"Anime action scenes are bad! They need to be more like Star Wars! Haven't you seen the Obi-Wan vs Anakin fight??"
Okay, yeah, no. Jerry, stop.
I'll keep this as brief as I can using one of the best fights from Naruto as an example.
Gaara vs. Rock Lee
Watch it if you haven't. It's a great fight.
Why this fight is brilliant:
Gaara was seen as this unstoppable force of nature, especially by the likes of Shino (who was the only person left in the balcony who had seen what Gaara was capable of), and Kankuro, Temari, and Baki, who personally were all aware of Gaara's bloodlust and his invincibility, not to mention he was a Jinchuriki, holding the One-Tail inside of him. Rock Lee was somebody who was unable to use ninjutsu or genjutsu and wanted to become a "splended ninja", so his sensei, Guy (or Gai whatever lol) took him under his wing and started training him himself, and they became so close that Lee even took Guy's likeness. Guy had taught him part of a forbidden technique created by his own father (5 of the 8 Gates), one that, if overused, could lead to death, just to help in Lee's dream to become a great ninja. This earns Guy the scorn of Kakashi later on during the fight, who knows the implications of using that technique, because evidently, it's absolutely irresponsible to give that power to someone so young.
There's all of that resting on the fight, and we haven't even gotten to the fight yet.
Lee, of course, realizes that he can't easily touch Gaara because of Gaara's extremely responsive shield, so Lee drops the weights on his legs, and becomes much faster, so much so, that he actually hits Gaara. The untouchable, unstoppable force of nature felt his first bit of pain during that fight because his sand shield couldn't keep up with Lee's speed. The speed, mind you, that he worked his ass off to attain (among other things) in a merely a year. He attacks Gaara with what appears to be his ultimate attack (Primary Lotus), until, long story short, Gaara's sand shield catches up with them and protects Gaara from the impact. After being knocked around for a while by Gaara's sand, Lee appears to recover from his apparent worn-out state, and activates the technique that Guy taught him - the 8 gates. Specifically, he opens the 3rd gate, and then proceeds to knock Gaara around the stadium in an effort to cause him to yield, subsequently opening the rest of the gates that he knows how to open, all while his body is tearing itself apart from the fatigue of the technique. Eventually, Lee delivers the final blow, but Gaara's sand shield protected him again. Lee, too tired to evade, watches helplessly as Gaara's sand covers his left arm and leg. Gaara uses Sand Burial and crushes Lee's arm and leg bones. Obviously, Lee lost consciousness from the pain. Gaara attempted to cover Lee with more sand, to finish him off, but Guy jumps in and blocks the sand. Gaara sees this, and asks why Guy does this, to which he replies, telling Gaara that Lee is precious to him, a sentiment that Gaara is incapable of understanding, due to his own personal circumstances. After Guy does this, Lee suddenly stands up, and assumes his fighting stance. Guy starts to tell him that the fight is over, but the kicker here is that
Lee isn't even conscious. The only reason he was able to subconsciously stand after having the bones in his arm and leg shattered, blood dripping from both, fatigued from using a technique that practically tore his body apart (on the inside, mind you, a bunch of rest and he'd be right as rain) was because of his will to fight, his will to strive to be better, his desire to become a ninja, his unwillingness to quit.
And let's go just a little bit further. Even while in the hospital, Lee
continued to train, despite the worry sent his way from all of his peers. When the woman who was renowned as the best medical ninja in the world told him that his wounds were too great, that he would never become a ninja again, he didn't let that get him down. He bounced back. He became a real ninja again, despite wounds that should have rendered him crippled or disabled for the rest of his life. And let me just say that that's better than any Star Wars action scene out there.
It's not always about the fight. It's not always about exchanging punches or swinging swords. Lee wasn't some all-powerful flick-of-a-finger force of nature, and the fight showed that Gaara wasn't, either, that's why Kakashi trained Sasuke (who was fighting Gaara later on) in Taijutsu and taught him the Chidori - to exploit Gaara's newfound weakness. Sometimes you have to read between the lines, examine the nuance, look at the bigger picture, realize the implications.
I thought that was something you were good at, Jerry, considering how much you tout your intellectualism, your ability to see nuance, your specific tastes in media, but then I remembered,
you're too fucking lazy to do a Google search and see that there's a distinction between the costumes of two superheroes. Why should I, nay,
anyone expect you to actually watch the things you critique?
And yes, this was me being brief. Naruto is a long series with tons of fights.