Shows Like Kinnikuman
After experiencing Kinnikuman, are likely to find resonance in stories that questions the purpose and weight of our choices while maintaining targets the intellect with complex, multi-layered ideas. Carefully balances character depth with narrative flow makes this a deeper look into what makes these stories stick.
Standard feature-length experiences.
Best for fans of who appreciate concise storytelling.
★ Top Picks
Senyu.
In the story, a gigantic hole suddenly opened up in the world one day, and demons appeared. The king thinks that this portends the return of the demon king Rukimedesu, who was sealed away by the hero Kureashion a millenium ago. The king decreed that the descendants of the hero must take on the threat, and 75 people showed up. Hero No. 45 (Aruba) and a sadistic palace warrior (Ross) team up, and their adventure begins.
Hayate the Combat Butler
16-year-old Hayate is really down on his luck. Because his unemployed parents are good-for-nothings who waste what money they have on gambling, Hayate had to start working at a young age to help out his family. Although such experience has made him inhumanly fast and tough and skilled at things boys aren't normally skilled at, it has also left him in an awkward position, as his parents have racked up such a huge gambling debt that they have sold Hayate to the yakuza for the value of his organs. In a desperate attempt to avoid that fate, Hayate decides to become a "bad guy" and kidnap someone to be held for ransom, but his efforts to do so are mistaken as a confession of love by the girl he targets. When he helps save the (as it turns out) ultra-wealthy 13-year-old Nagi from real kidnappers, she takes him in and gives him a job as her new personal butler (and love interest) until he can pay off his debt. But Hayate is more attracted to Nagi's beautiful teenage maid Maria, and head butler Klaus is initially disapproving of a boy with such a poor look. And then there's Nagi's pet Tama, who is also a force to be reckoned with.
Dirty Pair
The semi-coherent adventures of two teenage intergalactic private eyes, Kei and Yuri. Members of Trouble Consultant team 234, their code name is 'Lovely Angels'. However, they're better known – universe-wide, in fact – as the 'Dirty Pair', a moniker they're not fond of. Their arrival at the scene is always a source of hope and dread, since they always solve the case, but wherever they go, something gets destroyed, up to and including entire planets. Luckily for them – but not so much for the universe – there's typically some extenuating circumstances that support their oft-uttered phrase, "It's not our fault".
Pop Team Epic
Crude, rude, and a little…cute? Get ready for the larger-than-life attitude of Popuko and Pipimi, the small and tall stars of Pop Team Epic! Based off the bizarre four-panel webcomic by Bukubu Okawa comes a comedy that’ll throw you off with its out-there jokes and intense absurdity. You think you’re ready for these girls? Think again, F#%**er!
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
Panty and Stocking are nasty angels who were banished from the pearly gates for being foul-mouthed bad girls! Now they spend their days hunting ghosts in the lecherous abyss between Heaven and Earth. Panty likes sex, Stocking likes sweets, and their afro-sporting main man Garterbelt has a fetish we can't mention.
Carnival Phantasm
Comedy OVA series based on the Type-Moon Gag manga, Take-Moon. It focuses on funny and absurd situations happening to the various characters of the Type-Moon franchises, mostly from Fate/stay night and Tsukihime.
Code:Breaker
Sakurakouji Sakura is a girl who appears modest and graceful but in reality is skilled in martial arts. After witnessing a boy burning people with his blue flame, she is startled to see that the same boy is a transfer student, Oogami Rei. Oogami is a Code Breaker, one who does not exist. He is a seemingly cold-blooded killer who follows the principle of an eye for an eye, to use evil against evil. Convinced that killing is not right, Sakurakouji sets out to stop him and penetrate his icy heart.
The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse
As a prophecy of doom unfolds on the peaceful land of Britannia, a purehearted boy sets out on a journey of discovery — and revenge.
More Shows Like Kinnikuman
Go! Go! Loser Ranger!
With their old hideout and bosses wiped out, the surviving Dusters make a secret agreement with the Ranger Force to engage in the weekly Sunday Showdown - one where they will always be defeated. Tired of this charade, Fighter D finally steps up to make a change once and for all!
Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout
Childhood friends Tachibana Hinata and Jinguji Tsukasa were living the everyday life of office workers. Then, on the way home from a mixer, they were sent flying into another world by a mysterious being. Once there, Jinguji sees his best friend has been turned into a beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl...?! The adorableness of Tachibana’s female form completely flummoxes Tachibana. But these two are each others’ best friends. To keep their relationship from being destroyed, they must defeat the Demon Lord as quickly as possible and return to their original forms.
The Dungeon of Black Company
Kinji, who lacks any kind of work ethic, is a layabout in his modern life. One day, he finds himself transported to another world–but not in a grand fantasy of a hero welcomed with open arms. He's immediately shoved into a terrible job! Now enslaved by an evil mining company in a fantasy world, Kinji's about to really learn the meaning of hard work!
Buso Renkin
The story begins when high school student Kazuki Muto is killed one night saving a mysterious girl from a monster, only to wake up in his school dorm, believing it to have been a dream; however, he soon finds out that dream wasn't a dream at all when a giant serpentine monster attacks him and his sister. Tokiko Tsumura, the girl he saved, explains that the monster is a homunculus. Kazuki had been attacked and killed by it when he was rescuing her; however, she, feeling responsible for him, revived him by placing a Kakugane medallion in his chest, serving as a replacement heart.
Zenki
In ancient times, a great battle was waged between a master mage, Enno, and an evil demon goddess, Karuma. Enno didn't have the strength to defeat her alone and was forced to call upon Zenki, a powerful protector demon. After Karuma was defeated, Enno sealed Zenki away in a pillar located inside his temple. 1,200 years after this epic battle, Enno's descendant, Chiaki, unleashes her family's powers to summon Zenki.
Level E
Earth has been populated by thousands of aliens from all over the galaxy. While all the other aliens are aware of their presence, it is a secret only from the Earthlings. Baka, the prince of the planet Dogra, crash lands on Earth and loses his memory. He forcibly moves in with Yukitaka Tsutsui, a first year high school student who had just moved out on his own. The normal life he once knew is quickly pulled away as he becomes the target of the prince's torment.
SWORD GAI: The Animation
The swordsmith Amon accidentally comes across an infant and its dead mother in the forest. Although he is initially overwhelmed by the situation, he finally decides to take the boy with him and thus save him from certain death. Ten years after this fateful encounter, the boy from that time, Gai, is apprenticed to Amon. While making a sword, however, there is a tragic accident in which Gai loses his right arm. Amon then decides to use a sword called Shiryuu to make an artificial arm for Gai. Thus, it begins…
Immoral Guild
The skilled hunter Kikuru Madan has decided to retire out of fear of wasting his youth. One day, a guild staff member suggests that he go on a quest with a new female martial artist named Hitamu Kyan. However, she keeps getting hit by monsters one after another.
Kanokon
Kouta has girl troubles of the supernatural sort. For some reason, he keeps attracting the attention (and affections) of animal spirits! Having spent most of his life in the country, Kouta is understandably nervous when he moves in with his grandma to attend a high school in the big city. He hoped to make a good impression, but having Chizuru, a beautiful fox spirit, hanging off his arm didn't seem to be the sort of image he wanted to have. She's not alone in her love for Kouta, either. Nozomu, a wolf spirit, as well as other youkai have their sights set on the hapless country boy.
Air Gear
Itsuki Minami is a school student notorious for engaging in street fights, a reckless punk that will break through any obstacle, alongside his best friends Kazuma Mikura and Onigiri. However, when he discovers a pair of Air Trecks his true desire to rule the skies takes off.
New PANTY & STOCKING with GARTERBELT
On the brink between Heaven and Hell lies the town of Daten City, where sinister spirits known as "Ghosts" feast upon humanity.
Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy
Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy, known in Japan as Kinnikuman II sei, is a manga and anime series made by Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada under the pen name Yudetamago. It is the sequel to the hit manga Kinnikuman that they started in 1979. The toy line of Kinnikuman was released in North America as M.U.S.C.L.E.. The name of Ultimate Muscle was chosen to connect the Americanized storyline of the M.U.S.C.L.E. toyline of the 1980s into the anime. Bandai also produced intermittently distributed toy tie-ins during the initial run of Ultimate Muscle.
Why These Shows Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with Kinnikuman (1983): Animation and Comedy themes, similar pacing, and comparable production quality. NoBadPicks uses TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface series most likely to resonate with fans of Kinnikuman.
See full details for Kinnikuman (1983)
