chohan said:
I've seen Fist of the North Star the movie years ago. It is a great movie IMO and I think the first of the few anime I saw. I liked the English [movie] voices, do they use the same [in the TV series]? If not, are they any good?
You've probably already guessed the answer, but I didn't see anyone answer it directly so I thought I might as well. The English dub of the anime film was done by Streamline Pictures. The English dub of the TV series was done by Manga Entertainment. Different English voice actors for each. I thought the English dub of the TV series was pretty shitty (but then again, I typically hate 90-95% of all English dubs).
DashK said:
don't even buy the stuff manga released on dvd, they cut the original opening and enging theme songs/animations, and they only got the rights to 35 epidoes. the whole series is out in japan on dvd remastered, and when someone finally releases those here the manga discs will be pointless.
I agree with DashK's opinion of the Manga Entertainment release of the TV series. Having recently seen their handling of R.O.D., Fist of the North Star, and Orguss-02, I don't think the current staff should be allowed to license any more anime. In addition to the cuts DashK mentioned, the English dub script is not terribly faithful to the original Japanese dialogue. Meanwhile, the subtitle script is sort of a middle ground between the two dub tracks -- it's not an accurate translation of the Japanese dialogue, and at the same time it doesn't function as a good closed-captioning feature for the English dialogue. In addition, the names of Bat and Yuria are "Bart" and "Julia" in the Manga Entertainment release.
300wins said:
There's always Shin Hokuto No Ken which just came out recently. It seems to be based on the novels or something. 2 episodes are out in Japan. Too bad Akira Kamiya doesn't do the voice of Kenshiro no more. Oh well...
Been enjoying Shin Hokuto no Ken anime video series (although I thought the production quality was higher in ep1 than it was in ep2). The 3rd (concluding) episode went on sale in Japan yesterday -- I'm hoping to have my DVD by the end of next week (been looking forward to this one). There'd been talk of further eps in the Shin series, but only if sales of eps 1-3 were good enough to warrant a continuation -- hopefully the figures'll be good. I, too, was surprised that Kamiya Akira didn't return to the role of Kenshirou (he is back as Roy Focker in the Macross Zero anime video series, however). But, as a fan of Koyasu Takehito (Kenshirou's new seiyuu), I've been enjoying the new voice all the same. If you've heard Koyasu as the voice of the title character in the BETTERMAN anime TV series, you'll know he can pull off the scary, bass-y, tough-guy voice pretty well.
I believe
this is the novel that provides the basis for the Shin Hokuto no Ken anime video series (the title of the novel is the same as the title of the first ep of Shin Hokuto no Ken -- "Jubaku no machi"). This novel was published by Shuueisha's "Jump J-Books" label in December, 1996 (according to amazon.co.jp).
DashK said:
incase anyone didn't know, the FOTNS manga is out here in master edition format, full color by hara tetsuo (looks amazing), also the brand new hara tetsuo manga is out here called first of the blue sky, which deals with kenshiro's great great grandfather (i think) in china.
Been picking up
Raijin Comics' English-language releases of Fist of the North Star and Fist of the Blue Sky. IIRC, the main character of FOTBS (also named Kenshirou) is the uncle (?maybe great-uncle?) of the Kenshirou in FOTNS (according to the opening of FOTBS, Kenshirou (FOTNS) was named after his uncle (FOTBS)). The English-language version of FOTNS Master Edition is up to Vol. 7 (up to Chapter 58), while the English-language version FOTBS is up to Vol. 3 (up to Chapter 29). Vol. 8 of Souten no Ken (FOTBS) just went on sale in Japan on 1/9/2004). As DashK said, the full-color treatment of the FOTNS Master Edition is stunning, but I'm now planning to pick up a used set of the original Japanese FOTNS manga, both to try reading it in the original Japanese and to see all of the artwork in its original b&w pen&ink style. I'm enjoying FOTNS a great deal, but I like FOTBS even more. FOTNS seems very action-oriented & dialogue-light so far, compared to FOTBS which seems to feature far more dialogue and character development between its action sequences (which are less frequent than those in FOTNS). Because of this, FOTBS strikes powerful emotional chords with me much more often than FOTNS does -- here's hoping FOTBS will be popular enough in Japan to warrant a good animated treatment.
DashK said:
there is one fotns series, some may consider it having 2 giant story arcs, since the story does jump 10 years i think around episode 115.
I haven't seen all of the FOTNS TV series, so I'll ask those members who have (DashK, I presume?
) to correct me if my understanding is incorrect: The "Hokuto no Ken" anime TV series has a total of 152 episodes; the last 25% of the series constitutes a 10-years-later story arc that is often referred to as "Hokuto no Ken 2." Have I got this right?
--Chris
It's PURE SHIT. The special fx are the ones of a telefilm and there are so many bullshits in the scenario! Bat who dies of a stab wound is crappy. There's even a zombie so DO NOT BUY THAT SHIT.
