Category Archives: hokuto no ken

Looking for Manga in a Japanese Bookstore

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If you’re looking to buy a manga from a Japanese bookstore but you don’t want to ask a clerk for help or just plain order it online, you should keep in mind how manga is organized.

First, you have to know the basic genre of of the manga. There are usually categories like shounen, shoujo, seinen, adult, and so on. Make sure you know what genre it’s officially categorized as because your initial impression may be misleading.

Second, is publisher. Before even the title of the book itself, manga are organized by who publishes them. If you want to get a volume of Dragon Ball Z, you’ll have to go to the Jump Comics area with the Shounen section. If you want a volume of Genshiken, you have to go to the Afternoon Comics area of the Seinen section.

Then, after all that, you get to search by name. But then you have to keep in mind that Japanese bookstores use Japanese alphabetical order.

Japanese alphabetical order goes like this: A, Ka, Sa, Ta, Na, Ha, Ma, Ya, Wa, Ra, N. And with each set of letters, it breaks down into a, i, u, e, o. So if you’re looking for Hokuto no Ken, you go to Ha, and then look down past Hi, Hu, and He, to Ho. If you’ve taken any sort of Japanese class, Japanese alphabetical order is probably already familiar to you.

This sort of thing isn’t really necessary to learn, but if you want to get better at focused browsing in a Japanese bookstore, these are good tips to keep in mind.

Today I went to one looking for a specific title, but I didn’t know the publisher so I gave up.

Analyzing the Hokuto Zankai Ken

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I was thinking about one of Kenshiro’s most famous moves, the Hokuto Zankai Ken, i.e. The One Where He Sticks his Fingers in Your Head and a Counter Appears And You Die When it Gets to Zero, and the scene in which he used it on Souther to no effect. Souther’s secret is that his heart is on the right side of his body so all of his pressure points are reversed, and this is why he is, under normal circumstances, immune to Hokuto Shinken. But if that’s the case, that must mean one of a few things.

1) The two pressure points Kenshiro hits are not the same ones on each side.

2) Kenshiro IS pressing the same left and right points on the side of the head, but uses a different amount of pressure on each side.

3) The human head’s pressure points aren’t symmetrical.

4) Souther simply can’t be affected by Hokuto Zankai Ken even if Kenshiro knows his secret.

Yes, I thought too much about this

Are the releases we want going to be the releases we get?

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One complaint always leveled at anime companies is that they charge too much for anime. It’s something I’ve criticized in the past myself. Well, companies are finally listening and we’re seeing a variety of attempts to lower the cost of watching anime.

Gonzo plans on continuing its free online subtitled broadcasts with a continuation of Strike Witches.

Gainax and Bandai Entertainment have made it possible to watch the smash hit Gurren-Lagann on network cable via the Sci-Fi Network. Not only that, Bandai is planning a blitzkrieg release with 9 episodes per disc with a release of 1 disc per month. That’s 3 months for ALL of Gurren-Lagann.

Maria-sama ga Miteru, officially titled now as Maria is Watching Over Us, has an upcoming release of the entire first season at once. That’s 13 episodes from the get-go. No waiting, no nothing.

Media Blasters is releasing the second half of Gaogaigar all at once for practically nothing as well. This has less to do with plans and more to do with the fact that GGG did not do so well in the US, but it’s there.

And finally, Toei Animation has given the courtesy of releasing episodes of Hokuto no Ken and Slam Dunk online at $2 per episode. Granted, there’s some Digital Rights Management crap that we have to deal with, but they at least figured out that this is a better way of giving exposure to older series such as these.

So the anime industry has finally stepped up their game, and made it easier than ever to obtain anime from legitimate sources for affordable prices. It is now up to us as fans to support them, to tell these companies that, yes, we are willing to give you money directly provided you make it possible for us without sacrificing an arm and a leg when we do not have the fortune of being Edward Elric.

I don’t expect people to buy every single example I list here, and of course people’s income situations vary greatly, but I think it’s important that the anime fandom show that we are supportive of new attempts to get anime in our hands.

Hokuto no Ken Event for 7/7

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Seven artists are going to be making redesigns for the four Hokuto Brothers (Kenshiro, Raoh, Jagi, Toki), as part of the Hokuto no Ken 25th Anniversary Celebration.

The event will be held on July 7th, 2008 at a Tower Records in Tokyo.

As for the “redesigns” themselves, it’ll be…interesting…as let’s just say the artists selected do not exactly have Hara Tetsuo-esque styles.

The 7 Chosen Ones

Kitai Shinichirou (DEVILROBOTS)

Mad Barbarians

Tenmyouya Hisashi

Inoue Takaho

Urata Spancall

Hirose Soushi

Matsushima Satoshi

Source: Anime! Anime!

Misunderstood Shows

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Well-known shows tend to gain reputations, good or bad, that dictate how people view those shows. Often times, these reputations are deserved, but there are some instances where the general impression of that show is primarily because of a lack of understanding. Two easily misunderstood series that come to mind are “Hokuto no Ken” and “Lucky Star.”

These examples, Hokuto no Ken and Lucky Star, don’t have to do with whether or not I think a show is good or bad. I like Maria-sama Ga Miteru but I can generally understand why some people don’t like it and their reasoning tends to be justified. Dragon Ball Z is another one where the reasons behind its popularity/anti-popularity tend to be very transparent. I don’t think the same thing applies 100% to either of the two titles.

