Following a cataclysmic nuclear war, the world teeters on the brink of complete destruction. Civilization is polarized into a degenerate society where opposing packs of marauding scavengers prey on helpless, homeless nomads. For those who are lucky enough to survive the constant brutality and danger, it is a bleak existence. Life an death blur into abstractions. The only hope left for mankind is to find a hero worthy of becoming the next "Fist of the North Star" - an enlightened warrior - who is capable of leading those with the will to survive out of this barrenness into a new world. But in this savage no-man's land of shifting loyalties and power-hungry demi-gods, heroes are in short supply.
(Source: AniDB)
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Comentários
lawlmartz
"To survive in this era, what else can we use but violence?" Preface: Kids these days talk about Jojo like it's the manliest, baddest ass, GARest thing there's ever been. Don't get me wrong, Jojo is a lot of fun- but there's always that one that came before, and boy does Fist of the North Star kick some ass. Warning: not for weak, weenie men. You want a 30 foot tall guy getting kicked through TWO mountains? You want brutal, bloody violence, countless decapitations, man openers, vertical splits, exploding heads, dismemberments, disembowelments, and more?! Ken even karate chop drops a skyscraper on his head and his face just plows throughit, opening a path for him to walk through, which he follows up by punching a 25 foot tall ridiculously musclebound man once, and his head explodes into a gushing fountain of brain matter, 15 gallons of blood, and cranium and spine fragments everywhere.
Talk about sick nasty, and DEFINITELY in the good way.
Artwork and Animation: 8
Let's be straight here, FOTNS is old as dirt. It's like the Epic of Gilgamesh of anime- ancient, kickass, and stars a bunch of inordinately huge, burly dudes kicking the shit out of everyone and everything! Yeah, the blood sprays like a busted pressure washer, and sticking your fingers and fist through someone's chest like hot butter is way out there, but this cheesy goodness is just too tasty to pass. It looks old, but the animation was super solid for the time (this came out two years before Akira), and still holds up well.
But when you see Ken literally kick a 40 foot tall fat man's rippling fat rolls so fast that it whips them up into a whirlpool of lipids, sucks down on itself, and allows him to punch a hole straight through the guy and makes his head explode... WHO EVEN CARES?!?
Sound and Voice Acting: 9
IT'S USELESS AND I'LL SAY IT AGAIN: HOKUTO NO KEN IS INVINCIBLE!
HUUUUUURAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
ATATATATATATATATATATA!!!!! AAAAAAAATAAAH!
(also the soundtrack is awesome)
Story and Characters: 6
Okay- the weakest part of a movie about guys who can disintegrate cities and mountains with only their fists? The adaptation.
The only thing that's even more impossible than the scenario described above is adapting 109 anime episodes and 240 chapters of anime into a single two hour movie. It just can't be done. However, did Toei ever mash as much annihilation and obliteration as they could in? Yes.
We lose a lot of characterization that just couldn't fit in the space of the movie, but it's not for a loss. When you've got Bruce Lee X stupid piles of steroid pills X Kung Fury ka-ra-te, you've got half of Kenshiro. He's the successor to the fighting style "Hokuto Shin Ken", or "The Divine Fist of the North Star", and will become the hero who kicks every dude with a mohawk, neon colored hair, of inordinate height, capes, or leather vest's ass to ensure the wasteland of 19XX is just inhospitable instead of inhospitable and lethally hazardous.
Enjoyment: 10
It's so 80's- the sound, the look, the macho man feel. It's larger than life, unapologetically violent, and in your face, and boy does it ever curb stomp weak, shrimpy ninnyboys. The muscle rules in the wasteland, and Hokuto no Ken has enough for everyone to be an Olympic weightlifter.
Overall: 8
"You want a piece of Uncle?" - Uncle
literaturenerd
Overview: I had to dump my girlfriend because she watched "Fist of the North Star: The Movie" and instantly became a man! The movie adaptation of Hokuto no Ken attempts to cram over 100 episodes of anime or just over 200 chapters of manga into a 2 hour run time. As you probably guessed, a LOT of character development and world building gets left out and this is a somewhat flawed adaptation of the original because it was so rushed. What it does have is some of the most batshit insane, manly action scenes in the history of anime! This movie absolutely DEFINED anime for ageneration of American otaku and is the epitome of GAR that /a/tards worship to this day. Is it a deep, literary masterpiece? Not exactly. Is it skull crushing awesome! Fuck YA!
