Hokuto no Ken (1986 movie)

Fist of the North Star
Hokuto no Ken (1986 movie pamphlet).jpg Theatrical pamphlet distributed in 1986
Directed by	Toyoo Ashida
Produced by	Toei Animation
Written by	Susumu Takaku
Narrated by	Tarō Ishida
Starring	Akira Kamiya
Music by	Katsuhisa Hattori
Cinematography	Tamio Hosoda
Editing by	Masaaki Hanai
Studio	Toei Animation
Distributed by	Toei Company
Release date(s)	March 8, 1986
Running time	110 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Gross revenue	¥1,800,000,000

An animated feature film version of Fist of the North Star was produced by Toei Animation, which premiered in Japan on March 8, 1986.() The movie was intended to be a big-screen treatment of the manga, and avoid the watering-down of violence that came with the TV series. An English-dubbed version produced by Streamline Pictures was first released in 1991 in the USA and 1994 in the UK and Australia by Manga Entertainment. A New Zealand release was never scheduled by Manga Entertainment so it never had an official release there.

Plot differences from the manga and TV series

In a notable deviation from the series, the film finds time to begin with a detailed peek at the Earth as it was before and during the fabled nuclear devastation. Starting with a calm, surreal look at various points of Mother Nature, a brief on-screen message then informs the audience of the imminent calamity, followed by unsettling Barefoot Gen-esque scenes of human life consumed in flame.

The film follows the storyline of the manga from Kenshiro's defeat at the hands of Shin to the first battle with Raoh, although certain liberties were taken to tell the story in a condensed form. For example, Toki, the second of the four Hokuto Brothers, is never seen nor mentioned, while Shin and Rei are the only Nanto Seiken masters to appear in the film. Although Yuria's Nanto heritage is mentioned through out the movie in the Japanese version, her role as the last Nanto General is downplayed. Her fate has also been altered from the original story, wherein this time she is kidnapped by Raoh instead of jumping off Shin's palace to resurface later as the Last Nanto General. She disappears during the final battle and her survival remains ambiguous at the conclusion of the film. Mamiya, Rei's love interest, is never seen, partly because Yuria is the heroine in her place. Raoh serves as the main antagonist, with Jagi and Shin as the other two major villains. Many other villains from the manga and anime such as the Colonel and Jackal only make cameo appearances as minor henchmen with some of the notable fight scenes involving Zeed, Heart, the Kiba Daiō and Uighur. All together the order and occurrences of the original story were almost completely rewritten.

Censorship

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Some of the film's most violent sequences had a colored tint to them. Other scenes were removed entirely, such as the crushing of a chanter's head by Garufu. One of the trailers shows one of Rei's kills without the psychedelic blur effect, though reports have been made online that the film had the blur effect in theaters as well. It is unclear whether the full uncensored original negative still exists. An older cut, with some (but not all) scenes uncensored was released in Italy on VHS.

Endings

There were two endings produced for the film. The original theatrical ending in Japan showed Raoh emerging victorious over Kenshiro, but sparing his life, leaving him to protect Lin. An alternate ending was produced that shows the fight ending in a draw, which was the ending featured in the VHS and Laserdisc release of the film in Japan. The English dub version by Streamline Pictures is based on the theatrical version and thus features the original ending. Many Western fans believe that the "draw ending" was the original ending, but this is a common misconception due to the fact that the original ending where Raoh wins is not featured in any of the official home video releases in Japan. The Region 2 DVD release of the film features both endings.

Cast

Character	Japanese version	English version
Kenshiro	Akira Kamiya	John Vickery
Yuria	Yuriko Yamamoto	Melodee Spevack
Raoh	Kenji Utsumi	Wally Burr
Jagi	Chikao Ōtsuka	Dan Woren
Shin	Toshio Furukawa	Michael McConnohie
Rei	Kaneto Shiozawa	Greg Snegoff
Lin	Tomiko Suzuki	Holly Sidell
Bat	Mie Suzuki	Tony Oliver
Airi	Arisa Andō	Barbara Goodson
Ryūken	Junji Chiba	Jeff Corey
Zeed	Hidekatsu Shibata
Heart	Junpei Takiguchi	Dave Mallow
Fox	Takeshi Aono	Carl Macek
Jackal	Hiroshi Ōtake	Michael Forest
Uighur	Daisuke Gōri	Greg Snegoff
Kiba Daiō	Takeshi Watabe	James Avery
Garufu	Jōji Yanami	Tom Wyner
Old Man	Kōhei Miyauchi	Steve Bulen
Colonel	Kōji Yada	Dave Mallow
Z Punk	Banjō Ginga
Nunchaku Man	Yūsaku Yara
Saw Head	Shigeru Chiba	Kirk Thornton
Z Punk	Ryōichi Tanaka
Z Punk	Yasuo Tanaka
	Masayuki Katō
	Masaharu Satō
	Ikuya Sawaki
	Kōzō Shioya
	Michitaka Kobayashi
Old Woman	Reiko Suzuki	Catherine Battistone
Dying Woman	Yōko Kawanami	Lisa Michelson
Narrator	Tarō Ishida	Jeff Corey

Gallery

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  va Banjō Ginga

• 

  va Ryōichi Tanaka

• 

  va Yasuo Tanaka

External links

• Hokuto no Ken (film) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Hokuto no Ken at the Internet Movie Database
• Official site of the 25th anniversary DVD release by Toei (Japanese)