Hokuto no Ken 2

First of all, this is a continuation of Hokuto No Ken with a time gap in between, so you would probably want to look at that before this. But, as this is not a plot-based show, it does make sense without having seen the original.

The first half of the story was actually pretty enjoyable, even if very standard. Heroic Rebels overthrow the Evil Emprire, but it's done well and had some suspenseful moments and likeable characters. Falco is one of the more impressive adversaries for Ken and their final duel was good fun. If the story ended at that point, I would have given the ... story an 8.

However, after this climactic battle at around episode 10, the plot suddenly totally changes track. There is no sense of continuation at all; the main character literally just goes off to a new island where the author has found thin reasons for Ken to massacre everybody. Hence, my low score for the story.

But, naturally, the most important part is the fighting. Is it any good? Just like the original Hokuto No Ken, there is plenty of footage of Ken making grunts explode (literally), which can get monotonous fairly quickly. However, the named boss enemy fights were usually well animated; Ken vs Han in particular, I thought was the best fight in both series combined-extremely gritty and violent. It was disappointing that in some of the fights, they resorted to a less realistic fighting style with faux force attacks instead of martial arts, which I felt ruined those fight scenes.

As for the sound, most of the tracks are nothing special, but there are a few music moments. "I Kill the Fight" during Ken Vs Han was awesome and contributed to that being one of the most epic fights.

So in conclusion, the story starts off pretty decently and will keep you interested until the first big showdown, although after that you may need a lot of willpower to get through the filler. Most of the fights are nothing special, but, Ken vs Han and a few others will hopefully make you feel that you haven't been wasting your time watching this old series.

An worthy continuation of one of japan´s most populair anime franchise since 1983, so soon its HAPPY HAPPY BRITHDAY hokuto no ken, to survive all these decades!!! After the intense 1st serie´s wich i also reviewed, once again the not too good animation wich i somewhat appreciate. Storyline is stilll damn good and unpredictable dark plots inbetween wich transfers chara. to chara as the serie´s coming to an end, and some DAMN good villians-heroe´s introductions,and most of all: Bart & Lynn the two small kids , they grown up and survived!! en this time they fight too!Only there is a bit more lack ... of the awesome fight scene's with those skills shown in screen, rather short., and less 80's intro music like season 1. Kenshiro as always badass as hell!! badass as hell dammit

I'm a huge fan of Hokuto No Ken. I simply love all the action, drama and manliness involved in the series and Kenshiro is definately my favorite anime character ever. While I loved the first HNK series, this second season is pretty lackluster storywise.

Story: 6/10
Basically, years after Raoh's death, Bat and Lin, now full grown adults (except Lin, because she still looks like she has a child's mind) create the "Hokuto Army" which battles the foes that serve the "Gento Emperor". The appearance of Falco is a good addition for the character roster of HNK, and I really liked his Gento Ko-Ken fighting style. So ... Ken defeats Falco and all ends good, right? Wrong.
Now comes the real deal, which is the bad aspect I have to say about this season's story. It's a mess. I mean...one of Falco's chief commands, Tigah I think, steals Lin and transports her to the Island of Shura, a demonic island that only the strong survive, ruled by three generals (Rasho). Now here's the question... Why did he take Lin there? For any reason? It was never explained and when they got there, Tigah is immediately killed and the native Shuras kidnap Lin. So the whole story now is Ken trying to rescue Lin, beating the hell out of anyone who gets in his way. But the whole "Hokuto Souke" family story in my opinion ruined the story for me. I actually prefered the first series story, because I always liked the mysterious never-known background of Hokuto Shinken. But that's not all! There's a cutscene in the second series which shows that Raoh told Ken he had an older brother. Wait...what? So Ken always knew he had an older brother? Then why was he so shocked when he saw Kaioh for the first time? Shouldn't he knew already who Kaioh was? This filler scene just ruined the story for me. But this is my opinion only. It was pretty inconsistent and a bit boring, but I didn't mind too much so I kept watching despite these flaws, since I just love animes that has lots of fighting.

Art: 8/10
It still has the 80's anime type of art, but it improved upon the first series. More of Ken's fighting moves are shown and none are copied animations of the same moves like the first season.

Sound: 8/10
The soundtrack is one of the main reasons that made HNK epic! The soundtrack of this season is amazing and I absolutely love the intro song (TOUGH BOY TOUGH BOY!). The reason why I don't give it a 10 it's because of the punching/kicking sound effects, which are all the same, but I don't mind at all.