The plot is that a nuclear war has occurred and the world has become wasteland that is ruled by absurdly ripped, balls out badasses who kill people with their bare hands while doing cheesy impersonations of Bruce Lee. The plot essentially combines a testosterone drenched martial arts B-movie with Mad Max. Occasional attempts are actually made at heavy handed symbolism and depth, but in the movie that is kind of undermined by some absolutely ridiculous shit occurring 2 minutes later. One scene will try REALLY hard to compare Kenshiro to Jesus while wandering around with his long hair, cloak, and Christ beard healing sick children....then 45 seconds later he punches a 30 foot tall, grotesquely fat thug causing him to explode approximately 80 gallons of blood. This movie is best described as a "flawed masterpiece". It is FAR from perfect, but it is entertaining as hell. Fist of the North Star is so manly that it even makes a rather effeminate looking dude who kills people with his long fingernails look manly!
Everything in this movie is hyperbole upon hyperbole taken up to 11!
It not only defined anime in its time, but summed up the entire 1980s decade in terms of popular action cinema. Hokuto no Ken didn't alienate Western viewers by being oddly or uniquely Japanese. It is such an obvious imitation of big dumb American and Australian action movies from the 1980s that it could have been an American cartoon. However, Americans would never have thought to make a cartoon so absurdly violent and allow small children to watch it. This was before the age of 24/7 media coverage where parents are terrified about mass shootings. This was before those little girls were murdered by an Otaku serial killer who cast a profoundly negative light on violent anime and the people that enjoy them. This movie is a historical relic because it ONLY could have been made at that exact point in history. It is like Japan's Rocky 4. Hell, the last scene even contains a metaphor for Mutual Assured Destruction theory because everyone was so worried about nuclear war at the time this was made.
I honestly have a complex Love/hate relation with macho GAR anime. I loved them when I was younger, but I can't stand the loud mouth 12 year olds online today talking out their asses and praising shitty anime just because they think its manly. Once again 4chan is the fucking cancer of the anime reviewing world. However, I could never dislike the Hokuto no Ken movie no matter how flawed it is. This movie is simply too much fun, too awesome, and too historically important for me to truly dislike. If you absolutely HAVE to see a GAR anime, then go watch this one!
animegorey
This is a condensed version of the series. Hard to condense 109 eps into 1 1/2 hours. Not the best or brightest animation, but a cool story with lot's of violence and cool characters. This anime is a bit corny at times as far as it's over the top style. Fight scenes that seem to always end a different, violent way. Many ways to kill a man when you can cause them to explode with the touch of your finger. Eng dub is not good, but it's actually funny (to me anyway) because it's so bad. Keep in mind that this is corny yet violentin a Road Warrior (movie) kinda way and you won't be disappointed. DVD can be found cheap if you get the eng dub version. If you like this movie, you'll love the 36 ep Manga Ent dub version or the 109 ep subtitled version. I watched all of any Hokuto no Ken I can find and I found them all on dvd. Hour after hour of hilarious violence.
Jazz007
ok.... let me put this into perspective...... this ORIGINALLY came out in 1986. FOR IT'S RELEASE TIME.... you had a great story in a post nuclear world! the only thing close to this WAS Mad Max. you had the bad guys you HAD to hate, but they were such bad guys, you liked them as characters & the roles they played. Kung Fu movies were the only thing that was showin' martial arts back then & here was a 'cartoon' that exploited not only martial arts, but different styles that attacked pressure points only & killed you!! in '86.... that was highly impressive & revolutionaryfor an animated story. for you to look at it now, you'd see it as 'corny' with 'over-rated' dialogue. as an enthusiast, your approach to watchin' THIS title... you have to be able to transport yourself back in order to appreciate the values on this story & it's innovation of the time. only then, will you fully see "Fist of the North Star" for the classic it has become.
