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Description
OMAI WA MO SHINDERU!

So, lately I've been watching the 'Fist Of The North Star' TV show, which I scored online from Discotek Media. I don't think it's possible for me to love this show any more than I already do.

Funny story: The Fist Of The North Star movie was actually an early release in the UK circa 1992 from Manga Entertainment. Anime was still pretty much a 'new thing' in the UK at that point, the only mainstream exposure it had enjoyed around then being a few snippets of shows that appeared on the Clive James TV show, where the host held up the novelty factor of cartoons with bloodshed and boobies.

I'd not long since bought the Island Video edition of 'Akira', and was hungry for more of this stuff. In fact, it's true to say that my interest in anime has lasted my entire adult life. At the tender age of 15, I was clamouring for Manga Entertainment's stuff. The only stuff I DIDN'T see were shows I was just not interested in, or which sported the bright red '18' tag that signified they were for adults only. Because little things like breaking the law actually MATTERED to me as a kid.

Fist Of The North Star was rated 18, so I would never see it. I would read in my computer game mags (required reading at the time) about how great it was, and heave a sigh, cursing my misfortune at not having been born just three years earlier. I wrote it off, and vowed that I would just buy the ever-loving crap out of whatever Manga Ent. spat out next (which was Dominion Tank Police, if I remember correctly).

Then it happened that one of the kids in my school came up to me and said 'Hey - I heard you like this Japanese crap. My dad brought this back from his work. I don't want it. Here, take it. This doesn't mean we're friends, though, 'kay?'

I walked home very briskly that day.

So, at age 16, I spent a day at home forgetting about my imminent exam results by huddling in front of the VCR and watching the movie. I don't think I blinked once.

It was. The. Most violent. Thing. I had. Ever seen.

In fact, it's worth noting that the gore factor of the FotNS movie was WAY higher than the TV show I'm watching now. There was blood, broken bones, exploding heads, eyeballs flying out of heads from the force of heavy blows... and all of it was utterly arresting to my young mind. I remember watching the fight between Kenshiro and Heart, hearing for the first time Kenshiro's crazed battle cry of 'Whooo- atatatatatatatatatatata!' and thinking... 'Holy COW!'

I loved it. And then, I left school, started work, and forgot all about it.

It's only recently that I discovered that Discotek media had licensed and released, not only that same movie, but also the ENTIRE run of the Fist Of The North Star TV anime, which spans two story arc and 152 episodes. On finding them, I bought the whole lot. Which got me into a pile of debt, sure, but hey...

Is it the most amazing, profound, stirring and inspirational story ever told? Naw. Is it my favourite anime of all time? Naw.
But there's a great story in here, and it DOES deal with some weighty stuff, having more depth than a casual onlooker might at first imagine. Kenshiro is a victim turned saviour, a man who has lost everything due to the selfish ambitions of those around him. A man who sees no wrong in putting the wicked people of the world to violent, grisly death. A man who gets through a hell of a lot of T-shirts, and can punch things really, REALLY fast.

This image was pencilled and inked on my brand new A1 drawing board - the first artwork I've put together on it, in fact. I used Copic Multiliners and Faber Castells for the inks, keeping lines purposely thin to mimic the style of anime line art. Coloured and textured over two evenings in Photoshop.

NOTE: I actually substituted a newer version here, with a little extra modelling. I feel a little happier with it now.

Original manga works by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara, anime produced by Toei Animation.

Description
OMAI WA MO SHINDERU!

So, lately I've been watching the 'Fist Of The North Star' TV show, which I scored online from Discotek Media. I don't think it's possible for me to love this show any more than I already do.

Funny story: The Fist Of The North Star movie was actually an early release in the UK circa 1992 from Manga Entertainment. Anime was still pretty much a 'new thing' in the UK at that point, the only mainstream exposure it had enjoyed around then being a few snippets of shows that appeared on the Clive James TV show, where the host held up the novelty factor of cartoons with bloodshed and boobies.

I'd not long since bought the Island Video edition of 'Akira', and was hungry for more of this stuff. In fact, it's true to say that my interest in anime has lasted my entire adult life. At the tender age of 15, I was clamouring for Manga Entertainment's stuff. The only stuff I DIDN'T see were shows I was just not interested in, or which sported the bright red '18' tag that signified they were for adults only. Because little things like breaking the law actually MATTERED to me as a kid.

Fist Of The North Star was rated 18, so I would never see it. I would read in my computer game mags (required reading at the time) about how great it was, and heave a sigh, cursing my misfortune at not having been born just three years earlier. I wrote it off, and vowed that I would just buy the ever-loving crap out of whatever Manga Ent. spat out next (which was Dominion Tank Police, if I remember correctly).

Then it happened that one of the kids in my school came up to me and said 'Hey - I heard you like this Japanese crap. My dad brought this back from his work. I don't want it. Here, take it. This doesn't mean we're friends, though, 'kay?'

I walked home very briskly that day.

So, at age 16, I spent a day at home forgetting about my imminent exam results by huddling in front of the VCR and watching the movie. I don't think I blinked once.

It was. The. Most violent. Thing. I had. Ever seen.

In fact, it's worth noting that the gore factor of the FotNS movie was WAY higher than the TV show I'm watching now. There was blood, broken bones, exploding heads, eyeballs flying out of heads from the force of heavy blows... and all of it was utterly arresting to my young mind. I remember watching the fight between Kenshiro and Heart, hearing for the first time Kenshiro's crazed battle cry of 'Whooo- atatatatatatatatatatata!' and thinking... 'Holy COW!'

I loved it. And then, I left school, started work, and forgot all about it.

It's only recently that I discovered that Discotek media had licensed and released, not only that same movie, but also the ENTIRE run of the Fist Of The North Star TV anime, which spans two story arc and 152 episodes. On finding them, I bought the whole lot. Which got me into a pile of debt, sure, but hey...

Is it the most amazing, profound, stirring and inspirational story ever told? Naw. Is it my favourite anime of all time? Naw.
But there's a great story in here, and it DOES deal with some weighty stuff, having more depth than a casual onlooker might at first imagine. Kenshiro is a victim turned saviour, a man who has lost everything due to the selfish ambitions of those around him. A man who sees no wrong in putting the wicked people of the world to violent, grisly death. A man who gets through a hell of a lot of T-shirts, and can punch things really, REALLY fast.

This image was pencilled and inked on my brand new A1 drawing board - the first artwork I've put together on it, in fact. I used Copic Multiliners and Faber Castells for the inks, keeping lines purposely thin to mimic the style of anime line art. Coloured and textured over two evenings in Photoshop.

NOTE: I actually substituted a newer version here, with a little extra modelling. I feel a little happier with it now.

Original manga works by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara, anime produced by Toei Animation.