History FistOfTheNorthStar / TropesIToP

* NiceHat: The helmets in ''North Star'' are legendary. One notable example is Uighur, who hides whips in his horned helmet (you pull them out by yanking on the horns). Jagi, Raoh and Kaioh's helmets also count. Kaioh's helmet is especially nice, as it seemingly boosts his Anryū Tenha technique, which has the ability to nullify Kenshiro's Musou Tensei.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters:
** Strong characters with unique fighting styles are introduced, only to be killed off within the next volume or two. Think ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', if people died.
** Some of them are given bit more screen time in Toei's anime version, like Raiga and Fuga, Koryu, Hyui and Shuren, Shoki and Nagato to name a few.

* PlotTumor: The original manga focused primarily on martial arts (some hardcore, some zany) and the KiManipulation is a rare occurrence. In the manga's second run, we are introduced to ''Gento Ko Ken'' - a martial art based almost entirely on KiManipulation.

* MonsterSobStory: Told by both Thouzer and Kaioh to Kenshiro ''right before'' their final battles, when there's no time left for the reader to watch them grow as characters or sympathise with them. Though the week-to-week short term plotting of the shounen manga industry is probably to blame here.
** Fortunately, we do get to learn more about Thouzer immediately after his first fight with Kenshiro, and before Shew challenges him. Just like Kenshiro, Thouzer was slated as the true successor to his fighting style, but lost his mentor through tragic circumstance.

* OffscreenTeleportation: Ken, the first time he's against Jackal, does this a lot. Some characters are explicitly shown to teleport, like Joker.

** There's also the episode in which Ken kills Devil's Rebirth: It just shows him from the back as he punches, while Devil's body goes past up. It's the funniest GreenScreen effect ever.

** Not Jesus Himself, but his lookalike Toki, who would be the most powerful Hokuto Shingen practitioner, if weren't for his crippling radition sickness.

** Yes, LighterAndSofter. ''Fist of North Star'' was not the first post-apocalyptic manga. It would ''probably'' be ''Manga/ViolenceJack'' by Creator/GoNagai. Compared with THAT series - an utterly rotten CrapsackWorld where HumansAreBastards and [[FromBadToWorse things only ever get worse]], ''Hokuto no Ken'' is a pretty optimistic and hopeful story. At least ''Fist of the North Star'' gives the message that you can still be good and noble and remain a human being even in the worst circumstances. ''Violence Jack''? Not so much.
** It's even this to the film franchise that inspired this series. Just like in ''Film/MadMax'', there are thousands of raiders ruled by warlords in a barren post-apocalyptic wasteland, and TheHero just happens to come across peoples' horrible experiences, and goes out of their way to help them. The major difference is, much like ''Violence Jack's'' example above, there's quite a lot cynicism, but the it does end on a high note.

* LyricalDissonance: ''Ai Wo Torimodose'', is in fact ''a love song'' when you look deeper into the lyrics!

%%* MightyGlacier: Mr. Heart practically defines this, in both the show and the [=PS2=] fighter. Another large character, Fudou, does basically nothing but ride this trope.

* KiAttacks:

* PlotTumor: The original manga focused primarily on martial arts (some hardcore, some zany) and the KiAttacks were a rare occurrence. In the manga's second run, we are introduced to ''Gento Ko Ken'' - a martial art based almost entirely on KiAttacks.

* InfantImmortality: Although children and even infants often died in the manga (along with a few dogs), the TV anime often rewrote such scenes so that the child escapes from harm's way with Kenshiro's help (the most prominent examples being Taki, Bat's adopted little brother who gets shot by one of Jackal's men, and Ryo, the kid in Shew's hideout who ate bread poisoned by Thouzer and his men).

* LoweredMonsterDifficulty: The population of [[TheSpartanWay the land of Shura]]. Especially notable in filler.

* NoHuggingNoKissing: Despite love, or rather fighting for it, being a main theme in the series, not much happens between the OfficialCouple Kenshiro and Yuria. They are shown to be a couple in its purest form, the original manga and anime only had them going as far as holding hands, and yet it is implied they went much further than that-- the movies even had Yuria expecting Kenshiro's child! Spinoffs avert this by having other characters like Rei, Jagi, Raoh and even Kenshiro's uncle getting hot and heavy with their interests; Ken and Yuria still get no such "step-up" in those installments even though they're the main pairing.

