rkreiger - 2016-05-24 23:12:08

I liked the part when he punched the guy and the guy exploded.

11/10. Would not know I was already dead again.

eblock - 2013-11-13 14:58:28

In a cruel post-apocalyptic world only the strongest can survive. And the strongest one is Kenshiro. The one who can stand up and fight the darkness. Okay, enough with the dramatisation. The story is basically what we can call moe with a small twist, instead of kawai girls we get a huge number of giant men with temper issues. And as the kawai girls play in a band and drink tea, the men in Fist of the North Star cut other people in half or if they are feeling sadistic make their heads go boom. And therefor we get a farely predictable plot (that actually does pick up pace somewhere around the middle, but looses pace in the final part of the show) in which Kenshiro, the protagonist, visits a village, its residents get sloughterd by gangs and Kenshiro says Grr! and procedes to kill everyone in the gang. On his violent travels he meets all kinds of people, from two annoying kids who follow him around to awesome badass dudes. Not much to it, but for a fighting shounen that's almost 30 years old it's actually pretty good, as bad as it is it still beats most of todays shows.

As for the animation it's bad, a large chunk of it is constantly recycled and yadayada. But there is something in it that makes this show very enjoyable, it's shounen feel with a lot of homoeroticism (for similar things see JoJo's Bizzare adventures) and manly tears. Well that was the reason I was watching it for anyway...

The sound... It's by far the best part of the show. When you hear the opening you will feel a sudden rush of the eighties in your veins. Background music as well as the voice acting was good for it's time, the voices match the characters perfectly and...ATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!!!!!!!!11

Well the characters were a colourful mix of interesting characters with good backstories and motives, who care only about their goal and ones who are pure and want to stop them for one reason or another. Aaaaand Lin and Bart who totaly ruin the show in this department. While there a reason to keep them in the plot (as the things Kenshiro wants to protect) they are given way too much time with their annoying fights and things they do. They clog up the pace and ruin the mood, their comic relief moments aren't comical at all.

All in all this is a great show for casual watching and having fun in watching people get killed in a big veriety of ways. But if you are looking for something that can be called good and intellegent you are better off finding something else.

valentin.schimmel - 2013-10-10 08:07:05

Its been a long ardous journey since this is a shounen anime with a very huge episode count. Is it worth it? Unfortunately, not much. But if you turn your brain or moral meter off while watching, it might be worth your time after all.

Its the future that is devastated by nuclear hijinx and then "POOF!" everything went chaotic for the remaining humans. Punks and gangs filled the land and super martial artists took over most of them and use them as henchmen. Enter Kenshiro. He goes somewhere, kills the punks in that area, leaves.

End of review. LOL.

Nah, just kidding. There is more to it than that, one of the motives involves the tried and tested revenge plot formula. Then when he found out that his girlfriend dies he went emo and just aimlessly wander and fix the problem on certain locations. Then he found out she was actually alive and goes wild on rescuing her. And then...(oh boy)...You get the point. If you took the narratives and sensibilities away, you will discover Ken himself is so much of a predictable character in the shounen trope. In fact he is so 1 dimensional that other characters outshone him in many aspects. Heck, even Rei ended up more likable than him in a certain arc. His massive plot armor and cookie cutter "Hero of justice" awesomeness worn off pretty much later in the series simply because we see only little struggle in his everyday battles. Like I said, the damn reason Bartz and Lin are always with him is because these characters actually struggle to survive and the feeling of dependency and hope on Kenshiro is something they hold onto dear. Is this a good thing? Yes. By seeing the show in the perspective of a struggling person, we can see the actual conflict, the human side of it. Seeing everything in Ken's perspective is just too darn lame since he is an overpowered dude and almost nothing can stop him no matter how powerful the enemy is, no real threat nor sense of fear is in that order, just angst. 100+ episodes of just seeing the perspective of Kenshiro would make the experience worse, that is why the side characters are important.

How do they make up for such poor plot mechanic? Simple; ENDLESS ACTION, EXPLODING BODIES, and LOTS OF SHOUTING! Yeah, its pretty much expected. You watch and enjoy shows like these simply because they are fun to watch, other aspect are sidelined. The over the top martial arts madness and pressure point attacks are cool at first but it tends to get overused very fast that we no longer seem to care anymore in the latter half of the series. But then again, mindless fun. Kenshiro's term "You're already DEAD!" will echo in our ears for he will say that in majority of the show. Does it redeem the mindlessness of the situation? Sure, I mean, why not? Being the epiphany of badassness for decades means you have at least one signature action or phrase that people remembers, and that pretty much nailed it.

Animation range from fast cuts to beyblade spin kicks to hundreds of hands flinging at an enemy at mach 20 speed to the lulzy shenanigans that only campy b-rated bollywood action movies can think off. It really was laughable at some point, there is even the special move that will make 2 bad guys embrace each other...TO DEATH! No kidding, the amount of crazy moves here knows no bounds. This is most proably one of the selling points of this show and it makes the rudimentary hand-to-hand battles more entertaining to watch. As for quality, it fell down hard. Seems like most of the scenes are either re-used or just rushed to make it to the airing deadline. The amount of animation inconsistencies and quality drop is as legendary as the show itself and its quite undeniable at some point.

Music is adequate enough but the opening song "Ai wo torimodose (You wa Shock)" is still one of the most iconic in anime history simply because of how addicting the tune is and how it makes the viewing experience so much worth it. Voice acting is worth it as well, you will feel all the angst and terror in the air as the characters spew out their cheesy 80s shounen lines to each other. And yes, Kenshiro's imitation of Bruce Lee battle howls is what makes this show iconic as well.

Overall, watch it simply to enjoy it. Story is bland, most characters are predictable, and animation is inconsistent. Taking it too seriously will just frustrate you.