The setting is as usual. A bullied boy tries to stand up for himself. The supporting characters along his journey adds a bit of entertainment to the story. If you are fine with art style and a fan of martial arts manga then you would like it. Its simple but fresh

I can't say I am particularly fond of this manga, nor can I recommend it to anyone. The pacing is abysmal (the training to actual battles ratio is nuts, especially in the early arcs), the martial arts are poorly choreographed, and many of the character designs are lifted straight out of fighting games (Kenichi looks like Shun from an old Street Fighter Alpha animation and Miu may as well be Cammy, even down to the fondness of cats). If you are a fan of martial arts manga, I would suggest you check out another series, such as Aiki, Flame of Recca or Hokuto no Ken, and let this training and fan service montage be.

... Last updated on October 22nd, 2020, 12:54am

ive read a lot of manga and ive got to say this is at the top of my list of Best martial arts mangas, it has the whole package, great action, hilarious comedy, interesting story,some ecchi for them ecchi lovers and great unique art. i love the characters too they all are funny and interesting in their own way. i usually dont like wimpy male leads like Kenichi (at first) but Kenichi is super funny with it and he gains a great amount of respect (to me), character growth and power. this is 100% deserving of a second continuing anime season like naruto, it is so stupid the way they make crappy mangas anime and Not great ones like this anymore but anyway i stand by this as My choice for Best purely Martial arts (Hand to hand) manga but i do know a lot of other great ones that come close to this like "the Breaker" manga and etc

Update: Now that its over man i really feel sad cause i do feel it was cancelled prematurely and the author has way more story to give. This manga has been so great for so long and i feel like its bull that it didnt get a second season anime and that this could have saved this series from being canceled. Also i have to say part of the issue of this series feeling unfinished is the author in my opinion. This was great but i do feel like Kenichis progress was way too slow. I felt like he should have been a master like 100 chapters ago and it already has felt like he surpassed Miu since his fight with Sho Kano but the author kept keeping him down just to extend the series and while it was good, it just felt like now when it was being axed that so many of the story is left unfinished now. The author could have upped the pace some more especially after the main Yomi stories were finished but yea thats what lead to this situation now. This series completely feels unfinished and i hope later on he can finish it. Anyway i still go by my previous review, this series was awesome, great art, awesome Action, hilarious comedy, interesting story and good ecchi lol; just the whole package in my opinion. It still is definitely at the top of my list for "Best Martial art Manga" (Focusing mainly on regular Hand to hand manga only though).

... Last updated on September 7th, 2015, 8:41pm

very good i would say
it reminds me of all the good manga i really liked when i was growing up
80s-manga
violence,comedy,sexy girls and a likeable main character

the ending was rushed and lots of characters just apear without a real backstory and with extreme power especially with the weapons group
and then they just dissapear

maybe it should have ended whith the big arc around the silat user Junazad/Jenazad
since they build him up to be able to handle the elder by himself
i felt the power sort of went away from the manga after that arc ended
but it needed more explenations around Mius backstory so it is not like the rest was bad
but the awnsers we got was not all that good/...needed more

i think the last 5 volumes rush the end of this manga.
i know there were lots of haters or have unliked this manga
but... for me, there's nothing worse than feeling that a plot has been rushed to end,
and the ending is somewhat consisting of 1-5 pages imo.
just read the last chapter and you'll understand what i mean.
or try to read the last 5 volumes and you'll feel irritated how rush the story have become.

don't get me wrong i still like to finish reading this manga...
and from first to half volumes until the other half was somewhat bareable,
although it is what i also felt to be repetitive or have "lost focus"
as mentioned by other former(?) readers-commentators here.

then again, for me, i dislike more a rush ending compared
to a normal pacing until the end story.
sure they have repetitive cycle of fightings, etc.
but, i cant help but cringe over the fact that a lot has been left out
unlike before battles.
those sort.

I dropped the series very early on due to it´s boring/formulaic shounen nature but it got infamous on the web so i have looked at enough chapters while watching tv from all sorts of volumes and the final one to get enough of what Shounen Sunday failed to push on me. I got to see young girls in tight tights turned naked ALL the time and the manga turned into nipple and barely covered vagina appreciation quite fast. Or were the butt cheeks the stars as they were bigger then some heads? Most importantly is the fact that no choreography or good martial arts (what is this manga about anyway?) could be found and nearly all the men looked like He-man abortions.
I obviously don´t know what the big picture is but the category tags look highly confused too. What a twist and Kenichi is also a 1 to 1 "remake" of his previously failed "Tatakae! Ryouzanpaku Shijou Saikyou no Deshi" so i know that Matsuena´s next series will be a train wreck too. At least the series isn´t vile porn and just highly embarrassing softcore porn on the level of Needless, Negima and friends but the ending is equal nonsense too which means that either part 2 is coming when Matsuena´s money runs out or that a third and identical fighty titz manga about the power of leveling up through training/friendship is juts around the corner. He may even skip a male lead next time and what was his character about anyway? If you care about Martial Arts (and romance) than read All Rounder Meguru (10/10) which i also reviewed and today´s shounen bestsellers need a giant Titan (8/10) sized kick in the pants to get on my pull list again. I am lastly sure that teenage me wouldn´t have read Kenichi ether as he had taste and Hunter x Hunter (9/10) / Rurouni Kenshin (10/10) / Naruto (7,5/10) on his side so read them and let´s see if shounen action can recover in the next few years.
Update: His new series is basically a remake. Who could have guessed...

... Last updated on October 28th, 2015, 12:02pm

Fun male hero that starts from scratch and build up to sky-high level surrounded by beauties and tough guys. A lot of friendship, some love, bit of drama, a lot of training and battles. You shouldn't miss this one.

... Last updated on July 7th, 2014, 2:24pm

When i started this series i thought that it's great couple martial arts styles and protagonist that goes through "from zero to hero" for a girl, this might just be good but after some time i noticed that this manga has few flaws. Now that i think about it i should've stopped reading this manga long ago (gone as far as 50th vol, total waste of time).

Most obvious problems are plot cliches with little change (no one dies, except for couple bad guys, if they are immortal that you already know the outcome ), no character development or progress in love relation between kenichi and miu, too long fights or conversations and the biggest mistake/problem is that when series started going down hill more and more ecchi scenes poped up (now i dont know if it's martial arts manga or ecchi :/)

PS. one thing i can't understand is why people that read all chapters so far are still rating it 10/10 when they know it sucks?!

My title says it all. There really is no need to try and put it into more words than that. This series is just insanely boring with little redeeming features. It repeats the same scenarios over and over and over while offering little to develop the characters or a coherent plot. Stay away unless you enjoy reading mindless action with nothing to back it up.

When I started reading this manga I was quite attracted by the story and development of the plot, but I reached the first obstacle, just when I thought the relationship between Kenichi (also as a Disciple) and Miu could develop, it remained somehow stagnant, I ignored the fact since it is a shounen manga and all shounen have a kinda slow paced development (in romance) BUT, when I've reached chapter 412 I started wondering... when the hell is this story going to advance? Why is the drama so poorly developed? Why are these people not getting anywhere after so much? Why is every fight being repeated but with slightly different conditions?

The

As a previous commenter (Jandalman) stated, it also angered me what is written in the spolers of his message.