Okamura Yoshiyuki (岡村善行), also known as Buronson (武論尊) or Sho Fumimura (史村翔 Fumimura Shō), is a Japanese manga writer most known by his famous work Hokuto no Ken. known in English as Fist of the North Star. He graduated from the Japanese Air Force Training School in 1967 and served as an Air Force radar mechanic. In 1969 he discharged from the Japanese Navy and was soon hired by Hiroshi Motomiya as a manga assistant. He started his manga writing career when he wrote the script of Pink Punch: Miyabi in 1972, drawn by Goro Sakai. In 1975 Buronson wrote his first big hit The Doberman Detective, drawn by Shinji Hiramatsu. The famous Hokuto no Ken made its debute as Buronson's greatest hit in 1983, drawn by Tetsuo Hara. In 1989 his story Ourou was released as a manga serialized in Animal Magazine, drawn by Kentarou Miura, and in 1990 a sequel entitled Ourou Den was released by the same manga artist. Buronson also collaborated with the manga artist Ryoichi Ikegami in many works as Strain (manga) , Human (manga) and the famous Sanctuary (manga). Among his other major works are The Phantom Gang, with art by Kaoru Shintani.
Buronson was mainly influenced by movies such as Bruce Lee's, and Mad Max.
The nickname Buronson is a tribute to the American actor Charles Bronson, whose way of growing the mustache was imitated by Yoshiyuki Okamura too.
Continua il viaggio di Ken nel mondo devastato dalle bombe atomiche e dove l'umanità ha perso il suo spirito comunitario. La forza bruta è l'unica legge ormai, ma fortunatamente è arrivato l'angelo salvatore Ken Shiro, anche se è uno degli ultimi detentori della scuola di assassini di Hokuto, è riuscito a mantenere una parvenza di umanità. In questo terzo albo vediamo Ken alle prese con una banda senza scrupoli ammazzare innocenti per l'acqua, bene molto scarso in questo mondo ormai deserto, ma anche perchè la malvagità la fa da padrone! Ma nell'oscurità si nasconde qualcosa di infernale che...
Our hero is once again encountering friends and foes in the wasteland which was once modern civilization in the past. He also has to battle one of his brothers-in-arm. Friendship, loyalty, betrayal, struggle for survival and hunger for power all come into play, the themes are nothing new but the author's dead-serious tone really does wonder for the story. XD
Per tutto il volume ho pensato “ok, bello ma lo schema è sempre quello…” e poi arriva il colpo di scena finale a risollevare tutto! E che colpo di scena!
Este tomo me recordó mucho a Mad Max y me pareció interesante la introducción de la cultura india de la segunda parte hasta el final. Sigue en la misma línea que los anteriores en cuanto al ritmo y elementos en la narración.
Y me resulta muy gracioso el hecho de que cuando Ken acaba una pelea y vuelve con Lin y Bad diga: "pues ya estaría".
Another amazing volume for this saga, even if I didn't like Jackal as character (I preferred other enemies), I appreciated when Ken faces the Giant at the end. While I was turning the pages, I felt really sad because of the deaths, too many victims of a cruel world. The story continues well and there is the same good style, exciting action but at the same time, there is also a good plot. I'm curious to know more about the new enemie.
This volume features the meat of the overlong Jackal arc and is notable only for some memorable bits of villainous cruelty and the sole genuine giant monster faced by Kenshiro.
Jackal is one of those post-nuke gang leaders who pretty much infest this series and he's one of the least interesting, basically spending his time bullying his men (who would work for this asshole?) and preying upon helpless villages for their food and water. In other words, he's low-rent trash and certainly not a worthy opponent for a master of superhuman kung fu like Kenshiro. This arc gives us a look into the roots of Ken's annoying sidekick, Bat, when we are introduced to the residents of the isolated village where he and a gaggle of children were cared for by an aged adoptive mother figure, and it's through them that we see past Bat's seemingly self-serving attitude and bravado and discover that he left the village so his adopted brothers and sisters would have more food and water. And speaking of water, Jackal gets wind of the village having a well and immediately decides to take it for himself, and fuck what happens to the old lady and the kids. The situation builds as Ken uses his powers to give new life to the dwindling well and Jackal causes the deaths of some of the kids and the old lady. Thus motivated, Ken gives chase to an understandably scared-shitless Jackal, but Jackal's trail leads to a staggeringly secure prison designed to hold "Devil Rebirth," a King Kong-sized ultra-deadly martial artist who once killed 700 men with his bare hands in one fell swoop, so guess who has to fight him?
It's all pretty silly stuff, even by the loony standards of FIST OF THE NORTH STAR, and if not for the few pages near the end of the volume that kick off the next arc, this volume could be completely skipped over without in any way impairing the flow of the overall narrative (episodic though it may be, it's really all one very long "warrior's journey" epic). The last few pages introduce readers to the wandering wildman Rei, a massively popular character who proved vital to the series and became one of the classic tragic figures in '80's manga and anime, but more on him in the review of the next volume...