Fist of the North Star
| Fist of the North Star | |
|---|---|
| |
| Japanese Name | 北斗之拳 |
| Romaji Name | Hokuto no Ken |
| Alternate Name(s) | Fist of the Big Dipper Ken, the Great Bear Fist Ken il guerriero Ken le Survivant El puño de la Estrella del Norte |
| Author | Buronson |
| Illustrator | Tetsuo Hara |
| Publisher | Shueisha (Japan) Gutsoon! Entertainment (English, formerly) Viz Media (English) |
| Genre(s) | Adventure, Martial arts, Post-apocalyptic |
| Demographic | Shonen |
| Magazine | Weekly Shonen Jump |
| Year(s) Released | September 13, 1983 – August 8, 1988 |
“
In the year 199X, the world was engulfed in nuclear fire!!
”
—Narrator, Chapter 1: A Cry from the Heart
Fist of the North Star (北斗の拳 Hokuto no Ken) is a shonen manga written by Buronson and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara that was published in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump from 1983 to 1988. It follows the journey of Kenshiro, the 64th successor of a martial art known as Hokuto Shinken, and his allies as they take on the many threats of the post-apocalyptic world.
It is the main subject of this wiki project.
Profile[edit]
Fist of the North Star was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1983 to its completion in 1988. The series is collected in a variety of formats ranging from standard tankobons to special edition volumes such as the Ultimate Editions, all of which contain the manga as it was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump with differences such as art retouches and dialogue changes.
The manga has sold over 100 million copies, making it one of the best-selling manga series in history. It has been adapted into two anime television series produced by Toei Animation, which together aired on Fuji TV and its affiliates from 1984 through 1988, comprising a combined total of 152 episodes. It has since expanded into a media franchise, including several anime films, a live-action film, OVAs, video games, and a series of spin-offs centering on other characters from the original story. It also has a number of video games and pachinko machines produced by Sega Sammy.
Plot Summary[edit]
A Cry from the Heart[edit]
Kenshiro, a wandering martial artist, is left exhausted in a wasteland searching for water and longing to see his fiancée Yuria again. Upon stumbling into a seemingly abandoned village, he is captured and accused of being a member of a gang called Zeed, a group of thugs who terrorize the area, and is thrown in jail alongside an orphan named Bat. There he meets Rin, a mute girl whose family was killed by bandits. After receiving food and a cup of water from her, Ken restores her ability to speak and the village's elder comes to determine if Ken is a member of Zeed or not.
As the prison guards remove Ken's clothes to find the tattoo proving he is a member of Zeed, the village elder sees seven scars on his chest in the shape of the Big Dipper, symboling forthcoming danger. Just then, the Zeed gang begins attacking the villages and Rin is captured. Ken and Bat escape their cell to go help fight. Claiming to snap Rin's neck if he gets any closer, the leader of the gang holds her above his head to get the other villagers to back off. Kenshiro then comes in and effortlessly kills three of the gang members in a single kick, intimidating all the other members. He then attacks the gang leader, causing him to drop Rin and fall over. Ken catches Rin and when Zeed gets back up he tells him that his attacks "feel like mosquito bites". Kenshiro exclaims that he is "already dead" and Zeed violently implodes and dies.
The village elder narrates that long ago in China, a martial art called Hokuto Shinken was created and the Kenshiro is the sole successor. Bat then realizes that if he strikes with Ken he would be able to have as much food as he wants and the two being walking back into the wasteland together.
Shin and the KING Organization[edit]
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God's Chosen, The Golan[edit]
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Jackal and the Devil Reborn[edit]
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The Fang Clan[edit]
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The Battle Against Jagi[edit]
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Toki and the Village of Miracles[edit]
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Encounter with Kenoh at Cassandra[edit]
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Rei, Mamiya, and Yuda[edit]
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The Holy Emperor Souther[edit]
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Toki and Raoh: Brothers[edit]
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Yuria's Brother Ryuga[edit]
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Five Chariots[edit]
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Final Battle with Raoh[edit]
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Celestial Emperor[edit]
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The Land of Shura[edit]
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Finale[edit]
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Adaptations and Sequels[edit]
Novel[edit]
In 1996, a light novel written by both Buronson and Tetsuo Hara titled The Cursed City was released. The novel would go on to get an OVA adaptation in the form of New Fist of the North Star.
