Characters / Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple – Ryozanpaku Dojo

Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple Character Index
Ryozanpaku Dojo | Shinpaku Alliance | The Eight Fists of Ragnarok | Yomi | Yami - Unarmed | Yami - Armed | Relatives | Others

Kenichi Shirahama

Kenichi Shirahama

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (JP), Jessie James Grelle (EN), Gabriel Ortiz (LA)

A 16-year-old boy who is currently in his second year of high school. On his way to school one day, Kenichi meets a girl named Miu, and the two soon become friends. At the start of high school, Kenichi joins the school's karate club, hoping to become less weak, but he is forced to do menial chores and is used as a punching bag. One day, he finally stands up to a hulking student, and the two agree to a match in which the loser will quit the club. With Miu's help, Kenichi manages to win, but he quits the club anyway. He joins the Ryozanpaku dojo, which Miu's grandfather nominally runs, and begins an intense training regime in several different types of martial arts.

Kenichi is kind, compassionate, thoughtful, and moral to a fault. He is against violence and studies martial arts to protect others, and he adheres to a strict code of morals, which includes a refusal to hit women. Because of his kindness and empathy, Kenichi has made many friends, most of whom are former enemies.

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• The Ace: Eventually on his way of becoming this due to training with basically demi-god masters of martial arts and has a talent for quick learning and using all of his senseis' techniques in a fight against Ryuto and shows that he is capable of adapting and using all of their techniques.
• Accidental Pervert:
  • His sparring partner and one of his masters are tremendously well-endowed. You do the math.
  • And then there's some of Ma Kensei's more... unorthodox training.
• Babies Ever After: At the end of the manga, we see Kenichi writing the end of his story with a lot of photos in his desk, including one of a little girl who looks just like Miu with Kenichi's hair color.
• Badass Normal: His masters blatantly tell him that he has no talent, but make up for it by all-but beating the lessons into him. The results have been staggeringly successful, as attested by out-classing Berserker.
• Battle Couple: He and Miu live together, spar together, fight Ragnarok goons together but are only kinda-sorta together together. They marry in the end.
• Berserk Button:
  • He really hates being called a coward.
  • Anyone that uses their martial arts for malicious purposes will definitely get on his bad side as it harms innocent people and abusues the use of martial arts.
• Beware the Nice Ones: A meek young man who enjoys reading and gardening. He just wants to be friends, even if you're a member of an Ancient Conspiracy dedicated to the practice of martial art centered on kill your opponents. Push one of his Berserk Buttons and he will fight like a rabid badger.
• Big Brother Instinct: Messing with his little sister is a VERY bad idea. He once jumped off a cliff and wrestled a shark to save her.
• Big Damn Heroes: Has several moments of rescuing others throughout the series.

