【Shijou Saikyou no Deshi Kenichi】Super quirky manga series about martial arts by Syun Matsuena!!

Shijou Saikyou no Deshi Kenichi (officially translated as “Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple”) is a manga series written and illustrated by Syun Matsuena. This series is a remake of Matsuena’s 5-volume original story titled “Tatakae! Ryouzanpaku Shijou Saikyou no Deshi”, which ran in Shogakukan’s Shonen Sunday Super from 1999 to 2002.

Matsuena later serialized Kenichi in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday from April 2002 to September 2014, with a total of 61 volumes. As of February 2012, the manga had over 12 million copies in circulation. A side-story was released on September 2007 and a spin-off series titled “Shijou Saikyou no Deshi Kenichi Plus” was serialized by Shogakukan in Shonen Sunday in 2012.

A 50-episode anime TV series, produced by TMS Entertainment, was aired on TV Tokyo from October 2006 to September 2007. A 11-episode OVA series, produced by Brain's Base, was released from March 2012 to May 2014. On March 2007, Capcom announced a game title inspired by the manga, exclusively for PlayStation 2.

The story of “Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple” started with the main protagonist Kenichi Shirahama running to school in fear of being the latecomer for his first day of high school. While Kenichi was on his way, he ran past a mysterious girl wearing glasses, who suddenly tackled him without any warning.

Kenichi was thrown to the ground before he knew what had hit him. It turned out that the girl – Miu Furinji, acted on pure instinct and her body reacted on its own. When Miu noticed Kenichi, she profusely apologized and said that it was normal to react that way when someone came up behind her. Hearing that, Kenichi got scared and thought Miu might be “an assassin” due to her sharp senses and fighting technique.

However, Kenichi didn’t have time to think as he noticed the time and ran off. He warned Miu that if she didn’t hurry, she would be late too. When Kenichi had left, Miu picked up a book that Kenichi accidently dropped.

Kenichi arrived five minutes late and had to stand in the hall as punishment. When he peeked inside, Kenichi saw Miu already arrived before him and was being introduced as the new transfer student. While standing outside, he heard that Miu transferred to this school from Shouchiku Garden – a prestige and famous school. He wondered why would somebody like her transfer here......

After class, Kenichi went to his Karate Club but was stopped by Harou Nijima – a former classmate from the same middle school. The guy wanted to ask about Miu.

Nijima treated Kenichi badly and said that out of his own evaluation, Kenichi was the worst of Grade 1-E, with all aspects like academic, sport or strength below average. He even called Kenichi “weak legs” and stomped on him.

Because of bullies like Nijima, Kenichi had signed up to join the Karate Club, aspiring to become stronger. Unfortunately, the seniors at Karate Club only let Kenichi join because they wanted a human punching bag and Kenichi agreed to do anything as long as he could become a member. When the practice session ended, Kenichi was left all alone to clean up the training dojo.

The next day, Kenichi was running late again and passed by Miu on his way to school. However, she still somehow arrived at school way before him. Kenichi went to eat lunch alone, reading a book on how to make friends so he wouldn’t end up being picked on like in middle school.

Kenichi finally noticed that he was missing one book in the series. Right then, Miu showed up and returned his lost book. Miu said that she also haven’t got any friend and wanted to be friends with Kenichi. He finally got a good look at her and realized that despite her scary tackle, Miu actually looked really cute.

They discussed about the school clubs and which one that Miu should join. When Kenichi mentioned the Karate Club that he was in, Miu asked Kenichi if he wanted to learn real martial arts. That was when Kenichi first noticed a strange light in Miu’s eyes.

After school, Kenichi was walking home, his face covered in bruises from being beaten up by the seniors at Karate Club. He thought that if he could become stronger, he would never abuse his power like those guys but instead, he would use it to protect the weak.

Kenichi then saw Miu being surrounded by a bunch of thugs while trying to help an old man. He wanted to run away at first but decided to charge in head-on. However, he tripped and accidently hit one of the thugs in his face and ended up being captured.

When Kenichi was about to be hit, Miu broke free from the thugs with ease and stepped on the guy’s face. She leaped off the ground and beat up the thugs in a few swift moves.

Afterwards, Miu helped Kenichi up and thanked him for trying to protect her. That was the turning point of their friendship and the first chapter of Kenichi’s journey to become the mightiest disciple!