Lets make this clear. the manga is a masterpiece that will give you goosebumps, the fights are shonen like, meaning not realistic at some point. power level is over 9000 and so on. but the fantastic characters and the story that seems to be pointless but at some point starts to connect makes this close to be a masterpiece.

worst thing about this is all the fanservice. too many girls showing their underwear. if you can overlook that and focus onm the fantastic story/action or ur a pervert then you will love the manga.

But the anime does mnot represent even halöf of the kenichi awesomeness. some things were dragged others left out, character development ignored fights rushed... just bullshit. read the manga (show less)

A classic shonen genre that brings the audience to be accustomed to all sorts of martial arts and Kenichi's growth. The story shows his growth as a martial artist and as a guy with more confidence as he continues to train. I liked the series because it goes over a lot of moral issues through fighting. Though it may appear to be a combat type of series, it's not really just fighting each episode. There's a great deal of humor and a bit of drama. Each episode is really refreshing and I didn't find it very repetitive since this is a very long series. Though shonen, History's Greatest Disciple has a great deal of fan service with female characters making it also ecchi. It's not too much, but I'm not too bothered by it since the overall story was satisfying.

The animation was well done and fairly consistent. Sometimes they use stills to take up time and dramatic dialogue to take up a bit of screen time. However the animated action scenes aren't too shabby though I wouldn't say the series is action heavy. It's more instructional most of the time taking the viewer through the basics of various martial arts. The voice acting was very good and it brought many characters to life defining their individual martial arts style. It was unfortunate that the voices for Furinji Miu and Furinji Hayato had changed in the OVA due to the deaths of the voice actors. The new voices however don't disappoint as they try their best to sound as similar as possible. I do recommend this series to viewers of many ages. I think we shouldn't miss this original shonen series. (show less)

pros
+ great characters
+ ecchi doesn't override the story
+ well thought-out but easy-to-follow story
cons
- sometimes ridiculous dialogue
- animation doesn't quite go beyond decent
- incomplete

conclusion: well worth your time if you want a highschool/martial arts based anime with a decent storyline. works with well thought-out characters; the storyline is easy to follow, well thought-out, and doesn't open too many plot holes; and when there's ecchi, it doesn't take over the story... for the most part. on the downside, the dialogue, as well as it usually works, is quite ridiculous at times, and the animation doesn't go beyond fine. also, the story is incomplete, and goes much further in the manga. the anime is good for what it is, but i'd strongly recommend taking up the manga if you like the anime at all.

peace. (show less)