Action is a very broad subgenre of anime, so much so I could hardly find a single friggin’ website willing to define it for me. So *sighs…*, like any action-based media, from movies, video games, and books, there’s an emphasis on action (no sh*t). There’s fighting action, which involves hand-to-hand combat, or combat with weapons like guns and swords. Racing action, cooking action, action action, seriously, there’s a lot.
The point is, action involves a fast-paced series of events that often keeps the audience guessing what’ll happen next. Often times the protagonist or characters have to defy all odds when overcoming obstacles, putting their life in danger or something else at risk.
Michael Bay likes to use explosions in his films (completely unrelated but thought I’d throw that out there). The Fast & Furious film series loves to use unrealistic depictions of action, like the hero’s vehicles are completely invincible while all other cars are tossed about like ragdolls. On the other spectrum, Atomic Blonde portrays some realistic action sequences, like how the protagonist gets super exhausted fighting that baddie in that one apartment scene. John Wick probably doesn’t show the most very realistic action sequences especially how one guy is able to slaughter so many baddies at one time, but God I love the series…. Think I’m gonna log off now.