Line #87 FistOfTheNorthStar/TropesIToP


1	FistOfTheNorthStar/{{Tropes A To H}} \| '''Tropes I To P''' \| FistOfTheNorthStar/{{Tropes Q To Z}}
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3	!!!''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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5	* IAmBigBoned: Gyoko of the Asura kills anyone who even slightly insinuates that he is obese. Of course, the very first thing that Kenshiro does upon confronting him is to call him fat.
6	* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: Shin loves Yuria because she is [[InformedAbility an emotionally strong-willed woman]] whom he sees as a challenge to make her ''willingly'' fall in love with him.
7	* InterruptedBath: Rei walks in on Mamiya and Lin while they're bathing at a water spring. Clad in a ModestyTowel, Mamiya [[FullFrontalAssault tries to fight him]], but he easily avoids her punches and grabs her by her hair. He then [[ShamefulStrip removes the towels wrapped around her body]] and tells her that she is [[HeadTurningBeauty far too beautiful]] to be worth sacrificing to the Fang clan before leaving.
8	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: The manga's final volume has Ken and Bat ''both'' trying out the IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy suit with Lin: earlier, Kaioh had pressed the pressure point Shikan Haku on Lin's back that would cause her to fall in love with the first man she saw upon waking -- expecting that it would be a scummy bandit or a lowly beggar, ''anyone'' but Ken; nevertheless when she wakes, it's just Ken and Bat (who'd learned of Shikan Haku -- important point there). Bat was aware of Lin's love for Ken, but Ken was sympathetic to her for all that she'd been through and instead wanted her to live peacefully, so he rode off to ensure that Lin would fall in love with Bat instead. Bat makes a show of going along, but at their wedding he's unable to fully commit -- feeling that it's not right for him to be getting the (sincere) love compelled onto her, so in an even more extreme case, he actually causes retrograde amnesia in her, then in an ''incredibly'' cockamimie plot actually attempts to "guide" the rebuilding of memories in an attempt to cause her to fall in love with Ken all over again instead... by the end though, [[spoiler:it fails when Ken and Lin both regain their memories, and in her case remembering her love for the now-dying Bat. While Ken promised to Bat that he would go off with Lin, he secretly pressed healing points on Bat before leaving without her... leaving her a welcome surprise]].
9	* ImprovFu: Jyuza gave Raoh one hell of a HumiliationConga with a fighting style he invented on the spot - he explains that his body (and thus his fighting style) moves in the same way as a cloud, allowing him full freedom as to how he handles fighting. The first fight ends with him stealing Raoh's horse, Kokuoh.
10	* InertialImpalement: One scene shows the villain's fortifications, including sharpened trees thicker than a man's arm. Later on the downtrodden villagers storm the villain's base, and one guy is shown to have somehow impaled himself at least three feet on one of the stakes.
11	* InformedAbility: There are villains who brag about their unstoppable fighting styles whose power we never see onscreen, though a good load of them do manage to show it off. The most ubiquitous example has to be Thouzer's Tensho Juuji Hou attack, which supposedly can cut through stainless steel, but only scratches Ken's shoulders a bit and got a ''lot'' of hype beforehand. [[JustifiedTrope Granted]], Ken's MadeOfIron, and once got hit in the head with a solid stone pillar as big as he is and remained completely unfazed (the pillar shattered to pieces). So it is easy to see how an attack that can cut stainless steel might be not a big deal to him.
12	** The Land of Asura might be the worst offender. It's a country inhabited by martial artists called Asura who spend their entire lives training and killing to perfect their styles. Only one in a hundred boys reach adulthood, and these warriors have won hundreds of fights by then. One would be forgiven for thinking this country is filled with supreme badasses who will push Kenshiro to his limits, especially after Falco gets defeated by a warrior so relatively weak he hasn't even earned his name, right? HaHaHaNo. Turns out Falco lost only because he was still weak from his duel with Kenshiro, and all the Asura are far, far below the Hokuto and Nanto practitioners. Kenshiro steamrolls his way through the Land of Asura and deals with all of these supposed master warriors like they're your average mowhawked bastards on bikes, with only the three Rasho, who practice an inferior Hokuto branch style, giving him significant trouble.
