Shijou Saikyou no Deshi Kenichi

History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi is a Shounen, Action, Comedy about a typical high school boy (Kenichi) who’s always being bullied, until one day, he learns of a special dojo that teaches many forms of martial arts. From the start, this anime has a very typical story and plot. Having a high school setting, the story is about Kenichi’s quest to become stronger. The story itself is incredibly basic that any idiot can grasp its concept. The way in which the story flows makes it feel like a game; Kenichi gains some experience points => clears a stage => levels up => makes it to the nextstage. This makes it really enjoyable to watch him develop but its overall simplicity is also its downfall, due to the lack of depth to the story. This doesn’t matter too much, to the average viewer because of than the awesome fights and there’s plenty of comedy that will make it hard to take the show seriously. This anime is full of so many interesting characters and it’s not only the 2 main ones (Kenichi & Miu). Some of the supporting characters are also great, as their little quirks make the series more enjoyable. With Kenichi being the main titular character, he proves to be quite an amazing well developed one. It just makes it so interesting to watch a "loser-kun" character with no natural talent become such a great fighter. The quality of the animation is very peculiar because most of the time it looks really simple and crude. The action on the other hand can be pretty intense but the character’s thoughts tend to slow down the pace. The music has to be the weakest aspect of the show, as there is nothing particularly special about it. Not only that but the background sounds (birds & cicadas) don’t sound good but the SFX during fights help add to the intensity. Overall History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi proved to be a really enjoyable and addicting Shounen Action anime to watch, as it didn’t rely on typical “power ups” and “special techniques” but just traditional fighting styles and clichés. Of course this anime would have been so much better if it was produced by a different studio but even then the story would still be very linear. If you’ve seen and enjoyed shounen action animes like “Tenjou Tenge” & "Naruto" then you’ll definitely enjoy this one. ^_^

Animation - 5 The animation is lack luster. Rather than fluid animation displaying extension of limbs and alertness of characters. Kenichi relies more heavily on the quick flash of motion with speed lines indicating action, and sequences of pictures less worthy of being called animation. Character design is uninspired-ly shounen, with an overall presentation of something one would see in the early 90's. Sound- 4 Bad voice acting. There really is no other way to say it. It was surprising to discover that the voice of the main character, Shirahama Kenichi, is acted by Seki Tomokazu one of my personal favorites. The music is equally bad and alsoquite forgettable. I had to go back to youtube just to remember them, and even then it was unfamiliar. Also laughable are the foley effects for fights which prove highly anachronistic given current technology and processes. Characters - 4 Nothing to see here except a plethora of sterotypes as flat as the paper they were conceived on. We have your meek protagonist who cherishes what little companions he has. His busty, pure-hearted, yet equally shy friend. Kenichi's numerous martial arts masters are all ripoffs of characters from various fighting games and movies. We have the old man with a long beard and ripped muscles, the kung fu master, the kunoichi weapons expert, the thai boxer, badass karate guy, and disciplined but dangeruous Aikido master. On the opposing side we have baddies including a tsundere who likes kittens, a bitter enemy who misdirects rage, and the main bad guy who lusts for power at all costs. Story - 5 This story plays out as all shounen fighting shows with a hint of romance do: Fight a person and find out that something more sinister awaits. Train. Conflict of conscience. Something bad happens. Train. Fight. Get former enemies to be your friend. Train. Recognition of weakness. Train. Discover you like girl. Date. Train. Remember past with girl and baddies. Train. Turn weakness into strength. Prevail. Enjoyment - 4 The only thing I can honestly say that I enjoyed is the application of Norse mythology in the form of giving nick-names to the "bad guys." I wasted a lot of time during the show trying to find a higher meaning behind the monikers. But clearly the creator though: Norse names are cool sounding. end of thought. Overall - 4 Kenichi is a laughably mediocre show. I once had this score at a six (I tend to give middle of the road shows the benifit of the doubt), and then a five; however, while writing this review I have come to the conclusion that this show is not the sum of its average parts. At no point in time does this show take the viewer by surprise. Everything from design to execution is bizarrely over-exaggerated and banally predictable. Even if one is a fan of the genre, I doubt that it stacks up to any of the heavy hitters, or even the more marginally popular fare.