• Boring, but Practical: Kenichi doesn't have the kind of advanced moves or styles that many of his opponents have, and while he has his awesome moments, strictly speaking he's just using the basics of martial arts. However, this is precisely the kind of martial artist Bruce Lee stated was the most fearsome. Eventually averted when he starts relying on Ryūsui Seikūken and Mubyoshi. Though Mubyoshi is just a combination of basic punching techniques.
• The Champion: One of his main motivations is to become a man strong enough to protect Miu.
• Charles Atlas Super Power: As a result of training at Ryōzanpaku, he can drop school bullies with one punch and run through stone walls.
• Childhood Friend Romance: He forgot about it, but Kenichi met Miu when they were children. When he meets her again, it doesn't take long for him to fall in love with her.
• Chivalrous Pervert: He often has perverted daydreams about Miu but is so respectful of Miu herself that he couldn't bring himself to spar with her seriously. In fact, he starts sparing with her seriously because Elder Hayato convinces him that refusing to acknowledge her as an opponent was disrespectful.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: No matter who it is, Kenichi will never turn his back on someone in need.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: While his sights are firmly set on Miu, that hasn't stopped him from unknowingly picking up a small harem of interested girls, including Izumi, Renka, Raichi, and possibly even Shigure.
• Combat Pragmatist: Since he receives training from a variety of masters who specialize in different fighting styles, Kenichi can often mix his fighting moves up a little bit to throw off his opponents, most of whom are trained more traditionally and mostly specialize only in one or two forms of fights. For example, in his fight against Takeda the boxer, since Takeda is trained to fight with his fists and upper body, Kenichi utilizes low kicks to attack his legs since Takeda wouldn't be expecting that (since that would be illegal in a boxing match), and therefore wouldn't be concentrating on protecting his legs.
• Confusion Fu: His counter to analytical opponents like Odin is "Ryozanpaku Rhythm", which is where he imitates one of his many masters. This goes beyond their style of fighting to their voice, mannerisms, and other personality tics in order to throw off predictions.
• Covert Pervert: He does buy stuff from Kensei but secretly.
• Cowardly Lion: Scared stiff more often than not, though it won't stop him fighting. It's his master's training that really scares him. Through the wonders of character development, this is less and less the case.
• Declaration of Protection:
  • He has sworn to just about everyone in earshot that he'll become strong enough to protect his Love Interest, Miu.
  • He vows to protect Takeda after Defeat Means Friendship. He even programed his cell phone number into Takeda's phone so he could more quickly come to his aide.
• Determinator: Unconsciousness won't stop him, by the end of the D of D tournament. In fact, that just worsens your chance of keeping him down, since he then surpasses the speed of thought and perfectly demonstrates the techniques that (nigh literally) have been beaten into him by Ryouzanpaku.
• Death Is Cheap: He regularly "dies" during training because Apachai has difficulty holding back. Fortunately, Akisame and Kensei are as skilled with medicine as they are with martial arts.
  Sakaki: Aw man, how many times is this kid gonna die?
• Expecting Someone Taller: No one he fights can believe he's as good as he is because of his looks and general demeanor.
• The Fettered: He doesn't fight because we wants to be the strongest, or because he enjoys fighting; he fights to protect others. And if you're the person others need protection from, you will find that he is much, much stronger than he initially seemed.
• Fight Magnet: Justified by Niijima in chapter 5: After Kenichi defeats Karate Club bully Daimonji, he attracts the attention of the Karate Club captain Chukuba; after he defeats Chukuba he attracts the attention of Ragnarok… and after he defeats Ragnarok, he attracts the attention of Yami. God only knows what will happen when he defeats their disciples.
• Forgotten First Meeting: When Kenichi was a kid, he and Ryuto met Miu. After seeing Miu defeat the thug trying to assault a kind old lady, both Ryuto and Kenichi vowed to become strong, but Kenichi forgot the fact and that it was Miu who traded him the Yin Yang badge he carries on the neck of his shirt all the time for a cat badge, as a remainder of said promise.
• Generation Xerox: In the penultimate chapter, Saiga remarks that Kenichi is way too much like Hayato. Apparently Saiga and Hayato had a running bet on which of them Kenichi would turn out more like, as one panel in the same chapter has Hayato cordially saying that he told Saiga that Kenichi would take on more of his own traits and not Saiga's.
• Giving Up the Ghost: Every occurrence of this in the series comes from him, mostly from his sparring sessions with Apachai.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He usually acts this way when his life is in danger and he gets paranoid and starts shouting for no reason. This is mostly Played for Laughs.
• The Hero: Kenichi is reconstruction of this trope, particularly the shounen fighting hero. He is almost as terrified of his training as he is of the antagonists arrayed against him. Initially all he wants is a well-tended garden, a well-stocked library, and Miu. This (rapidly) expands to include the ability to protect the ones he loves and fight the evils others ignore. Turns out he'll have to defeat a whole gang of Badasses and an Ancient Conspiracy to achieve most of these things, and defeat his master for the other. Good thing he is a hard working and determined young man, whose aforementioned master (or rather, five of them) have every intention of turning him into, well, the mightiest disciple.
• Heroic Build: Slowly gets one over the course of the story, going from scrawny wimp to bodybuilder's dream before he leaves high school!
• Hero with Bad Publicity: No thanks to Niijima, who often acts like J Jonah Jameson and either gives misinformation or else exaggerates Kenichi's wins, making Kenichi seem more like a common thug than a guy who wants to protect people.
• Hot-Blooded: Averted as this isn't his main personality but when he copies Apachai and Ship he uses their personalities as well as their fighting techniques.
• Human Pack Mule: To Miu whenever she goes shopping for groceries. This, of course, doubles as a part of his Training from Hell, and his mentors often force him to carry some extra weights on those occasions, just for the sake of training his strength and endurance.
• Ideal Hero: Kenichi is determined, strong, caring, kind, honorable, courageous when he needs to be and only fights to protect others.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Would MUCH prefer reading and tending flowers than what he's called upon almost daily to do.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: At the beginning of the series he wanted to join karate but was kicked out by a bully. So when he got the chance to learn how to fight he automatically took it.
• Insistent Terminology: Whenever someone mentions he's running away, insisting it's merely a "Strategic Withdrawal" has become so common, it's practically a Catchphrase.
• Iron Butt Monkey: He's one during training with the various masters but it involves a lot of slapstick harm but this is averted during actual fights with bad guys because those are more serious.
• Keet: When he copies Apachai and Kensei Ma he develops an energetic and a silly personality along with the fast quick moving jabs.
• Kung-Fu Clairvoyance: Courtesy of Seikuken, he can anticipate his opponent's attacks.
• Love at First Punch: Unintentional but still counts as his meeting with Miu is related to this trope but not quite it, since neither have Jerkass tendencies, and it was her attempt to befriend him that got him to notice her attractiveness.
• Made of Iron: Basically his only specialty. He can take a beatdown like no other. Why, you ask? No, he doesn't have Super-Toughness. It's the fact that his opponent can't possibly be rougher on him than his mentors are on a daily basis.
• Martial Pacifist: His defining character trait. He's a peaceful young man who only took up martial arts to stop being bullied, he often tries to talk his way out of fights first, and will even walk away from those who challenge him, only resorting to violence if he has no other choice (or if a challenger calls him a coward).
• Memento MacGuffin: The Yin Yang badge he carries on the neck of his shirt all the time. It was Miu who traded it for a cat badge with him years ago. It becomes important during his fight with Odin.
• Muscles Are Meaningful: He becomes incredibly ripped by the end of the story with a physique most teen bodybuilders would kill for with the strength to match. Compare how he looks at the beginning of the series◊ to how he looks near the end! By the epilogue we only see his bicep, but by this point it's become as large as Sakaki's Apachai's or the Elder's!
• Muscles Are Meaningless: In the earlier chapters, Akisame's regimen helped Kenichi build strength over bulk, making him a lot stronger without changing his outward appearance much until about halfway into the story.
• Nice Guy: Incredibly kind, compassionate and righteous.
• Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: Calling him a coward is a good way of pissing him off.
• Not So Weak: One of the earlier thugs that beat him down got grabbed on the ankle before kicking him off. The thug then pulled up his pant-leg, revealing a bruise in the shape of Kenichi's hand. Kenichi has since grown much, much stronger.
• Oblivious to Love: He has a hard time noticing it when girls like him, pretty much because he has already settled down for Miu.
• Ordinary High-School Student: When fighting Tanimoto, he thinks something along the lines of "My name is Kenichi Shirahama, a normal high-schooler that loves reading books and gardening... so why is it that I'm now fighting on the roof of a speeding bus!?"
• Pointless Bandaid: Chikage tends to call him "Bandaid", because of it.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He's an avid gardener and generally loves to do things other than get beaten half-to-death by training in his spare time.
• Single-Target Sexuality: He has made clear he doesn't want to be with anyone other than Miu. He has loved her since childhood, in fact.
• The Stoic: When he uses Shigure's techniques he develops her quiet and calm personality along with the swift cut of his hand which acts as his blade.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He pretty much resembles his mother's hairstyle and color but he seems to inherit his father's personality to which they overreact and act paranoid.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Despite having a serious hate-on for Shou Kano and having been in a bloody, vicious, all-out fight with him only moments before, he still displays sincere regret and sadness when Shou is fatally wounded protecting Miu, then tells Kenichi that it's up to him to protect her from now on.
• Terror Hero: Type 5, thanks largely to Niijima.
  • Falls into this trope in episode 24 of Season 1 when some thugs try to bully the drama club into giving up their large room so they can use it for their club. After Kenichi saves the drama club president and announces who he is, the thug's minions begin worry about his presence and exaggerate his reputation a bit, such as being able to take on a bear. However, it's enough to make them run away.
  • Happens again when he, Takeda, and Ukita save the Shinpaku Alliance members from the rank and file Ragnarok thugs. Niijima once again greatly exaggerates what Kenichi actually did, and causes the remaining thugs to run away due to his power.
• Thanks for the Mammary: How Kenichi broke Miu out of her assault. Subverted in Chapter 459 where he tries to pull it off again to Miu to get her out of her Brainwashed and Crazy state, but he still gets a brutal beat down in the end.
• They Killed Kenny Again: As mentioned in one episode as a gag, after Apachai sent him flying with a kick, he "died again," suggesting he dies at least once a day during his training.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: As a practitioner of Katsujinken, the path of martial arts that eschews killing, this is kind of a given. Solidified when Kenichi tells Saiga that even if he was a Satsujinken/Killing Fist user, he'd still try not to kill others at the cost of his own life. Saiga actually bursts out laughing and complains that Kenichi's way too much like Hayato.
• Took a Level in Badass: Took hundreds. A few volumes, and he can drop his former tormentors. A few arcs, and he's accidentally hospitalizing them by the dozen. All thanks to the sheer fortitude to survive Ryozanpaku. To put things into perspective. At the start of the series he was terrified stiff of guys with small knives, or just guys who wanted to beat him up. Now he can even take on guys armed with huge swords and firearms. By the end of the series, he mastered Ki usage to its third and final level during his fight against Kajima. In the epilogue he goes on to become a master himself. He also marries Miu which implies that he beat the Elder in a fight.
• Training from Hell: Driving Kenichi into the ground and scaring his reflexes into gold are standard for the masters of Ryouzanpaku, but the most hellish comes from Koetsuji, who builds simple and complex machines to wring the skill from his disciple's bones. Some intrinsic consequences from failing these machines include (but are not limited to only): burning alive, electrocution, being trapped for hours in one position, and impalement. If they didn't know what they were doing (or if Apachai hadn't learned to hold back), he would be long gone by now. Since they do, Kenichi can consider it "training" and gain immense results...though he does die several times. Good thing two of his masters are also medical geniuses. Kenichi grows to like it, going so far as to increase his regimen while his masters are absent in Chapter 423. Try to imagine the Kenichi from 200 chapters ago doing that.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Kenichi's earlier battles were based more on getting a single hit on his foes, which his inhuman strength gained from training at Ryōzanpaku would turn into a devastating, one-hit KO, than actual combat ability. Akisame even addresses this shortly after Kenichi starts learning actual techniques.
• Unstoppable Rage: When sees anyone harming his friends or do anything to make him angry he will fly into a fury and he becomes extremely dangerous.
• Unusual Eyebrows: His eyebrows have "kinks" near the end.
• Warrior Therapist: His advances in the Sei style have offered him some very telling insights on some of his opponents. Also when he copies the personality and fighting style of Akisame he quotes his philosophy as well.
• Will They or Won't They?: His relationship with Miu goes through several not-quite-there swerves due to things like Miu's reluctance to admit to jealousy or Kenichi's (and Hayato's) idea of whether or not he's good enough for her.
• World's Strongest Man: Eventually becomes this, since, he's married to Miu as of the epilogue, and a requirement for her husband is to have beaten Hayato, the previous World's Strongest Man.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: This attitude angers several female opponents and wins the affection of some others. He is acutely aware of how stupid this attitude is, and knows that there are several women in the series that could kick his ass even if he were willing to fight back, but he still refuses to hit them on principle. He reaches the point where he can seriously spar with Miu or use grapple techniques on female opponents.