Character: 6/10
This is also one of the weakest aspects of this series. Though I simply love Kenshiro's stoic attitude, I really hoped there was more development in his character. Turns out that we only get to know that he has an older biological brother named Hyoh. The whole new characters entering the roster with these backgrounds just changed the story, for better or worse. Then we found out that Raoh has an older brother, Kaioh, which is basically a Raoh clone but more "evil" and "twisted". I didn't like Kaioh as much as I liked other villains like Raoh and Souther because what Kaioh always does is wound himself so that he can he "can forget love". It was just...meh, not a great development whatsoever. And he does this because he couldn't save his mother, who happened to save a baby Kenshiro. But wait... I thought Kenshiro was adopted by Ryuken to train under Hokuto Shinken and neither Raoh nor Toki knew him. According to the original series' filler, Toki and Raoh were adopted by Ryuken to train under the art, but Ken was never shown, only a few years later when he was a teen.

Enjoyment: 7/10
Like I said, I love animes with great action, manliness with some drama background. This series is fun to watch if you like martial arts fights with some over the top action and manly tears. Great fight scenes include Kenshiro Vs Falco and Kenshiro Vs Han.

Overall: 7/10
The second series has its flaws, and one or two may not be redeemed. But that depends on your taste. I think HNK2, while not on the level of HNK 1, is still good to watch with great action scenes, drama and manliness. Also, it's only 43 episodes long compared to the 100 episode length of HNK 1.

his second Fist of the North Star series is meant to provide further fleshing out of Kenshiro and the Hokuto Shinken fighting style as it explores their origins as Kenshiro reunites with an older Lin and Bat to fend off a new enemy force, before having to rescue an abducted Lin from the Land of Shura, a country that encourages a brutal "survival of the fittest" mentality in raising male warriors.

On the one hand, this series runs at a more shorter length thus it avoids most of the major issues that plagued the first FotNS series with repetitious plot developments and having enough recap episodes. ... One of the series antagonists, Hyoh, also gets enough fleshing out early enough to make him a likeable character who is merciful and finds himself victim to his brother Kaioh's manipulations to oppose Kenshiro. Plus, being on the Land of Shura leads Kenshiro to take on more challenging foes compared to the original series, meaning he isn't as much of an unstoppable force as he was depicted throughout much of Fist of the North Star's first half.

However, FotNS 2's attempts to have the same amount of pathos as the first series with following Kenshiro's quest has a good number of issues. The biggest problem I have with this season is it felt like there was no reason for it to really exist. The first series, in spite of its flaws, had tied up all its loose ends rather well and there were no hints of things to come from the first series that would allude to this second anime's events. Sure, it was nice to see Kenshiro return again to continue offing scumbag baddies in messy ways. But in spite of the additional back story it provides, this could have been better explored if the series was some sort of prequel to FotNS as it didn't make any narrative sense to structure the series as a sequel in my personal opinion.

Overall, this second series for Fist of the North Star felt like somewhat of a step down from its first series. While improving on some of the first show's issues, it brings about a major one with the choice of story direction it provides since it didn't make much sense setting this series up as a sequel. Still if you're looking for more Fist of the North Star's bloody action, this series should continue to entertain you.

I loved my time with HNK, so of course I had to check HNK2 out! I was a bit concerned at first due to almost all post-timeskip content being ignored in merch and discussions, but my worries were quickly erased!

HNK2 is a great continuation and conclusion for the series (at least for the anime). If you liked HNK you'll likely enjoy your time with HNK2. Although I preferred the 2nd arc over the 1st one, I still thoroughly enjoyed both due to the fun new characters and further development of the lore. The action is just as great as ever and the music continues to ... keep you burnin' and hype for it all!

It surprised me to hear that the manga actually continues past where the anime ends, and that's due to how perfect of an ending the anime has. Without spoiling, I personally think this show has one of the best endings for a series that I've experienced. It ends on a strong note that stands on its own while still calling back to the full journey.

No Boy No Cry that it is over. The Fist of the North Star shall live on!

First things first. My "reviews" system is explained on a blog entry. Which can be found through my profile.


----

What did even happen? This season lost so much charm that first season had. Anyhow story seems to be few years after and characters are all grown up now. I found the characters/villains/good guys or whatsoever absolutely boring this time around. Felt like watching some sort of pseudo-tryhard western hippie rockpunks in a bad combination.

Kenshiro himself also lost the magical "touch". He seemed quite a boring character this time around. They made him more quieter and duller, he reacted less and I didn't feel at all from ... him the "burning power". Yes he is still strong, but he doesn't have that satisfying aura he had in the previous series.

Animation and art stayed pretty much same, so it was okay. Music I wasn't particularly fond of.

Story fell off, didn't give amusement whatsoever. Plot device of "celestial rulers" where obviously the ruler himself is absolute weakling and the bodyguards are the true challenge.

Point being, I loved first season, second just went in every possible wrong direction.

