Fist Of The North Star, what can I say? It's an anime I feel doesn't receive much appreciation from certain groups outside Japan due to 2 factors. First is the horrible dub by US distributor MANGA with a completely bad change in music background and a lame rockish replacement for the Japanese opening and ending theme songs used in the US dub. The second being the animated movie, which tries to tell the first half of the manga and anime's story in one movie while also removing important characters and events that were in the series that it was so hard to follow.
Set in a post apocalyptic world where the Earth is barren and the strong survive by preying on the weak, the series follows the journey of Kenshiro, the successor of Hokuto Shinken (Divine Fist of the North Star), a secret martial arts style that allows its practitioner to destroy an opponent's body from within by striking their secret pressure points, often resulting in a violent and gruesome death. Kenshiro uses his skills to protect the weak and innocent against the numerous villains that threaten their survival while seeking to rescue his love Yuria who was taken from him by his once close friend Shin, master of the Nanto Seiken (Sacred Fist of the South Star).
Plot sounds simple, right? It also seems simple in the first 30 episodes but it isn't, deep in the story is a tragic plot about men who grew up as brothers destined by fate to fight to the death to see who is the true successor to the Hokuto Shinken school of martial arts. It's sounds like something out of an old school Kung Fu movie and I like it. Tetsuo Hara and Buronson, creators of the original comic book claimed they were highly influenced by Mad Max and Bruce Lee movies.
Even though many of the antagonists are your typical one dimensional evil and cruel villains, that's not always the case however, Raoh the main antagonist of the series is more dimensional than he seems.
Of course, the animation seems to be a big issue for some people, well it was done in 1984 so I don't really see the argument about it since it's the typical TV animation of that era in Japan.
The soundtrack in the original Japanese version is truly fitting with an awesome opening theme. Unfortunately all that was replaced with a mediocre Rock soundtrack in the US dub.
However, the anime has certain issues against it, the character designs need a little getting used to and may not be enjoyed by everybody but it improves over time and actually fits the mood of the anime.
Then, we have the usual issue common in anime, that is the issue of filler episodes especially in the beginning, you see in the comic, the first story arc involving Kenshiro's final fight with Shin only lasted about 25 chapters, that's roughly about the first 2 volumes out of the whole 27 volumes, however the animators decided to extend this with anime exclusive story lines that had Kenshiro fight Shin's subordinates (some were actually either anime exclusive villains or not part of Shin's force at all in the comic), this brings me to my second problem with the anime as it seems to drag on before getting to the important plot points but in my opinion, it's worth it.
I guess I'm mostly positive on the anime is because it got me to read the comic, which has better pace in terms of its plot than its anime adaptation however in my opinion I take the FOTNS anime series over new wave animes like Naruto anyday. Overall, it had heart and soul, which is truly evident near the end, which is something titles like Naruto seem to lack in my opinion.
I know many may not agree with me and some might actually react with confusion and question my mentality. But that's okay, I understand the series isn't everybody's cup of tea however to me, the anime series is more than some brainless violent kung fu fighting action series because believe it or not, I don't really go for the brainless violent action anime, I believe FOTS is much better than that.
Set in a post apocalyptic world where the Earth is barren and the strong survive by preying on the weak, the series follows the journey of Kenshiro, the successor of Hokuto Shinken (Divine Fist of the North Star), a secret martial arts style that allows its practitioner to destroy an opponent's body from within by striking their secret pressure points, often resulting in a violent and gruesome death. Kenshiro uses his skills to protect the weak and innocent against the numerous villains that threaten their survival while seeking to rescue his love Yuria who was taken from him by his once close friend Shin, master of the Nanto Seiken (Sacred Fist of the South Star).
Plot sounds simple, right? It also seems simple in the first 30 episodes but it isn't, deep in the story is a tragic plot about men who grew up as brothers destined by fate to fight to the death to see who is the true successor to the Hokuto Shinken school of martial arts. It's sounds like something out of an old school Kung Fu movie and I like it. Tetsuo Hara and Buronson, creators of the original comic book claimed they were highly influenced by Mad Max and Bruce Lee movies.
Even though many of the antagonists are your typical one dimensional evil and cruel villains, that's not always the case however, Raoh the main antagonist of the series is more dimensional than he seems.
Of course, the animation seems to be a big issue for some people, well it was done in 1984 so I don't really see the argument about it since it's the typical TV animation of that era in Japan.
The soundtrack in the original Japanese version is truly fitting with an awesome opening theme. Unfortunately all that was replaced with a mediocre Rock soundtrack in the US dub.
However, the anime has certain issues against it, the character designs need a little getting used to and may not be enjoyed by everybody but it improves over time and actually fits the mood of the anime.
Then, we have the usual issue common in anime, that is the issue of filler episodes especially in the beginning, you see in the comic, the first story arc involving Kenshiro's final fight with Shin only lasted about 25 chapters, that's roughly about the first 2 volumes out of the whole 27 volumes, however the animators decided to extend this with anime exclusive story lines that had Kenshiro fight Shin's subordinates (some were actually either anime exclusive villains or not part of Shin's force at all in the comic), this brings me to my second problem with the anime as it seems to drag on before getting to the important plot points but in my opinion, it's worth it.
I guess I'm mostly positive on the anime is because it got me to read the comic, which has better pace in terms of its plot than its anime adaptation however in my opinion I take the FOTNS anime series over new wave animes like Naruto anyday. Overall, it had heart and soul, which is truly evident near the end, which is something titles like Naruto seem to lack in my opinion.
I know many may not agree with me and some might actually react with confusion and question my mentality. But that's okay, I understand the series isn't everybody's cup of tea however to me, the anime series is more than some brainless violent kung fu fighting action series because believe it or not, I don't really go for the brainless violent action anime, I believe FOTS is much better than that.