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Fist of The North Star

Manga // Unrated // March 25, 2003
List Price: $24.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]

Review by Don Houston | posted May 9, 2003 | E-mail the Author
Movie: In the wonderfully diverse world of anime, there are many genre's to choose from and types of action to embrace. Manga, having bought the rights to a number of series, has decided to release dvd versions of Fist of the North Star. In the series, a male protagonist, Ken, searches the desert for his lost love while battling super powered martial artists led by his equal, Shin. The setting is after a devastating war that pretty much destroyed the Earth except for small bands of mutants. The concept is that Ken reveals a new way to kill his opponents in each episode, typically leading to them blowing up in some grotesque fashion. In short, just what junior high school boys love to watch when their mothers aren't looking. The first volume, like follow-up volumes, have 7 episodes each and a running time of about 3 hours. While the episodes are somewhat repetitive, here's the listing per the dvd.

Episode 1: God Or Devil?! The mightiest man who appeared in Hell!
Episode 2: The Deadly Fist of Lingering Regret! The future is sighted in the barren desert!!
Episode 3: In The City Without Light, A Lone Fist Burns! Furious death of five exploding fingers!!
Episode 4: The Bloody Cross Attacks. Secret technique, death by soft strikes.
Episode 5: Can The Flames of Love Burn in Hell? You are already dead.
Episode 6: Search Order from Satan Find the man with the seven stars.
Episode 7: Villains! Shall we have a countdown to death?

Picture: The picture was presented in it's original full frame format. Due to the age of the release, it wasn't the clearest looking anime, even older anime, I've seen of late but the target audience will not care much. Some of the episodes used scratchy prints and there were some compression artifacts at times but not enough to dismiss this one.

Sound: The audio was presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo-either English or Japanese with subtitles. Again, fairly limited but it was okay for such an older release.

Extras: There was a 6+ minute long prologue which outlined the background of the show. A series of character biographies to bring you up to speed on who everyone was. A photogallery, Japanese credits, and the typical Manga extras of trailers and their dvd catalog filled out the list. Oh, there was also a paper insert inside the dvd case.

Final Thoughts: Keep in mind that it was originally released in 1984 and while of a limited animation style, a lot of retro-anime fans will find it appealing. Compared to more recent releases, this one looked pretty weak and the limited anime style employed tends to be liked best by kids or drunken guys who've smoked a bit too much weed but it wasn't without merit. My first exposure to the series was a long time ago when a Japanese company released a series of SNES games based on the television series. Yeah, the games were overpriced and lame but those were the early days of anime fandom and it's always good to remember it's roots. I'd suggest this one as a rental to anyone other than dedicated fans of the series or anime in general but you do get a lot of action for your dollar.

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