Title: KenIchi – The Mightiest Disciple Collection 01
Alternative Title: 史上最強の弟子ケンイチ
Published By: Madman Entertainment (Australia), Funimation Entertainment (United States and Canada)
Based on: Manga series by Syun Matsuena
Audio: English and Japanese dub
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: Full Frame Original Ratio (4:3)
Runtime: 650 Minutes
Cost: $59.95 from Madman Online Store
Classification: This title has been rated PG for Animated Violence, Sexual References and Coarse Language (Yea….. apparently all that only gets a PG nowadays)
My Blurb: “For those who like fighting anime, you are in luck as this series does have some nice fighting scenes in it, alongside a few slice-of-life elements and comedy. However, for those who don’t particularly like this genre, then you will find a series that will make you laugh, but shows its age and may not gain your attention for its entirety”.
Copyright Information: Original Comic Books Created by Syun Matsuena © Syun Matsuena・Shogakukan/KenIchi Project All Rights Reserved Under License to MADMAN ENTERTAINMENT Pty. Ltd. Produced by TMS ENTERTAINMENT, LTD.
Special Thanks: Special Thanks goes to the Madman Entertainment PR Team for providing me with a review sample of this title.
I have been meaning to have this review up for a few days, however getting time to watch all 650 minutes of the series, as well as an accidental error on my part in one of my lab experiments sent my aim to review this on Wednesday out the door.
However, I saved this title for last out of my samples from Madman as I was aware this would happen, and I felt that the genre and length would result in a snoozefest, however it isnt a terrible anime series by far, and some of the episodes were pretty good. However, that being said, it is an older title, having originally been released in 2006, and in the old 4:3 aspect ratio, and does give the impression of being a series older then it is. However, I shall save my reasonings for that statement until you read on, for my review of KenIchi – The Mightiest Disciple Collection 01.
Yeah, Kenichi’s a total wimp. He’s always getting picked on and doesn’t have a lot of friends to stick up for him. The guy needs motivation if he hopes to graduate in one piece. Well Miu’s the perfect motivation. She’s hot, she accepts him, and she just so happens to live at a dojo with six martial arts masters. You could say fate has led Kenichi to their door, or you could say he was just following the hottie. Either way, he’s about to get whipped into serious shape.
If he can survive some hard-core training, he might just survive another day at school. He might even score with Miu. Yea, you could call Kenichi a wimp…. But let’s go with underdog instead.
First of all, I would like to say that the above blurb, taken from the back cover of the DVD is one of the more creative blurbs I have read in a long time *Clap Clap*, however at the same time it activates many flags for a generic anime…. [Loser Guy] CHECK!, [Hot Girl he has no Chance of Scoring with] CHECK!, [Insane violence of said guy] CHECK! [Martial Artists that like beating said guy up] CHECK!. Essentially, the characters are mostly stereotypical for an anime series, except instead of a whole bunch of talented girls beating up on the guy…. a whole bunch of guys are beating him up….. actually, this turned out to be one of the more interesting elements of the series.
The series follows around Kenichi Shirahama, a weak male high-schooler who has the desire to be strong to protect himself and the ones he cares for. So he decides to join the karate club and gets treated like dirt. In a rather obvious plot twist, he meets Miu Furinji, an incredibly strong girl from his class who offers to take him to her dojo and train him up so he can earn a place on the team. He trains with the dojo’s six masters, each who pummels and unethically tortures him, resulting in him eventually beating one of the high-up members on the karate team. Now he is being hunted by a whole team of mixed fighters called Ragnarok, and each of them are out for his blood…..
The storyline writing is average at best, the storyline just sounds like a generic mush of stereotypes which sometimes produce some comedic scenes, but for the most part, it is just boring, fighting related content fight is neither serious, comedic or interesting. As well, a lot of the episodes in the second half of the series seem to just spontaneously end without an ending, and then continue a new storyline the next episode, with an example of that being on the third DVD, when they take the obligatory beach trip, Kenichi rescues his sister from sharks, and then the episode just cuts out, with the next episode with them at the dojo again.
