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 - The TV Series
By Lyndonimous & otaku_kei
15th Nov 04 The world has become a wasteland. After the war civilisation has collapsed and humanity has been pushed to the brink of survival. Lawlessness rules in a land where might makes right, and the weak are the playthings of the strong. This shattered land needs a hero, a messiah to free the downtrodden of this tyranny so that they may try to survive in this desolation, and perhaps rebuild what was lost. Enter Kenshiro, sole master of the ancient martial art of Hokoto Shinken a righteous warrior driven to stamp out the evil and pain that is spreading in the world. Searching for his missing love he wanders the world and yet always seeking revenge on the man who stole everything dear in his life away from him. Kenshiro's journey will take him across this barren wasteland, protecting those clinging to survival whilst wiping out the jackals that are preying upon the remains of humanity. otaku_kei:Made over 20 years ago, this show really does show it's age. The budget must have been proud to call itself a shoestring, as the excessive use of stock animation and flashbacks recurs throughout. For example you'll see one shot of Kenshiro cracking his knuckles, left profile waist up used at least once an episode!
But that cannot really be held against a show as successful and lengthy as this, especially as animation techniques have developed so far in the last 20 years to make it financially viable to avoid so such stock animation usage. But what we are after in this series are the fight scenes, and this is where the show does everything right! They are fast, fluid and utterly utterly brutal! For some reason, probably due to censorship requirements for TV, but each of the fights that require Ken exploding opponents heads/chests/limbs are not blood soaked, but cut to silhouette and the blood streams flowing in bright white?!? But the animation is fitting for this show, and after acclimatising to it (I've grown soft after being pampered by too many GONZO studio shows) the animation really works well for the tone of the show. By the end of the series I was completely accepting about the level of animation, and I'm sure you will be too. Lyndonimus:While I can agree with the overuse of stock animation, it really didn’t occur to me that the knuckle cracking shot mentioned occurs in every episode. Perhaps I was just paying less attention. Where the animation counts though is during the fight scenes. I am well aware of the lack of actual red blood, but this silhouette black/white blood combo leant itself to the series in my opinion. Especially during the early episodes where special attacks use a freeze frame and huge kanji across the screen to further emphasise it. Pure cheese factor +10. I loved every second of it. Yes there are lots of filler episodes where the stock animation is overly used, but these are merely there to allude to a huge battle waiting at the key episodes of the series. When Ken meets a proper foe, this is what you really want to see. Ken has wandered through say 10 episodes to meet this one bad guy and even though we know Ken can’t lose, we want to see how he dispatches of the bad guy.
TOP 10 ATTACKS IN THE SERIES
100-Crack-Fist of the North Star
Life Stealing Death & Destruction Fist
Neck-Twisting Face-Breaking Punch
North Star Muscle Severing Kick
North Star Fist of Remaining Regret
North Star 7 Points of Death
Flying Defensive Fist of the North Star
Hell's Death Fist of the South Star
South Star Thousand Dragon Head Attack
North Star 8 Agonies 9 Breaks otaku_kei:The audio track is a niggling problem for me though... As anyone from the forums may have noticed I've been slightly disparaging about the script for this show. Whilst the casting for the series is spot on and the script does suit melodramatic acting, I just personally don't like it. I have grown to accept it the ridiculous scripting:
Goon 1:'He was using a martial arts style!'
Goon boss: ' You mean he's a... martial artist?'
Aaargh! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Like I said I grew to accept the scripting but I really think they could have done so much better with this. Luckily the director of the show was successful in being able to use long pensive staring at the sky shots to express emotions rather than have the script team get their hands on those scenes! Lyndonimus:I loved the cheese dialogue; sure sometimes voices grate on you (Lyn and that silly cockney cop spring to mind) but Kens voice fits perfectly. Considering I saw the film first I can say they did a good job on the likeness on his voice.
‘You don’t seem to understand you’re a dead man…’
Pure genius. Again with the meaningless fodder in-between the epic 1 on 1 fights I generally paid little attention. Another thing that has to be said is after watching the series; you can pick out which parts and what cameos appear in the feature length anime. While this will only apply to fans of the show/anime/manga it’s still a nice touch to see how much better the film is now you know who all the characters are. otaku_kei:The soundtrack is great 80's electro-rock though is a fantastic backing track to all the high-impact fight sequences. Not much else can really be said about the soundtrack. It's not listen to whilst chilling-out music. Not even particular good dance music. But just perfect for this show though. Lyndonimus:I was indifferent to the OST, however it did sound better than the Japanese one. I dunno, but it did kind of grate on me. Maybe I’m just bitter they omitted the kick ass OST from the feature length anime and the BEST scene in the film included some amazing 80’s J-Rock from the Kodomo Band (Heart of Madness). Yes… I think I’m just bitter. otaku_kei:The disc quality though is quite variable. Manga Entertainment should be applauded for providing such a fantastic boxset to the UK market, especially at the price that it's selling for. But there are coding problems with the discs. The majority of the discs in my boxset - the Play All function was hit and miss. The majority of them would skip the first episode entirely and then start halfway through the second episode on the disc. The rather annoyingly long opening title sequence cannot be chapter skipped only fast-forwarded through. They are not detrimental to your enjoyment of the show, but are certainly annoying! The inserts for the series are an OK A4-size poster series, but as wit everything else with this series there is a little problem. Now you may think I'm being a little anal-retentive here but the insert for volume 6 has the episode rundown for volume 2! Now people are paid to proof-read and check these things. OK that gripe is over now.
Fist Of The North Star Drinking Game: (you need beer and spirits for this, also aftershave & bleach if you get stuck for liquids containing alchohol) hokuto shinken or nanto suken are spoken. by anyone - 1 finger of beer
every time lynn calls ken's name - 1 finger of beer
every time bart complains about being hungry - 1 finger of beer
everytime Ken racks his knuckles - 1 finger of beer
every time lynn/bart question whether ken will survive the insurmountable odds - down your beer
everytime ken states "i have struck one of your pressure/power points" - down beer and shooter
every time ken explodes his clothes before taking on the punks - 1 shot of spirits
every time there is a flashback to shin & ken's first fight - 1 shot of spirits
every time shin pines for julia's love - 2 shots
every time a villain survives an encounter with ken - 1 shot
every time ken actually makes a joke thats funny (not just the bad dialogue) - down every alchoholic thing you can get your hands on otaku_kei:Now this is a really enjoyable series if you can just accept it for what it is - a cheesy 80's action show! Think an Arnie movie but with martial arts! It's not smart or clever, but it is an enjoyable romp for the 18 or so hours that it lasts for! Thank you Manga for releasing such a reasonably priced boxset, but I think your gonna have to be prepared for requests for the rest of the series (about another 70 episodes) to be translated and released! Lyndonimus:Yes, the series doesn’t pretend to be anything but mindless fun, the story has been there, done that and got a tee-shirt. However I can’t help but find myself to drawn to it. I love every aspect of it, from the star signs, their importance, the techniques and the training involved. I like that it goes into more depth than the movie, but I hate that it’s incomplete. Although I think that’s why the anime was made, to fill the final chapter of the story with a slight kink.
R2 DVD Notes
Features: English 2.0; Japanese 2.0; Character Profiles; Manga Trailers
Release information: 18th Oct 2004 - OUT NOW
Notes: Well the problems with the discs and inserts have already been discussed in the main review. But for such a worthwhile release the lack of any real extras is disappointing. Let's face it the ones that Manga have provided here are nothing but filler!
-- Lyndonimous & otaku_kei 15th Nov 04
Fist of the North Star Images               
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