Entertainment
6 Martial Arts Series That Are 10/10 Masterpieces
Martial arts television has come a long way from putting two skilled fighters in a room and letting the choreography do all the work. Obviously, great fights are still essential to the genre — if the movement looks too perfect, or the technique feels fake, the audience is going to notice immediately — however, modern martial arts shows also understand that a fight only lands when there is something behind it.
The genre has slowly evolved into focusing heavily on personal rivalries and philosophies long before anyone throws the first punch. That doesn’t mean older martial arts series suddenly feel outdated, though. If anything, the classics proved they could carry the genre long before modern shows started chasing bigger, faster fight scenes. The six shows on this list represent the best of both worlds and prove just how much martial arts television can do when the story is as strong as the action.
1
‘Warrior’ (2019–2023)
Warrior is a martial arts series that goes beyond great fight sequences and actually gives the audience a character to root for. The show, based on an original concept developed by Bruce Lee, drops viewers into San Francisco’s Chinatown during the Tong Wars of the late 1800s. The story follows skilled martial artist Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji), who arrives from China in search of his sister, Mai Ling (Dianne Doan). However, he gets recruited as a hatchet man for the Hop Wei tong and quickly finds himself stuck in the middle of a violent power struggle against the rival Long Zii.
Things become even messier once Ah Sahm discovers that Mai Ling isn’t exactly waiting to be rescued. In fact, she has built power of her own within Chinatown and is willing to play the same brutal political game as everyone else. The action in Warrior is obviously phenomenal, but Ah Sahm’s backstory adds weight to every kick. The build-up before a fight matters just as much as the speed and precision of the choreography. The series covers Chinatown politics, racism, immigration, labor conflict, and police corruption, which gives weight to the narrative. The audience knows that in this world, alliances can shift in seconds, and even the strongest fighter can end up on the wrong side of a brutal power play.
2
‘Bloodhounds’ (2023–2026)
Bloodhounds deserves way more recognition than it gets. The series builds its action around footwork and body shots instead of trying to show its characters utilizing superhuman techniques or flinging each other across rooms. This grounded approach to martial arts is one of the show’s greatest strengths, aside from its compelling narrative, of course. The story follows young boxers Kim Gun-woo (Woo Do-hwan) and Hong Woo-jin (Lee Sang-yi), who meet in the ring before becoming close friends. They soon find themselves entangled in Seoul’s criminal moneylending world after Gun-woo’s mother is targeted by a predatory loan operation run by Kim Myeong-gil (Park Sung-woong).
The friends eventually join forces with benevolent moneylender President Choi (Huh Joon-ho) to fight back, and that sets the stage for an epic saga about friendship and loyalty. The chemistry between Gun-woo and Woo-jin is honestly just as important as the central conflict. The two train, eat, and get beaten up together, but keep showing up for each other. Their bond gives the fights emotional stakes because the audience isn’t watching to simply see which side has the better technique. The series is a modern martial arts masterpiece because it respects the sport, but understands that the viewers need more than just that to keep tuning in.
3
‘Kung Fu’ (1972–1975)
Kung Fu is as old-school as it gets, but that’s what makes the show special. It aired long before martial arts became a regular part of Western action television, and has truly stood the test of time. The series follows David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine, a half-Chinese, half-American Shaolin priest who flees China and travels through the Old West while searching for his half-brother, Danny (Tim McIntire). Most episodes place Caine in a new town where he encounters corruption, prejudice, or someone being exploited. Initially, he is always reluctant to fight, but when he decides that violence is unavoidable, his opponents have a tough time escaping him. Kung Fu unfolds with a restraint that modern martial arts have lost somewhere along the way.
Caine’s first instinct is rarely to prove that he is the toughest person in the room. The series keeps flashing back to his Shaolin training, where he learned patience and discipline alongside the actual fighting. Kung Fu actually drew many of its philosophical ideas from Taoist thought, including concepts associated with the Tao Te Ching. When a fight finally happens, it feels like the conclusion to a moral conflict rather than an action sequence inserted just for the heck of it. Of course, the choreography in the show is slower and more theatrical than what martial arts fans are used to today. However, that dated quality just adds to Kung Fu’s charm.