Miu Furinji

Miu Fūrinji / Bulu Indah

Voiced by: Tomoko Kawakami (JP, TV anime), Rie Kugimiya (JP, OVA), Carrie Savage (EN), Alondra Hidalgo (LA)

A 16-year-old girl who attends the same school as Kenichi and is currently in her second year. She is the granddaughter of Hayato Fūrinji, the leader of Ryōzanpaku Dojo. Despite being attractive, smart, athletic, and kind, Miu is very socially inept, to the point of having no friends before meeting Kenichi and practically no social life. Miu's social ineptness stems from her upbringing, during which she never had any time to make friends, and also from her home life, where she is both maid and book keeper for a bunch of eccentric adults.

Miu has proven herself to be an immensely skilled fighter. While her exact martial arts disciplines have not been stated, she has shown knowledge of several styles. Her fighting style is graceful and fluid, taking advantage of her agility, coordination, and flexibility, and makes heavy use of kicks. Her skills have been honed to the point where she will reflexively throw anyone who sneaks up behind her.

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• Action Girl: She regularly floors groups of mooks. Ragnarok eventually gave up fighting her and instead begged Kenichi to "call off your crazy girlfriend!"
• Action Girlfriend: Kenichi basically followed her to Ryozanpaku and he repeatedly vows to protect her, despite the fact that she's still a more skilled fighter than he is. Eventually he comes close and has actively protected her several times when she was sick or disabled. Still, her grandfather won't let him date her unless he can beat him in a fight.
• Armor Is Useless: Rule of Sexy demands that her allegedly bulletproof leotard gets constantly torn to shreds.
• Babies Ever After: The end of the final chapter reveals she eventually has a daughter with Kenichi.
• Badass Adorable: More so as a child, but she is still pretty adorable as she kicks ass.
• Badass Back: Do not approach her from behind, or she'll attack you without even stopping to think about who you are.
• Badass in Distress: As a victim of Mind Manipulation by Junazard.
• Battle Couple: With Kenichi, sort of. She started out protecting or looking out for him since she was much stronger in the beginning. It is Played straighter when he improved enough to be equal to her level, or close to it.