Dentonman
Look call me a weenie or whatever but i just cannot recommend this movie, and here is why. This movie is what's called a recap movie, it hopes to condense the whole series into this 2 hour package, in order to make it easier for people to get into the series, but that's where it ultimately fails. You see, this movie is structured like one of those youtube "best of" video's, it's a constant barrage of event's that feel barely connected, if you haven't seen the series before you will get lost real fucking fast, and that kinda defeat's the purpose of a recap movie.If you are a fan of the series you have no reason to watch this, since you already know what's gonna happen, and if you are not a fan, you will be better off just watching the original series, since you are not gonna understand shit. There isn't much they could do to improve this really, maybe they could produce multiple movies, but with the animation budget they had, i can't really see that happening.
Here is the TL;DR if you wanna watch Ken, watch the original series, if you already watched Ken, don't bother with this.
shehrozeameen
I had heard of this movie through three sources: 1) Bo-bobo Bobobobo-bo 2) Anime Abandon and 3) generally on anime forums It has been late for me to catch up with this anime, but after watching it, I can understand why people love this anime. It truly is a classic, albeit with flaws and faults. Bear with me a moment on this one. I will start with what the anime does right: Character, Sound, and Enjoyment.Character:
My God, the drama is overwhelming! My God, the theater is so strong in each and every moment that these actors play their roles! My God, there is so much up front in terms of character development YET the characters treat their audience. They relish in treating their audience, and on that note I appraise the efforts of the actors (especially the English one). I would make a comment about some scenes in which the actors could have been a little more dramatic, but personally... I think that it made sense that the actors have held back sometimes in their outbursts.
I say this specifically when the master of our protagonist, Ken, is killed and the new "Fist of the North Star" is crowned. Maybe it was intended for that scene not to be played out to the theatrical extent that the rest of the movie actually goes to. Especially the way the characters Ray, Julia, Rao and Shin are sincere to their roles. It is made especially important, because all these characters have clear and well defined motivations that are played out really well.
Sound:
The sound suits the tone of the movie. In my opinion, as I've said for the characters, there is - for me - a theatrical aspect which influenced the movie. I was constantly repeating to myself "the drama" or "the theatrical melodrama" constantly, because to be honest... it was pulled off well. The sounds were suited to the atmosphere: the music, the voice acting, even the violence and such made this movie immersive. And credit where credits due, this movie, had this amalgamation of the 50s (more like the 1956 movie Alexander the Great, but Ben Hur will also suffice) with the 80s (post-apocalyptic setting, MEN, and that 80s montage which is sung when Ken heads over to Rao the Conquerer).
Enjoyment:
Even though I'm not an Otaku, and certainly not the most robust anime person in terms of the genre, but even with that said, this movie is solid. Even if the story did have a faulty ending, I still don't see it as being a reason to disregard the movie - the overall experience because of the characters and the delivery made it a brilliant experience. I love this movie. The theatrical dedication of the actors in this action movie is a rarity, and it is a priceless rarity when such dedication is relished not just by the actors, but is presented to an audience as something they should be proud of. The drama was pitch perfect, and even if it didn't intend it, the high minded maturity it showed for its subjects made it a wonderful addition to my list of anime.
Now... onward to the story.
I gave Art an 8 because of it being an 80s anime. It isn't Akira, but it doesn't need to be. It upheld itself well, and in my perspective, is good. High enough for me to say "suits the mood. suits the characters. its functional and still robust".
Story:
The ending puts this whole movie down. Just the ending. All the characters fulfilled their roles. All of them were not just functional, but could be rooted with. All the moments from beginning to end in this movie, were worth watching. Except the ending.
And only because the ending, is for me, quite controversial. While the whole story progressed keeping the characters in mind and rooting them to the environment they were existing in (which, is definitely a feat worth appraising), to put a message in the end as the ending did... felt stilted. I would have actually liked if it had either followed a stereotype (Ken winning), or if it really just went balls-to-the-wall theatrical and made it tragic (Ken and Rao dying). Either way, there would still be a resolution. The ending, in itself, was more... a stalemate. Like the movie got cold feet or something.
And with that said, given that I found it to be a highly robust title among anime, is saying a lot. Even then, this movie is worth the watch. It is rewarding to witness such savoury theatrical dedication in an action movie. It is respected. Especially if that same dedication is complimented by a good story. Even if the ending wasn't as satisfying, I refuse to call it anything other than classic. Because it did keep itself strongly upright about how it wanted to carry itself.
