Line #13 Fridge/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple


1	!!FridgeLogic
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3	* Okay, so...has anybody ever bothered to query where the majority of the parents for some of these kids who are involved in Ragnarok, YOMI, and other minor gangs are? Aside from those who we know the parents are around but are mostly background characters (Kenichi), or they've been orphaned or abandoned (Miu, Tanimoto), or their relatives may in fact be subverting AdultsAreUseless when it comes to fighting Yami (Freya's grandfather), but for the rest, WHERE ARE THE PARENTS OR RELATIVES IN ALL OF THIS? Do they even know their kids are being made into delinquents or are being molded into martial artists who use the killing-fist philosophy? If they know, do they even care?
4	*Well...,for most of the YOMI guys, the Japanese ones most certainly come from the Kuremisago, the american ones, apparently were put into training by their family, we know Tanimoto´s way, apparently Jihan is an orphan, Boris is an especial commando thing at the care of Alexander, as far as i know little thai boys practice martial arts since early childhood, so Tirawit could have seen being taken by Agard as something really good, and well... about Ryuto I have no freaking idea.
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6	!!FridgeBrilliance
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8	* Several times during the Ragnarok arc, Nijima sabotages Kenichi's attempts at avoiding further fights, deliberately ensuring that new fighters rise to the challenge and defy him. In retrospect, Nijima ''isn't'' doing it ForTheEvulz - he's ''running an experiment'', testing if it's possible for someone to rise above their station. Why? Because if ''Kenichi'' can do it...then so can Nijima. Cue the latter reinventing himself as the charismatic leader of the Shinpaku Alliance.
9	** Why is Nijima able to pull it off when [[TheFriendNobodyLikes his best fighters don't like him at first (and often don't like him even later)]]? Because he's a MagnificentBastard that [[AFatherToHisMen takes care of his underlings, especially the weak ones]], and his strong fighters at least ''respect'' that... And eventually find themselves unable to leave the Alliance.
10	* Overall, it seems like those who practice Katsujinken are stronger and more skilled than the masters and fighters who practice Satsujinken. Thinking it over, it is pretty obvious that in a martial arts match, especially of the kind seen in ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'', it is actually HARDER TO NOT KILL than it is TO KILL. In other words, the Ryozanpaku are as skilled as they are precisely because that despite the fact they train everyday, they also train to hold back in a fight, so they do not kill their opponents. This leads to them having far more control over their techniques and skills in comparison to Satsujinken, whose main goal is to kill, so they don't hold back, meaning they can't refine their skills.
11	** Furthermore, since the Katsujinken don't kill their opponents, their enemies can keep coming back for more. To put it another way, the Katsujinken probably get a lot more practice.
12	** The Ma brothers actually said something like this out loud after their fight in Chinatown where Kensei quickly gained the upper hand. Sogetsu asked how was it possible when the last time they had met they had been equals, and Kensei explained that Sogetsu trained alone while Kensei trained with friends at Ryozanpaku: Kensei has sparring partners and Sogetsu doesn't. In fact the members of One Shadow Nine Fists are ''banned'' from fighting each other in any way, a safety measure given they tend to fight to the death and some are unable to pull their punches... But it also means they get much less practice.
13	* Related to the above - why is so much made about Apachai reaching his full combat prowess after finally learning to hold back? As a Dou-type fighter, he gets more powerful the more emotional he is, and the Elder notes that Apachai's brute striking power has reached reflexively murderous levels. He only successfully manages to "hold back" after learning how to train Kenichi without accidentally killing him. For a Dou-type fighter like Apachai, who has always been afraid of actually killing someone when he didn't want to, this means that for a large part of his life, he had NEVER trusted in his abilities and so could never strike with full efficiency and intent (unlike Agaard, who always intends to kill with each strike). It is only after Apachai learns how to train with Kenichi that he can trust that he has the control to not kill unless he actually means to, and so is free to raise the strength of his attacks, able to successfully use and counter Muay Boran techniques on Agaard with the same level of power.
