Warner Bros. Japan unveiled on Thursday the second promotional video, more cast members, and April 10 premiere for Hokuto no Ken -Fist of the North Star-, the new anime of Buronson and Tetsuo Hara’s landmark manga Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken). The video reveals and previews the opening theme song “Hallelujah” by Alexandros.
The staff also unveiled a visual featuring one of the newly announced characters Rei:
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Japan
© Buronson&Tetsuo Hara/Coamix, HOKUTO Committee
The newly announced cast includes:
Yūichi Nakamura as Rei
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Japan
© Buronson&Tetsuo Hara/Coamix, HOKUTO Committee
Ruriko Aoki as Mamiya
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Japan
© Buronson&Tetsuo Hara/Coamix, HOKUTO Committee
The new anime will debut with its first two episodes on Tokyo MX and BS11 on April 10 at 1:00 a.m. JST (effectively, April 11). The third and fourth episodes will then premiere on April 17. Amazon Prime Video will stream the anime worldwide.
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Japan
© Buronson&Tetsuo Hara/Coamix, HOKUTO Committee
Previously revealed cast members include:
Hiroshi Maeda (director of photography for Hellsing Ultimate, Aquarion) is directing the anime at TMS Entertainment, and Kazuma Ogasawara (episode director for Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These – Collision, Oshi no Ko TV 2) is the assistant director. Kazuhiko Inukai (Girlfriend, Girlfriend) is in charge of the series scripts. Naoki Hisatsune (key animator for Fist of the North Star: Legend of Kenshiro, Fist of the North Star: Legend of Toki) is designing the characters. Kōji (3D director for Medalist) is serving as animation director. Yūki Hayashi (My Hero Academia) is composing the music. NIA Animation and Kishida Studio BACU are collaborating on the production.
The new anime announcement commemorates the series’ 40th anniversary. The staff stated that the CG-based anime will be more true to the original work.
The manga’s story is set in a post-apocalyptic world. The story centers on a man named Kenshiro, a master and successor to a deadly martial art, as he wanders the nuclear wasteland protecting the weak and innocent from violent thugs. In his travels, he must contend with other master martial artists and figures from his past, including his “brother” Raoh, who has crowned himself the king of the new world.
The original manga ran in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1983 to 1988. Viz Media began publishing the manga in a new edition digitally and physically in June 2021.
The Fist of the North Star television anime ran for two seasons from 1984 to 1988 and had 152 episodes. The manga has inspired several other television anime, films, and spinoff anime. Hiroshi Kurao launched a new Fist of the North Star spinoff manga titled Hokuto no Ken Seikimatsu Drama Satsuei-hen (Fist of the North Star Apocalypse Drama Filming Arc) on the Comic Zenon manga website in February 2021.
Hiroshi Kurao’s Elegy for the Henchmen: Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken: Ken’ō-gun Zako-tachi no Banka) spinoff manga got a short anime that premiered on the AT-X and Tokyo MX channels on January 5.
Source: Press release
