Fist of the North Star


Fist of the North Star is a Japanese manga series written by Buronson and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara. Serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1983 to 1988, the 245 chapters were initially collected in 27 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. Set on a post-nuclear war Earth, the story centers on a warrior named Kenshiro, the successor of a deadly martial art known as Hokuto Shinken, which gives him the ability to kill his opponents by striking their secret vital points, which often results in them dying in an exceptionally violent and gory manner. Kenshiro dedicates his life to fighting against the various gangs, bandits, and warlords who threaten the lives of the defenseless and innocent, as well as rival martial artists, including his own "brothers" from the same school.
Fist of the North Star was adapted into two anime television series produced by Toei Animation, which together aired on Fuji TV and its affiliates from 1984 through 1988, comprising a combined total of 152 episodes. It has since expanded into a media franchise, including several anime films, a live-action film, OVAs, video games, and a series of spin-offs centering on other characters from the original story. It also has a number of video games and pachinko machines produced by Sega Sammy. As of 2018, Fist of the North Star is one of the top twenty highest-grossing media franchises of all time, estimated to have generated more than in total franchise revenue.
The original manga was published in English by Viz Communications as a monthly comic book, and later by Gutsoon! Entertainment as a series of colorized graphic novels, although neither translation was completed. English adaptations of other Fist of the North Star media have been licensed to other companies, including the TV series and the 1986 film.

Plot

A worldwide nuclear war sometime in the 1990s has resulted in the destruction of most of civilization, turning the world into a desert wasteland. The remnants of mankind fight over whatever supply of food and uncontaminated water still remaining as the strong prey on the weak. Kenshiro is the successor to Hokuto Shinken, an ancient martial art of assassination that trains its practitioners to kill from within an opponent's body through the use of hidden meridian points. Kenshiro wishes to live his life in peace, but after he is separated from his fiancée Yuria by a jealous rival, he begins his journey to become the savior of the post-apocalyptic world, defending the weak and innocent from the many gangs and organizations that threaten their survival. Along the way, Kenshiro meets a young thief named Bat and an orphaned girl named Lin, who join him as his traveling companions and bear witnesses to Ken's many battles.
Kenshiro ends up encountering numerous rival martial artists, including the six grandmasters of Nanto Seiken, a rival assassin's art, as well as his own adoptive brothers who competed with him for the Hokuto Shinken succession. Kenshiro's ultimate nemesis ends up becoming his eldest brother-in-training Raoh, a warrior who broke the law of Hokuto Shinken by killing his master Ryuken and refusing to surrender the succession to Kenshiro. Raoh seeks to conquer the post-apocalyptic world as a warlord under the mantle of Ken-oh, the King of the Fist, by challenging every martial artist he sees as a threat. After a long series of battles, Kenshiro emerges victorious over Raoh and it seems peace has finally come to the post-apocalyptic world.
However, several years pass and a tyrannical empire under the name of the Celestial Empress has risen to power, oppressing anyone who dares to oppose them. Kenshiro comes into action, joining the now-grown Bat and Lin under the banner of the Hokuto Army. As they fight their way into the Empire's capital city, they discover that the Empire has been taken over by the Viceroy Jakoh, an usurper who is keeping the real Celestial Empress captive in his dungeon. The Hokuto Army free the Empress, who turns out to be Lin's long-lost sister and Jakoh is shortly vanquished afterward.
However, Lin is taken captive by the remnant of Jakoh's forces and is sent off to the mysterious Kingdom of Shura, a brutal land of warriors ruled by three overlords who have all mastered the ways of Hokuto Ryūken, a martial art which branched off from the same clan alongside Hokuto Shinken into the ways of darkness. Kaioh, the head of the three overlords, plans to conquer the post-apocalyptic world in the name of evil by wiping out the followers of Hokuto Shinken. Kenshiro uncovers the sealed testament of the Hokuto Shinken founder, Shuken, which holds the secret to overcoming Kaioh's ultimate technique. Kenshiro emerges victorious over Kaioh and rescues Lin, leaving her under Bat's care. During the final chapters, Kenshiro goes on a journey with Raoh's orphaned son Ryu, in order to lead him on the path to become the next Hokuto Shinken successor. Kenshiro must later save Bat and Lin from a past enemy.