14	* Remember when [[ForgottenChildhoodFriend Odin]] was first introduced? He had a yin-yang button on his collar similar to the one Kenichi wore on ''his'' jacket, establishing him as Kenichi's EvilCounterpart. [[spoiler:In the same way, [[BigBad Saiga Furinji]] may well be set up to be an EvilCounterpart to Kenichi as well because they're both wearing gauntlets (in Kenichi's case, his gauntlets [[TragicKeepsake used to belong to Saiga]], who points out as much), they both have close ties to Ryozanpakou as disciples of Hayato Furinji (former in Saiga's case, plus Hayato is his father), and has been noted on the Character page, Saiga looks like a blond version of Kenichi]].
15	** This may well be subverted, actually. [[spoiler:Saiga]] would more properly be an EvilCounterpart to [[spoiler:his father, Hayato, and his former best friend, Akisame]], though [[PetTheDog he does hold Kenichi in respectful regard]].
16	* Apart of his TrainingFromHell, If Kenichi is a talentless disciple, why is he capable of beating almost every opponent? Because InAWorld full of I want ToBeAMaster fighters, Kenichi is the only one to have a truly selfless and useful motivation: WeHelpTheHelpless. Any fighter that is not evil, had to admit that [[MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours Kenichi’s motivation is stronger than yours!]]
17	* TheReveal that [[spoiler:Saiga Furinji]] was GoodAllAlong and framed by an impostor handily explains the incronguity between his heroic present day deeds [[spoiler:such as rescuing Miu and Kenichi as "John"]] and "his" past atrocities and him being the leader of YAMI.
18	** Still doesn't explain [[spoiler: where he's been all this years and why he hasn't shown up in Ryozanpaku]], though.
19	** Flashbacks show him, along with Senzui training Kajima, so Saiga likely has been splitting time between being the One Shadow, and secretly opposing Yami.
20	* It's interesting that it's some bug in the plot that prevents Siegfried from either winning or severely damaging the main foes. Against Berserker, he fought on top of a fence where his style could not be applied fully. Plus, he could've Requiem Bombed him into the ditch Nijima dug up instead of the sewage water. His battle with Spark of Yomi was in defeat because the Shinpaku alliance interfered with their bout. Even with the [=DofD=] Tournament, the only thing preventing him from curb stomping the Capoeira team was awaited orders to do so and ultimately fatigue from arriving from TrainingFromHell.
21	* Why did [[TheStarscream Loki]] try and set Berserker, and not himself, as the leader of the new Ragnarok? Because, being quite intelligent, he know he lacks the charisma Berserker has in spades. He also fails to get Berserker on board for the same reason: Odin is far more charismatic than Loki.
22	* Christopher Eclair is a PsychoForHire and a CombatPragmatist of the first order, yet he's incredibly restrained about who he kills and can show extreme respect for his opponent or temporary allies. These contradictory characteristics are easily explained by the fact he's a Savate master: he follows Savate's code of honor, it's just that he loves killing and needs an excuse to do so... Hence hiring himself out and killing only his targets (and those who get in the way and actually pose a threat to him).
23	* Early on, Akisame "jokes" that, thanks to him and Kensei being skilled medics, they can train Kenichi to the breaking point and then just put him back together. That's actually the likely reason for Kenichi's surprisingly fast physical progress: being ''awesomely'' skilled medics and martial artists they know exactly how much they can push him before he breaks, and then how to accelerate his recovery.
24	* Early on Miu teaches Kenichi a throwing technique to win a ''Karate'' spar, something that, as Daimonji points out, you're not supposed to do in Karate... But that's only in ''Japanese'' Karate styles and under sports rules, the original Okinawan forms (and a few Japanese ones) maintain throwing and grappling. Considering Miu lives with Sakaki, an expert of all styles of Karate, she likely wasn't aware of the difference.
25	* When Tirawit takes over the Koryu High Karate Club he deems Daimonji as useless in spite of his strenght and muscles, that he got by himself and are the reason he was ''invited'' in the Karate Club... Or maybe ''because'' of those muscles: those muscles were known to slow him down and by the time Tirawit takes over they're still there to slow him down in spite of a year of Karate, he likely deemed him too stupid to be useful.
