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Having watched the movie, which is the condensed version of the series, and now actually watching the 36 episode series from Manga Entertainment, I find that this is one of the corniest/greatest animes that I've seen. I love it. I really like the opening theme that has thundering bass drums that ride you thru a monta'ge of violent clips of the anime. Kinda makes you want to fight, or at least watch one. This has alot of violence that is gorey at times and corny at times. Ken can pretty much do anything. He's a Japanese, Rambo looking, Bruce Lee sounding BAD ASS. Story is pretty good, but the little girl Lin and the boy Bart are annoying as F@*%. I laugh alot while watching this. From the goofy names they give his attacks to the cheesy narrator who reads the wierd and hilarious titles before each episode. There are parts of an episode that are right out of the movie Road Warrior. The circle town surrounded by desert, even a bus as a gate and flamethrowers stationed on each side. I loved that movie and I love this anime.
Now the review for the 109 ep series which was on subtitled dvd. Although subs were not the greatest as far as translation, I get the gist of the story based on this being an expanded version of the 36 ep eng dub dvds. It is quite the epic and tragic story at that. I found myself looking forward to the next episode and that is what's important to me to avoid boredom with the series, especially 109 eps. I never got bored with the violence either. They found ways to change it up and introduce new styles and moves/punches. Highly entertaining for the fans of older titles like Armored Trooper Votoms or Space Cobra, those of us who hold these in high regards as compared to the G.I Joe or Transformer cartoons I grew up on. I only wish I could have seen these as a kid.
