Fist of the North Star: One bloody anime.
Written: Jan 19 '06 (Updated Jul 12 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The movie flows at a fast pace, plenty of action & senseless violence.
Cons: You call that writing? More senseless violence than you can shake a stick at.
The Bottom Line: A violent anime that goes over the top.
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| yakkowarner's Full Review: Fist of the North Star - Animated Feature |
This is an older anime that takes place in a post-apocalypse world (like so many other Anime). Only the strong survive in this violent and hard society. The fist rules since technology was made useless in the last war. Plants are pretty much non-existant as are the essentials for life. Jewelry and gold are meaningless in this world where food and water are scarce.
I was complaining to my co-worker about the G.I. Joe violence in Lotus Wars and I wanted to watch something with more aggression to it, so he let me borrow this DVD. But instead of having violence that made sense, it had senseless violence and lots of it. I was hoping to watch an anime with some violence but this went completely off the deep end. But once I realized what I was watching was not a very good film, I sat down and enjoyed this movie. Every once in a while I enjoy watching a movie that requires no thought whatsoever and this satisfied that need.
The writing and the story
Don’t watch this movie for the writing. It is stupid, boring, and predictable. I would say the dialogue is at the same caliber as George Lucas’s writing. Thankfully there are only a few scenes where dialogue lasts more than a few minutes before action commences.
The one thing that is well done is the flow of the movie. It is one action scene after another so you don’t get bored. They also don’t repeat the same set of events over and over, each scene has some unique, yet predictable, aspects to it. The action is what you watch this movie for and they do a fair job of it.
I felt that the writing and story jumped around a little too much, and the writing failed to really tell me what was going. I really couldn’t follow where he was going since I really do not know much about this world. I just felt that the story was wondering around too much.
The story
The story starts out with a narration telling about how the only people that survive in this world are the strong. Then we meet up with the hero and he not only gets his girl taken away, he is beaten, violently bleeds about 5 gallons of blood, beaten some more, thrown down a cliff, and left for dead. He then begins a journey that forces him to meet/help others on his way.
Along the journey he meets people who he befriends. Others which he fights and kills. He even gains a companion for part of it. But telling you any more than that might spoil the surprise. Remember it is predictable so you probably already know the ending without much strain on your gray matter.
My opinion on the animation style.
The animation sucks. I was not impressed with it. It reminds me too much of the Sunday morning cartoons that they played in the mid 80’s. The characters move awkwardly, and their clothes and hair don’t look quite right. And yes their lips move but their bodies don’t. I HATE THAT. I know it’s an old movie but it just does not stand up to the test of time.
Physics? We don’t need no stinking physics.
There is no realism in this movie. Blood flows everywhere but never stains the ground. One character loses about 6 gallons of blood yet still manages to lose even more and still not die. A car and a few motorcycles fall off a huge 10 story buildings with no problem. I know it’s a cartoon, but the lack of realism just really bugged me.
The blood and gore.
There is plenty of exploding heads and severed arms. It is like Street Fighter meets Mortal Kombat. If you want blood and exploding heads then this is the movie for you.
Sound and music
It seems more like a video game than a real film. Nothing special here.
Who is this for?
Any male adolescent or any one who thinks like a male adolescent would like this movie. There is plenty of blood and violence and not a whole lot of thought required.
Rating
NR. It should be R due to cartoon violence.
Languages
English and Japanese.
Subtitles
Chinese
Additional material
There was no additional material on this DVD.
Duration
1:49:13
The players
Chief Executive Director: Satonori Imada
Based on a graphic novel by: Buronson & Tetsuo Hara
Director: Toyoo Ashida
Art director: Shiko Tanaka
Music: Katsuhisa Hattori
Summary
This is basically a brainless anime. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly won’t win any awards for it. But it is mildly entertaining. If you are in a violent state of mind and you can pick this up for under $10 then I would recommend it. If you want a more stimulating movie that requires thought, or something without this much violence, then go ahead and pass.
Other bloody Anime.
My top ten anime movies.
Vampire Hunter D.
Ninja Scroll.
My 50 favorite movies
Recommended:
Yes
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