26	** As for why Daimonji was invited in the club... Tsukuba was scouting him for Ragnarok. And while nowhere near as good a fighter as even Tsukuba himself, Daimonji's raw strength still made him superior to most of Ragnarok's goons.
27	* The unarmed members of Yami on average have better moral compasses than their armed counterparts. Arbitrary? No: a fight involving Satsujinken weapon users ends with someone dead or maimed by default while unarmed ones can at least choose to not kill and mutilate their opponents, members of the Armed Division have got themselves desensitized to killing and maiming.
28	* Ma Kensei and Renka stand out among Ryozanpaku's members and affiliates in that they are actually willing to kill under certain circumstances. They're also direct transplants from the Wuxia genre (the Phoenix Alliance being a Sect, if a very large one, of which Kensei is the Patriarch, while Renka is close to a Wandering Hero), in which the protagonists do in fact kill, and their affiliation with the Katsujinken practitioners comes from the fact they don't kill unless strictly demanded by honor and necessity.
29	* During the D of D Rachel doesn't like how pragmatically the Pankration team fights but finds herself appreciating them for some reason she can't place. That would be because Pankration is the spiritual ancestor of Lucha Libre, being the first martial art whose competition had clear rules that included both striking and grappling and being a spectator sport at the Olympic Games and other sacred games - though the dangerous life in Ancient Greece meant they couldn't afford any flashy move. She had likely been told about it but couldn't consciously recall during the tournament.
30	* The majority of the Master-class weapon users is armed with Western weapons. This is because of guns: their development outside Europe and European colonies stagnated with gunpowder-using matchlock smoothbore muskets around the 17th century while in Europe and its colonies it progressed, first slowly and then, through the 19th century, much faster. As such European martial artists were able to adapt to the various innovations as they appeared, while Asiatic martial artists remained used to weak and inaccurate matchlocks and were decimated in the 19th century when they suddenly faced European and American armies carrying far more powerful and faster-firing weapons, leaving alive only those who for some reason hadn't been at the frontlines such as ninjas (like Shigure and her master plus the Kuremisago) and staff users.
31	** On the other hand, unarmed fighters practicing Eastern styles remain numerous even at the Master class... Likely for the same reason: when the Europeans armed with modern guns invaded they weren't at the frontlines, so they had the chance to adapt and learn how to face them - the eventual result being the hilariously one-sided fight between the Ryozanpaku masters and Fortuna's troops.
32	* In the seventh OVA episode, Boris's analysis of Kenichi is represented by a penguin: a short creature with no aptitude for killing ("neither claws nor fangs"), but which can survive (and even thrive) in one of the harshest environments on Earth.
33	* Kii Kagerou isn't part of the Eight Executioner Blades in spite of being stronger than most of them. Considering [[CloudCuckooLander how he is]] and that he doesn't care for the position, they obviously decided to give what should have been his spot to stabler people.
34	* In the original ''Ryozanpaku'' manga both the Elder and Akisame claim that Judo is one of the arts taught at the Ryozanpaku in spite of the latter having a somewhat dismissive attitude toward it, and [[OffOnATechnicality declare it's this way because Kodokan Judo started out as a Jujitsu style]] - but many of the moves Akisame uses are indeed found in Judo.
35	** Akisame's dismissive attitude is easily explained: Ryozanpaku is a place for masters that practice martial arts not turned into sports, and that's exactly what happened to Judo, with groundfighting techniques being severely limited after 1925 and striking techniques being outright banned outside kata.
36	* There's a few martial arts that lack Masters... And some where it doesn't apparently make sense:
37	** Taekwondo doesn't have a Master... Because it's a very recent style, dating to after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and the end of the Japanese occupation, during which Korean martial arts were suppressed. Ki-using practitioners are very rare even in styles that do have Masters to teach the new generations, and it's likely Kisara is the first with the talent to become a Master.