So yeah, give it a watch.
Darklight5827
Actually the movie was pretty bad. Scenes, characters and sufficient content of the original material were omitted. Which, by the way, is compressible, but it would have been pretty good if you had a completely new story or adapted a specific saga and did not compress the whole story. The end on the other hand was quite disappointing the way in which the conflict was resolved. The film had alternative endings of which I do not have no idea (and I think most of them do not either), for which I am analyzing the standard version In other aspect the film felt very slow and contradictorily very fast, tothe point that you can not endear yourself to the characters.
In technical aspects, the music was too lax, and in comparison to the anime it was bad. except for the musical themes Heart of Madness and Purple Eyes.
The sound was quite good, although you feel that the voices are very rare, but in the end it is nice and you get used to it.
In the aspect of animation and illustration, this was undoubtedly the best in the film, the animation was fluid and very detailed and the redesign and appearance of the characters was excellent, with the exception of Lin, and we could see how it would be hokuto no ken uncensored ... well, partially
The film suffered from censorship. In some scenes, a filter was added that was too strange for scenes that were too violent, while a few other scenes were removed
Conclusions
If you do not know the franchise of hokuto no ken, do not start here. you will take very bad first impression
But if you already know and have seen the Anime, vetela if you get bored and you are curious to know what would be the series without censorship and with better illustration, otherwise you do not miss anything
Pageplant
After watching "Hokuto no Ken" and "Hokuto no Ken 2", I decided to watch this movie which tries to cram the story covered in multiple manga issues and series episodes into a hour and fifty minutes long movie. If you watched the series, this movie is downgrade in almost every way except in animation, which is good and the first battle with Raoh, which is more impressive in this version. In almost every other way, this is a bad product. Gone is the iconic music (though there are two notable tracks in the movie), character development is almost completely butchered and Kenshiro is like somesort of demigod who is unstoppable all the way until the final fight with Raoh. The movie features more violence, but only manages to be more grotesque instead of cool. Stylistic depiction of violence was in my opinion much better than this. It is sacreligious how the tragedy and sacrifice of the original story is turned into a mindless violence spree.
While I was at the university, I wanted to watch this movie with my friend who never watched anime before. I'm glad I didn't watch this with him, because he would have thought that animes are trash. This is neither a good movie nor a good adaptation of Kenshiro's story and only way you can like this movie is if this is your first contact with the series or you are such a hardcore "Hokuto no Ken" fan that you adore everything done with the series.
As far as I'm concerned, while the movie is definitely not unwatchable, I don't like it and I don't recommend it. 4/10!
Zakir_knight
this is really good movie... but just lack of "omae wa mou shinderu " line... this movie can short my time from watching all episode to understand what Hokuto no ken all about... after watching this movie you can jump to movie the remake...(raoh verse ) ... i enjoy the story... the fight is cool.. the chatacter is cool too.. if you never watch hokuto no ken.. this can be a good first try... but remember.. some scene in this movie is different with manga/ anime series mmmmmm mmnnwjsjsjsmnmmmm mmmmmmmmmnnwjsjsjsmnmmmmm mmmmmmmmnnwjsjsjsmnmmm mmmmmmmmmmnnwjsjsjsmnmmmmmmmmmmmmmnnwjsjsjsmnmmmm mmmmmmmmmnnwjsjsjsmnmmmmm
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Luquillo
The Earth is plundered and becomes an almost completely dead planet. As a result, clean water and food are scarce. Many bandits and would be kings engage in war to wipe out the other. Due to these events, innocent people are caught in the crossfire, and happen to fall victim to tyrants and would be kings. Kenshiro, the master of a deadly art called "Hokuto No Ken" stands up for the weak. But, he too falls victim to a self proclaimed king when he's beaten in battle, and his woman named Yuria is taken. Now, Ken must recover from his wounds, and seek out theman who defeated him. While Ken seeks to reclaim his woman, his brother The Fist King is attempting to conquer all rival territories.-summary
Another case where the saying classic anime is hurled around without mercy. However, those of us whom know better understand nostalgia is probably the biggest reason this movie has such a solid fan base. Along with Vampire Hunter D, this is one of the very first anime titles many long time fans have seen; but in all honesty, this is not at all a reason for me to believe it's a good movie. For me, it's a bad one that gets worse but redeems itself somewhat. It has a lot of use for those drunken group gatherings.
