Fist of the North Star... For Kids!?

Sub-tektor

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American Hokuto No Ken?

Long time ago (aka 29 years ago) there was an epic Manga called Hokuto No Ken, that was successful so a year after it got an anime.

Hokuto No Ken was so successful there was a plan of localizing it here, but that didn't happen until in the 90's that was directed to VHS. But there was a plan to put it on TV in the 80's, and they were planning on making it a kids show...

DiC would not allow a show with blowing people up and have complex issues, and a dark story line in a Saturday morning lineup, so they have to make great changes to the show. The style of the show would be fairly similar to the original anime, it would have this desert like area, the goons are still punks, and the characters still have their same design. Now clearly they'll have to change the art for the show (and probably have to use Stock Footage on several occasions). The only differences between the art is that the characters would look more like they're from a Hanna Barbara cartoon... But I can't say much for the story arcs itself (Which is incredibly generic)

For one it isn't a post apocalyptic world it's going to be a planet called Desert World. the characters are going through extreme changes making it more like Scooby Doo. Kenshiro would be named Ken, and he's going to goofy but useful (AKA Inspector Gadget) Mamiya (Mary) who's not much different than her anime counterpart but she's a bit more of a valley girl, Rei (which he would be called Rick) would be like the Shaggy (A very scared character...) Bat would be like the Scrappy (Annoyingly brave), and Lin would be... Nothing special. Oh and their dog would be a weiner dog, that barely talks.

The reccuring villians would be Heart and Colonel (Which would be like the Bulk and Skull, and there names would be Fat and Skinny) and the main Antagonist would be Shin (Which he would be called King Evil... I wish I was making this up, and he would be like the Skeletor but acts like Simon Belmont from Captain N). He kidnaps Princess Yuria (Princess... HOLD ON...! 'vomits in bucket') So, the premise is that Ken has to get back Princess Yuria form King Evil. That's as far as the similarities go in story.

There would be some sort of villain of the week, and while it does sound similar to the show, it's not handled well. The purpose is pretty much action figures, and non violent fights (which I would get to that in a second) and really the villains range from the mook leaders, and the main villains from the show, and sometimes, even the good guys. I'll just list a few.

Juza(Which he would be called the Ring Master): Is a clown that tricks the heroes into a crazy circus (they're not going to make him a heterosexual transvestite, or a mildy bisexual... transvestite)
Souther/Thouzer (Which he would be called Sir Lancelot): Is a knight for King Evil that acts like a hammy knight character.
Jagi (The Hunter):Is Ken's brother (by blood in this one) that has a mind control helmet, and is only goal is to hunt down Ken, and is considered a threat.
Shu (The Break Dancer... UUUUUUGUH!): He is a break dancer A BREAK... DANCER that memorizes Ken with his dance moves. He also... Raps... He was so bad, he was scrapped. COMPLETELY in the first draft of the script
The Devil Rebirth (Giant): A huge blue monster, that's missing his mommy which is an old lady, that's still alive who misses his son.
Juda (Dean): A famous Punk Rocker that has eyes on Mary, and talks like a surfer dude. The group thinks he's cool but rick who is extremely jealous of him.
Zaria (Count Dracula): A vampire that even scares Ken when he finds out he's an actual vampire.
The show's fight would consist of being punched off screen (which brings in the stock footage of Ken using the hundred reverse cracked fist) and then it would cut to a bunch of guys being pushed to walls very comically. They would do this back and forth. There is a similarity to the anime, where Ken does use the Hokuto Shinken (Fist of the North Star). But instead of making people blow up, or gruesomely make people walk or point he would turn them into vehicles, or inanimate which a running gag is to turn Rick into a car or boat.

Now speaking of Rick (at this point forward we're going by the Anime names) Rei is the most bastardize character in the show, if you can't tell already. The guy is nearly a complete wuss, and is almost nothing like him. He does have the green hair, but there's an actual reason behind it, and it's because he's a vegetarian, and he ate so many vegetables he got green hair. The other similarity is that he does have a crush on Mamiya. His back story is that he was the town's fool, and at one point his sister was kidnap by the clan, and he ended up being kidnapped. Kenshiro managed to save him and his sister, and he became a vehicle for Kenshrio. This was only mentioned. He also gets in disguises with Bat and the wiener dog to fool the enemy.

The Kenshrio character was also very bastardize since he's now a moron. He constantly gets himself into trouble, which Rei and Mamiya might as well be the main characters. But of course when they save Kenshiro he ends up end saving the day. Also he doesn't have the seven scars anymore, get rid of an iconic feature.

There were twelve episodes plan for the season. The pilot has only gone through the story boards, and there was concept art for the characters. The finished scripts were the closest thing to make it out as complete episodes. The show was planned to end with Shin unleashing Raoh (Who would be Lord Dark in the show), and would end in a cliffhanger.

How I know all of this is that I know the creator personally, and I won't say his name, so we'll call him Crazy Carol. The show was so bad, DiC wanted to burn the scripts, and they kicked him out. Even for the time the show was outdated, (it was planned to be release in 1989) it was too much like a 70's Hanna Barbara cartoon. In 1991 The Fist of the Northstar movie (the 1986 animated film) was released so it was kind of pointless to release the KIDS SHOW, so it became of waste of time, and kind of waste of money, since they did need to pay the rights for the show you know, especially for the artists who did the concept art and story boards.
 
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