Product Details

• Actors: Akira Kamiya, Yuriko Yamamoto, Kenji Utsumi, Chikao Ôtsuka, Toshio Furukawa
• Directors: Toyoo Ashida
• Writers: Buronson, Susumu Takaku, Tetsuo Hara
• Producers: Shôji Kishimoto
• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Japanese (Unknown)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Manga Video
• DVD Release Date: March 25, 2003
• Run Time: 110 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (108 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00008K78N
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #90,642 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #12 in	Movies & TV > Animation > Characters & Series > Fist of the North Star
  #47 in	Movies & TV > Action & Adventure > Futuristic

• For more information about "Fist of the North Star Volume 1" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken, literally Ken the Great Bear Fist) which premiered on Japanese television in 1984, looks like a Saturday morning version of Mad Max starring a caricature of Sylvester Stallone. Searching for his lost love, Julia, Ken(shiro) wanders an Earth that was devastated by nuclear war. In each episode, he takes on a new sadistic motorcycle gang. (Food and water are scarce, but there's apparently plenty of gasoline.) In his travels, Ken acquires two sidekicks: Bart, a comic musician-thief, and Lynn, an adoring little girl. Ken is the last master of secret Chinese martial arts techniques: his specialty is making foes blow up from the inside. In every episode, several heads explode, actions that would be quite gory if they weren't so crudely animated. (Rated 13 and older, but more appropriate for 15 and older: considerable violence, profanity, grotesque imagery, alcohol use) --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blood splattering, eye popping (literally) chaos!, March 15, 2003

By	Hoelo (Falls Church, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fist of the North Star (DVD)

This is one of my favorite anime of all time. It is simply an over-the-top gorefest. I love the fact that it pulls no punch and simply gets the plot out of the way in the first few minutes..

I can sum this movie up as:

Good Guys: "Man builds really big bombs and is stupid and annihilates the whole planet. This was a bad thing, let's not do this in real life. Oh look, a flower survived. Now we have hope."

Bad Guys: "Hope?! We can't have hope! We love slaughtering everything in sight for no apparent reason. Die flower die!"

Good Guys: "That's it! You die now!"

(Insert 70 minutes of insane fighting).

As silly as that sounds, this movie is GREAT. Turn off your brain and enjoy it..

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Care For Reviews. Care For Your Own TASTE, January 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Fist of the North Star (DVD)

Well well well. First I would like to stress that these reviews are made in the opinions of the ones who have seen the film. Everyone has a different taste to movies. Well for me, The Fist Of The North Star is like the greatest, most wickest, amazing, animation I have ever seen. I really enjoyed the movie, laughed and cried too. The plot is amazing , the animation is so cool and the violence in this is even more intense than DRAGONBALL ! Others might say that is a stupid movie but I honestly enjoyed watching it and most of my friend enjoyed it too. There are scenes that are comical and tragedical at the same time and you don't know whether to laugh or cry. The scene that touched me most is the scene with Ken protecting the girl! . AMazing STORY. You really have to see it to choose.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best anime of all time!, January 20, 2005

By	Leonardo Rivera "Leo" (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Fist of the North Star (DVD)

The Fist of the North Star full feature film mst be one of the best anime films ever made. Along with Akira, this film endoctrinates Westerners to the immense creativity, the culture, and the twisted minds of the Japanese animators. For those of you who still haven't witnessed a Japanaimation flick, now is a good time to start.

This film is not entirely faithful to the 30 minute cartoons, it does capture the essence of the story line. A story in it of itself is deep and complicated, using universal themes that anyone can relate to. It melds together the fear of, and the reality of a nuclear holocaust, with the fantastic feats that were never possible with martial arts.

Check out this film. Don't think of it as just a cartoon. Anima, and Manga are an important part of the Japanese culture, and should be viewed with that in mind. And by the way, this film is definately not for kids!