• Betty and Veronica: Betty to Renka's Veronica because she's the Girl Next Door and Team Mom in the dojo.
• Beware the Nice Ones: One of the nicest people, but also one of the strongest disciple fighters so making her angry tends to be a bad idea.
• Bilingual Bonus: Bulu Indah means 'Beautiful Feather' in Malay/Indonesian.
• Born Winner: Miu is the descendant of a tribe of people who specifically breed themselves to create powerful offspring with exceptional martial arts talent. Not to mention her father is the son of the World's Strongest Man, as well as one of the most powerful martial artists in the series.
• Braids of Action: Zigzagged. Initially, she let her hair down before fighting. After Ragnarok, she dons the braids and lets her hair down in school.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Even after officially breaking free of Junazard's control, she has a hidden amount of blood lust unlocked as a result.
• Childhood Friend Romance: She met Kenichi when they were both younger than the teenagers they are in the main narrative, and ultimately marry.
• Children Do the Housework: She's the youngest member of the dojo, yet she's the one who does all the cooking, cleaning, laundry and manages the finances of the adults living there.
• Cleavage Window: Her pink gymnastics leotard has one.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: While not 'officially' with Kenichi, she reacts strongly to Renka flirting with him. She also doesn't like it when Kenichi looks at other girls in the nude, accidental or not.
• Clothing Damage: Often.
  • When she attacks Silkwat and he counters her attacks before knocking her out, that skin-tight fighting costume of hers is so shredded that she might as well be naked. She must paint her underwear zones with spirit gum before putting it on—there's no other logical way enough bits of it could stay on sometimes!
  • Whenever Kenichi imagines them in danger, he automatically pictures her that way.
• Condescending Compassion: She's never mean to Kenichi and has always appreciated his friendship, but for about the first 140 chapters she made several comments and assumptions that show she didn't think much of him until he defeated Ragnorak's first fist.
• Cuteness Proximity: To cats or anything cat-like. Including at times Renka, whom people refer to as cat-like. She also coos around Honoka and wishes to have such a cute sibling.
• D-Cup Distress: Laments her size due to its interference with her martial arts. Probably doesn't help people call her "dairy cow."
• Don't Sneak Up on Me Like That!: Don't ever touch her (and certainly don't grab her) from behind, or you will quickly end up on your back.
• Dude Magnet: Besides Kenichi, other guys in the series are interested in her including Takeda, Ryuuto and Sho.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: After being kidnapped by Silkwat, and then brainwashed, her eyes go blank with the bleak situation
• Fanservice Pack: Her boobs and hips grow substantially in a very short time after she starts her second year at school. Handwaved as puberty, when she wonders how much bigger they will get. Then her breasts and hips got smaller right after Apachai's "death" event, the measurements seems to be the same as her early design.
• Feather Motif: Often drawn accompanied by ethereal feathers. See also Meaningful Name below.
• First Girl Wins: No other girl can catch Kenichi's attention because Miu came first. She already won all the way back to their childhood.
• Forehead of Doom: In earlier chapters, yes. But not so much after she decided to overhaul her style in chapter 316.
• Forgotten First Meeting: She met Kenichi when they were kids. Miu apparently recognized him right away, but didn't feel the need to bring it up when they meet again.
• Form-Fitting Wardrobe: Even her school uniform and a blanket show off her athletic muscles and large bosom. Her leotard hugs her body so tightly that her nipples are very obvious.
• Glass Cannon: While she's an exceptional martial artist and exceptionally hard to hit or even touch, she rarely can take more than a few hits before collapsing/ being unable to continue. This is played up in the anime so she won't join in a fight she could very easily win, but Kenichi would struggle with.
• Going Commando: As Bulu, it doesn't seem as though Miu is wearing anything from the waist down except for those leg bands. She's quite embarrassed once the brainwashing (mostly) wears off.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Look at her after she goes into Unstoppable Rage and they change into something sinister.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Only Kenichi rivals her in kindness.
• Heir to the Dojo: Raised by the leader of Ryozanpaku and trained by him.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend: Oh, no, she doesn't have that kind of feelings for Kenichi. He is just like a little brother, or a dog who lives in her house. Yet will become incredibly jealous the instant another girl announces her affections for him.
• Hero's Muse: Inspired Kenichi to take up Martial Arts.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Despite the association of her eye color, she's actually less naïve than Kenichi, at least in terms of martial arts. In other areas, oh yeah she's definitely a sweetheart. ^note  According to the official guide book, she has got one quarter of Russian blood. That explains why she's blonde as well .
• Innocently Insensitive: She occasionally gives backhanded compliments, like in Chapter 171 when Kenichi is showing his knowledge of flora and she is surprised he knows about more than being hit. He even tells her "That's Rude." Her denials of Kenichi being her boyfriend also count as this, since she doesn't seem to get how hurtful those words are for him.
• Instant Expert: Miu can master techniques, training, and even whole styles in a very little amount of time, around a week. She also learned a workable amount of a new language in the same week.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: She can hospitalize people without hesitation, but just can't stand the idea of a kitten getting mistreated.
• Lady of War: Grace and coordination; that's how she fights. The school's alpha bitch once described her as having the same beauty as a blade.
• Leotard of Power: Technically a unitard rather than a leotard, but it still fits. Justified since she does actually do gymnastics and it's her club uniform.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The light to Renka Ma's dark because she is less flirty, more modest and makes snacks for him on occasion.
• Little Miss Badass: Routinely beating street thugs at the age of six.
• Male Gaze: Close ups of her chest and butt are a must.
• Martial Pacifist: Only fights for others and then will try to end it with the least damage to both her and her opponent.
• Meaningful Name: Her name means "beautiful wings" or "beautiful feathers". And as mentioned under Bilingual Bonus, Bulu Indah means "beautiful feather" in Malay/Indonesian.
• Mr. Vice Guy: Given the financial troubles the Ryouzanpaku goes through, she can be borderline greedy, and seems very willing to consider things like stealing Rimi's gold-sole shoes (she calls it "spoils of war"), or try to convince Kenichi to sell the Yomi badges to make some easy money.
• Ms. Fanservice: In the words of a Ragnarok thug "She wears a purple leotard....built like a super model..."
• Nice Girl: Very polite, caring and helpful.
• Oblivious to Love: She's pretty clueless at the hints of Kenichi's crush on her. As of chapter 423, not oblivious. Indeed, she's far more aware of Kenichi's feelings for her than he realized.
• Parental Abandonment: Her mother died and her father is the leader of Yami.
• Purely Aesthetic Glasses: She wears glasses as a way to dim her looks. It doesn't work.
• Raised by Grandparents: Her grandfather raised her, specifically due to the aforementioned Parental Abandonment.
• Sensual Spandex: Her fighting uniform is ridiculously skintight. It makes her nipples very apparent.
• She-Fu: Justified in that she is an actual gymnast.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She loves Kenichi, who is kind, honorable, brave and protective.
• So Beautiful, It's a Curse: She is so beautiful that she had some social problems at her last school because of it (implied to be other girls bullying her).
• Tarnishing Their Own Beauty: She puts on glasses and wears her hair in braids to make herself look plainer and avoid making other girls jealous of her beauty.
• Team Chef: She does all the cooking in the dojo.
• Team Mom: Runs the dojo with a kind smile... most of the time.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Just when Kenichi had finally caught up in fighting and even surpassed her in Ki abilities, Silkwat Junazard kidnaps her and trains her in Silat which then causes her to have to begin training her Dou Ki, something her grandfather was hesitant to start do to the risk. She is now back to effortlessly curb stomping Kenichi.
  • After the introduction of Rimi, Miu finally gets an enemy that pushes her to her limits, and it's during their final fight that Miu masters her Dou Ki.
• Vapor Wear: It's pretty obvious that she wears nothing under her spandex battle outfit. It's a leotard after all. It would be redundant.
• Verbal Tic: "Desu wa". It wouldn't be out of place for highly formal feminine speech, but Miu adds to the end of many sentences when it makes no grammatical sense to do so.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: While she won't admit to it for a while anyway, she is as clear as possible without being explicit that Kenichi is hers and is quite protective of him. This was most prominent when Kenchi was still a novice martial artist. In that period, Ma Kensei pointed out to her that this was not good, because this deprived Kenichi of gaining combat experience. After Kenichi took enough levels in badass, this became less prominent, but she actually never stopped being protective of him. Note also that her style of fighting is much more aggressive than Kenichi's.
• Weak, but Skilled: Her fighting style is based on speed, grace and coordination rather than pure strength ^note  This is not to say that she lacks strength but doesn't rely on it. All these combined with her vast experience make her one of the, if not the, best disciple level fighter(s). Until Kenichi mastered all of the martial arts of the Dojo and quite possibly became the World's Strongest Man.
• What Is This Feeling?: When she sees Renka flirting with Kenichi, Miu finds herself confused at feeling jealousy for the first time. She even states the trope almost verbatim.
• Will They or Won't They?: Her relationship with Kenichi goes through several not-quite-there swerves due to things like Miu's reluctance to admit to jealousy or Kenichi's (and Hayato's) idea of whether or not he's good enough for her.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: It's how the reader is shown that she's not quite under Silkwat's control. She is also very reluctant to fight with Chikage.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: She cleans and cooks for the dojo and makes sure it doesn't run out of money. In fact, the grand master mentions that they wouldn't live so well without Miu's care.

Hayato Furinji

Hayato Furinji

Voiced by: Hiroshi Arikawa (JP, TV anime), Yuzuru Fujimoto (JP, OVA), R. Bruce Elliott (EN), Jesse Conde (LA)

Miu's grandfather and the undefeated elder of the Ryōzanpaku Dojo. He is very tall, very muscular and possesses tremendous vitality despite his advanced age. Hayato is a kind old man but still possesses a reckless streak and can be very arrogant, the former of which is shown by his tendency to spend the dojo's money and to get carried away whenever he has a chance to showcase his strength.

Hayato is considered by many to be the most powerful man alive. Even when he uses only 0.0002% of his power, keeps his eyes closed, and splits his concentration and body movements, Akisame comments that he still is the most powerful man in the world.

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• Awesomeness by Analysis: He invented a martial technique specialized in this.
• Big Good: He has titles like "The Invincible Superman", "He who has no Enemies", and "The Strongest Man in the World", and has earned every one. It's a good thing he's on Kenichi's side.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: He has large and hairy eyebrows that almost look like a second mustache over his eyes.
• Blatant Lies: I AM THE MYSTERIOUS 20 YEAR OLD, GARYUU X!
• Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Any and all of his granddaughter's suitors (i.e. Kenichi) must defeat him first if they want to date her.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's easily the strongest character in the series, but he has tons of goofy habits and is prone to doing silly things, such as disguising himself by just putting on a mask and claiming to be 20 years old, and when his beard is pointed out, he claims that said beard is part of his mask, and it should be noted that he isn't wearing an elaborate mask like Takuma Sakazaki as Mr. Karate, but a cheap plastic mask you could buy from a store that doesn't even cover the entirety of his head. He also has some rather childish traits, such as his Sweet Tooth or how he harmlessly toys with his opponents when fighting with them.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Even disciples can pull superhuman feats. But Hayato? This old man can run on water, throw bombs huger than he is high into the air, and move so fast a camera slowed down too 1/1000 can barely see a blur of him! That's nearly mach 30 and he wasn't even trying!
• Cool Old Guy: He is regarded as a man of no equal and was even nicknamed "The Invincible Superman" to shelter this fact. He is quite possibly the strongest martial artist in the world and is capable of many feats that are considered beyond human potential. He is noted to even at 0.0002% his strength while closing his eyes and splitting his attention two ways, he is still ranks among the mightiest of fighters. He is also the master of the Ryonzanpaku Dojo which is said to be the strongest masters in the world. His skills are regarded as a class above even Grand Master individuals as a Legendary Master.
• Engagement Challenge: The only way Kenichi can get his consent on dating Miu, is to defeat HIM.
• Form-Fitting Wardrobe: Kimonos don't work like that!
• Fundoshi: His swimwear.
• Heroic Build: Well over 6 feet tall, made of solid muscle, and doesn't look his actual age.
• Impossible Task: When he says that no one can date Miu unless they can defeat him in combat, what he means to say is that he doesn't want anyone dating Miu. Though that Kenichi eventually marries her and has a daughter, means it's not such an impossible task after all.
• Large and in Charge: Biggest master in the dojo.
• Martial Pacifist: The strongest believer in the Katsujinken philosophy.
• My Greatest Failure: Chapter 430 reveals that his inability to prevent Saiga's Face–Heel Turn is this for him.
• The Patriarch: He's Miu's grandfather, the oldest of the masters, and this means he has the most training and experience of all of them.
• No Hero to His Valet: While Miu looks up to him in most things, one chapter makes very clear that she controls all the dojo's purse strings, and the old man is terrified when Kenichi finds out he bought an expensive scroll without her permission.
• Old Master: He's actually taught Kenichi only a few lessons, but each has resulted in monumental improvements. Basically, He's the one who brings together all the stuff the other masters have been pounding into Kenichi on a daily basis.
• Older Than They Look: He's estimated to at least be over 90 years old, but could pass for being in his early 40s! The fact that he has vibrant blond hair just like his grand-daughter, and his well-muscled body make him look even younger.
• One-Man Army: Hell, he is a MONSTER, he fought alone with an entire American military base and WON! And throwing more people or heavy artillery at him is a bad idea, since he can use people as freakin' shurikens, and has special moves that he uses specifically to take out TANKS!!!
• Paper-Thin Disguise: His identity as Ganryu-X is a simple plastic Metal Heroes mask and doing Kamen Rider poses.
• Red Baron: "The Man Without Enemies"
• Walking the Earth: Appears to have done this both in his youth and during Miu's early years. Arguably still doing it given his semi-frequent "walks" that keep him away from Ryozanpaku for days on end.
• World's Strongest Man: Is called as such on several occasions, when he isn't being called the Invincible Superman. Apparently, using 0.0002% of his power and closing his eyes STILL leaves him the "most powerful being on this planet".