Production

has stated that he came up with the idea of Hokuto no Ken from his editor Nobuhiko Horie. According to Hara, Horie suggested to him that he should draw a manga about "a martial artist who destroys his opponents by striking their acupressure points" based on Hara's aspiration to draw a manga about martial arts and his knowledge of pressure points. At the time, Hara was having trouble breaking into the market, as his first serial, The Iron Don Quijote, was canceled ten weeks after its debut. A prototype version of Hokuto no Ken was published as a one shot story in the April 1983 issue of Fresh Jump, which was followed by Hokuto no Ken II, a second one-shot published in the June 1983 issue. Both stories are collected in the second tankōbon volume of The Iron Don Quijote.
The two one-shots were well received in the reader's surveys of Fresh Jump and Tetsuo Hara was commissioned to turn Hokuto no Ken into a weekly series. Buronson was assigned to work with him as a writer for the serialized version. The storyline was revamped, with the 1980s present-day setting in the original version replaced by a post-apocalyptic future world, and the protagonist Kenshiro, originally a teenager framed for a crime he did not commit in Hara's prototype story, became an older and more stoic hero with a tragic past.
Buronson cited Bruce Lee and Mad Max as the two biggest influences on Fist of the North Star. He stated that Kenshiro and the martial arts were inspired by the martial artist Bruce Lee and his 1970s Hong Kong action kung fu films, while the post-apocalyptic setting was inspired by the Mad Max film series. Fist of the North Star was also influenced by Go Nagai's manga series Violence Jack, which similarly had a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland setting with biker gangs, anarchic violence, ruined buildings, innocent civilians, tribal chiefs and small abandoned villages; it has been argued that Mad Max may have also been influenced by Violence Jack. Originally, Hara and Buronson were contracted to do Hokuto no Ken for a three-year run, but due to its popularity and the publisher's demand, it was extended to a five-year run.

Media

Manga

Hokuto no Ken premiered in Japan in Weekly Shōnen Jump on September 13, 1983 and was serialized
weekly until August 8, 1988, lasting 245 chapters. The original collected volumes or tankōbon of Hokuto no Ken were published under Shueisha's Jump Comics imprint and spans 27 volumes. During the 1990s, Shueisha reprinted Hokuto no Ken in 15 hardcover aizōban editions, as well as 15 corresponding economy-sized bunko editions. A 14-volume Kanzenban edition was published by Shogakukan in 2006 under the Big Comics Selection imprint, featuring the original water-colored artwork from the Weekly Shōnen Jump serialization. It has also been released in 27 digital e-book editions.
To celebrate the series' 30th anniversary, Tokuma Shoten re-published Hokuto no Ken in an Extreme Edition comprising 18 volumes that were published two books per month from September 20, 2013, through July 20, 2014. These Extreme Editions feature new cover illustrations by Tetsuo Hara and reprint all the colorized artwork from the original Weekly Jump serials. Vol. 11 features an additional chapter by Buronson and Hara, originally published in two parts in the May and June 2014 issues of Monthly Comic Zenon, titled Hokuto no Ken: Last Piece. The storyline covers the gap between the defeat of Raoh and Kenshiro's later reunion with the grown Bat and Rin, centering around Raoh's former steed Kokuoh and how he lost his left eye during the time span. It also introduces a new character named Shōza, the son of Jūza of the Clouds.

English translations

In 1989, Viz Communications published the first sixteen chapters of Fist of the North Star in English as an eight-issue monthly comic. These were later reprinted in a single graphic novel collection in 1995. During the same year, Viz resumed publication of the series as a monthly comic until 1997, lasting eighteen issues, divided into three parts. This second run was subsequently republished in three additional graphic novel volumes titled Night of the Jackal, Southern Cross and Blood Brothers. Viz's version featured mirrored artwork with translated sound effects and other retouched details.
In 2002, a second English adaptation was published by Gutsoon! Entertainment under the title of Fist of the North Star: Master Edition, which retained the original right-to-left orientation but featured digitally colored artwork. Each volume from the fourth one and onward featured new cover illustrations by Tetsuo Hara that were made specifically for the Master Edition. The Master Edition ceased publication only a year after its start in 2003, lasting only nine volumes due to Gutsoon!'s withdrawal from the North American market.

Prequel

In 2001, Tetsuo Hara began working on a Fist of the North Star prequel titled Fist of the Blue Sky, which was serialized in Weekly Comic Bunch until 2010. Set during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1935, the story stars Hokuto Shinken predecessor and Kenshiro's namesake, Kenshiro Kasumi. An English adaptation of Fist of the Blue Sky was published in North America by Gutsoon! Entertainment in the now-defunct manga anthology Raijin Comics. Four collected volumes were published before the company went out of business.

Spin-off works

A series of Fist of the North Star spinoffs began to be published in Weekly Comic Bunch and Big Comics Superior later. This lineup of titles has been dubbed the Hokuto Gaiden series, as each title focuses on a particular supporting character from the original manga. The following titles had been published so far:
In 2018, a dedicated e-reader was sold that shipped with 18 volumes of Fist of the North Star, without the option of loading anything else. It has two screens that fold out like a book and sold for ¥30,000 in Japan. The read-only device is called an eOneBook and is powered by removable AAA batteries.

