Hokuto no Ken
Fist of the North Star

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The story takes place in the near future, after a nuclear war has left the world devastated. The protagonist, Kenshiro, is a martial artist who possesses a special technique called Hokuto Shinken, which allows him to attack pressure points on the human body and kill his opponents instantly.

Throughout the story, Kenshiro encounters several powerful enemies who challenge him in combat as he travels through a post-apocalyptic world filled with danger and adventure. Furthermore, he is tasked with finding his beloved Yuria, who has been kidnapped by her rival in love, Shin.

Hokuto no Ken is known for its detailed and realistic drawing style, especially in ... the combat scenes. The manga is violent and bloody, with graphic scenes of death and destruction. However, there is also an emotional side to it, as Kenshiro is a deeply tragic character who has lost many loved ones and is searching for his own place in a cruel post-apocalyptic world.

The manga has been adapted into different formats, including an anime series for television, movies, video games, and OVAs. Hokuto no Ken has been very popular around the world, especially in Japan, where it has been very influential in popular culture.

In short, Hokuto no Ken is an exciting and bloody post-apocalyptic action manga with a detailed and realistic drawing style. The story is intense and dramatic, and has been very prominent in Japanese popular culture. If you are a fan of the action and martial arts genre, Hokuto no Ken is definitely a series that you should not miss.

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