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I've been wondering for a while are all the martial arts and martial art techniques in this series real? I used to be a former karate student, so I do know that the karate techniques used in the beginning 200~ chapters are legit.

As the series progressed, however, the karate techniques started to become a lot more complex and I have never even heard of them before.

Then they also started deviating from the standard martial arts and introduced some like pencak silat (which I never knew existed before).

If there are some fake styles or techniques, which ones are there*?

*Please don't use unreal fights to disprove. For example, when Akisame fought against that other master and they proceeded to counter-throw each others counter-throw, ultimately leaving them suspended in midair for half the chapter. The technique of a counter throw is real, but the manga just used it unrealistically.

Hakase
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krikara
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  • Some of the moves are real like yamazuki and judo chop and front kick hose are real and basic attacks –  Jul 13 '15 at 03:45
  • Pencak Silat is a Martial Art used by Malay Clan which include Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and a few more country nearby... I am one of the Silat Practitioner... – khai Apr 25 '17 at 15:10

4 Answers4

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Check this for a list of the martial arts used in Kenichi.

Some of the martial arts are of course just fictional or adapted, like Nyakwondo (a combination of cat moves and Tae Kwon Do) and even Furinji's own style. However, majority of the martial arts in the manga/anime is still legitimate and--based on personal experience as a former wrestling competitor in university days--relatively accurate.

Also, I won't rightly consider "fake" some of the variations, as martial arts in real life are mostly just variation of one another. Kung Fu alone is credited for inspiring at least a couple of major styles, and die-hard practitioners and fans alike will call fake on these other inspired arts. However, I must admit that Kenichi deserves an amazing suspension of disbelief with some of them.

Also, a bit out-of-topic:

I personally find it amusing that you're a karate practitioner and you don't know prior to Kenichi about Pencak Silat when it's one of the most murderous martial arts in the world. While most martial arts are developed in defense, the likes of Muay Thai, Muay Boran, and Pencak Silat are meant to utterly disable, maim, and outright kill opponents.

Granted, Silat is a huge discipline, but the Pencak variant is the recognized national martial art of Indonesia and it's been shown to be highly effective (a movie even had tons of people using it, including the "regular" street mook), not to mention Hayato Furinji himself had some issues with the art's complexity.

nhahtdh
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WGS
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  • Haha, I am American and watch UFC :D . I only know of a few styles, especially those beneficial in televised cage fights. – krikara Dec 12 '13 at 04:00
  • That's expected. As a wrestling practitioner and having a small foray into MMA, I must admit that--save `Sambo` or `Pankration` and the basics of `Karate` and such--much of Kenichi is not applicable in cage fighting. – WGS Dec 12 '13 at 04:16
  • I know the Furinji style is his own style, but how about moves like seikuken? Is that completely fabricated or is it real? I've noticed the Neji from Naruto also uses the same technique. As for things like Nyakwondo, I would just label that as an adaptation, not really a fake style. – krikara Dec 12 '13 at 04:37
  • I wouldn't necessarily call `Seikuken` as a move but more of a method. Given that it's a state of mind, I'd say it's about as real as a `kiai`'s energy boost: it's there, but there's no properly documented and accepted way to say if it exists. However, I personally believe it exists, the same way I believe that `kiai` boosts one strength a short time, or that `Qi/Chi/Ki` exists, or that there is real `Nen`: they're all states of mind that aid oneself in a fight. Also, the closest thing I've ever seen to `Seikuken` is Shaolin Kung Fu's Empty Stance. Google it. :) – WGS Dec 12 '13 at 04:58
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I have only read a little into the manga, but finished the anime, and I'd say ballpark 80%-90% of it is a legit martial art. My background includes karate, muay thai, krav maga, and gracie jiu jitsu.

It just occasionally hollywoods the living hell out of it - like the saikuken (in the anime, the 1st fist uses it) being some magical wall of defense. The real equivalent in probably just knowing your range and understanding just how little you have to move to dodge sometimes - a boxer/kickboxer's slip of a punch is a good example of real "saikuken". You only have to move your head 4 inches to dodge a straight punch to the face.

The whole Ki-attack thing and Siegfried just using an innate, musical understanding of rhythm as an un-trained fighting method are ridiculous.

The 2nd fist and some long haired dude who worked for Kisara and whose name I don't remember are also legit, but pretty out there - for a fighter to perform well from pure talent (2nd Fist) or to only learn by getting in fights frequently over and over again (forgotten name) are both possible but extraordinarily unlikely.

In short, most of it, at least where the anime covers is legit, and the portion that isn't legit is usually vaguely based on something real, and just hollywooded up for aesthetics or variety.

Justin
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Pencak Silat is real, I believe they use it in the Middle East. Penetration and command sumo are real styles too, I believe. Lucha libre obviously is real, but some of the moves are somewhat unrealistic, but that's just like their personal fighting style or adaptation.

Kaine
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Pencak silat is a Malaysian martial art (Featured in the The Raid movie). Lucha Libre is Mexican wrestling (best reference is Rey Mysterio IRL).

As to the anime, I have to agree that 80-90% of it is based on real life martial arts. Judging how Kenichi performed and trained, he is equivalent to our MMA fighters following the rule of Krav Maga (survival)

Dragon
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  • From WIkipedia, [pencak silat is an umbrella term for a class of related Indonesian martial arts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencak_Silat) – Darjeeling Nov 07 '17 at 06:55