The plot development also seems a bit shaky. For the most part, the episodes take place at the dojo and in the town doing training, but at seemingly random moments throughout the season, they then decide to throw in another member from Ragnarok, and at one time throwing in a “heartwarming” story about the enemies history in fighting…… That being said, the better episodes were the ones away from the main storyline, as I preferred the storyline focusing on the masters quirks and training methods, alongside the incidents with Kenichi’s family, which were the more eccentric out of all the characters. My favourite character out of them all would have to be Apachai, who is most probably the strongest out of everyone however has a soft and innocent heart, and due to what I suppose would be a slight language barrier and strong enthusiasm, will not usually soften up for Kenichi.
Despite all this, this is not really my style of series in the first place, so I may be biased in parts of this review, however I do think the series would have benefited more if it tried to break away from the stereotypes and didn’t try and mix a million different genres into the series.
In terms of the overall design, the environmental designs are actually very good. All of the environments around town look extremely well done, and the appearance of the dojo, which is the primary location of the series, has a sort of ancient charm to it, with bonus vines and overgrown plants around the building walls to give it the aged look. The areas around town such as the school and the streets within it also have a decent level of detail and looks modern enough that it gives the dojo a sort of conspicuous feeling to it. The character designs are also of an adequate standard, with enough detail having been added to the characters to make them look realistic enough and they utilize a number of artistic styles for comedic scenes, for example… the enlarged screaming head. What is most important in a series such as this however is the animation, and I am happy to say that all the fighting scenes did not appear overly fake and un-natural (In terms of the movement), and most of the fights turned out really well.
Opening Themes:
1. Be Strong by Kana Yazumi
2. Yahhoo by Miho Morikawa and Akira Asakura
The first opening theme which plays for the first 25/26 episodes in the series is one that I brushed off initially however around disc 2, I watched all the way through and song-wise, it meets all my criteria for a damn good opening. It is a nice fast paced song, with clear and relevant lyrics and a good actress singing it. The animation is also decent, however with such a good song, I would have liked something a bit better, but does a good job in introducing the main characters.
Personally, I am glad the second opening was only in the last episode of this season as it is an unmemorable song. Despite that, the lyrics are decent and the actress singing it is also decent, althrough not as good as what was in the first song. That being said, the animation is far superior to the animation of the first opening, and takes into account a lot of the newer added characters and is generally a lot more fun.
Ending Themes:
1. Catch Your Dream by Koike Joanna
2. Run Over by Koike Joanna
In both cases, the animation is absolutely bland and the music was too soft for my tastes. However, giving credit where it is due, the artwork present in both endings was above average.
In terms of the music in the series, it is pretty unremarkable, there isn’t many times in the series that I actually remember the music having a presence, instead seemingly opting for more overpowering vocals…. and they do talk or whine a lot this series. That being said, the music in the series is a lot softer and more suited to the dojo theme of the series then the actual fighting component. In terms of voice acting, it is more or less solid, with Josh Grelle who voices Kenichi pulling off the sarcastic moments of the series spot on, whilst Trina Nishimura, Sonny Strait and Kent Williams, who voice Shigure, Apachai and Akisame respectively all do a very good job at the representing the characters personalities. The only character whose voice I wasn’t very keen on was Miu’s, which whilst not being bad, does not reach the same level of seriousness as I would have liked from her character (More a personal peeve then an actual issue with the voice actor). That being said, after comparing the voice actors to the original Japanese dub, I would say that the English dub would be slightly better then the original one.
In terms of extra content, there isn’t all that much. What is included is:
- Clean Openings for Be Strong and Yahhoo
- Clean Endings for Catch Your Dream and Run Over
- Trailers for: “The obligatory burning Happy Feet DVD Aussie government anti-piracy campaign”, Gurren Lagann Vol. 5, Baki the Grappler Vol. 1, Bleach Vol. 1 and FLCL Collection.
That is it folks, the standard extras content on the DVD for you…. better then nothing through.
Personally, this series did not cater to my interests at all and the mixture of genres really didn’t do the series any favors…. however, this series is not bad at all, and some of the episodes were rather interesting and showed some interesting character development on this not so normal martial artists. I would advise considering this if you are into the whole fighting romantic comedy genre, however overall, it brings nothing much new to the table to make it stand out.
Final Score
Storyline: D
Character Development: D
Visuals: B-
Opening and Ending Themes: B
Music: D-
Voice Acting: B+
Extras: C
Personal Opinion: C-
Overall: C-
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