Fist of the North Star (1986)

A practitioner of the deadly martial art "Hokuto Shinken" allies with two children and an expert in "Nanto Suicho-Ken" to fight against the rivals who kidnapped his lover and threaten the prosperity of mankind.

Director:

Toyoo Ashida

Writers:

Buronson (comic), Tetsuo Hara (comic)

Stars:

Akira Kamiya, Yuriko Yamamoto, Kenji Utsumi

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Akira Kamiya	...	Kenshiro (voice)
Yuriko Yamamoto	...	Yuria (voice)
Kenji Utsumi	...	Raoh (voice)
Chikao Ohtsuka	...	Jagi (voice)
Toshio Furukawa	...	Shin (voice)
Kaneto Shiozawa	...	Rei (voice)
Tomiko Suzuki	...	Lin (voice)
Teiyû Ichiryûsai	...	Bat (voice) (as Mie Suzuki)
Arisa Andô	...	Airi (voice)
Junji Chiba	...	Ryuken (voice)
Hidekatsu Shibata	...	Zeed (voice)
Junpei Takiguchi	...	Heart (voice)
Takeshi Aono	...	Fox (voice)
Hiroshi Ôtake	...	Jackal (voice)
Daisuke Gôri	...	Uyghur (voice)

Storyline

After a nuclear holocaust tears the world apart, mankind is forced to the harshness of not only the oppression of others who are much more powerful, but the dead earth which seems to be getting worse with every passing moment. But a savior has risen from the ashes, a man who will defeat those who would torment the weak and make the world a livable place once more. A man named Kenshiro.....

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Plot Keywords:

anger | antihero | blindness | blood on hand | fool | 

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Taglines:

An epic assault on the senses!

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

27 September 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fist of the North Star

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shueisha, Toei Animation, Toei Company

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Black and White (some footage) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Many of the more graphic scenes of violence were edited and altered immediately after the original Japanese theatrical run; possibly even during it. Toei Animation received many complaints from concerned parents and media reviewers over scenes of violence that more closely represented the manga art it was based on, and so in response they added in screen filters and crop/zoom effects to partially blur and distort the animation that depicted exposed brain matter, intestines, and other close-ups of severe trauma to any characters body. Unfortunately, the Toei Animation warehouse had a massive fire in the 1980's, and the original unaltered reel was declared destroyed. The only reel that did survive was the final altered version that was being readied for future releases in another studio's office, and this is the only version that has been released to the home market. However, years later evidence of an uncut version ever existing came to light from an Italian VHS copy which is believed to have been created from a partially untouched reel. A few scenes clearly showed gore without any alterations, while a majority of the other scenes were still edited. Since not all of these scenes were completely unaltered, fans believe Italy prematurely received a partially edited reel before Japan made all of the edits to the final cut version. Whether that reel still exists, whether in Italy or if it was sent back to Japan, is unknown. Toei Animation has never commented about the movie or the edits to the public, but did deny US licensing company Diskotek Media the chance to release the Italian trailer with the unedited footage as a supplement on the US DVD in 2009.

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Goofs

At one point during his fight with Raoh, Kenshiro's arm bands are back on even though moments earlier they ripped off when he activates his Hokuto Shinken, a moment later they vanish again.

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Quotes

Brave Old Villager: Why? Why would the man who killed Zender and saved our village send these animals here to kill us? I can't believe the fist of the north star would do such a thing!
Abusive Bad Guy: Oh yeah? Guess again!
[Raises his big hammer to kill but gets forcely and unexpectedly hit by Rei]
Abusive Bad Guy: Who's that guy?
Rei: My name is Rei and I am looking for the man you describe. The man with the seven wounds who calls himself fist of the north star.
Abusive Bad Guy: I'll give you this much. You got gutts walking in like this. Give me that! So, with all ...
[...]

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Alternate Versions

The English Streamline Pictures dub (released in the UK by Manga Video) features a drastically altered script from the Japanese original. The exact nature of the Hokuto Shinken and Nanto Seiken schools (North Star and South Star in the English dub) are never fully explained and Yuria's Nanto heritage is never mentioned. The English dub also features an instrumental version of the ending theme, Purple Eyes, instead of the vocal version by Kodomo Band in the Japanese original.

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Connections

Followed by Fist of the North Star (1995)

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Soundtracks

Heart of Madness
Written by Tsuyoshi Ujiki
Performed by Kodomo Band

User Reviews

The greatest film ever made

I love violence on screen. This movie satisfied that to the extreme. This is the most violent movie possibly EVER released. A lot of people hate this film because it is a blood fest with "no point", but you have to understand, the point of the movie is to MAKE FUN of the whole thing. Now, I'm also a big fan of comedy, and this movie satisfied the comedy WITH the violence! It's genius, because so few people see this. Add to that, an intricate story line that follows through and makes sense. The movie is all about going from big, powerful guys and gruesome death scenes to more and more and more gruesome death scenes and more powerful guys. The writing is excellent (and funny!). Like I said about comedy, the death scenes are made to make you laugh, the writing and speech are designed almost so that you can predict what's going to happen before it does! Then the speech becomes like a punch line. e.g. "A fight to the death, then!" "You're already dead." and "Hey. These belong to you?" You have to watch this movie to know what I mean, of course. Heh heh. the music is good, and the English dubbing is awesome. The voices are perfect. The drawing style is great, too. The huge muscles small heads approach (trust me, it is VERY realistic) is hilarious, yet cool looking. Rent it at Blockbuster video under the animation section or action / kung fu. One gripe: the ending (the last like 2 minutes) sucks. Corny love / regrowth stereotype there.

I have to add, the funniest moment in any movie EVER in the world is in this movie. It is the scene where Shin kills his own trusted commander. PLEASE watch this movie so you can agree with me. The punch line effect of the writing and the animation is so subtle, so superb. I was laughing for hours (slight exaggeration. Slight.) The only thing wrong with this movie is that it is under infinity hours long.