CXXXIX: "Fist of the North Star" series

People were in shock when people saw Fist of the North Star, also known as Hokuto no Ken. The theme's beginning line "YOU IN SHOCK!" fits quite well, because I was indeed in shock when I saw this title.

The central character is a practitioner of the fighting style Hokuto Shinken, his name is Kenshiro. In the post-apocalyptic world, he dedicates his life to fighting tyranny that threatens the weak and innocent lucky enough to survive these times. The assassination art targets the victim's secret pressure points and punctures it, resulting in a delayed, but gory outcome. Yet, he is not the only one who knows this art, yet he is the rightful successor to wield it. What begins as an adventure to find Yuria, his fiancee, evolves into thwarting the schemes of bandits and challenging warlords. Ultimately, it comes to crossing his 3 former "brothers" in training, for the good and bad.

Fist of the North Star started out as 109 episode TV anime, succeeded by a second series that ran for 49 episodes. In addition, there was an animated film, which was essentially a retelling of the animated series, as well as a live action film. Some time later in 2003, an 3-part ova series called New Fist of the North Star was made, and in 2005, Fist of the North Star: The Legends of the True Savior was made, consisting of 3 theatrical films and 2 OVAs. To date, all works of this series is also dubbed for English. The first series is hard to come by, save for the English Box sets, and it has changed in music tone, released by the same ones who did Street Fighter II V. Aside from them they also have a slew of video games, the more recent being Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage made by Tecmo Koei, which brought the elements of the anime series and mixed it up with the gameplay akin to Dynasty Warriors, something that has been done with the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise 3 times. Kenshiro has undergone various voices throughout the 25 years of popularity, but the trademark quote "You're already dead!" is clearly unforgettable.


Fist of the North Star gets a 9.3 of 10, as it is a pretty good title to grasp on. For 25 years of using fatal blows and shirt ripping, Kenshiro is gaining the respect he deserves.