Hokuto No Ken: The Movie 1986, You Are Already Dead, etc

I know there's already a Fist of The North Star/Hokuto no Ken topic, but it's a long running franchise and I thought I'd make a thread specifically for the animated movie from 1986.

I saw it last December, and it's since become one of my favorite movies and also got me hooked on the series. I find it to be a nearly perfect movie.

For those who aren't familiar, the story takes place after a nuclear war, in which most of the Earth has been annihilated, and the remaining people live in a world ruled by violence. In this age, those who master martial arts (that give you super powers somehow) fight each other for control, but among them is one who might bring peace to this bleak, violent world.

You can watch it on Youtube in very nice quality. There's a dubbed version, but I highly recommend you watch the Japanese audio with English subtitles, as the japanese version has some of the best voice acting I've ever heard, while the english dub is frankly half-assed and makes a complete joke of the story.

EDIT: NEVERMIND IT GOT BALEETED.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVXdw-voKAE
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnhQ4Espzu4&feature=related
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn3Jm7O9Lp0
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ2aJNyL1ZU&feature=related
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXccVdVNnAU&feature=related
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6ycqLNJ9nY&feature=related
Part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pERLyZaks8&feature=related
Part 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvNAtXMFYwc&feature=related
Part 9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaRG0IKuOMM&feature=related
Part 10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dz-8vY1x-I&feature=related
Part 11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHUB8iJxqoA
Part 12: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOmRPnKtR1c&feature=related

And just for fun, I got some screenshots of particularly cool looking scenes:

Cosbydaf you ruined 2,000 years of bogleech. But this series is good stupid fun. If you like fist of the north star check out the story of riki oh both the live action movie and the anime movies are good bloody stupid fun.

I haven't seen the movie, but I got to see some of the original series, and I loved every second of its over-the-top craziness, as well as that Metal as fuck opening theme.
Sing it with me, people.

YOU WA SHOCK!!

If you liked watching the series, I can almost guarantee you'll love the movie. I watched the whole series after seeing it.

Although the movie made a few changes in order to condense the story, it's basically all the best parts of the first half of the series, amped up on steroids. Some parts are so close to their respective scenes in the series that they have the same sound effects.

TELL ME THIS MAN'S NAME!

This series has long been stamped with my approval. It is utterly ridiculous in plot and scope. For those interested in experimental animation, it was far ahead of its time for unusual traditional techniques. Particularly during the fight scenes.

There are also men with pigtails and girlish fat men who hit on other men. At least in the TV series. I suggest watching both. En masse. Possibly while playing a horrible drinking game.

The director was also behind Vampire Hunter D (the old one) and you can feel his stamp on this absurd production.

Well, in my opinion, while there was a lot of badassery (I liked that blue haired martial artist who could cut people in half with his bare hands) and great stuff in there, it didn't quite flow that well for me, like you could see the seams from a serial manga trying to be stiched together into a far shorter film. And I don't quite get the ending of the fight between Rao and Kenshiro. To me it felt like they pulled that straight out of their asses, but I'm probably missing some important theme there.

I'd love to see a remake of this that streamlines the story and makes it flow better, maybe a live action one which, in my ideal fantasy world, would look a lot like Riki-Oh, but with a far higher budget. And yes I know there was an actual live action film, but from what I've seen it doesn't have near as much of the awesome stuff that this one had.

I dunno, I just think I'd probably like the actual series far better, since they wouldn't have to cram 10 hours of series into 2 hours of movie.

First of all, did you watch the subbed version or the dubbed? This is important as the dub actors ad libbed 90% of the dialogue and that movie makes barely any sense as a result.

Anyway, with any big manga adaption like this, "cramming" is unavoidable. As far as cramming goes, this movie does it better than anything else I've seen, with the exception of maybe Akira.

As for the ending: IIRC, Raoh and Kenshiro's fight is pretty much accurate to the anime and manga, in that Lynn prevents any kind of fatal conclusion. I find it to be a far more emotional, and interesting conclusion, as opposed to Ken or Raoh just dying then and there.

So you say it needs to be more streamlined. What scenes where problematic? What changes need to be made?

Also don't bother with the "live action movie", I've seen it and I can assure you it's total shit.