haildevilman Starts with the apocalypse.Then just gets bleaker.The violence starts off slowly. First with a duel between friends over a woman. Then we see the oppressive regime brutalize innocents. That's when our wandering hero steps up.The oppressors gruntwork is done by guys that look like the Road Warrior had a baby with a Punk Rocker. Huge muscles too. They bully a little girl (with a mental gift) and that's when the tide turns.Ken (Yeah....that's the good guy....in the original Japanese version anyway) starts seriously taking names.A few quick hits, and in one case, a flamboyant series of kicks, causes these guys to literally explode. Or fall apart like cold cuts.The violence really gets going then. The final half hour seems like they were trying to fit as many kills as possible. Each one more creative and nastier than the last. It of course is heading toward a duel. And not what you think either.VERY violent. VERY gory. And the holocaust like setting will be a downer for some. This is NOT NOT NOT for kids that's for sure. But horror/sci- fi fans will love every massive second of it. Just remember the fantasy element.A live version was released......not worth going there.

Criticman12 Ever wanted to see a violent and awesome action flick with a post-apocalypse setting similar to, "Mad Max"? Well now you can with: "Fist Of The North Star". An Anime movie released in 1986.The story is set after a nuclear Holocause destroys the earth. A martial artist named, Kenshiro, who knows how to use the deadly move known as, "The Fist Of The North Star", team's up with other survivors to save his fiancé Julia from his evil friend.Pro's: The film has some great animation. The character's were great. The storytelling was good.Con's: The Animation is a bit dated at time's. Julia sound's old in the English dub.Overall, "Fist Of The North Star", is a violent and awesome anime movie worth watching if you're a fan of action movies or anime.

bob the moo Mankind has finally destroyed itself and those that have survived find themselves on a barren, dead planet. All men are afraid and this leads to tribalism where strength and power over others is all, leading in turn to cruelty and violence. With this as a backdrop, powerful Fist of the North Star Kenshirô, is left for dead when his equally powerful friend Shin defeats him and takes his lover Julia for himself. Kenshirô somehow survives this and returns to seek justice, aided by fighter Rei, whose sister has been kidnapped by Kenshirô's brother Jagi (who was the one who poisoned Shin against Kenshirô in the first place). Meanwhile Raoh's rebuffed claim to be the rightful Fist has left him bitter and hungry for power with his army and individual powers seeing him grow in strength and power, creating a world of repression that is at odds with the hope manifested in two young children who find themselves under the care of Kenshirô and Rei.Somehow or other I managed to watch and comment on the live action remark of his famous film/series. That version was pretty poor so I decided to go back to the source material and see how that comes across. Everything opens well, with a visual depiction of a nuclear holocaust that has a real sense of scale and suffering about it and I hoped that it would use this backdrop well. Sadly it doesn't really manage it and, while there are plenty of things to appreciate about the film, it never manages to get away from a key problem – one that you may already have a feel for from my plot summary.The genre and the approach of the film suggests that a tight plot with a simple narrative would suit it best. However what we get are lots of characters moving around, causing the film to feel a little slow and complicated. It is not that it is hard to follow per se, just that there seems to be a lot of plot and characters for a film that does so little with all of them other than use them to create a convoluted narrative. It is messy and it doesn't bring much to the film than an impression of clutter and mess that it could easily have done without. Those kids and their entire "subplot" could have been cut from the get-go; although calling their material a "sub-plot" suggests that it is a plot worth following which, other than their roles early on as trigger for one character's return, they do not work in any way of interest.What it does do well though is create some stylishly cool violence and gore. It won't be to everyone's taste but certainly fans of the genre will love it. Technologically the animation has been superseded so will look a little dated but this is not to say that it is "bad" or even "of its time" because certainly does not feel like something that is over 20 years old. The violence is cool even if it is a little silly as well – but this comes with the territory. I loved the scenes of the aftermath of destruction though, these were mostly creative and impressive in their scale. The voice work was also surprisingly solid – often English dubs are awful but, with the exceptions of Julia and the kids, everyone was pretty good.Overall though this is a solid piece of anime but not the classic that many claim it to be (a look at the 10* reviews here will show you what I mean). The imagination behind it and the delivery of gore is impressive but it is undermined by the passage of time making it less impressive to modern eyes but also the problem of such an unnecessarily cluttered plot that leads to some overly-sentimental nonsense as the conclusion. Worth a look for genre fans but casual viewers will not see the film that the fans are seeing.

KingBanditJing The Storyline Is pretty simple, or is it? Depends How you want to look at it. I think to this day that this anime/manga series is one of the best thought of and created.Its set in 199X, a nuclear holocaust has struck. Everything is gone. Only vast wastelands are visible. Law is meaningless, only violence rules, and is also the key to survival. This is where our Vagabond Hero Kenshiro (Ken for short) Makes his appearance. He is 64th successor to the sacred martial arts "Hokuto Shinken" which translates to Great dipper God fist, or, Fist Of The North Star. He's the man who fights violence with more violence to uphold peace in the savage world of destruction. He, along with many other characters know a distinct sacred martial arts. Including Rei, who knows "Nanto Suichouken" (South Dipper Waterbird Fist) And Shin who knows "Nanto Seiken" (South Dipper Lone Eagle Fist). There's Also Jagi and Roah, Who are Ken's Brothers, Who Know Hokuto Shinken too. Now, On with the story. Basically, Shin Takes away Kenshiro's fiancé to be, Julia. He uses a torture technique of Nanto Seiken and Pokes seven holes into Kens chest to make the Big dipper constellation (Its a bad Omen in Japanese and Chinese Legends) And leaves him for dead, But ken manages to pull through, and will now do anything to get her back. This, Is the basic storyline for the movie (and the series), but as things develop, the storyline unfolds and progresses. And more things need to be taken care of by Kenshiro. What i love about this film is the artwork by Tetsuo Hara. It may be a cartoon, but the characters look like people and not like the usual Manga/anime we see today. And everyones involvement in the story is just as vital as anyone else's. I praise him for his work *bows down* The point of this film is to sum up the first 50 (out of 155) or so episodes (Eventhough only 36 were aired over in the UK) of the TV series and make it a 112 minute movie. It has some fillers from the series cut out, and have added extra bits which don't usually happen in the series so that it doesn't confuse newcomers. If you haven't seen ANY of the series then it doesn't matter. This film can be watched as a stand alone thing, Which is also what i like about it. I give this epic film a mighty 10/10! If you like this film make sure to read what you can of the manga! 47 volumes (Yipes!), 1-18 have been translated ^__^