13	* {{Intangibility}}: One of the effects of Hokuto Shinken's ultimate technique ''Musou Tensei''[[note]]"Nil-Thought Rebirth"[[/note]].
14	* InterfaceScrew: Hokuto Ryuken's ultimate technique ''Anryū Tenha'' pushes an opponent into the air and disorients them. Kenshiro counters it by spinning his body midair without the friction of the ground to slow him down, which deflects all attacks without having to orient himself.
15	* JabbaTableManners: In a world where ''basic'' food and fresh water can ''literally'' cost you an arm and a leg, any character who eats gourmet food can automatically be labelled as a wasteful villain.
16	** Thouzer in particular is an '''exceptionally''' vile example of this trope; he is shown throwing food away and punishing those who try to pick it up.
17	** Shisuka from ''Kenshiro Den'' is an even more literal example than Thouzer, since he resembles the TropeNamer.
18	** The first post-Kaioh arc of the manga had Kouketsu, whose prowess in forcing others to grow food gave him access to large amounts of it, with the inevitable disregard for proper table etiquette.
19	* JapaneseSpirit: Kenshiro, like all masters of the Hokuto and Nanto martial arts schools, has powers and abilities which make him extremely special and Talented. Further, the IncitingIncident which caused the entirety of the series (his first duel and loss to Shin) has Shin specifically state that Kenshiro lost to him because he lacked Resolve. The desire for both [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge revenge]] and [[RoaringRampageOfRescue rescue]] are what push Ken to his peak. Even later, when Ken needs to unlock his ultimate technique, it turns out that he can only do it by embracing "the true nature of sorrow". Finally, Kenshiro at first glance appears to avert the Persistence side of the trope because he's [[InvincibleHero so invincible that he never needs to do any training or even struggle]]. However, it's revealed that all of the battles, lost friends and allies, and psychological trauma he's endured throughout the series has allowed him to perfect his abilities.
20	* KamehameHadoken:
21	** Raoh's special technique Hokuto Gosho Ha allows him to fire a concentrated blast of Touki (fighting spirit) at his opponent.
22	** Tensho Honretsu is similar, except even stronger.
23	* {{Kiai}}:
24	** Kenshiro's battle cries mimic those of Bruce Lee. Not to mention that in the anime, he looks like him too (at least in the early episodes). In the manga though, his face, hair, and clothes all very closely resemble Mel Gibson's character, "Mad" Max Rockatansky in the Mad Max films -- then, when he went off to Shura, Sylvester Stallone.
25	** There's also his famous "ATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!" kiai, which he uses when he's busting out his ''Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken'' on some sorry bad guy.
26	* KiManipulation:
27	** ''Hokuto Shin Ken'' uses ''Touki'' to strike opponent's pressure points with out contact.
28	** ''Gento Ko Ken'' specializes in using ki to destroy enemies on the cellular level via [[KillItWithFire burning]] or [[KillItWithIce freezing]].
29	** ''Hokuto Ryu Ken'' uses ''Matouki'' which is [[MagicByAnyOtherName flat-out magic]].
30	* KickTheDog: A constant, never-ending stream of atrocities designed to make you feel that the villains deserve every last bit of righteous ultra-violence Ken can lavish upon them. One bad guy even ''literally'' kicks a dog -- a cute puppy to be precise.
31	* KillerYoyo: Mamiya uses two of them, and looking ''damn'' fine while doing so.
32	* TheKlan: Several Mooks employed by [[{{Necromancer}} Zaria]] are these.
33	* KnuckleCracking: Part and parcel of Kenshiro's BruceLeeClone nature.
34	* KungFuJesus:
35	** Not Jesus Himself, but his lookalike Toki, who would be the most powerful Hokuto Shinken practitioner, if weren't for his crippling radition sickness.
36	** Not to mention Kenshiro himself in the ''Kensiro Den'' prequel film, right down to resurrecting from LITERALLY being crucified.
37	* LaserGuidedKarma: Kenshiro is a living embodiment of this. Whenever savage thugs or would-be dictators kill helpless people for fun and amusement, expect them to suffer violent and painful deaths at the literal hands of Kenshiro.