It follows Kenshiro as he helps the citizens of a small town known as Freedom Village find clean water after a powerful, neighboring stronghold Last Land and its dictator Sanga completely monopolizes the underground water supply.
Ken is accompanied by a traveling merchant and informant named Tobi, and a doctor named Sara who heals people by unknowingly using Hokuto Shinken's pressure points. Eventually, they encounter Seiji, who is Sanga's traitorous son who uses Hokumon no Ken, a branch of Hokuto Shinken.
Anime[edit]
An anime adaptation that was made by Toei Animation aired from 1983 to 1988 on Fuji TV and was split into two series divided among six parts or "seasons". A combined total of 152 episodes were created, and an English dub by Manga Entertainment was released on VHS, though only the first 36 episodes were dubbed.
The anime features a great amount of filler to prevent it from getting ahead of the source materal and does not adapt the last 35 chapters of the manga.
Films and OVAs[edit]
In 1986 Toei Animation produced a full feature-length film that roughly covered the first 75 chapters of the manga, all the way up to Kenshiro's first fight with Raoh. The film takes several creative liberties when adapting the story and contains noticeably more violence and gore compared to the anime, resulting in the scenes being censored when released on home video. An English dubbed version was made and released by Streamline Pictures in 1991 and by Manga Entertainment in 1994 for Europe and Australia.
From 2003 to 2004 a three-episode long OVA series adapting the light novel The Cursed City was produced by OB Planning. An English dub version was handled by ADV Films in 2004.
In 2005 TMS Entertainment alongside North Stars Pictures revealed a five-part series of films titled Legend of the True Savior, consisting of three feature-length films and two OVAs. These premiered from 2006 to 2008 and ultimately culminated with the franchise's 25th anniversary. It covers multiple characters and their backstories, as well as incorporating several elements from the Hokuto Gaiden spin-offs.
Live Action[edit]
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Video Games[edit]
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Prequel[edit]
In 2001 Tetsuo Hara, along with plot supervision from Buronson, created a prequel called Fist of the Blue Sky starring Kenshiro's uncle and the 62nd successor of Hokuto Shinken, Kenshiro Kasumi, who is a lecturer at Towa Women's Academy in Japan, but is secretly known as Yan-Wang, the King of Hell, in Shanghai.
Kasumi returns to Shangai to avenge his gang the Qing Bang as their members are being slaughtered by a rival gang called the Hong Hua Hui. It features three branches of the Hokuto Shinken martial art, each being based on a kingdom from the Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
A sequel called Fist of the Blue Sky: Re:Genesis was made by Hiroyuki Yatsu and Hideki Tsuji with supervision by Hara began serialization in 2017.
Spin-offs[edit]
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Legacy[edit]
Fist of the North Star is considered one of the most influential shonen manga series of all time. Online reviwers have called it "an epochal, generation-defining work that introduced madcap ultraviolence to the page and inspired tons of other mangaka." Berserk creator Kentaro Miura named Fist of the North Star as the work that had the biggest impact on his own. Vinland Saga author Makoto Yukimura was first inspired to become a manga artist after reading the series as a boy.
It also had an influence on video games. Technos Japan game designer Yoshihisa Kishimoto cited it as an influence on the setting and art style of arcade beat 'em up game Double Dragon, which had a disaster-ridden city inspired by both Mad Max and Fist of the North Star. It has also been credited with originating the fatality finishing move concept which later appeared in the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games.
[edit]
| Manga and Books |
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| Main | Fist of the North Star • The Cursed City • Fist of the Blue Sky • Last Piece • Re:Genesis | |
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| Spin-offs | Hokuto Gaiden • DD Fist of the North Star • Strawberry Flavor • Elegy of Kenoh's Army Grunts BBQ Flavor • End of the Century Drama Shooting Biography | |
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| Magazines and Other | One-Shot Pilot • All About the Man • Ultimate Handbook • Ultimate Handbook 2 | |
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| Releases and Editions | List of Volumes • List of Volumes (Fist of the Blue Sky) • Master Edition • Ultimate Edition | |
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