Akisame Kōetsuji

Akisame Kōetsuji

Voiced by: Jurota Kosugi (JP), Kent Williams (EN), José Arenas (LA)

A 38-year-old philosophical Jujitsu master who was the first master willing to train Kenichi. He is an old friend of Miu's father, Saiga. Despite his seemingly small physique, he is known for having muscles built to perfection. He also has very good insight, often knowing if people are troubled or hiding something; he sometimes even knows what a person is thinking, which scares Kenichi.

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• The Ace: Not only is he a Martial Arts Master, but he's also considered a genius in multiple academic fields, can bring people back to life with his medical knowledge, is said to have "the perfect body", is always calm and composed, is the main breadwinner of the group, manages to turn a group of school children into emotionless fighting machines in an afternoon, and can outsmart any of the other masters (Kensei spent YEARS using a false Rock–Paper–Scissors pattern until he really needed to win, and Akisame saw through it immediately). If there is something he isn't good at, he'll learn it almost instantly. If that doesn't happen, he learns instantly by watching somebody else do the same.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's one of the more cultured and approachable Ryozanpaku masters, and can usually keep his cool in stressful situations. If you do anything that could potentially harm Kenichi or any innocent bystanders, though, he'll show you no mercy.
  • When he learns that Shigure was captured by YAMI, he very briefly flies into a rage after he tries to calm himself but fails.
• Catchphrase: "Naive!"
• The Comically Serious: Especially when green peppers are involved.
• Cruel Mercy: As all Ryozanpaku Masters he won't kill his opponent no matter the circumstances. Some of the stuff he does to his opponents is worse. Really it would be Mercy Kill to kill those poor souls.
• Cultured Badass: There's a reason he's called the "Jujitsu Philosopher."
• Does Not Like Spam: Hates green peppers. Doubles as his Weaksauce Weakness. Kenichi and Miu manage to seal him in his room for a few hours by dangling one in the hallway.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Low-level, but he loves to invent new torture training devices.
• Genius Bruiser: So much so that some visitors to the dojo seemed to know of him as a master artist and philosopher instead of a martial arts master.
• My Greatest Failure: He's still haunted by his inadvertent part in killing Shigure's father in their mutual past.
• It's Personal: Harming any of his True Companions will anger him but when he learned that Shigure (the daughter of an old friend) had been captured by YAMI, he tries to calm himself by writing calligraphy but fails when he crushes the pen in a rage and declares that he'd make YAMI wish that he will kill them by the time it was over.
• Martial Medic: Started out as a notable chiropractor thanks to jujitsu's knowledge of joints & bones, but becomes an Open Heart Dentist by the D of D arc, capable of performing miracles with a borrowed knife, needle & thread, and booze.
• Martial Pacifist: When threatened by a Ragnarok grunt, he politely tried to talk his way out before using him in a Judo demonstration.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: While much slimmer than some of the other masters, he has built his body to perfection.
• Papa Wolf: He's quite protective of Kenichi, like all the masters, but he's also this to Shigure due to their past together. When he finds out Yami has kidnapped her he very calmly attempts to go through calligraphy before snapping the brush (and the desk) when he can't restrain his anger any further.
• Prophet Eyes: Downplayed in that Akisame is clearly not blind but he looks it and the wise conotations are there.
• The Reliable One: There is a reason why he was chosen to be Kenichi's primary trainer. Always cool and collected, rather serious, a good organizer, and possesses the best technological and medical knowledge of all Ryozanpaku masters. Compared to him, Hayato (the eldest and strongest and the owner of the dojo) sometimes looks like a mischievous teenager.
• Renaissance Man: He has several hobbies and many unique abilities, including being a famous and legendary artisan, who has mastered calligraphy, painting, pottery, and sculpting.
• Sadist Teacher: Mellow and reserved that he normally is, he's also arguably the most enthusiastic out of all the masters when it comes to putting Kenichi through Training from Hell and is also usually the most creative in coming up with more and more elaborate training regimes too.
• Unusual Eyebrows: It's like a lightning symbol drawn sideways.
• Warrior Poet: A Jiu-jutsu master who spends his spare time carving ornate Buddhist statues and transcribing poetry in beautiful calligraphy.

Shio Sakaki

Shio Sakaki

Voiced by: Unshō Ishizuka (JP), Christopher Sabat (EN), Juan Carlos Tinoco (LA)

A 29-year-old master of karate who claims to hold 100 dan. Sakaki is a very intimidating person even when he tries not to be, something that he does not seem to realize and is put off by whenever someone points it out. He has a kind and caring nature and is a very bad liar, which is shown when Akisame asks why he suddenly decided to teach Kenichi a fighting technique, and Sakaki replied that it was the anniversary of the creation of judo.

He is an incredibly powerful martial artist. He is very well-versed in multiple forms of karate and possess superhuman abilities, most evident in the fact that he can survive a fall from one of the top floors of a tall building without any noticeable injury.

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• Alliterative Name: Shio Sakaki.
• Anti-Hero: Sakaki tries to give a hard cynical impression, but he isn't fooling anybody, as people he meets keep being amazed at and telling him what a nice and Wise Beyond His Years fellow that he is. The "worst" that he ever does is drag along Apachai on harebrained Get Rich Quick Schemes, and although he worked as a mercenary for a while he never liked it, or accepted immoral missions, and when his old partners did, he immediately turned on them. He mostly earns a living by catching career killers for Interpol and similar.
• Badass Biker: When he uses his motorcycle, he definitely counts.
• Bad Liar: Basically can't tell a lie without constantly looking away.
• Berserk Button: Anybody seriously harming Kenichi. While he can control himself (with difficulty) when its done by another disciple, when its a Master class... all bets are off
• Berserker Tears: He didn't take it well when Hongo killed Suzuki.

