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The series originally started as a fairly humorous and lighthearted satire of Japan's teenage delinquent-gang subculture, told from the perspective of Matsushita Tadashi. Tadashi, a second-year student at Kangokou High, narrates these early Karate Bu stories. He is frequently targeted by Kangokou's numerous bullies who beat him up routinely after school. Almost always accompanied by his best friend, Saitou Takaki, who is also constantly harassed, they grow increasingly tired of being victimized.
Deciding to join the titular Karate Club, they discover it's notorious throughout Osaka's youth gangs for training and producing the city's toughest teenage thugs while maintaining the facade of a legitimate school sports club. Upon joining, however, they find themselves picked on just as much, if not worse, by the club's current members. As the story progresses, they become increasingly capable fighters.
Over time, the series gradually shifted its tone to a more serious and violent martial arts manga. The narrative focus moved from Matsushita to Takagi Yoshiyuki, the smart-mouthed, tough-as-nails captain of the Kangokou Karate Club. Along with this change in attitude and central character, the various teenage fighters in the series grew increasingly stronger and began tapping into superhuman ki abilities. This placed Osu!! Karate Bu among other epic Shōnen fighting manga like Yu Yu Hakusho, Dragon Ball, and Fist of the North Star.
Osu!! Karate Bu was wildly popular in its native Japan but remains almost completely unknown in most other countries. It spawned a four-episode OVA mini-series released over two years from 1990-1992, a 1990 live-action movie, and a 1994 Super Famicom fighting game.