Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple/Fridge

Fridge Logic

• Okay, so...has anybody ever bothered to query where the majority of the parents for some of these kids who are involved in Ragnarok, YOMI, and other minor gangs are? Aside from those who we know the parents are around but are mostly background characters (Kenichi), or they've been orphaned or abandoned (Miu, Tanimoto), or their relatives may in fact be subverting Adults Are Useless when it comes to fighting Yami (Freya's grandfather), but for the rest, WHERE ARE THE PARENTS OR RELATIVES IN ALL OF THIS? Do they even know their kids are being made into delinquents or are being molded into martial artists who use the killing-fist philosophy? If they know, do they even care?

Fridge Brilliance

• Several times during the Ragnarok arc, Nijima sabotages Kenichi's attempts at avoiding further fights, deliberately ensuring that new fighters rise to the challenge and defy him. In retrospect, Nigima isn't doing it For the Evulz - he's running an experiment, testing if it's possible for someone to rise above their station. Why? Because if Kenichi can do it...then so can Nijima. Cue the latter reinventing himself as the charismatic leader of the Shinpaku Alliance.
• Overall, it seems like those who practice Katsujinken are stronger and more skilled than the masters and fighters who practice Satsujinken. Thinking it over, it is pretty obvious that in a martial arts match, especially of the kind seen in Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, it is actually HARDER TO NOT KILL than it is TO KILL. In other words, the Ryozanpaku are as skilled as they are precisely because that despite the fact they train everyday, they also train to hold back in a fight, so they do not kill their opponents. This leads to them having far more control over their techniques and skills in comparison to Satsujinken, whose main goal is to kill, so they don't hold back, meaning they can't refine their skills.
• Related to the above - why is so much made about Apachai reaching his full combat prowess after finally learning to hold back? As a Dou-type fighter, he gets more powerful the more emotional he is, and the Elder notes that Apachai's brute striking power has reached reflexively murderous levels. He only successfully manages to "hold back" after learning how to train Kenichi without accidentally killing him. For a Dou-type fighter like Apachai, who has always been afraid of actually killing someone when he didn't want to, this means that for a large part of his life, he had NEVER trusted in his abilities and so could never strike with full efficiency and intent (unlike Agaard, who always intends to kill with each strike). It is only after Apachai learns how to train with Kenichi that he can trust that he has the control to not kill unless he actually means to, and so is free to raise the strength of his attacks, able to successfully use and counter Muay Boran techniques on Agaard with the same level of power.
• Remember when Odin was first introduced? He had a yin-yang button on his collar similar to the one Kenichi wore on his jacket, establishing him as Kenichi's Evil Counterpart. In the same way, Saiga Furinji may well be set up to be an Evil Counterpart to Kenichi as well because they're both wearing gauntlets (in Kenichi's case, his gauntlets used to belong to Saiga, who points out as much), they both have close ties to Ryozanpakou as disciples of Hayato Furinji (former in Saiga's case, plus Hayato is his father), and has been noted on the Character page, Saiga looks like a blond version of Kenichi.
  • This may well be subverted, actually. Saiga would more properly be an Evil Counterpart to his father, Hayato, and his former best friend, Akisame, though he does hold Kenichi in respectful regard.

Fridge Horror

• Not sure if this actually counts as Fridge Horror, given what we've had revealed to us up to now, but...remember back in Chapter 455, when the mercenary John told Kenichi that he's frequented Nijima's Shinpaku Alliance website? Well, John's been revealed to be Saiga Furinji, the One Shadow, in a fat suit all along...so does that mean he's got all the info on the Shinpaku Alliance and could use it against them any time?