The characters of the anime and manga series Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple are created by Syun Matsuena.
The Ryōzanpaku Dojo contains a variety of martial arts, and its masters are often challenged to single combat. Only Ma and Kōetsuji are shown to bring in any steady income.
Shirahama Ken'ichi (白浜 兼一) Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (Japanese); Josh Grelle (English)
Protagonist; currently in his second year of high school. A main point of humour in the series centers on the multiple, varied, and imaginative training methods his masters devise toward making Kenichi stronger, which often exhaust him. The manga follows Kenichi as he continues to train, and eventually live, at the Ryozanpaku dojo, fighting increasingly capable enemies.
His strongest ability, according to the masters, is that he lacks any form of sakki (killer intent); in expression whereof, he is kind, compassionate, thoughtful, timid, polite and moral to a fault, and adheres to a strict code of morals. As a result, Kenichi has made many friends, mostly of former enemies, and wins the affections of Renka Ma, Miu, Izumi, and Li Raichi. His attachment to Miu is usually used as comic relief, in her inattention thereto, though in the final chapter of the manga photographs on Kenichi's desk show he married Miu and they had a daughter. In most battles, Kenichi often fights by interchanging various techniques from the different styles of his masters, making his fighting unorthodox and hard to predict.
Fūrinji Miu (風林寺 美羽) Voiced by: Tomoko Kawakami (TV series), Rie Kugimiya (OAV) (Japanese); Carrie Savage (English)
Miu Furinji is Kenichi's classmate: the granddaughter of Hayato Furinji and the daughter of Saiga Furinji, the leaders respectively of Ryozanpaku and Yami's One Shadow Nine Fists. Miu came into Hayato's care when his son (Saiga Furinji) murdered several of his friends and his wife, sparing Miu by accident. Thereafter Miu learned martial arts from her grandfather. Before Miu transferred to her present place, she attended a famous school, but was ill-treated by other girls for her high grades, her athletic ability, and especially her appearance. Although attractive, smart, athletic, and kind, Miu is often clumsy among her fellows, and requires Kenichi's support in making friends. Miu has a great fondness for kittens and becomes hostile towards anyone who harms one. She is prone to rash decisions in money-making. 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 until where she will reflexively throw anyone who sneaks up behind her, especially Kenichi, which is a running gag of the series.