Product: Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple - Season One
Rating: 4.0
Weak-knees no more
An anime series about a boy learning martial-arts from a gang of masters sounds... kinda boring. Fortunately it's anything but -- "Kenichi: Season One" is a solid start to this deliciously oddballish series, with plenty of gutsplitting comedy, explosive action, a hint of romance, and extremely eccentric martial artists.Throughout his school life, Kenichi Shirahama has been weak, bullied, friendless and nicknamed "weak knees." He enters the high school karate club to become stronger, but quickly finds himself at the bottom of the food chain -- and challenged to a match by a big muscled thug.But his life is unexpectedly saved by the new transfer student Miu, who can beat down an entire street gang. She guides him to the dojo where she lives... and where five martial arts masters currently reside, each at the peak of their skill and strength. Unsurprisingly Kenichi joins up with the hope of becoming stronger, but he soon discovers that their methods are kind of brutal (think racing around the city pulling jiujitsu master Akisame in a tire!).Unfortunately, his martial-arts win only leads to more trouble -- he attracts the attention of various thugs, and gains the attention of the strongest gang in the city, Ragnarok. And moving into the dojo doesn't end the danger, as he finds that some of his friends -- including an ex-member of Ragnarok -- are being targeted by their thugs. What's more, he has no idea how close one of the gang's elite fighters is..."Kenichi: Season One" quickly introduces us to the characters and scenario, then plunges right into the world of martial arts training. But on a deeper level, "Kenichi" is also about a young man who gains not only physical strength but mental endurance, and how his innocent quest to be strong rapidly escalates into something far more life-changing.And.... it's funny. REALLY funny. Every episode is packed with slapstick, insane training (the Great Leg Divide -- a sort of medieval torture device), eccentric characters ("Riiiiiise, SEBASTIAN!"), and tsunamis of hormones whenever Kenichi gets within two feet of Miu. All this humor keeps the series from getting too deadly serious.And there's also a lot of action that twists through the various episodes, as Kenichi is confronted by all sorts of opponents -- karate, boxing, street fighters, knife-wielding thugs -- and has to use different techniques to defeat them. Lots of special punches, low kicks, pivots, body-weight throws and other fun techniques.But Kenichi himself is a strong point -- he's a likable and earnest kid who hasn't been soured by his constant mistreatment at school, and who just wants to be strong enough to defend himself and other people. And it doesn't go to his head, since he shows immense compassion towards the people he defeats. Miu is also an excellent female lead in the vein of Tite Kubo's Orihime -- busty, friendly, industrious, naive, and just a little bit weird.And the supporting characters have a brilliance of their own: there's Miu's imposing grandpa, the rough and blunt Sakaki, the silent sword-swinging Shigure, the lecherous Kensei, and the vast and deadly child-man Apachai ("Only limit is limit of fear!"). Takeda the Puncher makes a good buddy/rival for Kenichi... and for the record, all the voice actors are simply brilliant.."Kenichi: Season One" is a solid start to a thoroughly enjoyable series, crammed with martial-arts fighting and loads of comedy. Apapapapa!