Peps' Reading List: History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi

image from Wikipedia
My friend was interested in martial arts.

That was the reason why I started reading History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi.

He was checking out episodes of the anime adaptation of the manga series and, for some reason, I got interested enough to check out the first few chapters.  It ended up becoming part of my weekly manga reading list for the past few years.

Shirahama Kenichi is an average student whose love for books and timid nature has caused him to be bullied his whole life.  His life changes after he meets Furinji Miu, who introduces him to martial arts.  He decides to become strong enough to protect Miu and becomes an apprentice at Ryozanpaku, a martial arts dojo headed by Miu's grandfather Furinji Hayato.  There, he is trained by Hayato and five others, karate master Sakaki Shio, jujitsu master Koetsuji Akisame, muay thai master Apachai Hopachai, kenpo master Ma Kensei, and weapons master Kosaka Shigure.  Soon after, Kenichi finds out that his newly learned martial arts skills comes with a price.  In defeating martial artists from his school, he has gained the attention of Ragnarok, a gang of students who practice different martial arts that's deciding on whether Kenichi should be recruited or destroyed.

History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi by Matsuena Syun was a manga that I enjoyed immensely, despite my initial disinterest in martial arts as a main interest point and the fact that the series was peppered by a lot of ecchi imagery.  The long-running manga series, which concluded its run with 584 chapters, featured interesting characters and strong inter-connecting story arcs that kept the readers interested until the end.

At the core of the series is Kenichi and Miu, who form a strong friendship from the onset of the series.  Yet, it's Kenichi's character growth that you would be paying the most attention to, though Miu has a very interesting background as well that played a huge part in the manga series.  It is through Kenichi and in reading his adventures that we learn about the different martial arts, as well as the differing outlook that Ryozanpaku and their rival group Yami have regarding its use.  It's also the myriad of experiences he encounters in his training that we are introduced to both the comedic and dramatic elements of the manga series.  There's also the very many exciting fight scenes that ultimately made readers coming back for more.

In the beginning, it's easy to just peg History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi as a fun read that offers great martial arts battle scenes.  But that's really not just all there is to the series.  Character growths abound, especially for the younger generation.  Kenichi, Miu and the eventual members of the Shinpaku Alliance all go through different struggles to understand important life lessons on top of the martial arts training that they receive.  And the longer you read the series, you realize that while the characters tend to border on the caricature (Niijima Haruo is a prime example), many of them are layered and complex.  Those who initially acted on the belief of using martial arts for less than exemplary causes might have more noble reasons than we might initially have thought.  This is why the constant debate regarding Ryozanpaku's belief in the Katsujin-ken (or Life Saving Fist) and Yami's own penchant for the Satsujin-ken (or Killing Fist) isn't just relegated to being the rote reason for their battles.

image from animevice
The action element of the manga series is, of course, one of its strongest elements.  I mean, why write about martial arts if you can't make it exciting?  And all of Kenichi's battles are indeed exciting, whether he's being underestimated or being recognized by his opponents.  But I do have to admit that I took great pleasure in reading about the battles that were participated in by the Ryozanpaku's different masters.  They're just on a whole other level when it comes to skills and the stakes involved for the fighters.  And every battle the masters are part of reveal just a little bit more about their background, intentions or driving force, making them all the more endearing, despite the fact that they are scary strong.

While History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi is far from reaching the standards set by my top four manga reads (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece and Fairy Tail), it did prove to be consistently entertaining and had story arcs that were surprisingly touching.

I had initially thought that the level of ecchi imagery would be my one criticism for the series.  I mean, I don't see a reason why all of the females would be subjected to various degrees of undress every time they have to fight.  Miu's bodysuit/leotard/whatever is always in pieces and strategically covering private parts at the end of her battles, and Shigure was practically naked at the final battle of the series, with only her weapons or manga effects covering her lady bits.  I seriously tried to give the series the benefit of the doubt, but could find no valid reason for the show of skin except for the fact that the mangaka just wanted that very show of skin.  But in the end, it turned out that it wasn't my crotchety old lady mentality about gratuitous nudity or exposure that I had the most beef with in the series.

I've been trying to keep up to date with my manga reading list, especially after my efforts to catch up on 20+ chapters each for all of the titles I've been following, which I mentioned in my post for The World God Only Knows manga.  So, I've been trying to keep my back-reading to a minimum by only missing a week of reading here and there.  Which is why I was flabbergasted when I returned to History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi and found out that its run ended so abruptly.

I mean, the series had a conclusion.  The final chapter, at least, gave me a sense of closure regarding the main characters (hooray for those lovely framed pictures at the end).  What I had a hard time with was how they concluded its final arc.  Miu's orphaned state that led to her being raised by her grandfather has been one of the major mysteries of the series.  And considering how her father Furinji Saiga had appeared throughout the series as the leader of Yami proved to be confounding to me as a reader, especially when Matsuena Syun was being stingy with the details, I had expected a big payoff in the end.

image from hsdkfans
The last chapter I read before being surprised with the conclusion of the series was the reveal that the Yami leader Saiga was actually a man named Senzui masquerading as Miu's father to pull off various betrayals and that the real Saiga who aided Kenichi at one point in the series was actually a good person (and had to pretend to be a government agent for some reason).  I had prepared myself for a lengthy back story that would explain their circumstances, but was instead given a short one about how the two men were connected to Miu's mother and how Miu came to be an orphan.  But the background never gave the audience a chance to learn more about Senzui, which they never neglected to do with any of the previous major opponents that Kenichi and Ryozanpaku had to face.  What I was left with at the end of the final arc was a stunted closure about Miu's parentage and a big bad that I wasn't compelled to read about.  I never did get a clear picture about why Senzui decided to betray Miu's parents or I might have missed it completely because they just breezed through the issue.

By the end of the series, History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi had introduced a wide range of characters, which included the final arc's roster of weapon wielding members of Yami.  With the rushed proceedings of the arc, we never quite got as familiar with them as I have with the non-weapon reliant masters and disciples of the Satsujin-ken followers.  When you have dozens of characters to keep up with, it's not a good sign for the series if you are unable to remember the villains of the final arc nor have any interest to learn more about them.

As I've mentioned previously, History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi is a great series and was fun to follow over the last few years.  I just wish that it became something more with a stronger ending, considering that it was already long running at 500+ chapters.  What's a few (or several) more chapters to give its loyal readers more details or the same level of storytelling quality that previous arcs have displayed?

For the most part...

Happy reading!

... though there's some disappointment in the end.

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