FIST OF THE NORTH STAR (1986)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*

I've not read many of the 1983-88 manga series FIST OF THE NORTH STAR, and I've seen few episodes of the eighties TV adaptation, but neither effects my review of this theatrical film. According to Wiki it's an "alternative re-telling" of the manga's early years, condensing the essential "origin story" of the main character and his opponents into a reasonably holistic package.

Once again humanity has succumbed to apocalypse, though this time most of the action seems to take place in a devastated Japan, since most characters have Japanese names and make references to Japanese culture. (One exception: the American dub I watched calls a female character named "Yuria" by the name "Juliet.") In the midst of a cultural chaos, wherein everything has been reduced down to medieval strongholds, the martial master Kenshiro has mastered a special art with which he can literally cause human bodies to explode. However, he faces competition from one of his training-mates, Shin, a master of a rival style. Shin claims that he's in love with Yuria and seeks to claim her by force. Shin wins the fight and marks Ken with wounds across his chest that resemble the Big Dipper constellation, home of the titular "North Star." Shin leaves Ken alive and absconds with Yuria.

When Ken recovers, he embarks on a peripatetic journey in quest of Shin and Yuria, occasionally using his skills to succor helpless victims of tyranny. Little does Ken know that even after he meets and conquers Shin, there's a Bigger Big Bad waiting in the wings-- an even more skilled fighter, Raoh, who wants to take out Ken so that Raoh can rule the decimated world.

STAR is a good basic fantasy-adventure, and the only suggestion of complexity are some freewheeling references to philosophical concepts like "yin and yang" as they apply to these fantasy martial arts. Once or twice Ken's skills are said to incarnate some cosmic principles necessary for the healing of the ruined environment, but this is not pursued with any rigor. Viewers with queasy stomachs probably will not be wild over all the exploding bodies, which in retrospect seems "very eighties."