Anime Review: Fist of the North Star

Review Fist of the North Star

In the not so distant future, the earth has been devastated by nuclear war. What is left is a barren wasteland where the strong simply take whatever they want from those weaker than themselves. Such is the case with Ken, as his friend Shin shows up to kidnap his girlfriend Julia and then leaves him for dead. Ken is no weakling though, he is the successor to the legendary fighting technique the fist of the north star which can make people's heads explode. So what is Ken to do? Find his lost love and break heads along the way off course.

To say Fist of the north star is a violent movie would put me in contention for understatement of the year. Fist of the north star is possibly the most violent anime series ever. This is clearly an action movie, and a poorly put together one. The plot is egregiously uneven with character development feeling out of joint. It is my honest belief that the Fist of the north star movie(the material that I am reviewing, there is also a Fist of the north star TV series) is nothing more than a two hour long clip show. One thing Fist of the north star is not, despite popular belief is mindless violence. There are worthwhile themes about the nature and abuse of power among other things. This makes the disjointed nature of the film all the more painful.

Considering that this is a movie the Fist of the north star's animation is piss-poor. The animation is on par with that of an older television show, furthering my belief that it is a clip show in disguise. The one saving grace for the animation is that many of the visuals are completely over the top and are enjoyable simply for their testosterone appeal.

The Fist of the north star movie is a product of the streamline pictures and thus is very hard to find. I don't suggest looking to hard to watch it. If the movie has one truly redeeming feature it is that it may pique one's interest in the television series. I give Fist of the north star a rating of poor.