• Boisterous Bruiser: Easily the character who does the most shouting in Ryozanpaku.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: He's the biggest softie of the masters. Most of his character's humor comes from his (increasingly desperate) assurances that this isn't the case.
• The Cape: Honorable, kind, refuses to kill and is ready to do what is right to help defend the defenseless no matter what.
• Dark Is Not Evil: He's a Dou-style user and very vicious in combat (in fact, the karate school he uses is an art developed and used by YAMI), but he's probably the nicest member of the Ryozanpaku dojo.
• Defector from Decadence: It was revealed in Chapter 439 that he was actually groomed by his master to be a powerful follower (and possibly eventual Fist) of YAMI, but he rejected the philosophy of Satsujiken in response to the death of Suzuki.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: So much so that some have wondered just how much of his image and habits are genuine or are carefully cultivated so as to appear from looking too kind and soft.
• Hot-Blooded: Extremely so and has what Apachai calls a funny-angry personality.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • In chapter 422 he shared with Kenichi some tips for fighting when you're wounded: don't let your opponent know you're hurt, avoid unnecessarily large movements, and don't let rage overtake you. Guess what he does.
  • Gets another moment in chapter 434 when Kenichi and Miu follow him against his wishes, he exasperatedly wonders who taught Kenichi to so flagrantly disregard his masters wishes. Cue placard of him acting in the exact same manner towards his master.

• Luminescent Blush: Mostly at being proud of Kenichi and trying hard not to show it.

• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Seriously, had any of his fight hasn't ended like this? He's so brutal Kenichi and Miu took pity on his opponent after he beat him straight through several rooms, walls and all. He also managed to give all of Kenichi's True Companions the shivers (literally) on another occasion...where he claimed to be holding back. And he may actually be telling the truth.
• Obviously Evil: He looks like the archetypal bad guy and half of his dialog comes out sounding like a bad guy or The Dragon. Lampshaded by Kenichi when Sakaki promised the Elder to "bring their heads as trophy"; he was joking but still...
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: This seems to be the attitude Sakaki and Akira have towards one another.
• Papa Wolf: He's always the most tempted to interfere in Kenichi's fights in order keep him from harm.
• The Promise: Earlier in his life, he promised to marry Jennifer Grey. He claimed he was drunk, but she still wants him to make good on that promise.
• Scars Are Forever: Has one across his nose. Chapter 429 hints, and Chapter 431 confirms, that he got it from a fight with Akira Hongo, YAMI's God Fist. In Chapter 443 they gave each other their scars at the same time. Also looks like he's gained a few more during his latest battle with Hongo...which also serve as a Shout-Out.
• Sensei for Scoundrels: A lot of his advice is delivered while at least a little drunk. Strangely his best advice, on life in general if not fighting, is when he is drunk, and he won't remember saying it all.

• Shout-Out: See Shirtless Scene above, plus his latest battle with Akira Hongo has left him with a rather familiar-looking set of finger-poke wounds on his chest. His move, Morsasouken-Zuki, oozes Fist of the North Star.
• Tell Me How You Fight: He gave this advice to Kenichi - fight someone and you will see through any personal façade they put up.
• Tsundere:
  • Yes, Sakaki, you want to teach Kenichi, not because you want to, but because it's your birthday. Riiight. In the dub, because it was supposedly the day Judo was created.
  • Despite being ENEMIES he is also one for Hongo.
  "It's not like I'm helping you. I just felt like standing here for a little while."
  • He's also pretty protective and caring of Miu and his fellow dojo Masters but he refuses to admit to this. Case in point, this line when Appachai is trying to learn to pull his punches; "It's not like I asked for your help because I was worried about him or nothin'...my sake just doesn't taste right unless I can hear his laughter. That's the only reason!"

Apachai Hopachai

Apachai Hopachai

Voiced by: Hiroya Ishimaru (JP), Sonny Strait (EN), Antonio Gálvez (LA)

A 28-year-old master of Muay Thai and is known as the "Death God" of the Muay Thai underworld fighting circuit. Despite this fearsome reputation and his incredible size and strength, Apachai is very kind and gentle. He enjoys playing with children and animals and is very childlike himself. He has a habit of saying the phrase "apa" when he speaks and sometimes yells it while training or fighting.

Apachai has been trained in martial arts since he was very young. He is extraordinarily strong, able to shatter stone statues and kick down trees without any apparent difficulty. Despite his incredible size, he is blindingly fast, able to dodge bullets while fighting.

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• The Berserker: When he fights, he basically loses all limits.
• Beware the Nice Ones: One of the genuinely kindest characters in the series. Also one of only two masters known for a fact as capable of giving the Elder a challenge in combat.
• Big Eater: If Apachai isn't playing board games with Honoka or berserking at training dummies, he's most likely eating. Given a slightly uncomfortable twist when it's revealed that he was often denied food as punishment or to keep him "on edge" by the man who owned him, before Agaard took charge of him.

• Blank White Eyes: Used for both comedy and badassery, which is just about all his appearances. Apachai's face is rarely drawn in full detail.
• Boring, but Practical: His finishing moves are APANCH, CHAIKICK, and The Punch You Don't Let Good Children See.
• Determinator: Chapter 406: the guy came back from the dead in a way that would put the Terminator to shame and delivered a God-Slaying Punch while being half-dead just to protect his beloved disciple.
• The Ditz: Not very smart but very fun loving and strong.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Has genuinely killed Kenichi once or twice. He usually knows his strength, but can't control it.
• Friend to All Children: Despite being a huge, powerful guy who practices a violent and deadly martial art, he is an absolute teddy bear around children. A huge teddy bear that can punch holes in brick walls and kick grown men over buildings, but a teddy bear nevertheless.
• Friend to All Living Things: Small animals are very fond of Apachai. Occasionally the omakes will exaggerate this, such as him thinking he only needs to stand still for the next 20 days and the birds nesting on top of his head will be gone.
• Funny Foreigner: He's an authentic Nak Muay straight from Thailand and is the most likely to be used as comedic relief due to his air-headed personality.

• Genius Ditz: He has excellent knowledge when it comes to animals, even though he doesn't know a lot of other things.
• Gentle Giant: When he's not fighting, he's huge, imposing, and ridiculously sweet.
• Idiot Savant: Apachai is a muay thai genius, but he's nearly clueless about most social norms.
• Living Legend: Leaves behind at least two legends of a Gentle Giant that saved the day and then was never heard of again.
• Manchild: He's like a sweet, innocent child inside a huge grown man's body.

• Mundane Made Awesome: He went through a hellish training to learn to hold back while doing housework so Miu could go to the amusement park.
• Normally, I Would Be Dead Now: It was looking pretty grim for a while there, but he did eventually survive his fight with Agaard, thanks to Akisame and Kensei.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Are you really going to pick a fight with a guy called the Death God of the Muay Thai Underworld?
• No Social Skills: Barely functional in a social setting, since his life has been little but fighting.
• Pokémon Speak: Apachai does this when he gets worked up.
• Red Baron: "Grim Reaper of Muay Thai".
• Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: A somewhat tragic example, as his past has led to him being woefully unprepared for normal life.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: When Nijima goes missing, kidnapped by Ragnarok, Apachai talks to pigeons for information. It works.
• Third-Person Person: Bordering on Pokémon Speak at time.

• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Does not like planes. Guess what he has to ride at one point?

