Fist of the North Star: Master Edition, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Buronson (Author), Hara Tetsuo (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2005

The legend returns! In a post-apocalyptic nightmare, one man named Kenshiro protects the innocent from evil with the ultimate assassin's fighting style, Hokuot Shinken. This second volume of the master edition features genuine right-to-left sequencing, original Japanese sound effects, large format pages, brand-new translation, and stunning full-color artwork on every page! Supervised by creator Hara Tetsuo himself, this is truly the definitive presentation of the manga masterwork!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This series, a big hit with manga fans during the 1980s, is now offered in a full-color, two-volume commemorative edition. It tells the story of Kenshiro, a martial arts master who wanders the bleak landscape of a dystopian Earth devastated by nuclear war, where small settlements of survivors struggle for water and food while at the mercy of murderous gangs of bandits. Kenshiro is descended from generations of masters of the ancient and devastating Chinese martial art Hokuto Shinken, or God Fist of the North Star. He can strike the body's vital points and destroy his enemy from within, usually resulting in graphic, bloody explosions. The seven scars on his chest are in the shape of the constellation of death; they were inflicted on him by Shin, his demented brother and master of the Nanto Seiken martial form, who has betrayed their father's teachings and kidnapped Yuria, Kenshiro's true love. The plot is remarkably consistent: Kenshiro encounters brutalized innocents and makes their victimizers pay dearly. In the first volume, Kenshiro slaughters Zeed, a goofy mohawk-wearing motorcycle gang. In the second, he finishes off his evil brother and a group of Nazi lookalikes. The denouement is the same each time: horrific battles punctuated by a stupendous cascade of blood and gore. Tetsuo is a master of operatic violence, and his depictions of disembowelments and hellish beatings are second to none. This edition is in the original Japanese right-to-left format.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Gutsoon!; Master ed edition (April 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972503706
• ISBN-13: 978-0972503709
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,264,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfection, October 17, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fist of the North Star: Master Edition, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Fist of the Nort Star is one of the greatest manga in Japanese history. And now Raijin has brought it to the USA in perfect form.

FOTNS Master Edition is just that. Every page is in brand new full color, supervised by creator Hara Tetsuo himself (yay), the color is nothing short of stunning, it looks like you're reading an anime movie. The paper is just about photo quality stuff, very thick and glossy, the printing job is flawless, laserjet printing all the way. The book also comes with an outer dust jacket of very high quality.

As for the manga itself, all the original Japanese sound effects are untouched, it reads right-to-left, all attack names are still left in Japanese romanji, so Kenshiro doesn't yell "Thousand-Fist Attack!!", he says it in Japanese romanji, (for example "HOKUTO DAIZENKEN!!") and it's translated into english on the page footnotes.

And the most important of all, this is in large comic book format, 7x10, not the puny 5x7 format the cheapie 7.95 Tokyopop and Viz mangas are in.

I was stunned at the quality when I got this book, this should be the standard all manga is brought to the USA in.

Raijin will be releasing all 27 volumes here, and I can't wait to get them all.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gruesome, but worth it., April 16, 2006

By 

R. Hancock - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fist of the North Star: Master Edition, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

I own Fist of the North Star Master's Editions issues 1,2,3, and 7.

True, FotNS is very gruesome, and that fact is only emphasized by a visual media as comics. However, from what I can see, there is an overriding theme in all of Ken, the main character's, interactions with the evildoers and bandits he encounters, and that is: justice for the wicked.

I don't know fully the whole story yet, however, dare I say, it reminds me of a graphically intensive version of America's "Superman". Ken is a good-hearted, gentle man (something the world needs more of!) with phenomenally deadly powers in a dangerous and dog-eat-dog world.

Ken selflessly puts himself in situations to rescue women and children, and right wrongs. The gore and violence should be secondary to this fact. The complete justice dished out to villans is the machine behind the obvious violence you're going to see in these comics.

The artwork is beautiful and intense, and I wish more imported manga and other drawn artwork could match the very large, colorful pages of this edition of FotNS.

I'm female, so shonen manga isn't just for guys. :) I have greatly enjoyed what I've read of FotNS so far. I look forward to collecting all Master's Editions. Fist of the North Star is an anime/manga CLASSIC, and the Master's Editions are well worth owning.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great comic mangas in Japanese history absolutely, March 9, 2005

By 

taka(Japanese (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fist of the North Star: Master Edition, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

I am not a reader who has read many Japanese comics, however in such condition even, a little great comics in my history exist. One of them is this, Fist Of The North Star (Japanese title, Hokuto No Ken) published at the middle of 80'. As I watch the numbers of the reviewers, I think that the mangas are not famous than (Akira by Katsuhiro Ootomo) or (Naushika valley of the wind by Hayao Miyazaki). There are the comments of many reviewers in latter two mangas lists. But in my opinion, the contents of Fist Of The North Star (story, graphic, character and so on) will be never inferior to such mangas, may be splendid rather than. If such different popularity may be caused by the culture difference between Japan and U.S.A. But if the cause is just what foreigners have had no the chance that read Fist Of The North Star, it is very regrettable. At any cost, I wish that many people read the mangas.

As I wrote already, this manga was published at the mid of 80' by Syounen Jump, the majorest weekly magazine for boys on those days and even now. But this mangas have great contents that adults can read fully as some reviewers wrote already. Certainly, there are the violence scenes in this manga. That may be a scene that can not avoid for the theme of the survivor's story after nuclear wars (similar with Akira on such theme). In such mean, that may not be recommended comics in U.S.A that have strict customs rather than Japan on the violence drawing of boys comics. But this manga is never just such violence comics, off course the main character Kenshirou is great nice guy with tender character who can beat many cruel enemies and help many injured old men, girls etc. Or Toki who can cure many sick or injured people is a respectable man too. But greater points in the manga exist in other aspects, that is, such cruel characters even like Raou; Rei etc have the hidden nice characters. For instance, in their boy-age scenes, they brushed their Kenpou techniques with honest mind, and when such characters with cruel mind was dying by the battle for Kenshirou, they showed the true mind that they had once in boy-age, then true bond between Kenshirou and such characters happened ironically. That will be just great friendship of men.

Anyway, this manga will have the values that people over the world read.

Thank you for reading poor English