What you mean? This is not symbolic?

The movie starts after the final fight against Raoh. Yuria and Kenshiro finds peace in a remote place then Kenshiro remembers the beginning of his long and sad journey:
After being defeated and scarred by Shin, Kenshiro was found then brought to a town as a prisoner then as a slave.

This Hokuto no Ken movie have been released back in 2008 and fills the gap between Kenshiro’s first defeat against Shin and his first appearance at Lin’s village. The movie is a pretty standard Hokuto no Ken story. 1. Kenshiro comes/is dragged to a village. 2. He befriends the poor guys there. 3. Tyrant/Disposable Punks torments the villager. 4. Kenshiro gets pissed, people dies. 5. Boss of the Arc appears and will be defeated. 6. The village is saved/the tyrant pull dirty shit on village and everyone dies. 7. Kenshiro is a lonely man.

And this is typically what happens in the movie.

The Tyrant of the village is a fat guy who does look like the first tyrant you see in Hokuto no Ken after the timeskip. The one who got owned by Kenshiro as in being forced to exhale the air in his lungs until he dies. The Boss of the Arc is Jugai, aka Azuma Kazuma from Yakitate Japan who have gone rasta and have learned the Nanto Koshū Ken.

Jugai was Shin’s fellow student before Shin became the successor of the Nanto Koshū Ken. Among the villagers, there was the Shin’s master, Fugen, crippled by him when Shin took over.

The movie basically tells the awakening of Kenshiro to his role as the savior of the century. However, this awakening will come at a bloody and tearful cost as everybody, even the chick whose the name escaped me, dies. It pretty much set the tone of Kenshiro’s journey.

Oh yeah, Kenshiro on the cross crying manly tears then shouting his rage and sorrow to break his chains while the Light of Heaven beam over him was fcking awesome to see.

While not exactly bad, the movie belongs to the “should have been better” category. There was so much that could have improved. The music and the character designs are the best things that have come for the whole Revival thing. Animation could have been better. I think what is lacking in the new Hokuto no Ken revivals are better choregraphied combats. It’s not like the TV series of the 1980s was flawless. However, the 1986 movie, the best parts of the 1980s series (like the conclusions of the Shin Arc, Jagi Arc, the last fight of Rei, the magnificent fights of Jyuuza and Fuudo against Raoh and the final fight opposing Kenshiro to Raoh) then the Toki Den OAV showed glimpses of what the Hokuto no Ken manga can deliver if it was properly handled in its animated adaptations: Fights of Biblical Proportions and Intensity between Greater-than-Life characters, topped with dialogues, surely cheesy in today’s standards, but still ridiculously awesome in the context of Hokuto no Ken world.

There are things I cannot forgive about the whole revival of Hokuto no Ken and this is the one that comes in mind first:

Ryuga and Jyuuza? YOU GOTTA FUCKING KID ME!

Don’t worry, Rei and Toki were in this scene. However, they showed two characters who were unfairly omitted: Ryuga and Jyuuza.

Their absence in all movies and OAV made me rage as a fan, and weep for their characters who contributed as much as Shuu, Shin, Toki, Rei and Souther to the fates of Kenshiro, Yuria and Raoh. Then this scene just added more to the insult, toward the old fans.

This is certainly the biggest beef I have against the revival.

As a fan, I think that, in a time where anime like Full Metal Alchemist and Dragon Ball Z get remakes, Hokuto no Ken deserves as much. The movies and the one episode OAVs formats demanded too much cut to the storyline and the characters that is pretty much the great thing when you read the Hokuto no Ken manga. Yes, I think that a TV series would be a way better alternative, and especially if it is handled by a staff that knows what they do.

The + of the new Hokuto no Ken OAV and movies:

+ The updated character designs (hot babes designed by Tsukasa Hojo of City Hunter fame iced the cake)
+ A better world vision (It’s actually closer to Fallout style, with the elements from chinese and japanese “fantasy”)
+ The musical score. Finding out that Yuki Kajiura did it = bricks, etc…

The -+:

-+ The voice cast range from very good to eerr what? Raoh’s VA took a while to get used to, but then he is fine. Toki’s VA (who now voice Guin in Guin Saga) is perfectly fine, Maaya Sakamoto is love as Lin, sadly the original voice actors of Jagi and Rei are no more, and I must say that their replacements were not that much. I still prefer Toshio Furukawa as Shin instead of the new one. While the new Kenshiro is fine when he talks, he just pales in fight. With all due respect, you just cannot match the legendary performance of Akira Kamiya.

The -:

- Fights could have been way better.
- Too much cuts into the story, it result in an awkward flow with a lot of blanks in the storytelling.
- No Ryuga, no Jyuuza = RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEG
- Compared to movies like Sword of the Stranger or Kara no Kyoukai, why can’t the HnK movies be as good is just beyond me.

To be fair with them as a whole, they should be seen as appetizer for the series of the 1980s then the manga.

Not in the mood for some Monty Python

If I were to rate the movies and the OAVs, it should be like this:

1: Toki Den OAV
2. Raoh Gaiden 2 Movie (Fuudo!!!)
3. Raoh Gaiden 1 Movie (Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!!!!)
4. Kenshiro Den
5. Yuria Den OAV (this one can be skipped)

Otherwise, the BEST THING about the new HnK is the badass Road of the Lords, so manly your shota will grow a beard.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 9:58 pm and is filed under Anime.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.