Shijou Saikyou no Deshi Kenichi

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  Kenichi Shirahama1630 fan favorites

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  First appearance: Battle 1 Age: 17 Type: Sei (also shown Dou-Type traits) Type: Katsujin Ken Martial Arts: Kenichi's Fighting Style (hybrid of Karate, Jujutsu, Chinese Kenpo, Muay Thai, Kosaka Style (Weapons), and Furinji Style) Shirahama Kenichi is good-natured, timid and polite person in his second year of high school who loves gardening and reading books. Kenichi was frequently treated as a friendless loser at the beginning of the series, however it all changed when he met Furinji Miu. After the fateful meeting, he decided to stand for himself and be truly strong; or at least, strong enough to protect those who are dear to him. Though he's constantly considered cowardly at the beginning of the series, he shows that when his loved ones lives are on the line, he's actually much braver than he appears. On his way to school one day Kenichi met Miu once again (though he did not recognize her) and the two soon became friends. Kenichi was a member of the school's karate club but was forced to do menial chores and was used as a punching bag until one day he stood up to a hulking student who tried to force him to quit and the two agreed to a match in which the loser will be forced to quit the club. With Miu's help he managed to win but quit the club anyway and drew unwanted attention from the club's president whom he fought twice managing an easy win the second time due to training he received at the Ryozanpaku dojo. However the trouble does not end for Kenichi as the club president had ties to a rising delinquent group known as Ragnarok who begin to take an interest in Kenichi. The manga follows Kenichi as he continues to train at, and eventually live at the Ryozanpaku dojo as well as facing increasingly more powerful foes. Though it is consistently stated that Kenichi has no talent for martial arts he more than makes up for it with his work ethic. It is due to this and the abnormally intense training regime he is forced to endure that Kenichi has gone from being considered the weakest student in his high school to being able to fight and defeat opponents with many years worth of skill as well as some with borderline superhuman abilities. Kenichi is kind, compassionate, thoughtful, and moral to a fault. He is against violence and only studies martial arts to protect others, and also adheres to a strict code of morals and refuses to kill or hit women even if it means death. In spite of his strong moral standards however Kenichi can be quite perverted as he will jump at the chance to see Miu or Shigure bathing and also buys pictures of them from Ma (though these pictures are mostly fakes). He also adopted a "fighting style" from Ma called "ecchi mode" in which he attempts to grope women which strangely enough has actually helped him get out of a jam before. As a result of his kindness Kenichi has made many friends some of whom are former enemies and has even managed to unknowingly win the affections of Ma Renka and Li Raichi. (Source: Wikipedia)

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  Apachai Hopachai580 fan favorites

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  First appearance: Battle 7 Age: 28-29 Height: 201cm Weight: 120kg Type: Dou Type: Katsujin Ken Martial Arts: Muay Thai and Muay Boran Apachai is known as the Muay Thai "Shinigami" and Muay Thai master at the Ryozanpaku. He is also shown to have been trained in Muay Boran, though practices it at night only for the sake of upholding the traditional of the fighting style, and even tries not to show it to Kenichi to protect him because it is very dangerous. Despite his lethal skills, Apachai has a very childlike nature, which is why he is good with kids and animals (he also happens to have the unique ability to communicate with animals). However, when it comes to fighting, Apachai lacks the ability to hold back, and often nearly kills Kenichi (one incident from chapter 24, Kenichi had to be revived with CPR due to cardiac arrest from an attack by Apachai). The reason for this is because Apachai has been fighting life or death battles in the ring since he was very young, therefore striking with deadly force has become a reflex for him. Since he was saddened by the fact that Kenichi was scared to train with him, he eventually learns how to hold back his strength, though he still sometimes knocks out Kenichi when he enters his fighting mode. Apachai is shown to have looked up to Agaard Jum Sai as an older brother. He has also mentioned several times that he has trouble understanding Japanese which may be another reason why he never holds back despite how much everyone tells him to, though this may extend to languages in general when he is told by Agaard to hold back or that he has not seen the terrifying effects of it until he started to teach Kenichi. When Apachai talks he frequently says "Apa," sometimes even yelling out "Apapapapa" whilst fighting or training. He also answers the phone with a "We have your child hostage." rather than a normal "Hello," presumably because of his past in working with child traffickers. Apachai is also a big eater, especially of hamburgers, voraciously gulping down large amounts of food and will occasionally steal some from Sakaki. This stems from his past when he had his dinner taken away by his boss whenever he broke his training equipment.

