History's Greatest Disciple Kenichi is another hidden precious stone series for action shonen fans. A series that began back in 2006, Kenichi is a story about a young teenager who's being constantly bullied past his classmates at school. But things start to change for him when he meets an commutation pupil named Miu Furinji, who helps him larn how to defend himself.

This leads to Kenichi grooming with Miu'south trainers: the Ryozanpaku, a collection of incredibly powerful martial artists who are capable of some feats that seem completely impossible. Could the teenager that was called equally their disciple ever hope to keep up with them?

ten THE Master Graphic symbol

Kenichi doing one-handed pushups

Well-nigh shonen characters start out with a certain level of strength and climb their way up over time. Sometimes those characters are viewed as strong, other times they're seen as weak. Kenichi falls much more in the second category, probably moreso than any other atomic number 82 character that nosotros've seen. Even in one case he starts to gain victories, his masters still view him as largely talentless, just proceed to train him because he refuses to surrender.

ix HIS BEST FRIEND IS STRONGER

While Kenichi is constantly growing, the people he's trained by in the Ryozanpaku are some of the virtually powerful martial artists to have ever lived. What they're capable of feels about impossible, and what makes information technology worse is that there's someone his age who seems simply as capable equally they are: his friend Miu Furinji, the granddaughter of the head of the Ryozanpaku. Miu is well capable of beating pretty much anyone in the anime, only stays out of conflicts and so Kenichi can grow.

8 Blithe BY TMS ENTERTAINMENT

Kenichi'south television series was blithe past TMS Amusement. I of the oldest studios in Nippon, they're a visitor known for multiple different series over the years, as they've done all of Lupin Three, but also worked on shows like D.Gray-homo, Bakugan, Cardfight Vanguard, and more. Kenichi'south OVA series was done by Encephalon's Base, known for their work on Durarara!! and Rin-ne.

7 THE CREATOR OF THE SERIES

The creator of History's Greatest Disciple, Kenichi is Shun Matsuena. Matsuena has created several manga since Kenichi.

His nearly recent serial is Y'all Are 008, a storyline that focuses on a young male child who mistakenly enters a spy school, and aims to become a top spy to larn more than nigh his male parent, who turned out to exist an incredibly talented spy himself.

half-dozen HAS VIDEO GAMES

In 2007, Capcom released a video game for the series. Information technology was developed by Eighting, a company known for licensed titles as they'd worked on Naruto: Clash of Ninja and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. The story follows the Ragnarok arc of the story, and supposedly was in development even before the anime was greenlit. Some other game, for the 50th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Lord's day, was released two years later for the PSP that featured a ton of crossover characters, which included both Miu and Kenichi.

5 PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY SHONEN Lord's day

History's Greatest Disciple Kenichi was published in Weekly Shonen Lord's day. This is ane of the longest running shonen magazines. Matsuena Shun has had all of his major serial released through this magazine, including his electric current serial You Are 008. Weekly Shonen Dominicus currently contains Arata: The Fable and MAO, and usually publishes roughly two dozen titles.

four THE VILLAINS OF THE Serial

When this anime kickoff starts out, Kenichi'south villains are just the bullies he keeps running into. Simply eventually, every bit it becomes known that he trains with the Ryozanpaku, he becomes noticed by more and more powerful characters. Eventually, he runs into an organization chosen Ragnarok, made upwardly of a bunch of martial artists seeking to forcibly bring Kenichi into their ranks. Afterwards, they air current up facing an organization that rivals Ryozanpaku, dragging him deeper into the globe of martial arts.

3 THE ANIME IS...WEIRD

The anime begins about four years into the existence of the manga, which ideally would be a pretty great lead time. But somehow or another, TMS Entertainment got the bright thought to do something new to continue the serial from ever catching up to the manga.

Rather than simply do filler, roughly halfway into the series they begin to lengthen the recaps. With each successive episode, the recaps go longer and longer, until eventually each new episode is half footage from the previous week.

ii THE OVA IS A CONTINUATION

At that place are plenty of anime that accept i television serial then proceed to get OVAs afterward. This capitalizes on the popularity of the series, usually packaging the OVA in with manga volumes to make more than money off the manga. Kenichi has an OVA series also, but rather than just including weird side stories, the OVA seems to continue the story of the manga. Information technology tells the story of the rise of Yomi, an organization seeking to assail Ryozanpaku's pupil on behalf of the organization opposite Ryozanpaku, Yami.

ane WHERE YOU CAN WATCH IT

Kenichi's trainers Apachai, Hayato, Shio, and Miu

Kenichi has some interesting rights situations at the moment. While Funimation is supposed to have the rights to information technology, information technology does appear they've allow them lapse equally of tardily. That said, the series is withal available to be watched on both Hulu and Amazon Video. But that's only the example for the main television series. For anyone who doesn't speak Japanese, the OVA isn't available anywhere, it seems.

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About The Author

Sage Ashford (1249 Articles Published)

Staff Author for CBR, Sage Ashford has likewise written for Comicon also equally other sites such as The Gamer, and has been doing freelance work since 2014, and been working for CBR since 2017. His focus is primarily on spreading the word on obscure anime, comic books, and games whenever possible. Follow him on Twitter @ sageshinigami, or on Twitch @ sageshinigami.

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