History Main / ImprovFu

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'': During the finale, [[{{Acrofatic}} Po]] uses this when fighting [[BigBad Tai Lung]]. During their battle, Po makes use of a tree, bamboo stems, woks, a fireworks cart -- pretty much anything he can get his hands or feet on. This style of "make it up as you go along" baffles and frustrates the more formally trained Tai Lung.

* Minako Aino in ''Manga/CodenameSailorV'' has shades of this, having gone so far to ''weaponize mosquito-repelling incense'' (to be fair, the youma of the week is a mutant mosquito with an army of the standard insects).

* ''Manga/MobileSuitCrossboneGundam''[='s=] protagonist Tobia Arronax makes extensive use of this, thanks to his being a very quick thinker. His bag of tricks includes including throwing logs ([[GrievousHarmWithABody and enemy machines]]), using a re-entry pod to disguise his attacks, and in one memorable instance [[ItMakesSenseInContext crafting a balloon shaped like a bunch of bananas to distract a group of psychic monkey pilots]].
* This is Luffy's main fighting style from ''Manga/OnePiece'', as he'll use anything available to him so he can win. This causes his opponents to underestimate him because, more often than not, it looks like him fooling around rather than fighting seriously.

%%%* In ''Anime/LagrangeTheFlowerOfRinne'',

* During the finale of the first ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', [[{{Acrofatic}} Po]] uses this when fighting [[BigBad Tai Lung]]. During their battle, Po makes use of a tree, bamboo stems, woks, a fireworks cart -- pretty much anything he can get his hands or feet on. This style of "make it up as you go along" baffles and frustrates the more formally trained Tai Lung.

* In ''Film/KungFuZohra'', the climactic fight between Zohra and Omar (her [[DomesticAbuse violent husband]]) is full of this. They use everything they come across in the apartment from a lamp, a {{rolling pin|Of Doom}} and {{frying pan|Of Doom}}s to [[DoorFu the door of a fridge]] and even a [[WeaponsThatSuck vacuum cleaner]].

* This was comically sent up in the ''Series/AlmostLive'' sketch "Mind Your Manners with Billy Quan." Billy and his antagonist would always fight using items around them as stand-ins for martial arts weapons. (In a computer room, floppy disks became shirukens; in a meat market, links of sausages became nunchaku, etc.)

* ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger''[='s=] Green Ranger, "Doc" Don Doggoier, is a LovableCoward who resorts to tricks like hiding in brush, {{Explosive Barrel}}s, and even breaking out a squeaky mallet at one point. Then there's the episode where [[LetsGetDangerous he mans up]]...

** It has many examples of Improv Fu, but the most egregious one is that a lot of fight scenes throughout the series features the Rangers fighting grunts in a playground and use the equipment to augment their fighting.

** ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'': Ziggy The PluckyComicRelief became a Power Ranger by accident and out of desperation so he had no qualifications or skills to actually be a good fighter. Instead he mostly runs around a fight scene dodging enemies or using nearby props as weapons and ways to protect himself. He gets better at hand to hand throughout the series though.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'': The Drunken Master PrestigeClass is precisely this kind of martial artist. While favoring bottles and tankards, Drunken Masters can use anything (farm implements, furniture, tools, etc.) to fight. As they get better at it, they can use ladders or similar long item as reach weapons, or tables as tower shields.

* In ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonTwo'', if someone or something is threatening Clementine's life, she will survive the encounter, whether that involves running, biting, kicking, using anything that's laying around, or even letting a nearby Zombie have you for lunch. She'll do anything to get out of there alive.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' has [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20160701 Heroic Freestyle]] which involves improvisation and getting hit a lot. Given that the only practitioners we know of are both two-person teams (the Heterodyne Boys and the Hoffmann brothers) it may also be based around team combat.

* Sokka of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is a {{Badass Normal}} warrior in a group where all the other members have ElementalPowers, so he has to work with what he has, be it books, stink bombs, or clouds. His ability to improvise plans was part of the reason the master Piandao accepted him as his student. Creative thinking, in his masterly opinion, is the key to victory.

* During the finale of the first ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', [[AcroFatic Po]] is fighting [[BigBad Tai Lung]] and it is this "style" of making-stuff-up-as-the-fight-progresses that frustrates the latter, who has a complex about being traditionally trained and skilled.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': Ash Ketchum occasionally comes up with these in battles in order to counter a particularly tricky opponent. His most famous and popular one with the fans by far is the Counter Shield technique he developed in the Diamond & Pearl series.