38	* LegFocus: The costumes and 'camera' angles in the manga place an unusual emphasis on attractive female characters' legs - [[GenericCuteness which is to say, all the female characters]].
39	* LighterAndSofter:
40	** Yes, LighterAndSofter. ''Fist of the 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.
41	** 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 his 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.
42	* LimitedAnimation:
43	** 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 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.
44	** 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.
45	** In one instance, Kenshiro confronts Amiba after the latter fails at [[WhatTheFuAreYouDoing copying Hokuto Shinken]], he is supposed to step up right into Amiba's face. However, the animation for this scene is simply a still frame of Kenshiro leaning forward being slid up next to a terrified Amiba, and it comes off as even more inappropriately humorous (possibly because the immediately preceding scene was already fairly BloodyHilarious).
46	* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Inverted with Hokuto Ryuuken, which uses magical incantations heavily in its fighting style but is explicitly stated to be inferior to Hokuto Shinken, which focuses on physical attack and pressure-point techniques.
47	* LookWhatICanDoNow: Long training sequences are generally avoided, but this does not stop characters from suddenly unleashing new abilities that they either learned spontaneously, or perhaps [[IAmNotLeftHanded had known all along]].
48	* LoopholeAbuse: Kenshiro hits a Kiba mook with one of his techniques before informing him he'll die in five seconds. The mook panics, screaming he doesn't want to die in five seconds. Rei then dices him to pieces, saying he can just die now.
49	* LoveFreak: Shew, Yuria, to an extent. Lin also counts as well.
50	* LoveMakesYouEvil: Recurring theme for several characters. Most notably Shin and Thouzer.
51	* LyricalDissonance: ''Ai wo Torimodose'', is in fact ''a love song'' when you look deeper into the lyrics!
52	* MadBomber: Jackal and his gang are awfully fond of dynamite sticks as weapons.
53	* MadeOfIron: If you're one of the more powerful fighters in this series, you are virtually immune to damage. For example, Kiba Daioh, a relatively low-level martial artist villain, used a technique which literally transformed his skin into steel, so that when super-strong Kenshiro used a massive steel beam to bludgeon him, the beam was bent into U-shape without doing any damage. Then Kenshiro [[CrazyPrepared struck a pressure point which effectively canceled the effect]], allowing Ken to break Kiba's spine during the second try.
54	* MadeOfPlasticine: On the other hand, if you're a {{mook\|s}}, prepare to have your body remolded like play-doh.
55	* MagicPants: Kenshiro destroys his shirt and expensive looking leather jacket in practically every episode, and yet never seems to have any problem getting it back by the next one.
56	* {{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]]. Misery loves company, after all.
57	* ManlyTears: One of the most famous users of this trope. It should be noted however, that the men of this series shed just as much, if not ''more'' TenderTears than the girls, contrary to popular belief.
58	* MartialMedic: Kenshiro, and his adoptive brother Toki, can manipulate pressure points to heal as well as harm.
59	* MeaningfulName: Toki, who shares his grace with the ibis he was named after, and Thouzer, a slightly more convoluted example. The southerly winds. What birds fly on. Birds like the Nanto style is inspired by. Meaning he is at the root of all Nanto schools, as the emperor. Like that ''wouldn't'' get to his head... And then there's Kenshiro himself, whose name translates to something like "Fourth Son of the Fist."
60	* MegaManning: The first clue that Ken is running on ThePowerOfFriendship is when he starts to [[LookWhatICanDoNow inexplicably use attacks that belonged to fallen allies]]. He also explicitly ''claims'' that practitioners of his style can duplicate the attacks of any other style, though he's the only practitioner shown actually doing this. Also, Raoh runs a giant prison full of martial artists for the sole purpose of stealing all their secrets. There's not enough detail to determine whether it's this or AwesomeByAnalysis, but analysis really doesn't seem like Raoh's strongest suit.
61	* MenDontCry: ''Completely'' and ''wonderfully'' averted in this franchise: violence and brutality be damned, ''Fist of the North Star'' is frankly one of the most sensitive and warm-hearted anime franchises of the 1980's.
62	%%* MightyGlacier: Mr. Heart practically defines this, in both the show and the [=PS2=] tournament fighter. Another large character, Fudoh, does basically nothing but ride this trope.
