Kenichi The Mightiest Disciple

My butt is going nowhere!!!!

It knows its place.

New chapter:

Odin, Renka and two other dudes arrive to help Shinpaku and the Yomi disciples.

Two evil masters are also there, and the groups split up to deal with them.

At this point, I'm starting to feel like this manga is progressively wrapping up more and more due to the epic level it's currently on.

So we've missed few chapters but here we are:

Kenichi seems to have reached a new level, and even healed that dude's body. But he's probably still behind Miu.

Ryuusui Mubyoushi looks frickin' awesome.

Kenichi has achieved laser eyes!

......

The Elder just punched out a missile. They may not be firing energy attacks, but I think it can be safely said that the Kenichi characters are ridiculously super human.

How sure are we that they are not actually Exalted? Thats some fricking Solar shit.

Pretty sure we entered superhuman territory a long while ago, but yeah, this was a particularly awesome feat. Nice, Elder.

Lots of great double-page spreads this chapter, gives me the feeling the arc will end very soon.

Yeah. If I were to compare them to another series, it would be Ranma One Half.

I bet the Elder could take Happosai or Cologne, even if he's not even half their age.

Not sure where to put some of the disciples against the Ranma and the other teenage characters though.

Holy shit! ...Here's hoping he's not, well, dead. Probably not though, given the series, but at the same time...

Is anyone else confused by the double disguise thing?

I mean I knew that government guy was weirdly strong and all, but damn was that some Xorneto level mind-fuck.

The disguise element actually made enough sense to me, given that it's already been setup. It caught me off guard big time, but beyond that, I get it.

Wait? What are we talking about? Was there a new chapter that I don't know about, cause the last one I saw had the Elder finally show up and stop the Missile.

I believe he's talking about the reveal with the whole disguise aspect, not the most recent chapter with The Elder being awesome. That's what I assumed at least since it's consistent with everything else from before. Could be wrong.

Oh good.

I thought that was really dumb. Kinda a cop out really, and not hinted at at any point previously.

So boo on that shit.

We'll... The new chapter is one way to wrap up the arc. And the series.

Don't blame him for ending the series (where do you go after this? The "disciples" are basically low-level masters and plot lines are basically wraped up), but I am still going to miss it.

......

It's over? Really?

You know, if you hadn't pointed it out, I'd have missed that note. That is... kind of sudden, honestly, but I can't really blame the author. A lot of mysteries have been solved, it's the culmination of a big arc, and everyone's development has been, if not fully explored, then not flat, at least. Although it could go on, this is frankly a good point to end it at.

That was really... anti-climatic fight wise. I'd be fine with it ending around this point, but I feel the remaining fights could all be resolved better.

Also, as someone who generally doesn't really care to complain about fanservice, even I think this case was a grating example. -.- To note my clear feelings, I say just be equal opportunity fanservice if you're going to do it. I might not be into it regarding the other side, but still, my sense of fair play makes me feel that's the right thing to do if you're going to do it.

edited 11th Sep '14 8:07:29 PM by Prime_of_Perfection

New chapter out. It's the last one.

Interesting to see what's happened on the non-martial arts side of things.

And that's that.

It ....just happened like that. Oh well, guess that's the end.

It was abrupt, yes. But the loose ends have been accounted for, even if not quite done in a satisfactory manner.

On the bright side the author has three oneshots lined up.

So I went and binge read this manga from the begging (I was reading it week-to-week before but kind of dropped out of loop and decided to start over) to end this week. Here are my thoughts:

It's probably one of the best shonen manga of the last decade. Not only did the author clearly understood what he wanted to write and stuck with it, but the whole thing is just really well written... for the most part.

Ragnarok arc is as close to perfect story arc as I ever seen. I don't think I ever seen plot, character development and action woven so tightly together. Kenichi development as a martial artist feeds into his development as person and vice versa, and both of them push the plot to move while at the same time being funneled by it. It's actually pretty amazing. Kenichi is an amazing lead, he really knows how to put his money where his mouth is, while not lacking enough flaws and weaknesses to make him relateable. The supporting cast is all amazing with lot of interesting characters with their own personalities and histories and all of them are utilized very well. Especially Miu who's an amazing heroine and who's relationship with Kenichi is adorable.

Early Yami arc is all that plus enlarged scope, Master fights and new interesting characters. If I had one complaint is that after D of D tournament some of supporting characters don't get enough screen time.

Things start to get slighthly worse in the second part of Yami arc, somewhere around Tidat arc ends but the quality really seems to fall after the battle in amusement park. The peace becomes really frantic and it things just feel halfbacked compared to what it was before. Plot threads are brought up suddenly only to be dropped just as fast, the new characters have no depth (sup weapon division) and the less I speak of the reveal and Big Bad the better.

Still, this is all not enough to spoil this series to me, and I will always remember it very warmly. Now it's I'll wait for author next work. Hopefully It'll be as good as this.

I do admit, while the Fanservice got redonkulous after a bit, I still liked this series.

Kenichi truly is the mightiest disciple, and I'll miss it.