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  Shigure Kousaka551 fan favorites

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  First Appearance: Battle 7 Age: 22-23 Height: 159 cm Type: Sei Type: Katsujin Ken Martial Arts: Kosaka Style (All Weapons) Shigure is a mysterious person and a slow talker. She is also a master of all types of weapons and believes that weaponry should be seen as an extension of the body: simply relying on the weapons strength alone will not make you a master of it. She was initially viewed as a loner, often avoiding interaction with the other residents of the dojo, besides Apachai. However, later in the series, she begins to open up to Kenichi and the others, and even partakes in certain daily rituals (e.g. dinner) with them. She teaches Kenichi how to use weapons and also got him past his fear of people using weapons against him. It was implied by Kensei that Shigure worries about Kenichi when he is not around because she believes that he got into something dangerous, meaning she has possibly grown a liking for Kenichi. She even allows Akisame to tell Kenichi of her past, saying that it is okay simply because he's Kenichi. Out of all the masters, Shigure trains Kenichi the least. Her actions subtly suggest that she yearns to have him as a disciple, and is disappointed with Kenichi's reluctance to use weaponry (along with his perpetual fear of her). Thus far, she has taught Kenichi mostly practical abilities, such as swimming and rope tying. It is revealed that Shigure was raised deep in the mountains along with her father, who was an expert at both crafting and wielding weapons. On one of Akisame's travels he discovered Shigure and her father. Because her father was suffering from a terminal illness, he requested Akisame to take his life away in a duel so that he could die a warrior's death. Akisame initially refused, but eventually had to throw him off a cliff after a forced confrontation. Before dying Shigure's father admitted he did not really want to die in battle, but was trying to be a bad example so his daughter would avoid repeating his mistakes. Akisame then gave Shigure her name (her father never gave her one) and took her to be raised by Akisame's old friend, the current master of the Kosaka-style swordsmanship. After the old man passed away, Akisame brought Shigure into Ryozanpaku. Shigure goes on missions to locate swords crafted by her father and takes them out of circulation, she keeps her exact motivations for this a secret but it is highly suggested it's because she doesn't want her father's weapons used for killing. A mouse (who has unique abilities), later named Tochumaru, is frequently in her company. Shigure usually plays with Honoka and Apachai, and often beats Kensei for harassing her. Tochumaru is able to defeat cats (and later even armed mercenaries) with ease. It is also known for stealing food from others, which Apachai is often blamed for.

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  Miu Fuurinji357 fan favorites

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  First appearance: Battle 1 Age: 17 Birthday: January 14 Type: Dou Type: Katsujin Ken Martial Arts: Furinji Style Martial Arts Miu Furinji is a 17-year-old girl who attends the same school as Kenichi (as well several other prominent characters) and is currently in her second year. She is the granddaughter of Hayato Furinji and the daughter of Saiga Furinji the leaders of Ryozanpaku and Yami's One Shadow Nine Fists respectively. It is unknown how or when Miu came into Hayato's care but she has been with him since she was at least 6-years-old. It was in these early years of her life that Miu learned martial arts from her grandfather and also accompanied him on his missions to bring about peace. Before Miu transferred to Kouryou she attended a school that was apparently quite famous but didn't fit in because all the girls in the school were jealous of her looks. It is because of this that Miu attempted to moderate her appearance by fashioning her hair into a plain-looking braid and began to wear glasses. Though she kept this facade going well into her second year she eventually discarded them. Despite being attractive, athletic, kind, and humble, Miu is very socially inept to the point of having no friends before meeting Kenichi and has practically no social life. The reason for Miu's immense amount of social ineptness stems from her upbringing in which she never had any time to make friends and also from her home life in which she is practically a live-in maid. In spite of this however Miu has managed to make quite a few friends over the course of the series due to her kind and friendly nature as well as some help from Kenichi. Miu has a great fondness of kittens and becomes openly hostile towards anyone who harms one and even once tortured Kenichi because he ruined an opportunity for her to have one. Miu has consistently proven herself throughout the series to be an immensely skilled fighter. Having been trained by her grandfather since she was very young as well as facing much danger along the way her skills have been honed to the point where she will reflexively throw anyone who sneaks up behind her. Though her fighting style has not been named she makes heavy use of kicks as well as acrobatics. While her exact level of skill is unknown, Kenichi has never once been able to hit her in a sparring match (though his vow to never hit women much less Miu may contribute to this).