38	** Judo too doesn't have Masters in spite of a clear lineage from Jujitsu... But it also turned itself in a sport in 1925. If it had Master-level fighters they left when the new competition rules were approved, and being a sport new ones failed to emerge. [[CantCatchUp Ukita, of all people]], is the last known chance for Judo to have a proper Master.
39	** Muay Thai too is a combat sport but has Apachai and Agaard... But they come from the ''underground'', where it remained closer to the traditional styles (and they both explicitely practice Muay Boran, though Apachai doesn't teach it to Kenichi).
40	** Savate, Karate and Boxing are well known as sports, but Christopher Eclair and the Karate masters explicitely practice the pre-sportivization styles (it's the whole reason Sasaki is at Ryozanpaku), and Boxing has a long history as street fighting, with the sport rules being a result of the betting, allowing it to preserve its Masters.
41	** ''Lucha Libre'' has a Master, and one of the highest-ranked members of Yami at that. Lucha Libre and all forms of professional wrestling are the direct and spiritual descendants of Pankration, the first martial art and one of the earliest spectator combat sports - Diego Carlo's predecessors were almost certainly Pankration practitioners that adopted new guises and traditions to preserve the art in spite of the Roman suppression of it, eventually arriving in Mexico and their Masters adopted Lucha Libre as their "mask".
42	*** In addition to the above, Diego and Rachel had their first major role during the D of D arc and worked closely with Fortuna, a Pankration practitioner, and Rachel finds actual Pankration oddly familiar - and just in case has ''far'' more effective techniques she just doeesn't like using in public.
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45	!!FridgeHorror
46	* Not sure if this actually counts as FridgeHorror, given what we've had revealed to us up to now, but...remember back in Chapter 455, when the mercenary John told Kenichi that he's frequented Nijima's Shinpaku Alliance website? [[spoiler:Well, John's been revealed to be Saiga Furinji, the [[BigBad One Shadow]], [[ObfuscatingStupidity in a]] [[MasterOfDisguise fat suit all along]]...so does that mean he's got all the info on the Shinpaku Alliance and could use it against them any time?]] Fortunately, [[spoiler:the One Shadow was actually Saiga's imposter. The real Saiga is one of the good guys.]]
47	** The "horror" part may be subverted thanks to [[spoiler: Castor.]] Remember that the headquarters was attacked very early in the YOMI saga. They ''know'' where it is, they just don't care.
48	* When Miu AlmostKiss Kenichi at chapter 423, the Elder was full of Killer Intent against Kenichi. It’s funny, until you realize that the story seems to imply that Miu’s mother was killed by [[spoiler: her own husband]] giving the Elder a very good reason to act like that.
49	** Especially when a lot of connections between Kenichi and Saiga are referenced.
50	* Silkwat said that eating fruit drenched your blood thirst, and we see that he eat fruits ALL of the time and still is very brutal. The horror part is how bad would he be if he didn't ate all that fruits.
51	** To make it more horrifying, he's a ''Sei'' ki user, meaning he fights with ''calm and clarity''.
52	* Tsutomu Tanaka is a salary-man who happens to be an exceptional martial artist and who has a habit of always speaking to his wife on the phone. In the most recent chapter (521), after having pulled a BigDamnHeroes moment by intervening in Isshinsai's (Kensei) fight with Kenichi and Ryuuto ''while talking to his wife on the phone'', at one point he stops to make yet another call, and Kensei kicks the phone out of his hand, around the same time that the Ryozanpaku masters are discussing his past, where in flashback we see his former father-in-law and his then-fiancee. [[spoiler:Then Kenichi gets hold of the phone, quickly talks into it to urge the wife not to go near the amusement park because it's dangerous...only to realize that on the other end is ''a generic telephone automated voice recording''. Which means very likely that it wasn't only Tanaka's father-in-law that Kensei killed in the past...he also killed Tanaka's wife and unborn child. Which means [[SanitySlippage Tanaka hasn't been right in the head at all since then]], and he's been having imaginary conversations with a wife who's been DeadAllAlong]].

Context Fridge / KenichiTheMightiestDisciple