In defense of FOTNS, it really isn't the fault of the movie. I blame the writers for taking a 100+ episode series and packing it into a near two hour movie. The story and the post apocalyptic setting is rather interesting, to include the fighting styles of the different warriors can pique one's interest. Now, where the series and the manga both do a good job fleshing out the story, the movie does not. The condensing was too extreme and FOTNS comes off as nothing more than a mere action filled and somewhat mindless anime, which is jam packed with obsessive gore. It also hurts that this movie can be extremely boring when the blood and limbs briefly stops scattering around.
The biggest and only attributes FOTNS has going for it is the violence and gore. The death scenes in this movie make Ninja Scroll appear tame in comparison. Kenshiro's martial art causes his enemies heads to explode into pieces on contact. Another character soon appears with an art just as deadly but very different. He adds a great deal of variety, and delivers some brutal action scenes. It took a very sick, and not a creative mind to conjure up something like this. However, the problem with these over-exaggerated deaths, is that after a while they begin to lose their shock value due to redundancy.
Animation is another issue. Fans of the constant reused cel style, which is disguised as the super fast fighting found in Dragonball Z will be pleased with some of the battles for the most part. I'm not a fan of this style of fight choreography. I find it to be just another lazy short cut; but some action scenes have good animation at best, which delivers some very brutal death scenes. I'm not too crazy about the artwork at all. Too many characters are done with the same models, with only differences in hair style or color telling them apart. The soundtrack has a decent score that at times fits well with the setting. The voice acting and dialogue is cheese galore.
FOTNS does have its glaring problems, but two elements that it does get right and are always over looked happens to be the setting and characterization. The world is hell and it shows through the devastation. The personalities of the characters reflect that, and are portrayed very well depicting this world. It's clearly a world where only the strong can survive. Traveling groups of people are ambushed and viciously murdered for their valuables, and guys get their chicks snatched for not being strong enough.
I understand that FOTNS, like many titles has some influence on a genre or an entire culture; but I don't recall ever being the type to recommend or praise anything because of its influence. If I don't think something is good, then I'm going to say that and not recommend it to everyone. I recommend this only to a select few; if you love loads of action and gore, then this is definitely for you.
Highs: Incredibly gory violence, great for drunken parties
Lows: Weak plot, not much variety in art work, gimmick over stays welcome
BowlingJD
Just to get a basic idea of how the 109 episode show (1984) compared to the obviously condensed movie (1986), the first 12 episodes, or as known today as a season were watched. Those 12 episodes covered only a small section of the “Shin” arc and contain mostly fillers after the initial introduction of the main characters. The main directors and producers from both were different, but still kept the same essence of Fist of the North Star. Plot wise, it is extremely simple. Our main protagonist, Kenshiro’s woman has been stolen by Shin, his old martial arts training friend. However, even though the story isfor Ken to get his woman back, there is some brilliance in how the show and movie execute it. From town to town, and over-the-top bad guys, Ken trains and hones his assassination craft in order to inevitably fight his enemies. Over the course of both the series and movie, Ken’s woman bounces from old, now “evil” acquaintances of Ken, all of whom he had trained with and called brother. All, or most, of the over-the-top bad guys are large and easy to hate.
Art design of the show is low quality as it had to be simplified for the 109 episode count, but the movie is fantastic. All art and setting pays homage to a cross between Mad Max and Road Warriors, and the music could not be more 80’s. It really sets the mood for all of the non-stop martial art beat downs to follow. Kenshiro’s style is for pure assassination in the nuclear fallout world, and makes bodies and heads explode as if a nuke was going off inside of the person. Yes, this is as violent and epic as it comes.
Naturally the series contains the deeper story, more character backgrounds, but honestly, for a nonsense over-the-top violent martial arts action show, plot hardly matters. For example, bad guy to Ken - “We used to be brothers” or “I will kill you;” Ken to bad guy - “You don’t even know you are already dead.” Enough said and body parts explode where needed.
