Overview: Fist Of The North Star
Hokuto no Ken (aka Fist of the North Star): Those who know it and hate it still appreciate it for what it is. That being one of the most action-packed classic anime series of all time, still imitated and parodied to this day. When I was first introduced to the franchise in high school via the 1986 animated movie, I honestly didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until someone recently put the TV series in my hands that I now understand its level of awesome.
For those unfamiliar with the series, it takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, where most of the planet has been transformed into a giant desert. Humanity is struggling to survive and of course there are those who prey upon the weak to amass resources and power. However, there is one man–Kenshiro, the lone successor of the Hokuto Shinken school of martial arts–that is out to bring an end to such tyranny.
What makes Fist of the North Star so great isn’t the animation or even the plot…it’s the ridiculous violence. Mind you, this isn’t gratuitous violence (bloodshed for the sake of bloodshed), but rather there is a kind of imaginative style in how the violent scenes are constructed. You see, Kenshiro doesn’t just beat you to death, he activates certain pressure points in your body that cause it to destroy itself. Often, he’ll simply cause you to explode. However, in special cases, he may cause your spine to twist in half, make you hug another man to death, or walk backward off a cliff. Once Kenshiro has performed the lethal blow, the opponent may still protest, only to heed Ken’s trademark warning, “You are already dead.”
May God help you if ever you strike a woman, child, or puppy in proximity of Kenshiro. Because then it is on. Ken does not take kindly to that nonsense…not on his watch. He does not put up with that. Any act of cruelty will earn you a fate that usually ends with an NBA shot clock counting down the seconds until some part of you goes “boom”.
After watching a few episodes, one may find it difficult to determine whether Hokuto no Ken is either the manliest show ever or the gayest show. It’s visuals and storytelling style are quite reminiscent of something an adolescent male would doodle in his junior high math class, yet there’s an undeniable homoerotic accent to the show. On the one hand, you have beefy, super-powered dudes punching, avenging the women they love, and nunchucks. At the same time, you have these same beefy dudes who are also dressed in tight jeans, leather straps, and express shared deep, spiritual connections with each other.
Most often before a major villain dies, the audience will be given a ten-minute monologue that reveals how despite their evil ways, they posses a heart of gold. The Nanto Star, Souther, was a cruel, maleficent overlord who ordered a pyramid to be built in his honor, constructed entirely by hundreds of enslaved starving children. After Kenshiro beat the hell out of him, Souther uses his dying breaths to explain that the reason why he was such a monster is because when he was a child, he was forced to kill his master as the final test of his martial arts training. He loved his master so much that he’d vowed that he’d never allow himself to experience love again, for fear of the pain that may come from it. It’s not bad to give that little extra depth to the villain to lift some of the demonization, however those moments tend to execute as too warm & fuzzy. Fist of the North Star is ripe with fodder for “slash” fan fiction authors.
My own favorite Fist of the North Star moment was early in the series, when one foe dared pose the question, “Can your Hokuto Shinken stop a tank??” The answer: Yes…yes it can. The villain approaches Kenshiro in his tank, but Ken attacks head-on. He then pummels the front of the tank with a barrage of punches and kicks until the tank finally halts. The villain errs in sticking his head out of the tank’s hatch in frustration, leaving him open to Kenshiro touching his vital pressure points. He then collapses back into the tank where we assume he dies. But, no! Ken walks away from the wreckage, toward the camera, with just enough dramatic pause before the tank itself explodes behind him…for no reason. We can only assume that tanks also have vital pressure points which can cause it to explode, much like a human’s skull.
The series as a whole, I find deliciously campy. While some may quick to simply label the show as stupid, I prefer to deem it under what I affectionately call “the theater of the absurd”. It’s so ridiculous, that alone makes it entertaining.
