Hokuto no Ken
Fist of the North Star

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To witness such influential work after so much time is a truly wondrous experience. Hokuto no Ken has set many standards -- as formulaic as they may be -- that are still used today. One would believe that it will be a vichyssoise of platitudes, but instead, it presents itself in a more qualitative fashion than works of today which are based on the same formula.

Hokuto no Ken tells a story about ambitious and brave men in a world where compassion and love would seem pointless. It subtly indicates necessary human values, which are easily missed underneath its excessive violence. There isn't one main plot ... which extends throughout the entire manga, but more like a series of episodes which are all loosely tied together. Often will you feel that content was abruptly thrown in, rather than initially planned. This was due to obvious money milking reasons, which prevented the possibility for fluid progression.

The artistic impression will remain memorable, especially in the later chapters when Tetsuo improves his meticulousness and utilizes wide panels as best as possible. From the very start and onward there's a steady improvement in his art, be it the post-apocalyptic scenery, facial expressions, or motion from panel to panel. However, his sense for proportions is a bit distorted, maybe those grandiose anatomical features were done with the goal of portraying magnificence or rather sheer force of certain characters, but even as such they remain off-putting at first and require getting used to them.

Side characters received excellent characterization and are easily relatable. Even villains have more profound reasons behind their atrocious actions and leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth after they are killed. However, some of the revelations (motives) felt quite asinine, far-fetched, and should have been avoided completely.

Kenshiro serves his purpose as an allegory for God. Be it certain situations in which he's depicted, how other characters perceive him, or his very personality. You could say that he merely serves to keep things in motion, for it is very difficult to feel attached to his character. He is how he is throughout the entire manga, there are no surprises regarding him, and emotional response is mostly drawn from the way he affects other characters, never from him directly. This weird approach makes him devoid of usual -- intelligence-insulting -- typicalities that main characters have, but in no way does it make him an ideal one.

Hokuto no Ken could easily be classed as a masterpiece, but, I personally like to consider it as a far from perfect -- enveloped in a peculiar charm -- timeless classic.

As you can see I have not finished the manga and have only read up to what volume 9 of the viz releases. I hope to inform you on the shortcomings and strong points of this manga. This review does not contain any major spoilers such as deaths how ever it will reveal how the story unfolds to some extent.

Story: 5
What hooked me was the first fight with Raoh.The story has some great moments however some feel forced ranging from somewhat to very much so. Over and over again we see the most evil of evil characters which only really bothered me when they were ... so cruel as to kill their own children for no good reason. Other times the emotional moments feel a little bit forced but some of them are really good. One of the first villains we are introduced to is named Raoh whos entire army abandons him even though he was not killed (one piece moment) and whos conquest was halted by Souther the holy emperor who seems significantly weaker that Raoh. Raoh later regains his forces somehow because he put other people" in charge" while he was gone. Shocking that they would make these choice given that there is someone dedicated to writing the story.

Art: 9.7
Occasionally the imagery is not very cinematic looking but is extremely high quality and I would argue is some of the best art I have ever seen in manga.

Characters: 4
The characters are not deep and do not experience many emotions but serve their purpose, that being manly men solving manly problems in manly ways

Enjoyment :7.8

Overall: 7.5 (KEY TAKEAWAYS)
I am going to attempt to finish the series because I do think it has a lot going for it but it is far from perfect. I do not think it is worth buying the viz releases as they are 19.99 usd when they are about 100-150 pages shorter than for example the monster perfect editions which cost the same amount.
If this version becomes fully available: https://mangatoto.com/series/99280
I would give it read because it is in high res but not easy to find the original version (uncoloured) in high res.

My review is up to vol. 11 ch.98


Story: 3

Even though the concept is interesting, the story is poor. After 98 chapters I can sum up for you the whole story. Thugs appear, kill some fodder, Kenshiro appears, omae wa mou shindeirou-nani, man explodes, blonde man who is the thugs' boss appears, Kenshiro does some Hokuto no ken, lots of blood, blonde man is dead. Add some family/brother issues and that's it. The only aspect which led me not to drop the anime immediately, but in the end proved to be insufficient, was the emotional deaths.

Art: 6

The art is detailed, but at some parts confusing. ... I am willing to excuse sloppy animation in old anime, but the same doesn't go for the manga. All the bad guys who belong at gangs have the same design and facial traits, which smells lazy.

Character: 6

Characters are nice, but not something outstanding. Kenshiro, his siblings and Rei are interesting and villains are memorable. Any female is completely useless and serves just for motivation for the men, something that bugs me. Any other character lacks basic motivation, goal and special character traits.

Enjoyment: 2

I cannot explain the reason, but the manga was unpleasant for me, to the point where I couldn't even finish it, much less reread or fanboy over it.

Overall: 3