Hokuto no Ken: Raoh Gaiden Ten no Haoh

Legends of the Dark King (or more literally translated, Conqueror of the Heavens: Fist of the North Star Raoh Gaiden) is a prequel to Fist of the North Star focused primarily on Raoh building his empire. You could, in theory, watch this short series before you tackle the original hundred episode long series but the story would probably make even less sense; it's just really helpful to know who the characters are. The plot isn't terrible but it is very different from what is normal with Fist of the North Star. While most Fist of the North Star anime is focused on one guy punching ... a bunch of other guys until their heads explode, while Legends of the Dark King is much more focused on Raoh building his empire. Sure, Raoh gets into fights with enemy generals who have their own unique fighting style but it has a very different feel from other shows in the franchise. The animation in this show is also subpar. I realize that the original series has pretty cheap animation but it at least had detailed character designs. With this new series, the characters are pretty basic. The animation should be much better since they're so simple. Legends of the Dark King is decent, but not astoundingly great. Considering this is a Fist of the North Star show, this is disappointing. If you're thinking about watching it, then you might as well, just don't get your hopes up.

It is not difficult to understand what kind of anime it is, it's enough to literally look at the poster to deduce that the story will not be very deep but that there will be a lot of beatings, violence and blood. At first it looked like a heavy and difficult anime to follow but after the second episode I had practically already guessed the goal of the story: to show how much Raou is a badass. Each time he reminds us that if there is an enemy he will destroy him with his fist and every time someone tries to challenge him we already ... know that Raou will come out the winner.
Some scenes are a bit repetitive, this cannot be denied and the other two main characters, Reina and Souga, are quite boring. I'm glad that the post-apocalyptic dark themes, typical of Hokuto no Ken, have not been eliminated; having said that there are scenes that had to be serious but that made me laugh (and I'm ashamed).
An example is when Raou meets his steed, I will not describe the scene in order not to spoil but know that it had to be a serious episode and that I started laughing because I found the episode itself ridiculous.
All in all the series was not too bad and in general I liked it. It's not the best anime of Hokuto no Ken but it's decent.

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

And eh.. should mention again. That my "reviews" will get their so called "true form" in a long run. Whenever I feel satisfied with the format and content. Right now I'll try to simply say what I found enjoyable and what not thus the overall opinion/feel I had of the mentioned anime/manga.

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Don't really have much to say regarding this series. I found the story, the prequel of hokuto no ken, the side-story about Raoh just before the main series quite enjoyable. It was simple yet strong. Fun ... battles, great or at least enjoyable way to present "villains" story and power freaks world. Although story had also fair enough focus on drama regarding bonds, friendship and for a women side, love. Probably mainly story suffered a bit overly-reached Raoh's mindset regarding that nothing blocks his way. And here I mean specifically first episode scene where well, he made a "path". I found this quite silly. Nevertheless I think the story was good, but just nothing too amazing.

Artstyle I did enjoy. I saw lot of people complaining that the art/animation was absolute garbage, but I beg to differ. I think in the style/art it was made it felt very satisfying. Did absolutely love the soundtrack, felt very strong and grandiose. And as well voice acting was very nice. Do love Raoh voice.


For the most part I did enjoy it. In the end I had hard time choosing giving it 7 or 8. But I think 7 is just good enough. I did enjoy the drama, the story from Raoh side and as well absolutely loved the OST.

For newcomers.. I'm not sure whenever to watch it before the Ken main series. As I personally always watch stuff in release order and try to avoid skipping. But in the end I think it's a good piece of work. Adventure of Raoh just before the series and we were given a glimpse that even Raoh cares.