Hokuto no Ken is one of the most popular shounen series of all time and the archetype of the shounen manga that we know today in the form DBZ, Saint Seiya, Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, and so on. Its most famous feature is most definitely the various methods through which Kenshiro causes severe cerebral (and bodily) hemorrhaging in his opponents. While this image is certainly not undeserved, it’s also the leading cause of why people are mystified as to its popularity. Some people even mistake it as “silly” or “comedic,” not understanding that the real appeal behind HnK is the way in which passion is imbued into every single situation. The 90s release of the Fist of the North Star movie in the US by Streamline Pictures is partly to blame for all of this, as the movie pales in comparison to the original manga or the tv adaptation. Kenshiro is not just a skilled assassin, he is a compassionate human being who fights for the downtrodden and wishes to save the world, and it’s this conviction which carries the entire story. Exploding heads are merely there to display Kenshiro’s amazing power, which certanly impresses the boys reading it, but also is contrasted with his kindness and humanity.

Lucky Star is sometimes called the “Anime Version of Family Guy.” The problem here is that people do not see beyond the use of references and into the differences in the way humor is delivered. Lucky Star almost never uses non-sequiturs in its jokes, and most of the time the jokes are either observational or involve some sort of set up. The references used, no matter how obscure, relate strongly to the situation at the time, rather than employing the cut-aways that make Family Guy famous and derided by Eric Cartman. As to why Lucky Star is popular, references alone would not be enough as plenty of shows for otaku employ references. The real reason why Lucky Star is popular is that it’s an incredibly self-aware show. It knows otaku are watching and it does more than wink and nod, it outright asks fans to interact with the show itself.

I think it is up to us fans to try and accurately convey what a show is like to new viewers. I know it isn’t easy, and I personally find it difficult to explain most anime to people because the way stories are set up tends to be very different from how stories can be summarized in the American culture of which I am a part. Professional attempts tend not to fare much better either after all (the Chobits manga ad, for example). I just hope that people are able to like or dislike a show for actual reasons rather than simply misunderstandings.

Why I Like Raoh, Part 1

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I remember the first time I saw Raoh, with that huge stallion between his legs. I was in awe. This would begin a long journey where I found and understood myself.

A lot of Raoh’s appeal can be summed up in the battle where he stabs through his foot and Toki’s foot at the same time. I doubt anyone would argue with me when I call it the greatest foot kebab scene in anime and manga history. Raoh is willing to sacrifice his own foot, his most cherished companion since infancy, just to teach his younger brother a loving lesson (though Raoh forgets to mention at the time that Toki is his brother. Oh, Raoh, you’re so aloof).

Raoh, receive the fist that contains all of my love.

Vote for Raoh

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Seriously, do it.  Viral is decent but he’s no Raoh.  Raoh, who is the End of Century Conqueror.  Raoh, who decides that in order to bring peace to the land he must rule over it and its endless hordes of mohawked goons so that he can control them.  Raoh, the demon who eats demons.  And Raoh, the character so manly, he launches his life force into the heavens by himself, rather than needing a proper funeral to do so.

Kenshiro: He who is the most “Gar”

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The SaiGAR Tournament 2008 is starting up, and I’m here to argue the case of Kenshiro.

Kenshiro is the latest master of an 1800 year old martial art called “Hokuto Shinken,” or Divine Fist of the North Star. It is the most deadly and powerful martial art known to man, and it involves mastery of the body’s various pressure points to cause a variety of effects. It is a martial art so powerful that traditionally only one master is allowed at a time, while the other students are forbidden from ever using it again, either by choice or by force.

As for Hokuto Shinken itself, here are some of the things it can do.

-By hitting one set of pressure points, he can cause a person’s head to explode after the count of 3. During this time he tells his victim to think about all the terrible sins they have committed in their lives.
-He can make a person walk backwards forever.
-He can force you to point a gun at yourself.
-He can make your arm tell the truth.
-In fact he can make any part of your body explode.
-Part of Hokuto Shinken is learning from other martial arts, so if you’re a master as well, he’s probably going to pick something up from you and use it just as effectively
-He can cure blindness caused by psychological trauma

That last one isn’t very violent now is it? Ah, but that’s where the true character of Kenshiro lies.

He is the inheritor of an almost two-thousand year old assassin-based martial art, but it is not solely because of his capacity as an assassin that makes him deserving of the title of Hokuto Shinken Master, it is also because of his compassion.

Kenshiro lives in the era after 199X, a cataclysmic year where the world was destroyed by nuclear war. In the aftermath of this nuclear war, the planet has become a place where the strong oppress the weak, where violent gangs rape and pillage families and towns.

It is the end of the century.

And Kenshiro is its savior.

Kenshiro aids the downtrodden, gives hope to the innocent, and is able to sense the true intent of any individual. He is accompanied by two young children in his travels, children who represent the hope of the future. Even when faced by strong opponents, he can tell when they are truly evil and when they are simply misunderstood. Fighting a pair of twins, he is unable to continue fighting them as he can see the sadness within their faces. Indeed, these brothers fight against their will because a man has kidnapped their beloved younger brother. Kenshiro not only has ultimate strength, but ultimate empathy.

But if you are evil? If your intent truly is malicious?

Why, you’re already dead.

It needs to exist

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A Kenshiro dakimakura.

One side will have him getting ready to do Hyakuretsuken, and the other side will be TENHA NO KAMAE.

“You are already asleep.”

Why is Jagi the most philosophical Hokuto brother?

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Answer: Because he uses Hokuto Lacan Geki.