History's Greatest Disciple Kenichi starts off as somewhat slow and mediocre. I myself was forced to watch the first few episodes because I had already gotten a few and it seemed like a waste if I didn't even watch what I got. As the story progresses you are left with an endearment to Kenichi himself and maybe one (or all) of his masters. Simply put Kenichi's character is unlike anything I have ever seen. He's like a mixture of Ueki from Law of Ueki and take any lead character of a romantic comedy. Why? Basically, he has the comedic attributes that Ueki has. Unfortunately, hedoesn't have that natural ability to be skillful when fighting. He has that "my friends are important" feature though. The comedy really doesn't come from him but from the situation he's in and how he reacts to it. Add, in that little mix from a romantic comedy and you've got yourself a Kenichi Shirahama. I gave a 10 for the Characters not only because of this but because of the supporting characters namely his masters and Niijima, his love/hate friend. Its because that there is something to love about every one of them and you can just choose your favorite. I personally love Apachai Hopachai, his Muay Thai master. The story is basically nothing from the ordinary. You've probably seen some like it, but what sets this story apart is how it is executed. Some things are obvious at the start and some things aren't There are a few surprises as the story progresses though. It's one of those "I'll protect the world stories" but with a comedic twist. I would say that the closest anime to Kenichi would be Law of Ueki. If you liked that, then I'm sure you'll love Kenichi. Art and Sound are fair and at par with most anime. Although upon further reading, the cast is composed of familiar voices and new voices. History's Greatest Disciple Kenichi is one anime that you will surely enjoy. I give it a 9 out of 10

