Dragon Ball’s Akira Toriyama Recommends Fist of The North Star

Kenshiro’s bloody story in Fist of the North Star is the most classic anime franchise that focuses on a protagonist who is able to make his opponents’ heads explode by hitting just the right spots on their torsos. With the franchise recently announcing that a new anime is in the works with Fist of the North Star: Hokuto No Ken, the series is re-releasing classic manga chapters from the series. Now, to help celebrate the franchise, the creator of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama, has shared his thoughts on the brutally bloody tale.

Fist of the North Star first premiered in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump in 1983, running for a little under five years before coming to a close thanks to creators Buronson and Tetsuo Hara. While the franchise did receive an anime adaptation that ran for over one hundred and fifty episodes, it’s been quite some time since Kenshiro blew up some heads on the small screen. Receiving a live-action feature-length film in the 90s, and a musical fairly recently, it seems like the post-apocalyptic story is aiming to make a major comeback.

Dragon Ball North Star

The first two volumes of Fist of the North Star’s manga were re-released earlier this week, adding commentary from the legendary mangaka Akira Toriyama. Toriyama stated that the series is a “reliable ally and the strongest rival anime”. On top of Toriyama’s comments, the new publications also had commentary from JoJo”s Bizarre Adventure creator Hirohiko Araki who described the series as “overwhelming”. 

The new Fist of the North Star anime will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the franchise, and Warner Bros Japan shared a new description for Fist of the North Star: Hokuto No Ken, “In 199x, world was engulfed in the blaze of nuclear war. With the Ocean drying up and Earth torn asunder, all life seems to be lost but humans survived stubbornly. However, what dominated the post-apocalyptic world was a seer violence. The remaining humanity was split in two groups: those who kill and take whatever they can and those who are exploited. When all hope seemed lost for the weak, a man in ragged cloth appears.  He is Kenshiro, the rightful successor of the Hokuto Shinken martial arts with seven studs-like scars in a shape of the Big Dipper. His journey to becoming a legendary savior begins!”

Are you hyped for Kenshiro’s upcoming return? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and Fist of The North Star. 

Via Comic Natalie