Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple (Review)
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple Lacks Power, But Has Plenty of Style.
So many anime out there feature heroes who want to be the strongest fighter there is and Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is no exception. Of course, this almost means it’s one of those series that doesn’t like to stick within the realm of reality when it comes to the various styles of martial arts at its core. However, it does a better job than most at displaying a competent understanding of a number of principals, which makes it one of the better martial arts anime I’ve seen over the years.
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple follows a runty teen named Kenichi (Josh Grelle) who is a constant victim of bullying. That is until he finds himself a student at a bizarre dojo where masters of various styles of martial arts come to become better fighters. There he learns from a bufoonish Muay Thai fighter (Sonny Strait), a Karate tough guy (Christopher Sabat), a seductive weapons master (Trina Nishimura), a strict Ju-Jitsu champion (Kent Williams), and a pervy Kenpo practitioner (Vic Mignogna). Because of this, the series gives viewers a taste of everything and as it progresses every master gets a chance to show off what their style is “truly capable of.” For me though, Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple captures one of the great truths of martial arts and that is there is no ultimate style. As the legendary Bruce Lee once said “Using no way as a way, having no limitation as limitation.”
Of course, Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is hardly a master calls in the martial arts. Instead, it’s pretty reminiscent of Baki: The Grappler in that it just wants to show off cool moves and twist the fabric of reality to make its heroes appear superhuman. Director Hajime Kamegaki wholeheartedly embraces the idea that any martial artist can leap 20 feet in the air or punch through a brick wall. In that way, Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is a love letter to all the terrible cliches and exaggerations you see over and over again in anime. Then again, that’s probably because at it’s core Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is pretty much a Saturday morning cartoon, which is probably why it managed to run for 50-episodes.
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is an anime that constantly tries to keep raising the stakes as it goes. The problem with this is that it very quickly runs out of genuine martial arts forms and techniques to show off and soon resorts to bad guys who use absurd fighting styles and tricks in order to gain the upper hand. Because of this, a certain amount of disbelief is required in order to get through the series. However, once the series pretty much abandons logic, it gets easier to tolerate a lot of the liberties it starts to take with the martial arts elements. That being said, a lot of the character concepts and designs are solid enough to keep Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple compelling to the end. This is probably more true of the villains than the heroes who all seem to wear the kind of stereotypical outfits you’d find in any stereotypical fighting game. However, the few key characters of the series are meant to stand out really do pop.
TMS Entertainment provides the animation for Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple and by now it’s clear why they’re one of the longest lasting anime studios in Japan. Unfortunately, that means that some of their series tend to be a little uninspired. Considering how important martial arts is such a crucial part of the story, you’d think there would be special care taken with the anatomy. Instead, it all feels very generic. Characters are either musclebound, super jacked goliaths, scrawny Neon Genesis Evangelion inspired emo boys or busty vixens with physic-defying… attributes. It’s all stuff we’ve seen before, but that’s part of what makes it a little disappointing.
If it sounds like I’m nitpicking when it comes to Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple it’s because I don’t want to admit how much fun I had watching this series. It’s a goofy and fun anime that is incredibly addicting. Even with 50 episodes, I managed to get through the whole thing in less than a week, and I feel like that says it all. My brain told me it was a garbage series, but my heart told my brain to shut up because another episode was starting. Needless to say, this isn’t a series for connoisseurs of only the highest quality anime, but a piece of otaku trash like me ate it up even despite its flaws.
