15 year old Kenichi Shirahama has been bullied for most
of his life. But he’s always vowed to
get stronger and stand up to his abusers…except he’s a total wuss with little
fighting potential. That is, until he
meets the beautiful transfer student Miu Furiniji, who offers Kenichi the
chance he’s been looking for. She brings
him to her home, Ryōzanpaku, home to an elite band of Martial Arts
Masters. If Kenichi can master the
styles of each warrior, he might very well become their Mightiest Disciple…or
there’s a far better chance he’ll not survive the experience. If Kenichi needs anything, it’s a mountain of
good luck.
Anime based on Shonen Manga are a strange game. In the early to mid 2000s, it feels like
every studio wanted to adapt one to capitalize on the success of Shonen Anime
like Naruto, One Piece, Bleach and Dragon Ball Z. All of those shows have plenty in common from
character tropes to story beats to action set pieces. So unless it’s one of those aforementioned
four titles, Shonen Anime tend to blend together and hardly stand apart, kind
of like Mecha Anime in the 80’s. I bring
all of this up because just thinking about that makes me think there’s nothing
about Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple that stands out in its first episode save
for how similar it looks to other titles at the time such as Getbackers, Tenjou
Tenge and Bamboo Blade…and some of those titles are a lot more entertaining.
Kenichi fits the profile of some of the more annoying
Shonen Anime protagonists. Kids got a
big heart and wants to stand up to those who bully him. But as some of the Martial Arts Masters he
meets points out, he’s super high strung.
Kenichi’s prone to screaming his thoughts out loud and in his head when
the slightest misstep or unknown appears.
This should be the kind of character who’s easy to root for but instead
I was kind of bored by all of his reactions to everything cause it was either
shout or get his ass blasted halfway across the road by a super powerful
punch. His obvious love interest for
this Anime, Miu, looks like she could headline a series all her own and I’d
probably enjoy that a lot more. Miu is
attractive, for sure, but she’s also good at playing the happy go lucky, cute
girl next door before switching to Champion of Justice mode instantly. Granted, she is the granddaughter of a
Martial Arts Master who lives in a compound filled with character types ive
seen more than my fair share of: super buff punching machines, lecherous
stealth experts, a sexy female Ninja.
And Kenichi has the same reaction to everyone of them: instant freak
out. All in all, this is all stuff I’ve
seen before and done better to hook me.
What’s my final verdict on this one? It’s a pass.
Anime of this era seem to blend together because of the artstyle and, if
it’s based on a Shonen Manga, very been there done that. It’s clearly emulating character and story
beats from major Shonen legends like Naruto but not doing much to stand out
from it and craft its own identity. As
far as hooks go, Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple might get better further in
but I’m alright with stepping aside and letting Kenichi run into another wall
or super jacked fighter, screaming all the way.
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