I'm so glad to be done with Fist of the North Star. A continuation of the original series it is still such a slog to get through having plot holes left and right, boring characters, and being ugly to look at. It may be a classic, but Fist of the North Star should be left in the past.

The original anime was a simple martial arts succession story. Part two makes it overly complicated by adding primogeniture elements through an entirely new country. Arc one is follows the traditions laid out for the first 100 episodes but now everyone is ten years older. Ken returned after ... Yuria's death to find Bat and Lin leading a revolution against the Celestial Emporer. I know what your thinking, "that doesnt sound too bad; the kids grew up and have agency in the story." You'd be wrong. Bat and Lin don't matter in the slightest until the plot twist at the end of the arc. Lin then becomes the prize for the next arc because of her genetics and because woman. Bat is completely written out after the arc ends making me question the point of his existence in the first place. The reveal for who the Celestial Emporer is predictable, lame, and doesn't add any extra elements to the story. The second arc is where the plot really falls apart. Ken goes to the land of Asura to save Lin also learning about his past and the origins to the Fist of the North Star. Ken liberating Asura of its rulers is fine, but they retconned established canon in easily avoidable ways. I won't get into it to avoid spoilers, but even a little critical thought or a glimpse at the Crunchyroll comment section will make you realize how poorly the story is being told. The final episode especially pissed me off with Kaioh and Ken's final words being either creepy or contradicting everything they just did. The worst part of this show is how women are treated like objects. Women exist to love men and give them something to fight for. They aren't allowed to fight for themselves or be independent; women must love man and have child. For example, Mamiya briefly came back and was told not to fight by Ken when her village was literally being destroyed without anyone there to protect it. The moment she pulls out a weapon to fight back and not be killed is when Ken comes out of nowhere telling her to keep her promise to Rei. There aren't many redeeming qualities with the themes and a plot hole filled story isn't enough to fix it.

My hope with poorly told stories is that at least the characters would be entertaining enough to rescue it. Not in Fist of the North Star. I've already talked about how women are treated as objects, but the men aren't much better. They're always stoic and unfeeling, never wanting to express their true emotions or fueled by hatred and violence. Ken especially contributes to the themes of toxic masculinity. He's both physically and mentally strong with big muscles and not letting his emotions dictate his battles. He will either kill his enemy or give them a few minutes for final words because they earned his respect from their strength. He sheds a few tears only if somebody dies, but otherwise doesn't make his emotions public. Falco, Ein, Shachi, and Hyoh were typical side characters for this show. They fell in love with Ken (subtextually but not actually because everyone wants a woman) then do what most side characters in until now have done. The villains are lame too; Jakoh is an obviously weak waste of space and Kaioh hates love like Souther before him. There is not a single new character that really stuck out to me and the only one I somewhat cared about was Hyoh.

The animation wasn't quite as bad as part one. Maybe it was because I knew what to expect, but I didn't want to rip my eyes out this time. It was still messy for the most part with important fights receiving the bulk of the budget. The fights are animated well enough for the 80s but obviously dated. Fist of the North Star, like other anime of this era, fell into the Dragon Ball style of fights where character collect their energy/fighting spirit/spiritual pressure/ etc and trade blows before talking for awhile. This anime is from the 80s, so I cut it some slack for being ugly. It's still ugly though.

The sound remains the best part about Fist of the North Star. It's an absolutely iconic soundtrack that'll get you humming along even if you aren't enjoying yourself. The opening "Tough Boy" manages to be cheesier than "We Are Shock" by singing about fighting in the 90s despite neither the anime coming out in the 90s or taking place during that period due to the time skip. The voice acting continues to be mediocre and a lot of the background voices from part one remain the same. Overall, the soundtrack carries.

I'm so ready to be done with this anime. I would often sigh when thinking about watching the next few episodes and want to watch other anime instead. However, I tend to watch one long running show at a time, so it felt like something I couldn't escape. Fist of the North Star should really be left in the past. From what I've seen it mostly revolutionized the industry in terms of how violence was depicted. It really is senseless killing and heads exploding for the majority of the 152 episodes. This anime appeals to a certain type of audience. Like I said in my review of part one, I would have really enjoyed this in high school. I've grown up since then and am no longer the target audience. If you're a young, conservative, white man I think you'll really like this and it will reinforce the beliefs you already have about the functions of men and women in society. These themes about societal roles is the primary thing not making me want to recommend this to anybody, even the target audience. Don't watch it because you recognize the meme beyond episode 1. I wouldn't quite call it a waste of time, but if you really want to experience this story then read the manga where at least the art is good and you can get through it quicker.

Plot: 4/10
Characters: 4/10
Art: 5/10
Sound: 8/10
Enjoyment: 4/10
Overall: 5.1/10