This anime has its pros and cons that really do stand out in a certain way, but overall enjoyable and entertaining. I’ll talk about the major flaws and issues I had with this anime when I come to the conclusion so in the mean time, I’ll talk about what I like about this anime and the minor flaws. First off, it has a great cast of characters where everybody gets to shine and they all have their own contribution to the overall progression of the story and development of the main characters. It has great character development and I feel that there will be somecharacter(s) you can make some connection to because most of them get an in-depth back-story to offer those opportunities to relate to them. It also has a good amount of comedy. But in the beginning, specifically the first portion will be a bit slow and will focus more on the comedy, but then it becomes more focused on the development and the fights. Well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the character design is basic and simple. Some people may see past this, some probably won’t. But I feel that the diversity of the character design in comparison to lets say Gundam SEED makes up for it because you’re getting all kinds of outfits and characters in this show which adds personality. Overall, I feel that the character designs that were presented are good examples of how to draw anime and I feel it should be in a beginner’s guide to drawing anime. The fights are reasonably paced and exciting. Considering the nature of this anime, you’re not going to get fireballs, bullet time, or anything that excessively violates physics in a trendy and cliché manner. So if you enjoy the fights in Hajime no Ippo or Grappler Baki, you will probably like this one though it’s really not as technical as the fights in those shows. I say if you like Jackie Chan and Jet Li fan, then this is truly for you, but if you’re a Mixed Martial Arts fanatic like I am, there will be some things that will probably irritate and you which I will get into at the conclusion of my review. The theme songs which I forgot the names of and too lazy to look up are pretty nice and energetic, but compared to other main stream songs and artists out there like what L’Arc~En~Ciel has done for GTO, Rurouni Kenshin, and Gundam 00, it doesn’t really stand out and doesn’t really capture my interest in comparison to that band as well as other big name artists and bands like NEWS, TM Revolution, Crystal Kay, Nami Tamaki, BoA, Hamasaki Ayumi, and some others. But you’re free to disagree on that one. I’m saying the music is good, but not really great. The background music on the other hand is pretty intense and accurately captures the eastern setting like how Naruto does in the ninja kind of manner and used appropriately. The voice cast I have to admit is top notch. The English dub is officially not out yet upon the time of this review so I really can’t comment yet on that, but the Japanese version should be satisfying for those interested. I really loved the multi-talented Tomokazu Seki, the voice of Miyata from Hajime no Ippo; Keisuke from Initial D; and Domon from G Gundam as Kenichi. He captures the characters situations and moods very excellently. My favorite cast member had to be Horikawa Ryou, the voice of Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z as Hermit. He plays the character in a very interesting way and his acting abilities are just convincing the way he comes across at times which you have to see for yourself to understand because it’d be a spoiler if I talked about it. Now that I’ve gotten the good points out of the way, I feel I should now talk about the bad points, but I don’t feel the qualities I found negative should make anyone refrain from watching this anime because I admit I’m making the negative qualities stand out more from the good though that wasn’t really my intention. First off, a guy who trains in all these disciplines and these characters that represent other kinds of martial arts is the novelty, but I felt the biggest flaw in relation was the execution and it’s based on how I view martial arts today. It’s not something I would say as inaccurate or myth, but an archaic way of thinking, especially in relation to Mixed Martial Arts and the philosophies of Bruce Lee. The perfect example is when Renka is critical of Kenichi for practicing other martial arts saying he should stick to one. That alone from tells me what this anime is doing is a completely outdated way of thinking and this is probably something that could have acceptable by my standards in maybe 1998 instead of 2008. Bruce Lee always talked about not limiting oneself to one style and the concept of styles shouldn’t really exist. His frustrations with wing chun in a fight and seeing his own art’s limitations bounded by their techniques and traditions was what led him to develop Jeet Kune Do. Then 30 years later, mixed martial arts came and what you see in UFC makes up a good portion of what Bruce Lee is in a philosophical sense. The ending fight is also something that violates what Bruce Lee also talks about. Such as Kenichi transitioning moves from one martial art to the next. Some people have a misconception of Bruce Lee’s philopshies of how he took the best moves from these martial arts to create JKD, but here is an example of what he’s really talking about. You’re in a street fight and you use a jab similar to boxing but you miss, do you switch to using a karate seiken punch in hopes of winning? That’s an example of what this show is doing. I have never taken a Jeet Kune Do class, but I have friends that are certified instructors and they tell me in that situation, if you miss, you can still attack with the corresponding elbow you throw the jab with since your elbow could still be in front of your opponent’s face. Jeet Kune Do was about using every possibility to your advantage in a street fight. Even biting, eye gouging, and striking the family jewels. And I just felt that this anime doesn’t do the best job of differentiating between intramural martial arts and real fighting and the only exemption to this was when Kenichi fought the captain of the Karate club. Before I get into the next topic, I will address what people are going to say. “But GrapplerJMo, it’s just an anime.” Yes, I know that, but remember that when kung fu movies came out in the 1970s it was creating actual misconceptions that what you saw also worked in real fights, and when kickboxing came along in the 1980s for awhile, people were disappointed that what they saw in the movies wasn’t real fighting because they never really saw those flashy kicks in those fights, and I got this personal paranoia that to some extent this anime is capable of carrying on that tradition because this anime is still based on real world principles at some capacity. But going on. Another trait in relation to what personally bothered me was the lack of representation of other phases of combat or styles such as ground and submission fighting. The only character that somewhat represents them is the street brawler, Shinnosuke. Akisame is sort of like this, but his holds are based more on small joint manipulation and you really don’t see them in the fights that often anyway. But it did disappoint me I didn’t see the use of the guard, an armbar, or a chokehold, which are considered effective moves. And some of these real life practioners and fighters such as the Gracie family and Ken Shamrock are training our troops who fighting in the middle east and I feel with the mainstreaming of MMA, especially in Japan for 15 years now, it is a personal disappointment for me because of the intention this show has in that regard. Though it does represent the spirit of marital arts, it doesn’t represent the evolution.

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