Anime Reviews:

Fist of The North Star

(1986)

The girlfriend of Ken, the hero, is kidnapped. Ken sets off to rescue her. Luckily, he's the Fist of the North Star - ten seconds or so after he hits someone, they explode! So, before you can say "...and you must pay!", he's spraying around the internal fluids of anyone who gets in his way. Which is the major appeal; Fist is undoubtedly one of the bloodiest pieces of animation ever to get a UK release, even with the (imposed?) digital blurring. Spurred on by the success of Akira, Island World relased Fist as the first title on its Manga label.

Unfortunately, its not brilliant, with animation no better than competent Saturday morning TV, and a plot reminiscent of bad kung fu fodder. I can see why they chose it, with its post-holocaust, urban decay setting and gleeful violence, it might have sounded like Katsuhiro Otomo's masterwork. But anyone expecting Akira 2 will be disappointed. It seems to have sold well in the UK, but how much was follow through sales from Akira? It just succeeds on a one-off viewing. So I can't really recommend Fist. If only they'd put more effort into the animation or story and less into finding a striking range of ways to kill Ken's foes!

Jim McLennan