Fist of the North Star (北斗の拳 Hokuto no Ken, literally Fist of the Big Dipper) is a Japanese animated series based on the manga written by Buronson and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara.
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Dubbing History[]
The show was first dubbed in 1999 by Animaze for Manga Entertainment. Manga released the dub on VHS before stopping after 8 tapes covering 24 episodes. The other 12 dubbed episodes would air on Showtime Beyond in the US, and released on DVD across 6 Volumes.
The dub goes no further than Episode 36. Why it wasn't completed is unclear, though it seems Manga only licensed 36 episodes as a starting point and the home video sales likely didn't justify the cost of licensing further episodes.
In 2009, an alternate dub of the series was produced by William Winkler Productions in the form of various compilation films.
Cast[]
| Image | Character | Seiyū | Voice Actor |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Kenshiro | Akira Kamiya | Lex Lang |
|
Bart (Bat) | Teiyū Ichiryūsai | Gary Dubin |
|
Lynn | Tomiko Suzuki | Sandy Fox |
|
Raoh | Kenji Utsumi | John Snyder |
|
Toki | Takaya Hashi | Kirk Thornton |
|
Jagi | Kōji Totani | Peter Lurie |
|
Ryuken | Junji Chiba | Simon Prescott |
|
Shin | Toshio Furukawa | Steve Blum |
|
Rei | Kaneto Shiozawa | Daran Norris |
|
Julia | Yuriko Yamamoto | Mary Elizabeth McGlynn |
|
Mamiya | Toshiko Fujita | |
|
Airi | Arisa Andō | Kim Mai Guest (ep. 24-29) |
| Christina Carlisi (ep. 33) | |||
|
Zeed | Eiji Kanie | Joe Romersa |
|
Spade | Tesshō Genda | Kirk Thornton |
|
Diamond | Daisuke Gōri | Peter Spellos |
|
Club | Kōji Totani | R. Martin Klein |
|
Heart | Shōzō Iizuka | Joe Romersa |
|
Joker | Shigeru Chiba | Richard Cansino |
|
General Balcom | Seizō Katō | Beau Billingslea |
|
Mad Sarge | Yasuo Tanaka | Jamieson Price |
|
Colonel | Kōji Yada | Barry Stigler |
|
Jackal | Masayuki Katō | Tom Wyner |
|
Fox | Kōji Totani | Michael Deak |
|
Boss Fang | Takeshi Watabe | Simon Prescott |
|
Amiba | Takaya Hashi | Kirk Thornton |
| Narration | Shigeru Chiba | Jonathan David Cook (eps 1-27) | |
| Tom Wyner (eps 28-36) |
Additional Voices[]
Notes[]
- Even though many voice actors from the Streamline Pictures dub of the movie are present in this dub, none reprise their roles:
- Tony Oliver who played Bat in the movie dub voices several incidental characters from episode 19 and onwards in the series.
- Wally Burr who voiced Raoh previously appeared as a guest in Volume 7 (Episodes 19-21) playing Blackbird Army Captain Mahari and one of the KING commanders plotting with General Barcom to overthrow Shin.
- Dave Mallow who voiced the Colonel and Mr. Heart in the movie instead voices the Captain of God's Army in the series along with some extras in the first six episodes.
- Daniel Woren who played Jagi in the film voices the Patrol Leader of God's Army here.
- Michael McConnohie, the movie voice of Shin, voices Gyūki and several extras towards the end of the series' dub.
- Steve Bulen, the movie voices of Elder Ukoku and Galf, appears in the series as Baron, Wolf, and several extras.
- Kirk Thornton became the voice of Toki (in flashbacks), Amiba, Spade, the Major of God's Army, Temujina, and several incidental characters in the series when he'd previously appeared in the movie's dub as a victim of Jagi's gang and one of Raoh's supporters.
- Barbara Goodson played Mako, Kasim, and several incidentals later in the series' dub after having previously voiced Airi and an old beggar woman in the dub of the movie.
- Michael Forest had perviously voiced Zeed in the movie dub whereas in the series, he was moved to playing Elder Ukoku.
- Tom Wyner voiced Fox in the movie but was recast as Fox's boss Jackal in the series' dub and handled the narration for episodes 28-36.
- Doug Stone voiced Kubaru, a thug in Jagi's gang, in the movie and several incidentals before he would voice Farmer Smith in the dub of the series.
- Catherine Battistone played an incidental (a grieving woman watching Jagi's gang torment and slaughter people) in the movie dub before becoming the voice of Toyo in the series.
- Wendee Lee appeared in the movie dub as a woman being slaughtered by Zeed's gang and would also voice a prisoner in the fourth episode of the series, though she would not be credited for the latter role.
- Tom Wyner took over as the series' narrator from Jonathan Cook from episode 28 to the end of the dub.
- Christina Carlisi replaced Kim Mai Guest as Airi in episode 33, which would be the character's final appearance in the episodes that were dubbed.
- David Ellenstein voiced Johnny in episode 6 but in episodes 7-8 Jeff Nimoy replaced him.
- Kevin Brief provided Aruna's voice in episode 18, but Joe Romersa replaced him in the role for episodes 19-20.
- Christopher Lee Michael voiced Kemada in episodes 23-24, but Ty Webb provided the voice in episode 25. The same happened with Mamiya's brother Kō who was initially voiced by Bob Buchholz in the former-mentioned episodes, but was recast with Kirk Baily in the latter. The elder of Mamiya's village also had a change going from Paul Carr in episode 23 to William H. Bassett in episodes 25-26, and 30.
Transmission[]
| Date(s) | Channel | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Showtime Beyond | United States | 
|
| 2002 | Sci-Fi Channel | United Kingdom | 
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Video Releases[]
| Distributor | Year | Format | Contents | Region | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manga Entertainment | 1999-2000 | 
|
Episodes 1-24 | NTSC | United States |
|
| 8 Volumes | ||||||
| 2003 | 
|
Episodes 1-36 | 1 NTSC | |||
| 6 Volumes | ||||||
| Discotek Media | 2010-2011 | The Complete Series* | ||||
| 3 Volumes | ||||||
| 2014 | The Complete Series* | |||||
| 21 Discs | ||||||
| 2017 | 
|
The Complete Series* | A DVB-T | |||
| 3 Discs | ||||||
*Includes the undubbed episodes with subtitles.
See Also[]
External Links[]
- Fist of the North Star at the Internet Movie Database
- Fist of the North Star (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia