I recently watched this movie after many many years of thinking I had seen it already, and I can say now that I was mistaken. This movie is one of the classic films that many fans of Anime can say they have seen and likely enjoyed. I can now join that group.
This movie was released in 1986, and is traditional animation with no CGI whatsoever. That being said the quality of the animation is not as good as what some come to expect from Japanese feature length animated films. It has more in common with the style of the GI Joe television series. That makes sense since the same production team is responsible for the animated TV series of the same name. Saying that it's not high quality is not meant to discredit this film in any way, in fact it seems as if more time, care and effort was spent on the many visceral fighting scenes. Heads explode, arms are detached and enemies are dispatched with disturbing fluidity in a creative number of ways. If you don't mind extreme violence by all means give this film a shot.
The story is a lot easier to follow than many other Anime films I've seen. (I had to watch Akira and Cowboy Bebop a few times, though I think I was distracted by the beauty of the animation in both cases). Basically the main character Kenshiro and his girlfriend Yuria are searching for a place to plant seeds to help the earth recover from a devastating nuclear war that has wiped most living things from the planet. During their search, they are accosted by Shin and his thugs. Shin wounds Kenshiro and forces Yuria to come with him, thinking only he should possess a woman with her beauty. The rest of the movie shows Kenshiro's bloody quest to rescue her, avenge his betrayal, and do battle with his Bother Raoh who feel's the power of the Fist of the North Star is rightfully his.
This is an extremely violent film. Kenshiro possesses a fighting style that causes his enemies to swell and explode. He meets a man who is able to slice people into fragments with his fingers, and there is an unforgettable battle scene where hundreds of ninja are crushed underfoot by a giant man who can change himself into metal. Blood, guts, and dismembered limbs fly everywhere with extra smooth animation.
Just because this is animation does not make it for kids, show it to them only if you want to scar them for life. Sound problems are also evident. Footsteps never seemed to match the action on screen, and the music seemed to be disproportionately loud during some fighting scenes. I have to note that my DVD offered a few nice extras such as character art and original theatrical trailers. I watched the dubbed English version because I wanted to enjoy the animation as much as possible without having to read sub-titles. My next viewing will be in the original Japanese format so I can hear the original voice actors and look out for any differences in translation.
If you are a fan of animation and can stomach some over-the-top violence I definitely recommend this film. Though the animation quality was sporadic and the sound seemed not to sync up at times, this is a classic that I'm glad to own and I will definitely enjoy watching it again.
