Does Tetsuo Hara's Fist of the North Star deserve a fresh anime series adaptation? Explored

As part of Fist of the North Star manga's 40th year anniversary celebration, the series is set to receive a new anime adaptation. While many were earlier confused about the adaptation's plot, it has been confirmed that the new anime will be the retelling of the manga's story. This has been a long time coming as there are several reasons why Tetsuo Hara's Fist of the North Star deserves a fresh anime adaptation.

Fist of the North Star follows the story of Kenshirou in a post-apocalyptic world as he tries to locate his rival Shin, who had kidnapped his fiance Yuria. During this journey, Kenshirou starts using a deadly fighting form called Hokuto Shinken to fight his enemies and defend helpless people.

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Fist of the North Star deserves an anime remake, and there are a few reasons that justify that

Kenshirou as seen in the anime (Image via Toei Animation)

First and foremost, Tetsuo Hara's Fist of the North Star deserves a fresh anime adaptation to make use of the latest animation technology. The anime was produced by Toei Animation and was first released in 1984. While the adaptation was quite good at the time, compared to modern-day anime, the quality is way too low. Hence, an anime remake will certainly allow fans of the manga series to get a much more detailed anime for the series.

Secondly, a new anime remake should help the franchise attract new fans. LIDENFILMS recently released a remake of the Rurouni Kenshin anime. While many people were previously aware of the franchise, not all of them had watched the anime. However, a remake allowed fans to watch the anime on a weekly basis alongside enjoying an improved animation quality. Therefore, the franchise was able to attract newer audiences.

Kenshirou as seen in the anime (Image via Toei Animation)

The same can be expected in the case of Fist of the North Star. This would, in turn, increase the franchise's manga sales as well, leading to an overall growth of the series.

Although the entire manga series has 245 chapters, when Toei Animation first produced the TV anime, it only adapted till manga chapter 210. Therefore, the anime is yet to have anime episodes focusing on 35 chapters, which could have been another 11-12 episodes worth of content. Hence, an anime remake could possibly allow fans to witness the entire Fist of the North Star series being adapted in a single stretch or split into seasons.

Kenshirou as seen in the manga (Image via Shueisha)

Lastly, when the original anime aired, it faced a lot of censorship. While a new series could also face the same issues, given the anime that are being released right now, there is a better chance for a remake anime to face less censorship. This should allow fans to watch the manga's story the way it was meant to be depicted.

The fact that Tetsuo Hara's Fist of the North Star is a gory manga yet it faced much censorship in an anime is poor. Therefore, a fresh adaptation of the anime should help fans get the full experience of the franchise for the first time in animation.