Shigure Kōsaka

Shigure Kōsaka

Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (JP), Trina Nishimura (EN), Claudia Contreras (LA)

A 22-year-old weapons master. Shigure is a very mysterious person. She speaks very little and has a habit of falling asleep on the rafters of the ceiling and also traverses atop them more than she uses the floor. She has little knowledge of most things outside of weapons and has trouble interacting with normal people due to her blunt personality and the fact that she always carries a weapon. She has a pet mouse named Tochūmaru.

While the youngest master of Ryozanpaku, Shigure has repeatedly proven herself a formidable person to face. As the successor to the Kōsaka-Style, Shigure has remarkable mastery of all forms of traditional and even modern weapons, earning her the title of "The Prodigy of Sword and Mistress of all Weaponry". Despite her lithe frame, she is very strong and can cut weapons made of metal to pieces using something with a dull edge, such as a spoon. She once cut a cannon off of a tank and then jammed it through its side.

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• Absurd Cutting Power: Doesn't matter if it's a sword she's using or a wooden rice spoon—anything that Shigure can hold will cut.
• The Ace: As far as weapons are concerned, she's the best in virtually the entire world. Whereas most weapons masters are good with one particular weapon or weapons set, she's proficient enough in all the basics to pick apart every single type used against her. This includes rifles and other modern weaponry
• Action Girl: She's obviously damn capable with anything even vaguely resembling a weapon and she's not afraid to fight.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She is tall, beautiful, dark-haired and acts very calm and serious—except when she's not.

• Badass in Distress: She gets captured by Yami late in the story, which leaves her almost or completely nude for the last 40 or so chapters because they don't want her grabbing hold of anything to weaponize.

• Better with Non-Human Company: She seems to get along better with her pet rat than with anyone else.
• Blade Reflection: Shigure turns the blade reflection to practical use, using it to see what is behind her. Her only blind spot is the part of the blade reflecting her face.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: It's true she's pretty weird and not very socially well-adjusted, but you won't find a weapons master better than her.
• Clothing Damage: She will often cut through the clothes of her opponents, either to intimidate them with her skill, or defeat them through modesty. Sometimes it happens to her as well.

• Collector of the Strange: She collects Cool Swords to prevent her father's work from being used for murder.
• The Comically Serious: She is serious and stoic in all circumstances so there's funny dissonance when she says lines like "Dinner.... is ready. It will....get cold." like she is making a deadly challenge.
• Cool Big Sis: Not by blood, but tends to act like this to Miu and Kenichi, and by extension, the Shinpaku Alliance. She has taught him to swim and helped him get over his fear of killing intent, which also put her in danger. Another case in point, after a bummed out Kenichi is 'banned' from training for a while for daring to take a Weapons Master-class opponent head-on, she has her mouse guide him into the rafters to a listening cup so he can hear what the other masters really think of his latest display. Cue another When She Smiles moment.
  • She makes the Shinpaku Alliance members special chain armor and gauntlets tempered by her family's secret process, rending them impossibly strong and resistant to blades. She stayed up an entire week straight to do this.
  • When she finds herself along with Kenichi and Miu surrounded by several Yami Weapon Masters, she holds the line so that the two can escape and is captured as a result.
• Crazy-Prepared: She has a weapon on her at literally all times...and is skilled enough to use whatever is on hand AS a lethal weapon. Even during a home interview with Miu and Kenichi's principal, when Kensei patted her down for all weapons on her person, she still managed to sneak a tanto past him.
• Damsel out of Distress: Gets captured by the Master weapon users of Yami.... and quickly breaks out, several times.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: She's the slowest to warm up to Kenichi but eventually she becomes his Cool Big Sis.
• Dramatic Ellipsis: When she... talks it's very... SLOW. Unless she's training Kenichi, where she speaks faster.
• Full-Frontal Assault: She can and will fight in the nude if she has to. She seems perfectly relaxed fighting nude when attacked at an onsen. In front of her disciple no less. Toward the end of the manga, when Yami kidnaps her and strips her to keep her unarmed, she's constantly fighting in her birthday suit, or at most an open jacket over it.
• Fundoshi: It's her choice of underwear, despite it usually being worn by men.
• Godiva Hair: When she's stripped down by Yami, the only thing covering her naughty bits is her hair.
• Going Commando: She never wears a bra. However, when fighting seriously, she dons chain mail and wears a black strap under her breast to kept the chain mail in place.
• Hot for Student: It's suggested that even she has feelings for Kenichi.
• Implausible Fencing Powers: Almost anytime she pulls out her sword...or wooden spoon. In chapter 412 she was seen carving shapes into a waterfall.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Possibly her most remarkable skill, Shigure has perfect aim with any tool she handles. Even with frail or dull-edged items, such as a spoon or faulty blade, she can strike without hitting any vital points. With projectiles, she can precisely hit any speeding and squirming target from a considerable distant. At close-range, Shigure strikes can skillfully cut through targets with such precision, the sliced target can momentarily appear unaffected.
• Improbable Weapon User: The reason why Shigure is known as a weapons master. She can use anything as a weapon. Shigure once took down an armed group of girls using only a wooden spoon.
• Lady of War: She's incredibly skilled in cutting up her opponents with enough grace to avoid putting their lives at risk, using any manner of "weapon" she can get on her hands to do so, and has the speed to do so before they know what him them.
• Loner-Turned-Friend: Initially is introduced as a loner, often avoiding interaction with the other members of Ryōzanpaku (besides occasionally Apachai). With Kenichi's arrival she begins opening up to the others, and even joins them for meals.
• Male Gaze: Most chapter cover art that features her as well as some shots of her in the story are done with this in mind.
• The Man Makes the Weapon: Anything she wields will be turned into a deadly weapon. As she has proven she was already invincible with only a newspaper. Or a wooden spoon. Or a hair ribbon. Or a mouthful of needles. The Yami put her in special restraints—basically embedding her hands and feet in solid masses of a specially fortified resin—because they didn't dare let her get hold of handcuffs.
• Martial Pacifist: Most opponents she faces end up losing without significant injury or by simply having their clothes torn (which she often does to Miu and Freya's Valkyries). Even during fights with dangerous opponents like Kagerō Kii and Mildred Lawrence, she will not resort to lethally slicing or slashing the opponent's body, instead opting to using the back of her sword, and in extreme situations, shallowly cutting or attacking an opponent with a weapon to the point that they have small, non-lethal flesh wounds and cuts.
• Mini Dress Of Power: Her kimono is cut as a miniskirt. Somewhat practical, as it gives her more range of movement than a full kimono.
• Ms. Fanservice: She is a beautiful young woman with a slender frame yet remarkably curvaceous-figure and well-endowed breasts who ends up with Clothing Damage in a majority of her actual fights. The Fanservice factor is exaggerated in the middle and later chapters where she spend most of the time completely naked due to being captured and they don't want her using anything that she can utilize as a weapon.
• Multi-Melee Master: Her nickname is The Prodigy of Sword and Mistress of all Weaponry.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Her pink kimono has a plunging neckline, although she's also wearing a fishnet under it.
• Ninja: Not actually a ninja but she might as well be. Her short kimono & fishnet outfit scream kunoichi, as does her choice of typically ninja weapons (swords, manriki-gusari, shuriken, and kunai) and her habit of setting weapon traps. She also walks on ceilings, but she does this by gripping the beams with her toes rather than magic tricks. Oh, and sneaking in is one of her specialties.
• Never Given a Name: Her father never gave her a name. It was Akisame who gave her the name and he put her in the care of the Kosaka family.
• No Social Skills: She doesn't really know how to handle any situation that doesn't involve using weapons.
• The Quiet One: She talks the least out of the main cast, which contributes to her image as a loner, and also kind-of a stealthy-ninja thing given her weapons.

• Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: She spent her formative years training in the wilderness with her swordsmith father; though he did love her he was so absent-minded that he never even bothered to give her a name. In the present, Shigure is a formidable weapons master, but has little knowledge of most things outside of weapons, lacks social graces and speaks very slowly.
• Samurai Ponytail: She's a skilled swordswoman with long waist-length raven hair usually tied back in a high ponytail.
• Sarashi: She wears this casually in place of a bra. She tends to wear fishnet into battle, though.
• Sexy Mentor: To Kenichi. Miu has wondered several times if Shigure sees him as more than her disciple. She has no qualms about being in a state of undress around him since he's not being perverted (on purpose), and she told him that she wants to bathe with him again, much to Miu's consternation. As the story goes on, she starts acting cuter around him in an effort to get him to train with her more.
• Shameful Strip: She's captured and stripped by Yami, although they did it because they knew she can even turn clothing into weapons.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Downplayed. She's usually pretty unconcerned with letting others see her naked and has no qualms with fighting naked if she has to. However, she does get angry when Kensei Ma tries to peep at her and she's upset when Yami subjects her to a Shameful Strip.

• Stealth Hi/Bye: Part of her ninja appeal and also part of her training is appearing and disappearing without anyone noticing.
• The Smurfette Principle: She's the only female Master-class for the Katsujin-ken and the youngest among them. She's also Kenichi's only female master. She's actually the one of two females in the Ryozanpaku dojo.
• The Stoic: She's a downplayed version, as, despite her general lack of expression, her emotions are almost comically obvious. She does have her Not So Stoic moments, like when she cheers loudly at seeing Kenichi imitating her.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Icy to nearly everyone, even the other Masters at the beginning. However, she's a very caring person and shows a warmer side of herself to those who are very close to her like her pet mouse Tochūmaru and eventually Kenichi.
• Talking in Your Sleep: According to Sakaki, her sleep talking is quite scary.
• Tailor-Made Prison: Under Yami's captivity, she's stripped nude and has her limbs sealed in balls of resin so she can't hold anything as a weapon to escape.
• The Tease: Very much so in Kenichi's case. She's tried to get a room for the night by saying that they were a couple (it was really for saving money), taking a bath with him fully nude, and generally not caring if he sees her naked or not.
• Ultimate Blacksmith: She inherited her father's supreme skill at forging weapons. This also extends to the sharpening and maintenance of weapons. She once sharpened a knife so thoroughly that it sliced straight through the stone countertop when Miu dropped it.
• Unusual Eyebrows: They're like...caterpillars...or something.
• Verbal Tic: Has a habit..... of pausing.... whenever she...speaks.
• Walking Armory: She has an assortment of weapons all over her body from her sword, to her kusarigama, kunai and even needles. Her room in the dojo has more weapons and weapon types than most museums.
• When She Smiles: It's significant when she does, but unless it's meant for Kenichi, it isn't a very pretty smile. As time goes on, she smiles more often, especially if it concerns Kenichi in any way.
• You Shall Not Pass!: She fights several Yami masters on her own while urging Christopher to help Kenichi and Miu escape, which ultimately results in her getting defeated and captured.

Kensei Ma

Kensei Ma

Voiced by: Issei Futamata (JP), Vic Mignogna (EN, TV series), Daniel J. Edwards (EN, OVA), Jorge Ramírez (LA)

A 41-year-old lecherous master of Chinese Kenpō. Kensei is a sly and perverted man, who tries to take pictures of attractive women, particularly Shigure and Miu. He often sells these pictures to Kenichi in the form of "data books", which usually turn out to be pictures of anything but the two of them. Ma seems to have a plethora of spying equipment at his disposal to aid him in such endeavors. In spite of his perverted and deceptive tendencies, he and Kenichi become quite close, forming a father-son-like bond.

Ma is a very experienced martial artist, having been trained since he was very young, and purportedly knows all martial arts indigenous to China. In spite of his size, he is very strong, able to destroy a small bridge with a single kick and to rend the flesh of Diego Carlo, a man said to possess a body hard as steel, with his bare hands. He is very agile, capable of jumping from atop one moving cars to another. Ma is also skilled in the field of medicine; he runs an acupuncture clinic and usually, along with Akisame, mends the wounds of Kenichi and the others.

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• Badass Bookworm: With his knowledge of the human body, he can easily target its various pressure and ki points with needles to control its natural functions, even produce temporary paralysis or unconsciousness.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite being a pervert he was shown to take his job as a doctor seriously when Miu had to be treated after she was saved from the Demon God Fist. He was shown to be worried about her well-being and didn't care that she was almost naked.

• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He acts the most goofy and affable of all the Ryōzanpaku teachers, but when the chips are down, you'll see just why he's called the Master of all Chinese Kenpo.
• Defeat by Modesty: Whenever he fights a female opponent he wants to use his "Ma Style Restriction technique", which is basically where he ties them up with their own clothes, leaving them basically naked.
• Dirty Old Man: Kensei is most often seen attempting to take revealing pictures of beautiful women (especially Shigure and Miu), which often earns him the wrath of the pair, though this does nothing to deter him from the habit. Howewer he has never actually done anything to say he is unfaithful to his wife.
• Henpecked Husband: Is terrified of his wife.
• I Was Quite a Looker: In his youth he had long braided hair, was much taller and very handsome, practically to the point of being called a bishounen, and was popular with women.
• Martial Medic: Working along Akisame at his clinic, Kensei is a highly skilled and knowledgeable medical expert. Using various ancient techniques, he can easily sooth away pain from most injuries. Also, he runs an acupuncture clinic & knows a lot about Chinese herbalism.
• Martial Pacifist: In battle, he prefers to disable enemies without lethal force, only foregoing this practice when fighting other Master class Martial Artists. He's also probably the most gentle when training Kenichi.
  "Why can't the world be more ero and peaceful?"
• Nice Guy: Aside from his pervert side, 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 (and perverted) which was perhaps borne from his own estranged relationship with his brother.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: Despite his short and unimposing appearance, Kensei is a remarkably powerful combatant. While a firm promoter of "Katsujinken" and and well-known for his specializing of soft-style forms in combat, Kensei can demonstrate great destructive power when provoked.
• Porn Stash: He seems to enjoy reading, as he's typically seen reading perverted magazines of beautiful women.
• Sensei for Scoundrels: Is often encouraging perverted behavior in Kenichi as a form of training. Rachel Stanley considers him a genius for suggesting ways to grab attention more shamelessly.
• Supreme Chef: While normally letting Miu do the cooking, he has ben revealed to be a master chef in all Chinese meals.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Whenever he's sharing a scene with Shigure. They are often drawn from odd perspectives that emphasize the height difference. (Involving him pointing a camera at her butt.)
• Token Evil Teammate: Stands out as the only Ryozanpaku Master to have professed a willingness to kill under certain circumstances, having challenged Sogetsu to a Duel to the Death. That said he didn't get the chance to go through with it, so it's unknown if he'd have actually killed him.

Tochimaru

Tochūmaru

Shigure's pet mouse. Tochūmaru is highly intelligent and a skilled fighter in his own right, able to take down (or at least intimidate) normal people.

• Badass Adorable: Tochūmaru seems to have a lot of the same skills Shigure does, just scaled down in power. At the very least, he's able to take down beings much larger than him. Shigure even says that he can handle any cat that tries to eat him.
• Big Eater: Tochūmaru apparently steals food and blames it on Apachai.
• Non-Human Sidekick: To Shigure, although he also sometimes helps Kenichi.
• Stealth Expert: He's basically a mouse with ninja skills. Being small, Tochūmaru can easily sneak into places unnoticed, which comes in handy.

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