The series is a fun slow watch by all means, and the movie really sets the point quick and easy. Watch both if the time is there, and prepare for crazy 80’s violence.
Objectivity_jk
Obviously nobody is going into Fist of the North Star for any form of artistic subtlety, and I was no exception. First of the North Star's narrative is serviceable like any other movie where super buff dudes make each other explode with their pure ability to throw their meat at one another really really hard. Of course this review can pretty much only critique how well the bodies explode and how awesome the characters look while doing it. So without further ado. Characters: Kenshiro is not particularly interesting or eye-catching in anyway, which for the nature of the anime is almost unexpected. But Ken's lack ofpersonality is hilarious when combined with over the top violence, since he never fails to look like he is literally taking out the trash while cleaving through bikers.
Shin is the perfect slimy braggart to Ken's tasteless wood 2x4. Shin along with Jagi are the two characters who sort of carry the audiences engagement with the story. Villians rarely capture the audiences interest in seeing their downfall, but personally I actually wanted to see Ken fight each one, since the characters of Jagi and Shin were so gloriously in love with themselves. Too bad that nether of them are still kicking for the finale of the film.
Roa is just sort of an imposing bag of meat. Enough said.
Yuria is really in the movie as more of a plot point and not a real character that is really affecting how the movie will turn out. She isn't boring or particularly interesting, just a good way to get more people to punch face and make organs explode.
Art:
The gritty look of the animation is very good. Like other anime of this type the imagery doesn't look physically dirty in a cheap way which is a relief to the eyes. Although the anime takes place in the post apocalypse no frame, besides those altered to censor violence, looks rushed or un-detailed. For an 80's anime it's A quality animation.
Sound:
The music and sound effects give the anime a feeling of scale. The brass, and percussion in the music sounds bloated and stiff which works well for a world of violent straight-faced savages. The effects for the brutal fights and cracking landscapes have a hollow echoing quality that makes everything the characters do feel grand and powerful. Much like the effects from Indiana Jones, Fist of the North Star really has it's own particular sound that can be recognized in the shortest exposer.
The Gore:
Yes this movie has a lot of gore if you have not guessed from the everything about it. From start to finish blood is always being spilt and bodies are literally exploding. It's something you have to watch to get the full affect of, since you couldn't possible describe all the mayhem that is contained in a single fight. Somehow First of the North Star never gets boring. Personally I think that the range of strange characters keeps it fresh, with the additive that unlike many other fighting based anime the combat isn't very refined and overly stylized.
Final Score 8/10
giffica
Epic story that leans on aesthetic vibes more than writing. Lots of extreme violence, intended to satisfy manga fans, like myself. The addition of Toyoo Ashida's writing (Dr Slump) really gave the movie an identity separate from the manga, but one that clashes with the vibe of the world, ultimately detracting from true desolation and brutality of the manga. Feels like a lost Dragonball film at times, and leads into the flashy combat later seen in Z and other 90s hypergore OVAs. The soundtrack's influence on not only video games like Final Fantasy, but also J-Rock through Gackt is another critical lineage under explored.
camay1997
I remember watching this on VHS from Streamline, and it's with enthusiastic nostalgia I give this a five out of five. The movies is a rather abrupt summation of the series, which is adapted from a long running manga. The story focuses on Ken as he searches post apocalyptic (every anime was post apocalyptic back then) for Julia, his woman, taken by Shin his best friend and the Fist of the South Star. To be honest it's a little dated but has a motion picture budget so it actually looks great. Some of the more graphic deaths are blurred to tone it down, I hatecensorship, but this is one time we should be grateful for it. These guys really make a mess. The phrase splatterfest appears on the back in the synopsis. And there’s little more to it than a series of violent and gruesome deaths followed by more of the same. And that’s why we love it! Truthfully I can't imagine an anime fan that hasn't seen this as it was one of the big three anime found in video rental stores (the other two being Akira & Vampire Hunter D). But, Fist also has all that good stuff some deem negative stereotypes in anime: graphic violence & misogyny. But that was par for the course back in these days. I say watch it!
