New Fist of the North Star Vol 2: The Forbidden Fist (2003)
Animation Production: OB Planning "New Fist of the North Star" Production Committee
Released by: ADV Films
Episodes: 1
Running Time: 55 minutes
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

Volume 2 of New Fist of the North Star has landed! After falling for this series all over again, thanks to the beautifully rendered retelling of Kenshiro’s quest for justice in a lawless world, I’ve been dying to see the second chapter of the story and now that it’s here I am one happy anime fan!

Having defeated a great evil in the previous chapter, a new challenge rises from the dunes of the desert. Who is this mystery figure? What does he want? The answer to these question will change Kenshiro’s path and lead him to new battles, but will he be able to rise to the occasion?

Story

"In the aftermath of Kenshiro’s attack on the citadel of Last Land, the boy known as Lord Doha falls deathly ill. Sara’s prognosis is dire. The serum to save his life is a two day drive each way. There is a shorter path…but it runs through Cliffland, a land haunted by demons that practice a mysterious killing technique. Meanwhile, a new mysterious warrior arrives in Last Land, vowing to take all that Sanga has claimed. The balance of power is once again thrown into chaos as fist is pitted against fist in a struggle to see whose justice will prevail."-- ADV's New Fist of the North Star Webpage

Review

I think ADV's story description above is absolutely perfect and accurately captures the story of this DVD, so let's get right into how this release kicked all sorts of butt and managed to lift the fighting spirit of this reviewer to new heights!

Having already gone through an entire adventure with Kenshiro in this new series, we have a better sense of what’s happening and what’s motivating the characters, so right from the get go episode 2 kicks into high gear with a new life and dead mission for our hero that not only takes our protagonist in a new direction, but also opens the door for a new character to come in and make his mark in his absence.

Herein lies the beauty of how the story for this OVA series is set up and broken up into three separate chapters. Whereas episode one was all about Kenshiro and what he stands for, volume two is all about this new character, who goes by the name Seiji. So, in a way this shuffle of characters makes this chapter more interesting by bringing in a new perspective and changing the focus of the series somewhat.

Whereas Kenshiro uses his power for the benefit of his fellow men and to protect the weak, Seiji on the other hand uses them to gain power and instill fear in the population. He wants wealth, influence, and respect above all else, and he won’t stop until he gets what he believes is rightfully his to take. This way of thinking and self-focus makes this episode stand in sharp contrast with the previous one. In a way you could say that this story and it focus are very much a setup for a large and very dramatic confrontation between Seiji and Kenshiro, who spends most of this episode learning about the past from the Clifflanders.

Speaking of which, I thought the subplot that put Kenshiro up in the mountains with a group of highly trained martial artists was somewhat weak in that it didn’t really serve much purpose except to show us some flashbacks and keep Kenshiro away from the city so that Seiji could take over and develop his power base in order to complete the setup for the next episode’s dramatic battle. I would have liked to see more done with this part of the story or a different direction altogether.

Aside from this dual focus on Kenshiro and Seiji, there is also some further character development done with Sara and Tobi, with Sara in particular getting more screen time this time out as she plays the role of witness to Seiji’s rise to power. Tobi doesn’t appear as much here as he did in episode one, but we do see him evolve from his previous role as a trader of information to that of a rebellion leader who is willing to sacrifice his life not only for his brother, but for the freedom of everyone who is a slave to dictatorships.

So what about the good stuff , the action scenes, you may ask. Well, there are plenty of those to go around here too, although there wasn’t any one dramatic prolonged fight in this chapter as with the first DVD. What is here though is more varied and entertaining though. In addition to Kenshiro’s battles we also get so see Seiji go at it as well as the Clifflanders, who use a mysterious martial art that is feared by all that have seen it. Action-wise you won’t be disappointed, this is classic Fist of the North Star action all the way.

Following on the steps of its predecessor, episode two of New Fist of the North Star is a beautiful piece of animation work that is easy on the eyes and impressive to the mind. Character animation in particular is very detailed and smoothly animated, especially during fight scenes, which is as should be. The CGI as before is a mixed bag with some scenes looking unbelievably good and others looking out of place entirely, to the point where they felt in no way connected to what was happening onscreen. These instances were few and far between though, so nothing to worry about.

The music was on par with what we heard last time. Again, it was a fun listen and was particularly enjoyable during battle sequences, which tended to feature more energy-packed tunes. The voice acting was superb, with everyone turning in a very realistic and fitting performance on both language tracks.

The DVD package for this release features a number of extras, these include: an interview with world-famous singer Gackt (who not only recorded songs for this OVA, but also voiced one of the characters), Interview with Michael Zang about martial arts, behind the scenes ADR footage, character bios, and previews for other ADV Films releases. Inside the DVD case there is also a color insert that features the same artwork as the front cover of the box.

Video and audio reproduction for this release was excellent with no particular flaws or errors being noticeable. The image quality here was very sharp and colors came in brightly. The audio was crystal clear and featured a nice mix of sounds.

Final Thoughts

New Fist of the North Star volume 2 rocked the Japan Hero dojo! As a fan of the series I can really appreciate what’s being done here and am immensely enjoying seeing the story progress and the action take off. Now that the setup for a big clash of martial arts titans is in place, I can’t wait to see how it goes down.

This one is veryrecommended!

Jeffrey Couto