"He's mad as hell... and heads are going to blow!" A quote taken from the synopsis of this DVD, it's as perfect a description of New Fist of the North Star as you could hope for.

In a world decimated by nuclear war and dominated by sadistic thugs, Kenshiro doesn't believe in compromise. Armed with his devastating Hokuto Shinken martial arts technique (where landing even one punch can resign your opponent to a gruesome death), Ken wanders this futuristic wasteland, defending the weak and destroying the corrupt. He is the Fist of the North Star, the man with seven scars, and the strongest warrior alive.

Running at a measly 55 minutes, this new take on Fist of the North Star doesn't waste much time throwing us into the action and with only ten minutes gone, the sheer amount of death and gore on offer will horrify and thrill in equal measure.
Being the most recent addition to the Fist of the North Star mythology, I can safely say that the much adored exploding heads, broken bones and smashed teeth have never looked as shocking as this. The fans will be happy then; while Fist of the North Star always did have an intriguing science fiction story threading each instalment together, the wise-cracking bad-ass Kenshiro and over-the-top violence were always the most important scenes.

Working as a fine introduction to Fist of the North Star's "dog eat dog" universe, this short story sees Kenshiro lock horns with Sanga, the brutal lord of "the Cursed City" (one of the few places left with a fresh supply of water) and his loyal band of brainless henchmen.
It would be foolish to delve any deeper into the story; when watching Fist of the North Star it's not as though we're desperate for any real emotional depth, we just need a worthy opponent for Ken; someone who will give him a good opportunity to flex his flamboyant talents- and Sanga more than provides this, with the episode climax treating us to a fine extended battle and a couple of entertaining one liners to boot.

As much as I enjoyed this short lived adventure, I was more than happy to see allusions being made to Kenshiro's bitter past. As an out and out fan of the original movie, I'm hankering to see some of the older characters in these shiny new surroundings. Fist of the North Star is an epic story that involves hatred, betrayal and revenge and I'm hoping that further episodes will take us on a more personal journey with Ken and friends.

In Summary

Verging on utterly mindless violence, New Fist of the North Star #1 is an attractively animated short film brimming with apocalyptic punks, crude one-liners and exploding heads. Action junkies will be in heaven when watching this, but others may wonder what all the fuss is about. And while it certainly won't win any critical awards, New Fist of the North Star #1 is as fun and violent as the fanboy (or fangirl) in us all discretely craves.