63	* MiseryBuildsCharacter: One of the many [[AnAesop lessons]] of the series, and a good chunk of what makes Kenshiro who he is.
64	** 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 Shin lectured Ken about lacking in their first fight. It quickly dawns on Shin during the rematch that an enraged, determined Kenshiro makes for a onesided battle.
65	** Toki himself advises Kenshiro to "[[TeachHimAnger turn his grief into fury]]" for the sake of the future. [[spoiler: He says this minutes before dying on his feet alongside Ryuuga.]]
66	** Raoh comes to understand 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 [[spoiler: surpass him as a fighter.]]
67	** Kenshiro himself reflects upon the influence his friends and rivals had upon him and his fists at the end of the anime series and climax of [[Videogame/FistoftheNorthStarKensRage Ken's Rage]] 2. Ken declares that as long as he has his friends, he'll never be alone and will continue to fight.
68	** Kenshiro's farewell letter to Ryu states that in his time with Ken, Ryu had "grasped the true power of sadness" and as a result, Ken has nothing more to teach Ryu, though the blood of Raoh flowing through his veins will allow him to grasp his destiny.
69	* MonochromaticImpactShot: Because the manga revolves around martial arts that cause opponents to die in extremely graphic ways (usually by exploding into LudicrousGibs), the 1984 anime adaptation relied heavily on this trope in order to make the content more suitable for daytime television. Consequently, many deaths in the show feature characters suddenly shifting to monochrome palettes or becoming silhouettes as the background changes to a solid red or white.
70	* MonsterOfTheWeek: The anime version of the Southern Cross arc, and to a lesser extent the Goshasei and Shura arcs, gave Kenshiro more weekly villains than the ones he fought in the original manga.
71	* MonumentalDamage: Combined with SceneryGorn, the anime intro shows the ruins of the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, Red Square (along with the ruins of the Kremlin and Saint Basil's Cathedral) and Tower Bridge.
72	* MoodWhiplash:
73	** The over the top ways in which evil, evil people die insanely sometimes verges on BlackHumor, usually from their cowardly antics.
74	** Then there's the time Ken's cute sidekick gets splattered with gore in the middle of a brutal fistfight to the death by way of comic relief.
75	** In-Universe: Thouzer reflects on Kenshiro's words that love results in warmth, remembering his happier memories with his late master; his facial expression changes sharply when Kenshiro reminds him that he'll be dead soon.
76	** However, this trope is here for one man: Jyuza. In the manga, his introduction, a digression from a hopeless war the established characters are fighting, takes its sweet time showing us a piece of his happy-go-lucky, adventurous life. Then he is called out to fight, and its back to the nightmare for the audience.
77	*** He's dead. Right? Oh wait, he's up again! He even flips Raoh the bird, then continues the fight. Oh wait, he's dead again. And now his body's standing upright and still fighting, even though he's dead?
78	* MookHorrorShow: When Ken annihilates Jackal and his gang. Fittingly, the episode is entitled "I Am Death Itself! I'll Chase You to the Ends of Hell!"
79	* MoralMyopia: Kiba Daioh will avenge the deaths of his sons, but sees no problem in throwing them in harm's way to save himself if needed.
80	* MotiveDecay:
81	** After his parents were murdered and his sister sold into slavery, Rei didn't bother with his role as the Star of Justice until after meeting Toki.
82	** Thouzer's original traumatic backstory was omitted in the ''Shin Kyuuseishu Densetsu'' movies, leaving him as a [[ForTheEvulz one dimensional villain]].
83	* {{Mukokuseki}}: Racially ambiguous characters, names written in katakana, and lack of Japanese signage make many readers confused about where the story is set. But during the Southern Cross arc of the manga, Bat specifically states that Shin's gang rules the former Kanto area.
84	* MuggingTheMonster: This happens ''all the damned time'' to Kenshiro and the other major badasses of the series. You'd think the mooks that these guys come up against would know not to mess with them, especially after seeing their fellows exploded messily.
85	* 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 post-nuclear 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]].
86	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Several times, especially Raoh with Yuria. [[spoiler:Fortunately, it turned out to be "My God, What I Could Have Done"]].
