ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Criticman12 Ever wanted to see a violent and awesome action flick with a post-apocalypse setting similar to, "Mad Max"? Well now you can with: "Fist Of The North Star". An Anime movie released in 1986.The story is set after a nuclear Holocause destroys the earth. A martial artist named, Kenshiro, who knows how to use the deadly move known as, "The Fist Of The North Star", team's up with other survivors to save his fiancé Julia from his evil friend.Pro's: The film has some great animation. The character's were great. The storytelling was good.Con's: The Animation is a bit dated at time's. Julia sound's old in the English dub.Overall, "Fist Of The North Star", is a violent and awesome anime movie worth watching if you're a fan of action movies or anime.

xamtaro "Muscle Bound Maniacs duking it out in a Post Apocalyptic wasteland" sort of sums up this classic anime movie nicely. Like many of the main adult male characters, this movie is all rippling sinews and blood soaked brawn with little to no "brain". Quite possibly this was one of those anime that, for a while, made "anime" synonymous with bloody mindless violence.Set in a post apocalyptic wasteland on earth where powerful tribes of fighters vie for supremacy at the expense of the dying human populace, "Fist of the North Star" Kenshiro(or Ken for short) is defeated in battle by his old friend Shin who then claims Ken's girlfriend Julia as his prize. With Ken out of the way, his brother Raoh stakes his claim as the new "Fist of the North Star" and proceeds to amass a legion to conquer the world. Surprisingly Ken survives and after years of wandering aimlessly, decides to embark on his quest to rescue Julia and get revenge on those who betrayed him. Along the way he meets other fighters, some out for justice, others for their own selfish ends. He also encounters Bat and Linn, two children whom he rescues from a gang of thugs.The story a lot better than what it is presented in the movie. There are just too many characters and subplots flying around. Events literally jump from one point to the next. One moment, the story is revolving around Ken, the next Ken is totally out of the picture and we are treated to a "side quest" of a character named Rei trying to rescue his sister from Jagi who was impersonating Kenshiro at the time. And then, we come back to Ken but he has apparently traveled halfway across the world in a few minutes to some other village.If anything, Hotuko no Ken's lame excuse for a plot serves merely as a glue to tie one fight scene to another. Sure the fights are visceral and extremely violent; heads are imploded, guts are spilled, limbs are flayed and blood spurts in fountains. But none of the fights actually have any sense of danger or peril for the main characters. Kenshiro comes across as this uber powerful fighter with "god-mode" turned on, being able to cause anyone to explode in a shower of blood and limbs with a punch or two. Other than that, he is as likable as rock with all the personality and charisma of a horse.Halfway through the movie, the characters become even more bizarre and the violence gets so over-the-top that it actually looks funny. The blatant ham fisted acting does not help matters at all. It just makes an already absurd film sound even more absurd.Beautiful animation and highly detailed art is not enough to save Hotuko no Ken from its bizarre nature. Its lead characters are boring, plot is unnecessarily convoluted, dialog is cheesy and its violence is excessive. There was a poor attempt at a love triangle story that was marred by terrible execution. All in all, this movie scores for its animation and attention to detail. Its portrayal of a world gone to hell is hauntingly effective too and one of the more original settings of a post apocalyptic earth. However Beyond those few points of praise, Hotuko no Ken's lack of depth in the elements that do matter is its main downfall.

Juka Ash (Jetripps) A) I am not big on the blurry Effect. When I was in the 3rd grade in 94, I remember it being Crystal clear, ULTRA violent. Had a Warning on the back of the VHS Tape. LOL, Luved it. Flawless movie. B) Julia and the Kids Bat, and Girl, Lin, go flying off in a Tornando Whirl Pool Effect. AFTER the Cross is Dropped with Julia ( onto the Troops ) When they are Taken off again. Julia disappears? In my opinion, The Kids are Alright, clearly they find some plants. And get over excited. Geesh, that flower was the size of a pea. Lol. Any ways. lets get the point. When the kids say " I'm sure he will find her " He goes off on a adventure of his own to find her. No Forest Illusions, He sees a Real Forest I think, or believe. Because he says " Julia " the Forest reminds him of his girl. The Forest is probably real, why would they make it a illusion? That would just ruin the ending totally. Any ways. No, he doesn't find her, yet. He goes into the Forest, and has illusions of her picking Fruit. etc. And at the end. Hes back where he started. At the Tower with the destroyed boat through it. and the Canyon. Awesome movie.

fibreoptic I've just got through watching the first 36 episodes of the TV series of Fist Of The North Star on DVD and until a couple of days ago i thought the TV series came after the movie. The movie comes after the TV series. I have to admit that even though the series has more info and detail about the fighting styles etc i think that the movie is slightly better. It has better animation, better voice acting (in English) and is less repetitive. I watched the movie just over ten years ago and was quite literally blown away by it. It has action, adventure, comedy, gore, thrills, spills and for those people disgusted by the sex scenes in Urotsukidoji you'll be happy to know that FOTNS is sex free.FOTNS is obviously to some extent based on Mad Max but a heck of a lot better. Only thing that bugs me (just like the series) is that the gore scenes are usually blurred or we see peoples shadows exploding. Kind of annoying. Also there seems that there are a few gaps in it which makes me wonder if there has been a scene or two edited out or cut down (atleast in the UK version).I'll quickly give a brief summary of the story. It's about a guy called Ken who must get his girlfriend back from his former best friend Shin who beat up Ken, kidnapped his girlfriend and left him for dead. Ken walks through the barren wasteland (it's set after a nuclear war) and kills bad guys with his style of fighting. If he punches anybody they explode shortly after. In the meantime his eldest brother Raoh has amassed an army and is trying to conquer the world. There are also a couple of sub plots. One has this guy called Rei (or Ray?) looking for his sister and is also looking for the guy responsible for kidnapping her.All this leads to an explosive finale. Fist Of The North Star along with Urotsukidoji is my favourite Japanese anime movie of all time. A definite must see but avoid the American live action film. That sucked the big one for sure. This great anime gets a perfect 10/10 from me.