New Fist of the North Star: V.1 The Cursed City!

I bought this in Japan and am now enjoying the view. Yes I agree that it was much better in terms of it's animation than the original, but it was made in the Slam Dunk era so you really can't say that the original had terrible animation. For it's time it was cutting edge. It's a problem I've been having when I try to show the original to friends.

The story however seems to have lost a little of it's appeal. I mean the making of justice while using force to stop force was kinda the point.

I kinda knew from the beginning that Fist would never be popular enough in the US because the message makes no sense to many Western minds. I was raised on the original series so it's kinda steeped deep into my thinking.

Two things need to be known about the voice acting. First and foremost it was a creative decision to change Ken's voice actor. The director thought that his voice needed a bit more maturity than previous.

Second Gackt doing the voice of Seiji is important. He was brought into the series to increase the popularity right off the bat. If you don't know who Gackt is you can always do a google search or watch Moon Child.

This was only meant to be something to chew on for now.

When I say that I mean that the most popular series only continue MANY years after they have originally "died"

Saint Seiya just finished recently. I think it's been 10 years. Hellsing is continuing soon but not until the comic is finished. #7 just came out here. There are supposed to be 10.

So in reality it's just something small for us to use for now. In that sense I'm happy with it.

It's well done for it's era and acceptable as an off path to the story. Perhaps someday Ken will become like his father Ryuken and fall victim to another chaotic time... but that's one of the things about the philosophy. The circle only continues with each step forward. Ryu will someday be the successor and maybe he will be like his father or maybe more like his uncles. In either case Hokuto Shinken will live on and so will the idea that the series can be made again and again. Just look at the blue sky series or any series on martial arts. They all borrow something from Fist.

So in short this is for those who are fans of Anime only. Especially those who love the computer generation Anime Style of Ghost in the Shell and such. It's not a very good introduction to the world of Anime but pick your viewers wisely and you never know what might happen.

BTW...

This is not the continuation of the end of the US released original. For the rest of that you'll need to get a knockoff off of the usual sites. Watch that first and your appreciation for this one will appear. If you're willing to fork out the $150 that is.

The overall visuals and action in this film are great! I noticed also that the new series doesn't pause the action to let you know of the names of the moves that Kenshiro performs like the 80's version does. Sanga and Geese didn't impress me too much with their moves like some of the other opponents of the 80's series did. Hopefully, the following series will make some more memorable opponents for Kenshiro. The only thing I wished that they included in this volume is the outcome of Bart and Lynn in the 80's FOTNS. Maybe they will do that in volume 2.

A note from Wikipedia says: In 2003, a three-episode OVA mini-series titled New Fist of the North Star was produced by OB Planning. based on a 1996 Hokuto no Ken novel Jubaku no Machi. An English dub version was produced by ADV Films in 2004.

Well, you can't have 'a first' more than once. And so, for those reasons alone, this isn't quite as good as the original series - despite having all the key/signature elements in place.
I bought the first DVD (the first hour-long episode)and thought that was it. I didn't know the story arc had two more parts. It felt like a complete story. I would say personally, it seemed like they made parts II & III after the fact since everything kinda lessens (in impact) after the first movie.

All three are worth owning, but I could imagine this being a single 2 hour movie with some of the side fluff cut out. It does justice to the franchise which can't be said for most modern follow-ups.