Anime

TV series

Hokuto no Ken was first adapted into a weekly anime series by Toei Animation. The series aired on Fuji Television from October 11, 1984, to March 5, 1987, lasting 109 episodes. It was immediately followed by a sequel series, titled Hokuto no Ken 2, which aired from March 13, 1987 to February 18, 1988, lasting for 43 additional episodes.
The full series was never released on VHS in Japan, although three-hour-long compilation movies were produced by Toei Video covering the first, second and fourth story arcs in that order. On July 24, 2002, Universal Music released a Region 2 DVD box set containing all 152 episodes spread across 26 discs. These discs were later released as individual volumes from May 21, 2003 through January 21, 2004. Three "best of" DVD compilations were also released in 2005, each featuring seven key episodes from the series. On March 28, 2008, Avex released a 25th-anniversary edition box set featuring new video transfers of all 152 episodes remastered in high definition, once again spread across 26 discs. This set also features two additional discs of bonus content.
This show aired with English subtitles on Nippon Golden Network in the late 1980s. The first 36 episodes of the first series were translated and dubbed by Manga Entertainment in 1999, although only 24 episodes were released on VHS. All 36 episodes of the dub version were aired on Showtime Beyond in the United States and on Sci-Fi Channel in the United Kingdom, and were later released on DVD in 2003. In 2008, the US subsidiary of Toei Animation produced an official subtitle-only translation of all 152 episodes, which were released on various paid download and streaming websites available only for North American customers. Discotek Media announced on October 2, 2009 that they have licensed the entire Fist of the North Star TV series. The first two boxsets were released in that year, and the latter two in 2011. The episodes use the same transfers from the 2008 DVD box set in Japan, although it did not contain any of the special features. The first set featured the first 36 episodes along with Manga Entertainment's English dub, and a Japanese audio option with English subtitles; these subtitles were adjusted from the translation of Toei's streaming episodes. Discotek later released all discs from all four boxsets together in one set, Fist of the North Star: The Series - The Complete Series Collection, on March 25, 2014. Discotek released the complete series as a standard definition Blu-ray set on October 31, 2017.
In 2009, William Winckler Productions produced six compilation movies voiced in English. The movies cover major story arcs from the TV series, each one centering on a specific character. These compilation movies had not been officially released in North America and Europe yet but were distributed to video streaming websites in Japan in 2012.

Films and OVAs

The first animated feature film based on the series, simply titled Fist of the North Star, was produced by Toei Animation, which premiered in Japan on March 8, 1986. Produced by the same staff and cast who worked on the TV series, the movie adapts the storyline of the manga from the beginning and up to Kenshiro's first fight with Raoh, taking several liberties with the order of events and how the story unfolds. An English-dubbed version produced by Streamline Pictures was first released in 1991 in North America and in 1994 in Europe and Australia by Manga Entertainment.
In 2003, a three-episode original video animation mini-series titled New Fist of the North Star was produced by OB Planning, based on a 1996 Hokuto no Ken novel, Jubaku no Machi. An English dub version was produced by ADV Films in 2004.
In 2005, North Stars Pictures and TMS Entertainment announced the development of a five-part film series titled '. The series is composed of three theatrical films and two OVAs, which were released during a three-year period between 2006 throughout 2008, culminating with the 25th anniversary of the franchise.
At the Japanese box office, Fist of the North Star grossed and ' grossed, for a combined . Chapter of Death in Love also grossed $1,258,568 overseas, and grossed $1,479,911 in Japan, bringing the films' total worldwide box office gross to.

Novels

An original novel was written by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara titled Shōsetsu Hokuto no Ken: Jubaku no Machi which was published by Jump Novel in Japan on December 13, 1996. The novel was the basis of the later three-episode OVA series New Fist of the North Star. A novelization of the movie Legend of Raoh: Chapter of Love in Death written by Eiichi Sakaki was published by Tokuma Novels on March 10, 2006.
There have also been two cell phone novels released via the mobile site Hokuto no Ken DX. Raoh Gaiden, a novelization of the manga of the same name, and Kenshiro Gaiden, an original novel by Jotaro Higashi.