* [[Film/TheBourneSeries Jason Bourne]] is a master at this.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''VideoGame/UltimateMarvelVsCapcom3'': Frank West and Phoenix Wright fight like this because they're {{Badass Normal}} {{Action Survivor}}s in a {{World of Badass}} where everyone else has superpowers or fighting skills befitting soldiers and martial arts masters.
* Clementine is most definitely an ardent practitioner of this in ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonTwo''. If someone or something is threatening her life she will survive the encounter, whether that involves running, biting, kicking, using anything that's laying around or even letting a nearby Zombie have you for lunch. She'll do anything to get out of there alive.

* During the finale of the first ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' [[AcroFatic Po]] is fighting [[BigBad Tai Lung]] and it is this "style" of making-stuff-up-as-the-fight-progresses that frustrates the latter, who has a complex about being traditionally trained and skilled.

* Creator/JackieChan's characters are all about this. This is because the Chan man loves action but dislikes violence so he uses his own style which involves a lot of dodging and using the environment to combat his opponents. He's beaten people up with dresses, folding chairs, Legos, their own clothing, and most infamously a 10' tall stepladder. This is also true for his character in ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures''.
** Chan is essentially the TropeMaker of Improv Fu, which he has done in most of his movies since the late 1970s, dating back to Film/DrunkenMaster in 1978.

* Creator/JackieChan's characters are all about this, and is essentially the TropeMaker of Improv Fu. This is because the Chan man loves action but dislikes violence so he uses his own style which involves a lot of dodging and using the environment to combat his opponents. He's beaten people up with dresses, folding chairs, Legos, their own clothing, and most infamously a 10' tall stepladder. This is also true for his character in ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures''.

* Creator/JackieChan's characters are all about this. This is because the Chan man loves action but dislikes violence so he uses his own style which involves a lot of dodging and using the environment to combat his opponents. He's beaten people up with dresses, folding chairs, Legos, their own clothing, and most infamously a 10' tall stepladder. This is also true for his character in ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures''.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'': The Drunken Master PrestigeClass is precisely this kind of martial artist. While favoring bottles and tankards,
Druken Masters can use anything (farm implements, furniture, tools, etc.) to fight. As they get better at it, they can use ladders or similar long item as reach weapons, or tables as tower shields.

%%%* In ''Anime/RinneNoLagrange'',

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': Ranma Saotome has this trope reconstructed, featuring an as-serious-as-it-can-get Anything Goes Martial Arts dojo. While the fighting style has some of its own unique characteristics, Ranma's most distinctive ability is being able to adapt with remarkable skill, something that comes in handy when forced to engage in all sorts of rule-restricted MartialArtsAndCrafts.

* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'': Jyuza gave Raoh one hell of a HumiliationConga with a fighting style he invented on the spot. The fight ends with him stealing Raoh's horse, Kokuoh.

* Minako Aino in ''Manga/CodenameSailorV'' has shades of this, having gone so far to ''weaponize mosquito-repelling incense'' (to be fair, the youma of the week is a mutant mosquito with an army of the standard insects).

* Creator/JackieChan's characters are all about this. This is because the Chan man loves action but dislikes violence so he uses his own style which involves a lot of dodging and using the environment to combat his opponents. He's beaten people up with dresses, folding chairs, Legos, their own clothing, and most infamously a 10' tall stepladder. This is also true for his character in ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures''.

* ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger''[='s=] Green Ranger, "Doc" Don Doggoier, is a LovableCoward who resorts to tricks like hiding in brush, {{Explosive Barrel}}s, and even breaking out a squeaky mallet at one point. Then there's the episode where [[LetsGetDangerous he mans up]]...
* This was comically sent up in the ''Series/AlmostLive'' sketch "Mind Your Manners with Billy Quan." Billy and his antagonist would always fight using items around them as stand-ins for martial arts weapons. (In a computer room, floppy disks became shirukens; in a meat market, links of sausages became nunchaku, etc.)
%%%% If the character is so good at it that it is the "finest form" then please explain how this is.
%%%* ''Series/MartialLaw'' has [[TheDanza Sammo Law]]

* Sokka of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is a {{Badass Normal}} warrior in a group where all the other members have ElementalPowers, so he has to work with what he has, be it books, stink bombs, or clouds. His ability to improvise plans was part of the reason the master Piandao accepted him as his student. Creative thinking, in his masterly opinion is the key to victory.

* Krav Maga is a martial art that teaches improvised combat techniques.
* Many self-defense courses focus on using whatever you have in your hand or around you to incapitate the attacker or put him at disadvantage while you're running away.

* [[Film/TheBourneSeries Jason Bourne]].

* Jason Bourne. In ''Film/TheBourneSupremacy'', he beats the shit out of a guy with a rolled up newspaper and blows up his condo with said newspaper when he's done.