HanchSlanger
"It's too late. Your body will disappear from this world in 10 seconds" Fist of the North Star has slowly become one of my favorite intellectual properties over the last few months after revisiting it recently. Every day that passes, I think about the deep themes of hope in a desolate wasteland, and the struggles that Kenshiro had to face. Kenshiro is hands down one of my favorite characters of all time. Not only is he incredibly honorable, but he's badass with a purpose. In a world of equally (and less than equal) opponents, Kenshiro faces everyone with a untouchable geist that is incredibly satisfying to watch.You already know he's going to win these fights (he's the main character, c'mon) but watching him take out lesser enemies in just one hit with extreme power is an absolute treat, and makes fights where he uses more force that much more interesting.
Not just Kenshiro, but every character in Fist of the North Star is intriguing, and have amazing designs to boot. The characters feel realistic to the world they live in, and all carry unique designs that would put current character designers to shame. Whether it be the telepathic, impoverished girl Lin who can call out Kenshiro for help, or the hate-filled Jagi, who has a strong grudge against Kenshiro for almost killing him, adorning a skull mask that covers his disgusting face (or what's left of it), everyone remains memorable in some way.
Another aspect of this film that's great is its soundtrack. It exercises powerful string sections to illustrate the lost hope of the characters, which lead into booming drums that signify the evil that is near. Contrasting this with the fantastic and rowdy guitar segments, Fist of the North Star becomes more of a unique experience as it goes on. Hell, some of the trumpet sections in the soundtrack make the film feel like a spaghetti western at times. This is supported further as songs like these are in the background as Kenshiro walks through the deserted wasteland.
My favorite moment has to be in which the song "Heart of Madness" is used, playing over a silent montage of Rei attempting to fight Roah while Kenshiro walks to Cassandra. The low bass drones fit beautifully with Roah's grin, emitting more of an evil presence to his character than before. It's an absolutely perfect scene, and the song adds so much power to something that should be so minor.
The animation can be a bit spotty at times, but as someone who considers the 80s to be apart of anime's golden years, it's easy to forgive. Especially because there's plenty of beautifully drawn scenes that are so immaculately animated, your jaw might just drop.
I always loved how the characters were portrayed as well. The art style is fantastic, and doesn't quite look like anything I've seen before. I love that some characters might look average in height at first, but will change size between scenes, becoming abnormally large. The best example of this is when a character is thrown to the ground by a thug, and they step on them, and the thug's foot is larger than the victim after they throw them down.
Some criticize the censored gore, as the original uncensored version was burned in a fire, and never quite saw the light of day. However, i'd argue that the censoring actually works in the film's favor, stylizing it with minor blurring and rapid colors. Since the character's already radiate a colored aura when they fight, it seems like a natural way to display the violence going on.
While the movie only covers about 59 episodes of the show (cutting some characters for time) it still feels like a pretty grand experience, and a great sampler of what the series has to offer. It has a pretty open ended conclusion (that I believe was left open ended in mind for a sequel that never came to be) that might not fulfill everyone, but the closing credits, set to the song "Purple Eyes" feels satisfying enough for me, especially since I know that I can get the finished story out of the show or the manga, both being things I have interest in consuming.
I find every aspect of Fist of the North Star to be perfect and fascinating. It's a raw spaghetti western in the most masculine state possible. It does Mad Max better than Mad Max with a more interesting world and environment. With how popular anime has been getting, it's a surprise to me that not that many people talk about this franchise. Many people know about the "omae wa mou shindeiru" (you're already dead) moment from both the show and the movie, but haven't actually checked out either apart from that scene.
I hope that more people would look into this series (or at least watch the movie). It should have something for everyone in my eyes, and is an undisputed classic in my eyes that I hope to cherish more and more as I get older.
The_Triumphant
Well, I guess that was better than attempting to binge watch the whole series. Strangely though, I WANT MORE. Highlights: - Cool, post apocalyptic setting that is beautifully hand-drawn and full of character - Exciting action that captures the style of the series well - Very likable cast of characters; especially the main character, Kenshiro Criticisms: - Plot elements do not flow very well at times - It was apparent that details from the series were cut in order to fit the movie- The ending is non-conclusive and leaves the viewer with questions
Final thoughts - Yes, this is worth watching, but I was hoping for a more condensed alternative to the series. I don't think this is supplementary due to the lack of many details. I still enjoyed it quite a bit! This may be a great starting point for people that are interested in the series.
