Well, the beginning is the only part of the series that really feels dragged out. Most stuff that comes up after the Hunter Exams arc is far better than what I've seen out of most current shounen series, honestly.
Anyways, Kenichi is an OK shounen series, but the manga has always been FAR better than the anime, IMO. For whatever reason the anime actually cut out a lot of good parts from the manga, and of course it also only covered the story line up to the end of the Ragnarok arc, whereas the manga goes much further than that (and is still ongoing, of course ).
At any rate, I suppose this might at least get the show some more popularity in the States, but then again, I honestly don't know a single person who owns the FUNimation channel, so I don'te know how much more popularity it will bring it.