A friendly reviewer on the IMDb has the following to say about Fist of the North Star:"Trust me Manga films don't get any better with this work of art.". I think I have to agree.
Trying to understand what is happening in Fist can be a wee bit difficult, if one, like me, hasn't read a single page of the manga this anime is based on nor watched a single episode of the anime TV show.
The film starts helpfully enough with some explanation of two oppositional forces dominating/directing the universe, who are not allowed to fight each other. On the day they will break this peace, the world will come to an end, but a savior will be born.
Our next info dump explains (with lovingly rendered depictions of melting people) that most of the world and its population has been destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. The survivors now wander the barren Earth, trying to build a new life for themselves or (even more popular) just kick the shit out of each other. This is the movie's last attempt to explain anything - from here on out I was on my own, so you'll probably just have to trust me. Keep in mind that my explanations of the parts of the plot I did understand are a lot less circumcisious than the movies' own.
Basically, FotNS is the story of three brothers who were trained by their father in the martial arts style of "Hokutu Shinken" (which probably means "make-heads-explode punching") that somehow has something to do with one of those two universal forces mentioned earlier. Of course only one of them can be the designated successor to the school's master. The chosen one is Kenishiro, a man with the most frightening eyebrows anime has to offer and a follower of the classic martial arts way of silly vocalizing, like Bruce and Sonny before him (and I quote: "Haaa.TatatatatatataTA"). Seen from an ethical perspective, the upright and square Ken is a very good choice. His brothers tend to be somewhat evil.
Brother Jagi for example doesn't even eschew the use of guns! Which doesn't help him a lot when Ken kicks his ass (or his head, to be exact) during a brotherly discussion of succession. At least, Jagi is able to keep his head from exploding. This experience doesn't make his love for Ken any bigger, so he uses his incredible subtle fast talking skills to drive Ken's best friend Shin mad with jealousy for Ken's girlfriend Yuria. It must have been a very deep friendship, and Shin's a very stable mind - Jagi needs at least thirty seconds to convince Shin.
The devious plan bears fruit when Shin steals Yuria (who will get used to the experience) and nearly kills Ken by poking his finger a few times into our hero's chest.
Afterwards, Jagi tries to seal the deal by throwing his brother into a canyon and dropping parts of a mountain on him.
Raoh, the last of the brothers is above trifles like that. His slightly more ambitious plan starts with killing his father, assuming the role of the King of All The World, and finally expanding his reign into the heavens themselves. Good luck there Raoh.
An unspecified time later, two anime children (not even the Bomb can stop pink hair) are attacked and nearly killed by basic post-apocalyptic biker-punks. Fortunately the girl, Lynn, is able to send out a telepathic call for help that awakens the not-all-that-dead Ken, who topples a few ruined skyscrapers and lets a few heads explode.
This is the start of Ken's new career, wandering the radioactive wastelands, righting wrongs and yes, causing people to explode, always searching for Shin and his object (and I mean object) of affection.
So this is what happens when you try to pack twenty (I think) volumes of manga into little more than one and a half hour. The uninitiated (like me) watches with bewilderment while badly motivated things happen with overwhelming frequency. Why exactly leads being buried alive for some time to Ken being a badass? If he wasn't so great before, why did he win against Jagi so easily? I get that Lynn is the promised savior, but what exactly does that mean? Why does Raoh postpone the apocalyptic endfight until Lynn is grown up? What difference does that make? Why doesn't Ken look for Shin a little faster? What exactly has the martial arts school to do with the cosmic forces? What does the final scene of the movie mean? Why is the plot as told by the movie even less clear than the plot told by me?
I certainly don't know. What I know is that the film has some entertainment value even without answers to these questions, mainly derived from my unending love for post-apocalyptic fashions and the film's unending love for exploding people.
What surprised me was how basic the martial arts scenes are - one hit by Kenishiro usually is the end of a fight, which of course makes Kenny a badass of mythical proportions, but isn't all that interesting to watch.
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