Live-action film

An American-produced live-action movie version of Fist of the North Star was released in 1995, directed by Tony Randel based on a script by Peter Atkins and Wynne McLaughlin. The movie, loosely based on the Shin storyline of the manga, stars Gary Daniels as Kenshiro, Costas Mandylor as Shin and Japanese actress Isako Washio as Yuria, with Malcolm McDowell as Ryuken and Chris Penn as "Jackal". It also featured a cameo by professional wrestler Big Van Vader as Goliath, and Kevin Arbouet as "Rao". The movie was released straight-to-video
ji chang wook as kenshiro in the United States and Japan. The Japanese dubbed version used the original voice actors from the 1980s anime series.2021

Video games

Numerous video game titles based on the Fist of the North Star have been produced since the 1986 release of the Enix adventure game, simply titled Hokuto no Ken for the PC-88. The earlier games in the franchise were released by Sega for the Mark III and Mega Drive and by Toei Animation for Nintendo's Famicom, Game Boy and Super Famicom. These titles included side-scrolling action games, role-playing video games and competitive-style fighting games. The two Sega titles were stripped of the license and rebranded for the international market under the titles of Black Belt and Last Battle for the Sega Genesis. Two Toei titles, namely Fist of the North Star for the Nintendo Entertainment System released by Taxan Soft in 1989 and Fist of the North Star: 10 Big Brawls for the King of Universe for the Game Boy released by Electro Brain in 1991, had American releases with the license intact.
Further games were released for the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS, among other platforms. In 2000, Konami released an arcade game based on the franchise titled Fighting Mania. Another arcade game, a 2D fighting game simply titled Fist of the North Star, was produced by Sega and Arc System Works in 2005. Both of these games saw international distributions, although the PS2 version of the fighting game was released exclusively in Japan. Tecmo Koei produced a Dynasty Warriors spin-off focusing on the events from the first half of the manga, titled ', for the PlayStation 3. It which was released in Japan, North America, and Europe in 2010. A sequel, ', expanded on the first game and incorporated the events from the second half of the manga. It was released in Japan in 2012 and in North America in 2013. Sega's new game, was released for the PlayStation 4 in 2018. It was developed by the team behind the Yakuza series, featuring similar gameplay and elements, though rather than adapting the story of the manga, it is an original story with no continuity with events in the manga, though it does feature characters from the manga, voiced by actors from the Yakuza series.

Pachinko

A number of pachinko and pachislot machines based on the franchise have been produced, mainly by Sega Sammy Holdings since the launch of the CR Hokuto No Ken pachinko machine in 2002. Pachislot Hokuto No Ken, launched in 2004, sold 620,000 units by March 2005, becoming the best-selling pachislot machine. Pachinko CR Hokuto No Ken 3 became Sega Sammy's best-selling pachinko machine when it launched in 2009. By March 2017, Sega Sammy had sold 3.18million Hokuto no Ken pachinko, pachislot and arcade machines, including 2.71million Hokuto no Ken pachinko and pachislot machines, 30,000 Hokuto no Ken arcade game machines, and 440,000 Souten no Ken pachinko and pachislot machines. Between April 2017 and March 2018, Sega Sammy sold a further Hokuto no Ken pachinko and pachislot units, and a further units between April 2018 and June 2018, bringing total sales up to 3,359,067 units. At an average unit price of $5,000, Sega Sammy has grossed approximately from sales of Hokuto no Ken pachinko, pachislot and arcade machines.

Reception and legacy

Fist of the North Star was one of Weekly Shōnen Jump's most popular titles during the 1980s. It is one of the best-selling manga series in history, having sold approximately 100 million copies. In a poll conducted by TV Asahi in 2005, the Fist of the North Star anime series ranked 26 in a list of Top 100 Anime series. In a second poll in 2006, it ranked 89. In a celebrity version of the poll, it ranked 15.
As of 2018, Fist of the North Star is one of the top twenty highest-grossing media franchises of all time, estimated to have generated more than in total franchise revenue.

Impact

Fist of the North Star is considered one of the most influential shōnen manga series of all time. Geek.com calls it "an epochal, generation-defining work that introduced madcap ultraviolence to the page and inspired tons of other mangaka." Berserk creator Kentaro Miura has named Fist of the North Star as the work that has had the biggest impact on his own. Fist of the North Star has also been credited with originating the fatality finishing move concept which later appeared in the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games.

Internet memes

In the 2010s, Kenshiro's catchphrase "Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru" became one of the most popular anime-based Internet memes. In September 2017, music producer deadman 死人 released the song "Omae Wa Mou" which references the meme and samples the Japanese song "Tiny Little Adiantum" from the Touhou Project video game music album Toho Bossa Nova 2. The rapper Lil Boom produced his own version of the song called "Already Dead" three months later. In 2019, "Omae Wa Mou" went viral on TikTok and topped Spotify's Viral 50 chart, before being taken off the chart after being struck with a copyright claim.