Fist of the North Star Recommended

Publisher
Manga Entertainment
Director
Toyou Ashida
Production
Fuji TV, Shueisha, Toei
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
109 episodes
Year
1984

Fist of the North Star (series)

By Lyndonimus
28th Apr 04

A legendary fighter able to call on secret powers, he is an unrivaled practitioner of a martial art that fights violence with worse violence to enforce justice. Kenshiro is the man with the seven scars, the heir to the ancient martial art of Hokuto Shinken. He is the Fist of The North Star.

Hokuto Shinken is a masterful technique, based on the secret energy points of the human body that enable life. By striking them in various sequences, the practitioner of Hokuto Shinken can manipulate a persons body. Strike one combination and you cure disease. Another, and you wipe a man's memories away. Strike another, and a persons body will rip itself apart.

[synopsis from Manga.com]

Well that FOTNS in a nutshell. Kenshiro [a.k.a Ken in the movie] walks the earth looking for his loved one. Mishaps lay in his way which he duley dispatches with his fists, slaying those who would apose him with a single punch. Now for the cold hard truth, I know many people would not like to hear what I'm about to say [especially me] but the FOTNS plotline is weak [good vs. evil] and the animation is very shifty. The first few episodes are animated well enough forgiving it is a very, very old series. However, later on in the series the animation falls apart and the re-use of cells is terrible. The voice-overs are acceptible, Kenshiro sounds familiar to the movie counterpart [which is a good thing]. In my opinion Kenshiro sounds damn cool!
'I cannot allow scum like you to live!'
And so forth.
Its so corny its unbelievable, I mean, if you saw the baddest man you know get his head squashed by some guy with the biggest forearms in the world would you try to fight him? Well I thought not, but in FOTNS everyone is scared of him, but still try to fight him.

FOTNS protagonist Kenshiro has one main antagonist, Roah - or Ken-Oh (God fist) but along the way there are many more opponents worthy of a fight. Many of them being practicioners of Nanto Sei Ken, the opposite to Hokuto Shin Ken. These opponents do indeed put up a bit of a fight but the outcome is inevitable.

I loved the series, more so than the movie as its plot seems more complete also when the screen freezes to announce a move unleashed by a certain party,
'Reverse muscle control spin kick!'
or
'One hundred crack knuckle fist of the North Star!'

It's one cool series indeed, especially since you can get three episodes on one tape. I loved it all the way, the corny voice overs, OTT violence and the crazy techno OST (new to this series). Own it only if you are a fan, otherwise stay away.

7/10

-- Lyndonimus 28th Apr 04

Fist of the North Star Images