When it comes to martial arts themed Anime, the genre is typically split between: stories about legendary fighters who return from self-imposed exile to fight a great threat or tales about wannabe grandmasters who have to overcome great adversity to be the best. “Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple” falls into the latter of these two categories.
Shirahama Kenichi is your typical 16-year-old kid, who gets pushed around by bullies and has hormonal delusions of going out with the prettiest girl in high school. When a beautiful transfer student, named Furinji Miu, shows up, Kenichi embarks on a tireless quest to impress her by becoming a great martial artist. Unfortunately, trying to impress Miu results in life-threatening training exercises at Miu’s grandfather’s dojo, Ryōzanpaku. The six masters at the dojo decide to train Kenichi to be their chosen disciple. Each of Kenichi’s teachers is a master of various arts from Kung-Fu and Tai Chi to Mui Thai.
In the words of the Ryōzanpaku masters, Kenichi “has absolutely no natural aptitude for the martial arts at all.” It is his endless desire to help those close to him that makes him great.
In “Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple Season One: Volume Two,” Kenichi moves into the Ryōzanpaku dojo. His desire to help his friends leads him to a battle with the number one gang in town: Ragnarok. The stories in volume two don’t break any molds and follow a simple formula. Kenichi learns a new technique from his masters, after nearly dying in training. One of Kenichi’s friends is threatened, and he miraculously uses the exact technique he learned earlier that day to win the fight.
There are Anime series that aim to buck the trend of being cliché stories and then there are those that don’t. Kenichi falls into latter category and tends to be your cliché ‘boy from nowhere success story.” The series still finds its entertaining moments as Kenichi engages in near-death training, while trying to woo Miu. There is also a funny episode in this set where two girls fight for the heart of Kenichi.
Kenichi isn’t a series that will win any prizes with die-hard Anime fanatics. However, come-and-go Anime fans, who still tote the flag of Ninja Scroll or stick to safe-plays like Naruto and Bleach, will find this series entertaining enough to check out.
Title: Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple Season One, Part Two
Studio: Funimation
Release Date: June 16, 2009
Rating: 6 / 10
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