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  Akisame Koetsuji292 fan favorites

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  First appearance: Battle 7 Age: 38-39 Height: 180cm Weight: 80kg Type: Sei Type: Katsujin Ken Martial Arts: Jujutsu and Aikijujitsu Koetsuji Akisame is the philosophical Jujitsu master and doctor of Ryozanpaku who was an old friend of Miu's father, Fuurinji Saiga. He was also the the first master willing to train Kenichi (though he is the least considerate to Kenichi's feelings). Despite his seemingly small physique, he is actually known for having his muscles built to perfection. He also has very good insight on people, often knowing if they are troubled or hiding something; he sometimes even knows what a person is thinking, which scares Kenichi. He has several hobbies and many unique abilities, including being a famous and legendary artisan, who has mastered calligraphy, painting, pottery, and sculpting. He often invents contraptions that serve as both training devices for Kenichi and power sources for the dojo including a treadmill generator. He also owns an orthopedic clinic, and can reset and fix bones with ease. It is from his immense skill and knowledge of medicine and anatomy that he developed his unique physical conditioning methods. His skills in the medical field are so great that he was able to save Apachai's life while the latter had a hole in his side and even using tools from Shigure and performing the surgery on flight, Apachai's life was saved. He is known amongst doctors as the "The medic demon." They're also quite afraid of him. He seems to hold some kind of grudge against Takeda's master James Shiba as seen when James often insults Akisame's mustache. This grudge held to the point of a rivalry of some sorts as the two actually bet their mustaches to be shaved should the losers disciple lose the match.

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  Shio Sakaki117 fan favorites

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  First appearance: Battle 7 Age: 29-30 Height: 192cm Weight: 110kg Type: Dou Type: Katsujin Ken Martial Arts: Karate (specializes in Mutenkendoku-style) Sakaki Shio is infamously known as the 100-Dan Street Brawler of Karate and is one of the masters of Ryozanpaku. He claimed not to take disciples at first, but gradually grew to like Kenichi and is always eager to train him. He has a soft side which he tries to hide behind his tough guy attitude, and is usually the one worrying about Kenichi the most despite acting like he does not care. Sakaki is arrogant, violent, and a drunkard, but is quite possibly the most normal of the masters at Ryozanpaku. Sakaki is a very intimidating person even when he tries not to be, something that he doesn't seem to realize and is put off by whenever someone points it out. This persona belies a kind and somewhat caring nature which he tries (and fails miserably) to hide, though he is somewhat hot-blooded and short-tempered. To this end, he could be seen as a bad liar, pointed out by Kenichi at one point when Sakaki tells him to lie about the money he received from the underground fighting tournament. Amusingly, it is shown that he suffers from stage fright and becomes extremely flustered at being the center of attention, such as when he was posing as Miu's father during a parent-teacher interview and when he was forced to train little children. He's not very good when it comes to children, as due to his intimidating nature, he caused them to cry. However, when he tried again, he at least managed to warm up to them eventually and remember all their names and they all liked him a lot. However, out of all the masters, he is the nicest when training Kenichi. He's usually the only one who worries over Kenichi's condition in a fight or when he's left alone. Though is usually hard and indifferent towards him, it is because he cares for him and needs to be hard on him in order to push him. Sakaki also tends to be impressed whenever Kenichi impresses him and makes a remark by rubbing his finger under his nose whenever he's moved by his actions, often wondering when did he become such a man. In his younger days, Sakaki was the disciple of a Sei-type master of karate. Sakaki's only known relative was an older sister who would constantly look after him. While he took his training seriously in various styles of karate, including his master's Muntenkendou-style, Sakaki's relation with his master was strained. His master was a member of Yami and was teaching Sakaki the "true styles of karate" so Sakaki could succeed him in joining Yami but Sakaki was against killing. Also at some point in his life, he met Hongou Akira and the two became good friends and strong rivals, constantly having matches and stopping thugs together. During Sakaki's late teens, he met Suzuki Hajime, who asked to be his disciple despite only being a few years younger. Naturally owing to his dislike for taking on disciples, he refused, but was still followed by Suzuki. When finding Hongu attacked by thugs, Suzuki showed noticeable skill by saving Hongou from bullets. Sakaki and Hongou quickly grew to respect Suzuki and ultimately become friends. Suzuki would constantly referee their matches, leading Sakaki and Hongou to have a tie score of 125 wins each.

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  Hayato Fuurinji66 fan favorites

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  First appearance: Battle 6 Type: Dou/Sei Type: Katsujin Ken Martial Arts: Knowing him, probably everything (explained by his ability to copy all of the enemy's moves easily) Hayato is Miu's grandfather and the undefeated elder of the Ryōzanpaku Dojo, who is said to have beaten 500 Shaolin masters to near death. He is also known as the "Invincible Super Man". His kicks have speeds that are still a blur even when viewing a replay of it at 1/1000 of the normal speed. If necessary, he is able to intimidate the other masters in order to maintain peace. Even using just 0.0002% of his power, he can easily overwhelm both Kenichi and Miu at the same time and rip a tree in half. He was able to defeat a master level opponent in D of D tournament with just one finger. Prior to building the dojo, he and his granddaughter had traveled around the world in his quest for peace. He has 108 special techniques so far and can copy any move an opponent uses against him, like Kenichi's "Saikyou (Strongest) Combo" and "Saikyou Combo 2," Soutenshu and Miu's "Hyōi Kazekirihane." He knows Seikūken and is the creator of "Ryūsui (flowing water) Seikūken" which Kenichi learned from him. However, his most used technique seems to be the "Human Shuriken." One move that has been shown in the manga is "the Shockwave of Forgetfulness" a move which erases ones' memory. He seems to be able to decide how much is forgotten, as in the flash back to meeting Apachai the thug leader experienced total amnesia while Kenichi only lost his short term memory. His training methods are the most frightening of all the masters at Ryōzanpaku, as bad omens like the splitting of tea bowls, pots and chopsticks were common at Ryōzanpaku while Kenichi was in the mountains training with him. Hayato is rather fond of Kenichi calling him "Ken-chan" and is the only master who apologizes to Kenichi for the hellish training that him and the other masters put him through. He later comments that Kenichi reminds him of himself when he was young. Though Hayato appears to have unmatchable power, Miu tells Kenichi that he had trouble fighting Silcardo Jenazard before. He and Kushinada know each other from the past. Despite being the eldest and most powerful of the dojo, Hayato has proven to be rather irresponsible at times. He tends to recklessly spend the dojo's money on personal items and gets carried away whenever he has an opportunity to showcase his strength. Sometimes he's seen eating candy, especially lollipops. Also he mentions that he is getting weaker. After he used .0002% against Miu and Kenichi he told them that he needed a rest after using that much power. In Battle 231 he can use bi-vocal skill that can allows him to use two voices to speak. One time he used it for a duet at a karaoke bar apparently. Hayato can also use the left and right side of his body to perform separate actions and movements. In Battle 233 he is shown capable of reducing his voice to a degree where only one individual can hear his voice. With these abilities many, if not everyone, believe he is not human.

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  Kensei Ma60 fan favorites

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  First appearance: Battle 7 Age: 41-42 Height: 158cm Weight: 53kg Type: Sei Type: Katsujin Ken Martial Arts: All Chinese Kenpo (preferred fighting style is soft forms) Kensei is the lecherous master of all Chinese Kenpo, who prefers to fight using soft forms and currently the second oldest of the six masters of Ryozanpaku. He is short, balding, and always tries to take revealing pictures of beautiful women (including Shigure and Miu), which often earns him the wrath of the pair, though it does not stop him. Despite his present attitude, he was actually a charming and handsome young man in his youth, and was very popular with women. Kensei and Kenichi develop a very close relationship, though Kensei mistreats Kenichi comically like everyone else does, Kenichi sees him as a father figure. He also knows Kenichi better than the others due to the fact that he is usually the one who ends up convincing him to cooperate with their plans, such as when he convinced Kenichi to move into Ryozanpaku, and also will occasionally swindle him into buying the perverted pictures he takes (Though in the D&D arc, Kenichi states that he all he ever receives are pictures of Tochumaru posing). Though he is a perverted and sly old man, Kenichi still admits that he never doubted his training methods or his beliefs as a master, this shows how much his bond with Kenichi and him are as master and disciple. Under all of this however, he is shown to be a very kind and wise person at heart who seems saddened at the violent uses of Martial Arts in the world, wishing the world could be more peaceful. In battle, he prefers to disable enemies without lethal force, only foregoing this practice when fighting other Master class Martial Artists. Kenichi also states that despite all of Kensei's character flaws, they were "nothing compared to the greatness of Ma Sifu" and readily admits that he had never doubted Kensei even once. As noted by Kenichi, he has a habit of yelling "Chowa" whenever he fights. Ironically enough, he is the only one among the Masters that is actually capable of cooking and generally does so whenever Miu is in a position unable to cook. He has a odd habit of calling all the other masters their names with "don" at the end. Later in the series, he is revealed to have a wife and three kids, including a 16-year-old daughter named Ma Renka, who followed him from China. Kensei was actually the leader of an elite martial arts alliance in China, made up of thousands of students. However, he viewed the responsibilities as a nuisance, so he left it all to his wife, and moved to Japan where he operates an acupuncture clinic. He also has an older brother, Ma Sougetsu, who is a member of the Yami One Shadow Nine Fists bearing the symbol of Moon.

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