* MusclesAreMeaningless: Partially averted. Almost all serious martial artists are musclebound bruisers (and about half of them, including Kenshiro, are much taller and more massive than average inhabitants of the postnuclear desert), but, on the other hand, there are a lot of really superhumanly big people in this series (mutants? genetically engineered? it is never explained where all these five-meters tall humans came from), [[GiantMook but their giant size usually does not help them much]], even though some of them are accomplished martial artists in their own right. Buronson likes toying with this one. Hokuto's breathing techniques effectively embody this trope, but apparently most of those {{giant mook}}s [[ArtisticLicense were about as tall as Toki]].

* NoHuggingNoKissing: Despite love, or rather fighting for it, being a main theme in the series, not much happens between the OfficialCouple, Kenshiro and Yuria are shown to be a couple in its purest form, the original manga and anime only had them going as far as holding hands, and yet it is implied they went much further than that, the movies even had Yuria expecting Kenshiro's child; spin-offs avert this by having other characters like Rei, Jagi, Raoh and even Kenshiro's uncle getting hot and heavy with their interests, ironically Ken and Yuria gets no such "step-up" in spin-offs even though they are the original OfficialCouple.

** The elder in Mamiya's village bears a [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/fist_of_the_north_star/v04/c028/14.html suspicious resemblance]] to a certain [[StarWars Ben Kenobi]].

* LyricalDissonance: ''Ai Wo Torimodose'', seen as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome by many, is in fact ''a love song'' when you look deeper into the lyrics!

* LighterAndSofter: Yes, LighterAndSofter. ''Fist of North Star'' was not the first post-apocalyptic manga. It would ''probably'' be ''Manga/ViolenceJack'' by Creator/GoNagai. Compared with THAT series - an utterly rotten CrapsackWorld where HumansAreBastards and [[FromBadToWorse things only ever get worse]], ''Hokuto no Ken'' is a pretty optimistic and hopeful story. At least ''Fist of the North Star'' gives the message that you can still be good and noble and remain a human being even in the worst circumstances. ''Violence Jack''? Not so much.

* ImprovFu: Jyuza gave Raoh one hell of a HumiliationConga with a fighting style he invented on the spot. The fight ends with him stealing Raoh's horse, Kokuoh.

* {{Mangst}}: Made into an art form here. All the major fighters, let alone Kenshiro himself, are destined to carry the burden of sadness in some way, be it from love and loss, betrayal, or [[BreakTheCutie being completely unprepared for what fate has in store]]. [[AlasPoorVillain Kenshiro even finds newfound respect and sympathy]] with any bad guys that were are revealed to have been driven to villainy [[FreudianExcuse from a tragic past]] or [[DespairEventHorizon loss of innocence and faith]]. MiseryLovesCompany, after all.

** Shin kickstarted this for Kenshiro, inadvertently or not, when he stole Yuria away from Ken and left him for dead, only to inspire the ambition and obsession he lacked in their previous fight. It quickly dawns on Shin that an enraged, determined Kenshiro makes for a onesided battle.

* MiseryBuildsCharacter: One of the many [[AnAesop lessons]] of the series, and a point that is made a good amount of times.
** Shin kickstarted this for Kenshiro, inadvertently or not, when he stole Yuria away from Ken and left him for dead, only to inspire the ambition and obsession he lacked in their previous fight.
** Toki himself advises Kenshiro to "[[TeachHimAnger turn his grief into fury]]" for the sake of the future.
** Raoh muses at the end of the first series that the loss of several friends through combat has allowed Kenshiro to see the line between life and death and transcend as a fighter. Kenshiro himself reflects upon

** Whenever Ken walks in the anime, more often than not the animators just take a static frame of him and wave it up and down. Leads to {{Narm}} in some cases, such as the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAYLxEG5X-Y HILARIOUSLY bad special effect in episode 23,]] where we see Ken from an exploding Mook's point of view, and it's painfully obvious that the animators just waved Ken's picture around in the background.