sekirei, and greatly feared by the others because of her skill with a sword and ruthlessness in battle. She is the primary enforcer for the Big Bad, having served on the Discipline Squad through all three of it's incarnations. Charged with enforcing the rules of the Sekirei Plan, she variously hunts down those that violate the rules or attempt to flee the capital and has earned a completely accurate reputation as a Hero Killer as a direct result. Known as the "Black Sekirei", the most frightening thing about her is not her love of battle — she's also an Omnicidal Maniac, and her desire to see Musubi reach her full potential is the only thing holding Karasuba in check. Most Sekirei aren't strong enough to excite her, so she's been grooming Musubi from childhood to become strong enough to provide a real challenge. They've promised to become the final two, and decide the fate of the world with their battle — if Karasuba wins, she intends to destroy it.
• In the anime selector infected WIXOSS, Ruko Kominato's LRIG Tama, spends most of the first episode saying the word "battle" with eagerness.
• ST☆R: Strike it Rich: Hina is trying to find fighters strong enough to pose a challenge for her. After Nozomi manages to impress her, she wants a rematch, despite Nozomi not being interested.
• Kamjin/Quamzin from Super Dimension Fortress Macross and his Expy Tehmzin from Macross Frontier are pretty good examples. Kamjin was known as "Kamjin the Ally Killer" for his reckless tactics and ended up fighting a guerilla war rather than accept peace, not because of any attachment to the old Zentradi regime but simply because he thinks peace is boring. Tehmzin tried to incite a mutiny among Zentradi NUNS personnel for pretty much the same reasons.
• Luo-Long from Sword of the Stranger works this angle extremely hard. He's a European amid a group of hand-picked Ming Dynasty Chinese warriors, headed by an ancient noble who despises Luo-Long as a "Western barbarian". The old man's distaste really says something about Luo-Long's skill, that he was still chosen to come along. For his part, Luo-Long has access to painkillers that completely kill pain but don't slow down reflexes or the like, but doesn't use them because a fight wouldn't be interesting using them. He'll fight people just for fun (down to attacking a stranger just because the man has a sword) and it's implied he's a blond-haired, blue-eyed European hanging out in the court of the Ming Emperor because he was given asylum. He also hates the task he's a part of, as it means he hasn't fought anyone really worthwhile for a long time, and won't for the foreseeable future. It's only when he sees the hero fight that he thinks this whole trip from China to Japan has been worth it.
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:
  • Lordgenome may count. Granted, many centuries of his life he just sits on his throne while surrounded by an infinite supply of consorts as RULER OF THE ENTIRE EARTH. However, if there's a rebellion that manages to get to him not counting the only one ever shown (now doubt others happened before this one) by the Dai-Gurren Brigade, he gets off his lazy ass and defeats them himself. Oh, and his head catches on fire in the heat of battle from his pure, raw manliness. Granted, he was defeated by Simon in the end, he did it in style. After some fighting, his mech is destroyed. What does he do? He scolds himself for relying on that stupid robot and destroys his opponent's mech bare handed.
  • In Parallel Works 8, which shows his backstory, it shows him at war with the Anti-Spiral, as General of at least 1/4 of THE ENTIRE WORLD'S ARMY. The war goes on for centuries and eventually the Anti-Spiral shows Lordgenome the Spiral Nemesis. In order to save the universe, he gives in. However, none of his millions upon millions of soldiers agree with him, so he kills every single one of them SINGLE HANDEDLY.
• Zebra from Toriko. He especially enjoys picking fights with Toriko since Toriko is one of the few people close to Zebra's weight class.
• Trigun. Rai-Dei the Blade fights Vash the Stampede to find "the knowledge known only by those who face death". However, when he does face his death the only thing he finds is terror.
• Tsukihime:
  • The "Nanaya" side of Shiki Tohno shows this. His assassination skills are meant for non-humans only, but he really loves his job. Whenever he physically manifests, he is always depicted as a badass murderous sociopath, although technically that's the manifestation of Shiki's fear of his "Nanaya" side rather than the personality itself, so its exaggerated.
  • Kiri Nanaya, Shiki's father, showed this trope once. In his first meeting with a young Kouma Kishima, he blinded one eye, but did not kill him because he knew someday he would give Kiri the fight of his life. The last fight of his life, as it turned out.
• Twin Star Exorcists has Kamui, who downright stated fighting was his only hobby and enjoyment in life.
• Vagabond is so full of these, that it's probably safe to say that most of the series' major fighters have some shades of this. The main character Miyamoto Musashi wanders Japan seeking fights with as many powerful opponents as he can, but he is not the series straightest example as he's also driven by other motives. Other main character Sasaki Kojiro is maybe the series straightest example, as he absolutely relishes fighting, but unlike Musashi cares little for the glory.
• Q-Vier of Valvrave the Liberator is a 14-year-old Keet who's lived most of his life in an assassin training facility and been taught thousands of ways to kill. The result is unsettling, to say the least, and sad.
• Vinland Saga: It can be argued that nearly every single character is a Blood Knight to one degree or another. After all, they are Vikings. Thorkell the Tall takes the cake though, as his entire reason for choosing a side was who would provide the better fight. And when he sees an even better fight, he changes sides immediately. He looks kind of like a Danish Kenpachi as well.
• Dilandau of The Vision of Escaflowne takes war to insane levels of glee, which we see especially during his fight in the Dutchy of Freid. He loves destruction, burning, torture, blood, violence, and death of any kind (but war is optional).
• Voltes V: While Heinel has a tendency to use Appeal to Force, he's happy to engage in combat if his opponent has a sword too. In his duel with Kenichi, he's clearly having fun and laughing. He also seems offended when Katherine intervenes and saves his life after both him and Kenichi fall in the water.
• YuYu Hakusho:
  • Yusuke Urameshi. Jin and Chu are equally fight-happy (unless it's a cute girl for Chu, at least) and the trio quickly become best buddies.
  • Younger Toguro is definitely one as well as a Death Seeker.
  • Yomi used to be like this, raiding fortresses and ransacking villages for the sheer hell of it. The only problem was that his actions pissed off his Magnificent Bastard partner, Yoko Kurama. Eventually, Yomi pissed Kurama off enough that Kurama decided to cure Yomi of his Blood Knight tendencies in the worst possible way. It works, and Yomi becomes a cold, ruthless and absolutely great Magnificent Bastard who rules a third of the Demon World. However, the ruckus caused by Yusuke and his proposed tournament reignites the fire of his inner Blood Knight...

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