The series focuses on a man, Kenshiro, who travels the wasteland of a future Earth that has been decimated by nuclear war. Much like in the Mad Max series, the land is populated by a host of bullies and bandits, all seeking to take what they can from those who just want to be left alone. Ken, the last survivor of a specialized school of martial arts, roams the land looking for his brother, Toki, who has turned bad and leads a large gang bent on dominating the world. In each episode of this formula-driven series, Ken confronts some bad or another and applies his techniques in order to see them die a horrible death, usually exploding in a sea of blood. In the last episode of the series (there were eight full episodes on the DVD), Ken and Toki fight, each using the various skills they have honed over the years. Midway through the fight, a secret is revealed and the series ended on something of a cliffhanger. The titles of the episodes were:

Episode 29: It's Too Late For You To Beg For Your Life!
Episode 30: Destiny Draws Near!
Episode 31: The Hellish Iron Mask!
Episode 32: The Four Linked Fists Of Rage
Episode 33: This Is The Village Of Miracles!
Episode 34: Toki! Are You An Angel Or A Devil?!
Episode 35: Fiend! Toki, Your Heart Is Rotten To The Core!!
Episode 36: I Have No Past To Look Back On!

If you thrill to the site of a show where people are made to explode by various fantasy martial art techniques and don't mind seeing the same old stuff episode after episode, you'll get a kick out of this gore filled kill-fest. I'm not the biggest fan of such shows in the anime genre but if you are, you'll be satisfied to learn that this is the best you're likely to see the material in a domestic release. I'm going to suggest it as a Skip It unless you are such a fan since the material gets repetitive quite fast.

Picture: The picture was presented in its original full frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio color. The anime style was very limited, using camera movement over actual animation in order to save time and money. The print used for the DVD transfer was scratched up, had a lot of flaws, and the grain was very heavy. There was also a lot of mosquito noise and compression artifacts but fans of the show aren't going to care since it looked better than the multitude of bootlegs and VCD's found on the internet.

Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of either 2.0 stereo English or Japanese with no separation between the channels. The source material being about twenty years old, it should come as no surprise that the limitations of the original source material, which was recorded in monaural, haven't held up well over the years. The optional English subtitles were not exactly dub-titles but they didn't stray too far from the English track and were not exactly timed perfectly.

Extras: There was a prologue which outlined the background of the show. There was a series of character biographies to bring you up to speed on who's who in the series. There was also a photogallery, Japanese credits, and the typical Manga extras of trailers and their dvd catalog filled out the list. Lastly, there was a paper insert inside the dvd case that copied the back of the dvd cover.

Final Thoughts: Manga tends to release anime shows with a darker look at life than almost any other company on the market (at least consistently darker) and this niche is popular among long time fans of anime. If you enjoy such shows, check this one out but don't expect something that's appropriate for kids.