Do we have any fans of Fist of the North Star here? I've finally got around to reading it, and after 215 chapters the most I can say about it is that it's remarkably stupid and badly planned. What was the fucking purpose of anything that happened after the first timeskip? What the fuck happened in the Land of Asura other than constant borderline retcons of background stories (Ken is actually Toki and Raoh's adoptive brother too, they're all actually from the Land of Asura, Ken is actually Hoki's brother, Raoh is actually Kaioh's brother, there's actually another Hokuto branch) and a shittier regurgitation of Raoh's sociopathic and narcissistic tendencies being defeated and introduced to sympathy and sadness again? What purpose did any of the Nanto characters or plots serve? Even Rei only hung around Ken for awhile doing nothing until he was killed off by another Nanto guy. Like 80% of this was pure filler, and the remaining 20% was stupid. I don't understand what's supposed to be good or notable about this, save its influence.
Do we have any fans of Fist of the North Star here? I've finally got around to reading it...
Oh, and that whole thing where Raoh and his men start out as absolute assholes, and basically remain absolute assholes, save Raoh redeeming himself slightly right before death and when sparing Toki, but as soon as he's dead he's shown in a more and more sympathetic light, from being shown as being more concerned with justice, to that shit about him asking Ken to help his twisted brother Kaioh, to the shit with Raoh's men being shown as these stand-up family men during the Ryu introduction arc.
Old manga are poorly written, news at 11.
The awesome violence. That's about it.
There's plenty of well-written old manga, I'm just asking what the appeal of this is supposed to be, because regardless of whether there's old and good manga or not, this shit's old and in my opinion bad. What is it some like about it? What's its appeal?
Yeah, but doesn't it get kind of dull to see hundreds of panels of people exploding like watermelons on a beach?
Honestly, for me it doesn't. I can definitely see it getting old for others though, I don't blame you.
It appeals to manliness. I mean, just look at Kenshiro wearing the bad ass gloves of the guy with a daughter who sacrificed himself for who knows what. Or when Falco gets informed he´s going to have a child. It´s been a while since I read that manga.
The bounty-hunting glove guy was a pretty good character, yeah, if short-lived. Falco though, what a pointless death. Dude's basically crippled from fighting Ken, and just goes straight to his death in a country known for its monstrous fighters, because it's apparently not manly to rest and recover your strength to the point of not jobbing to mooks.
I'm not a fan per se of the work but I did like it. Yes, it is nonsensical in many ways but as and said, it's about a reliably badass hero who more or less saves the day in a horrible post-apocalyptic world, over and over. It is an episodic manga disguised as an overarching narrative.
The answer to most of your questions is: the fights. It's like a gritter version of the classic superhero comics, where the villain is wrecking major shit and the hero swoops in to stop him.
>What purpose did any of the Nanto characters or plots serve?
Variety of fighting style.
>Even Rei only hung around Ken for awhile doing nothing until he was killed off by another Nanto guy
Yes, but the narrative arc where he was introduced required a character who was just as strong as Ken AND a rival/comrade.
>I don't understand what's supposed to be good or notable about this, save its influence
It's influence mostly, and one of the first notable titles in the shonen battle manga genre. If you really think about it, some of the world's oldest literature is poorly written (see: Gilgamesh, Tale of the Genji, etc) but they are still classics because they were the first and read widely in their time.
>Falco though, what a pointless death
Tell me about it,
Do you mean just manga? Because it's one of my favorite anime series.
kek. I thought the same at the time too. Did you like the fight against the first one of the three generals or some shit? It was fantastic. At least I liked it a lot. Anyway, the last one, the lost Raoh brother's fight seemed bullshit. Trying to justify him or make him more empathetic was cheap.
Finally, someone who sees reason.
HnK is trash. The only good thing about the series is the first opening.
Didn't watch the anime but read the manga. Manga was decent even though Kenshiro was a Gary Stu MC who rarely ever list. Surprisingly, he is the third strongest character in the series since Toki was heavily weakened due to radiation poisoning and Kenshiro later admits that Raoh's fists surpassed his own. Last saga was dumb, what with Bat trying to set Kenshiro up with Lyn. Bat's still cool, though.
The manga had a lot of funny moments both intentional and unintentional. Sometimes it was hard to tell if a scene was meant to be humorous because of the deadpan delivery.
>It is an episodic manga disguised as an overarching narrative
That makes sense. Perhaps I've read it incorrectly bu reading a hundred chapters at a time.
Oh yeah, the fight with the first general was great, one of my favourites. Just pure fighting between almost equal god-like fighters without constant monologues or flashbacks, it's almost unique if not entirely. And agreed with the last general, as I said in the OP he basically just seemed like Raoh but less sympathetic. Well, perhaps with some of that Emperor Nanto guy as well, what with the whole becoming a sociopath upon death of parent figure.
Speaking as someone who's only watched the anime, HnK 2 is trash. Cool trash, but trash that can be disregarded. I'm glad I waited a few months in between HnK and HnK 2 because my opinion of the first series isn't affected by how bizarre the second one is.
There's a reason almost none of the modern material (anime, games, spinoff manga) is based on the post-timeskip arcs. Shonen Jump is infamous for not letting an author end a manga while it's popular; Hokuto no Ken is the poster boy for the horrifying consequences.
The Hokuto Shingen master who taught them all, too. For real, how dumb was he to train Jagi, or even Raoh? Why didn't Toki try to stop Raoh when he announced his intentions, or after he killed their master? Come to think of it, what purpose did Toki serve? When I read it I thought he'd end up teaching Ken something, but Ken always ended up learning things on his own, like against Souther, or when Lin broke him out of his paralysis and made him fight Raoh to a draw. Or am I misrecalling things?
Kenshiro, as our walking brick, managed to overcome his hardship by being strong.
What sets it apart is the art style, the pacing, and the fact there is very little downtime between arc goals.
Kenshiro fights in a way that is popular: He will let the enemy attack, show case the enemies skill, and then he will break his enemy into pieces.
Once he goes to China, the narrative changes from a journey, to the lessons of the previous journey.
Final arc is a weird ending arc.
>It is an episodic manga disguised as an overarching narrative.
Also this.
You can read a few chapters, and its awesome.
You can read a few more, and its awesome.
Chapters thats is continues is very rare.
The purpose of every character who isn't Kenshiro or a villain is to die a tragic death, because Hokuto Shinken is literally powered by manly tears.
>Hokuto Shinken is literally powered by manly tears
Can't believe I never thought of it that way.
Ryuuga had that shit figured out, it was the entire point of his story arc. He wanted Ken to kill him, get sad, then get stronger.
And was the the only purpose Toki served in the end as well?
If Toki weren't so sick, he could master Musou Tensei in an instant.
Ken had a bunch of mass murderers and tough guys, he had a village of innocent people. Sure he can't use their techniques, but he's invincible.
I felt the same about Otokojuku. The fights are kinda fun, but for me I always like some actual narrative thrust and characterization behind the action, it makes it more meaningful.