4
‘My Name’ (2021)
My Name wastes absolutely no time getting ugly and immediately hooks the audience in. The series follows Yoon Ji-woo (Han So-hee), whose life falls apart after her father is murdered right in front of her home. She then turns to Choi Mu-jin (Park Hee-soon), the powerful leader of the Dongcheon crime organization and one of her father’s closest associates, to seek revenge. Mu-jin takes Ji-woo in, trains her, and eventually places her inside the police force under a new identity so she can investigate her father’s death from the inside. That setup leads to Ji-woo hunting for a killer while constantly risking exposure as a mole living among the very detectives she is supposed to deceive.
The emotional stakes are high, but My Name hits hard because of how physical Ji-woo’s journey feels. The protagonist is not a naturally gifted prodigy who becomes unbeatable overnight. Her training is brutal, and her technique is messy, but that gives the action a rawness that perfectly suits the story. Ji-woo is constantly being pulled between Mu-jin, the police, and her own growing doubts about what really happened to her father. Her partnership with detective Jeon Pil-do (Ahn Bo-hyun) complicates things even further because the closer she gets to the truth, the harder it becomes to keep up her double life. My Name is fast-paced and intentional with every episode, which makes it the perfect martial arts series to binge in one night.
5
‘Cobra Kai’ (2018–2025)
Many initially thought that Cobra Kai was just trying to cash in on nostalgia, but that could not be further from the truth. The series serves as a sequel to Robert Mark Kamen’s three Karate Kid films and flips the perspective by following Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), who is now completely broke and still carrying the humiliation of losing to Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) back in 1984. Johnny eventually reopens the Cobra Kai dojo and takes bullied teenager Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) under his wing, while Daniel responds by reviving Miyagi-Do. This age-long rivalry then escalates into a much larger narrative involving an entirely new generation that inherits grudges they barely understand. There’s no denying that Cobra Kai is ridiculous, given that these two middle-aged men refuse to get over something that happened years ago.
However, the show knows exactly when to take karate seriously and when to acknowledge how absurd the central rivalry really is. Aside from its high-octane action sequences, the show also features some of the most well-done tournament arcs in the martial arts genre. The action gets bigger as the show goes on, but the best moments still come from seeing characters finally apply something their sensei has been trying to teach them for years. The show went on for six seasons, which is enough proof that it definitely holds its own ground.
6
‘Daredevil’ (2015–2018)
Daredevil is technically a superhero show, but some of its best moments come directly from martial arts storytelling. The series follows blind lawyer Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), who spends his days defending people in court and his nights fighting criminals across Hell’s Kitchen. Matt can do all this thanks to his heightened senses and eventual training under the brutally demanding Stick (Scott Glenn), who teaches him how to turn those abilities into something genuinely dangerous.
The protagonist eventually crosses paths with the diabolical Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), and that sets up one of the most personal rivalries Marvel has ever put on screen. The fight sequences in Daredevil are definitely memorable, but at the end of the day, Murdock is not a traditional hero. He gets hit, loses his breath, and wins out of sheer coincidence many times. The show refuses to make him look invincible, which is what makes the stakes feel real. Daredevil is the perfect blend of character drama, martial arts, and superhero spectacle that never lets one element overpower the other.
Daredevil
- Release Date
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2015 – 2018-00-00
- Network
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Netflix
- Showrunner
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Steven S. DeKnight
- Directors
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Phil Abraham, Stephen Surjik, Peter Hoar, Euros Lyn, Ken Girotti, Farren Blackburn, Alex Garcia Lopez, Marc Jobst, Adam Kane, Alex Zakrzewski, Andy Goddard, Brad Turner, Floria Sigismondi, Guy Ferland, Jennifer Getzinger, Jennifer Lynch, Julian Holmes, Lukas Ettlin, Michael Uppendahl, Nick Gomez, Sam Miller, Nelson McCormick, Toa Fraser
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