That’s right, another Fist of the North Star related review. This time:
This time its a 13 part series focused on Kenshiro’s older and exceedingly powerful brother Roah, or as he’s come to be known as ‘The King of Fist’.
It takes place in the post apocalytic time and Roah has team up with Reina and Souga to set up and achieve the the rule over the world he believes he is destined for. He takes apart small groups of men before eventually taking over a castle by killing it’s king.
From there Raoh and his army work hard to continue taking over castles, with Kings (there’s a hell of a lot of Kings that just sprung up after the nuclear war!) everywhere laying choosing not to fight but to rather operate under the rule of ‘The King of Fist’.
Like all good shows things get more difficult and Raoh is faced with tougher enemies. Especially his main rival for rule of the land – The ‘Holy Emperor’ Souther, of Nanto Seinken – or Fist of the South Star.
Naturally Raoh and his group refuse to back down and we follow them as their contune to fight against those in the way of Raoh and his conquest.
If you’re not already a fan of Fist of the North Star…
This could work as a good introduction into the series, but it doesn’t really do it justice. The story I think would appear pretty thin and average to someone not familiar with the preexisting plot this series has to work around.
It does offer some cool fights and events to keep the average viewer interested though, and watching Raoh establish a massive following after starting almost alone is relatively interesting.
I do feel as if Raoh has little or no personality in this film aside from brief bursts of anger, so I don’t think this incarnation is going to leave an imprint on someone not familiar with his character.
For the fans…
….meh. It’s Ok.
As I said earlier, there’s a pre-existing plot to work around and this show does pretty average job of that. Some of the fight s don’t seem to naturally fit with the original series.
Yuda and Souther fight Raoh yet their later fight with Kenshiro has them talking like they’ve never come close to seeing defeat. Maybe their boasting from insecurity? Who knows.
I do like the back story of Raoh capturing Toki and holding him in the prison of Cassandra, which links more of the original story together. That got me a little more into this series.
It seems that the image conscious Raoh thought black hair wouldn’t suit him during these events and died his hair blond, despite having black hair in the original series as a child and as a adult, but then again his hair was gray or silver in “Legends of the True Savior”, so maybe he’s just trying on a few styles.
Honestly it is an interesting short series but doesn’t really add to the Fist of the North Star legacy all that much and seems entirely unnecessary.
The action & animation?
The look of the fights is smooth and presented well with gore similar yet not as frequent as the original series.
The general look and feel of the world and it’s characters is a little more mainstream anime as the huge physiques are gone and the more proportional looking characters are mainstream.
This series is becoming a bit more mainstream overall in terms of animation, and although it takes a little away it also lends a bit to it – makings slicker and easier to watch.
The Verdict?
If you’re a big fan, I’d still recommend it though for some further insight into Raoh and the team around him. Otherwise you may not enjoy it. Either way, it’s a really ‘on the fence’ choice for me, so you’ll have to toss it up yourself!
On Blu Ray –
Region A (US & Canada)
Legends of the Dark King: A Fist of the North Star Story [Blu-ray]
On DVD –
Region 1 (US & Canada)
Legends of the Dark King: A Fist of the North Star Story
Region 4 (Australia, New Zealand, etc)
This series actually made Roah my favorite – I love it. I love how he is so calm and confident in his strength – he is kind of humorous when he gets angry as well. Like when that door was crushing him and he screamed ” I will not die in this place” after reassuring Reina he would need her in future Lol
Haha, It’s such a rich franchise, I really enjoyed watching as much of it as I could. I haven’t kept up to date though, I wouldn’t mind revisiting it. I tell you what though, taking the time to watch the full, original anime series is a heavy task but worth it too. This series was a delightful little addon 🙂
Is that Raoh Gaiden?
Yeah, sure is 🙂