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Disclaimer: This was the anime that broke me out into a wide variety of tastes and I hold this show very close to my heart. It is a 10 in my heart, but it does have it's issues.

Hokuto no Ken is set in Japan in 199X, presumably a couple of years after nuclear war has annihilated most of civilization on Earth. The people that do survive live in a Mad-Max inspired desert wasteland. Massive cities have crumbled, water is a very scarce resource, and the land is ruled by those who are willing to kill. "Those who are willing to kill" are usually twice the ... size of a normal human and are some master of a martial art and or at least uses crossbows...and it's fucking awesome.

The show revolves around Kenshiro, the most bad-ass protagonist I've ever seen. He's the successor to the deadliest martial art known to mankind, THE FIST OF THE NORTH STAR - which, to summarize, is acupuncture with an explosive twist. He has the Big Dipper punctured into his skin- why? His best friend turned rival Shin stole his girlfriend Yuria, and humiliated him by shoving his fingers into his chest in the shape of the constellation. Now Kenshiro wherever Kenshiro walks, the omen star of Death lingers over him as everybody hears of the man with the 7 scarred chest.

The anime does have it's flaws. The second half of the show (Hokuto no Ken 2) is VERY flawed. Most of the series can have pacing issues as well as general animation errors as it's a very old anime. If you can't look past those issues I recommend at least checking out the manga. You get to see the beautiful artwork in it's prime.

Fist of the North Star is an explosive, gory masterpiece. The series went on to inspire countless Shonen stories, and is one of the most iconic animes in general. Seriously, you can find so many references to the way Kenshiro uses his HUNDRED CRACK FIST by screaming "AAAAAAAAAAAATATATATATAT-WATA!!". If you consider yourself a fan of Shonen stories, PLEASE do yourself a favor and check out this one. If you like "Manime", then this is the literal definition of it. Big hunky manly men beating the shit out of eachother because they both love the same woman...absolutely iconic.

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