87	%%** Arguably Shin. Certainly Kaioh.
88	* MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours: Tons of it. Mostly favoring Kenshiro, of course.
89	* MythologyGag: The Arcade Fighter by Creator/ArcSystemWorks is full of {{Call Back}}s to the original series, specific quotes with some match-ups and FATAL K.O are prone to this:
90	** The requisite to pull off a Fatal K.O in the first place. Depleting the seven stars meter below the victim's lifebar forms a small star next to it, forming the Star of Death. In the series, anyone who saw it was usually fated to die within a year.
91	** Kenshiro's ''Hokuto Zankai Ken'' does not work on Thouzer. They even quote the scene word for word, complete with Thouzer counting down for kicks, laughing and Ken wondering what's going on.
92	** Rei has three variations of his ''Hishou Hakurei'' Fatal K.O depending on whether its performed on Yuda, Mamiya or anyone else:
93	*** With Yuda, it imitates his final moment where he catches Rei's hands, admits he's the more beautiful one and commits [[SuicideByCop Suicide by Rei.]]
94	*** With Mamiya the attack goes normally only for Mamiya's clothes to be completely ripped off, referencing the scene wherein Rei did just that to confirm that she was a woman and thus was not suited for battle.
95	** Jagi has a super where he forces the opponent to say his name. You get two chances to give the right answer, and there are two out of three choices wrong in these two chances. Did I mention he is VERY impatient?
96	--> '''Jagi:''' Say my name! What?! I will give you another chance!
97	** Shin's suicide Fatal KO, which calls back to his death scene where he flings himself off his tower at Southern Cross, not wanting to die at the hands of a Hokuto Shinken fighter like Ken.
98	** In ''Hokuto no Ken'' for the Sega Mark III/Master System (''Black Belt'' in the West), Thouzer's weak point moves around with every hit the player lands on him to account for his Dextrocardia.
99	* NamedByTheAdaptation: Many minor characters that were unnamed in the manga were named in the anime like Johnny the Bartender (who was a prominent character in the early arcs) and Kiba Daioh (the leader of the Kiba clan). Jackal's biker gang was also given a name in the anime, where they're known as The Warriors (a possible reference to the [[Film/TheWarriors 1979 film of the same name]]).
100	** The anime film by Toei gives both Kenshiro and Shin the outfits they've worn in the series in the prologue.
101	* TheNarrator: Creator/ShigeruChiba, who also voiced a few of the villains, pulls double duty here. He also gets gradually more excitable as the TV series goes on; as an episode of ''Trivia no Izumi'' pointed out, he starts off doing the next-episode previews in a rather stern voice, but by the final episode he's [[ChewingTheScenery screaming the narration at the top of his lungs]]. It originally started as an in-joke by Chiba; he apparently stopped ramping it up for a while for fear of giving himself an aneurysm, but began doing it again when fans asked him why he wasn't shouting anymore.
102	* NeverForgottenSkill: In the manga's final story arc, Kenshiro ends up losing his memory. Despite this, he kills off some thugs with Hokuto Shinken with little effort. Clearly, once somebody has mastered the ways of Hokuto Shinken, their knowledge of the art become second nature to them.
103	* NewOldWest: Right down to the "stranger walking out of the dust storm into the town" shots and the Morricone-esque mournful-saxophone music of Spaghetti Westerns in the more sad and thoughtful scenes.
104	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Kenshiro can not only kill or heal people by touching pressure points, but in one episode, he even touches a pressure point that makes a thug involuntarily move his mouth to answer Kenshiro's questions.
105	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed:
106	** Toki looks and acts a ''hell'' of a lot like a certain Son of {{God}}. Not to mention a variety of "cameos," like Mr. T and Hulk Hogan lookalikes (Barona and Bask, respectively) teaming up together, or the Harn brothers who resemble the tag team Legion of Doom, or a Shura who looks like Sloth from ''Film/TheGoonies'', or Abida who strongly resembles Gene Simmons... the list goes on and on.
107	** Even some of the major martial artists in the manga were modeled after popular musicians from the era, such as Juda (modeled after Boy George with a bit of Dee Snider), Ryuga (based on David Bowie), Hyui (named and modeled after Huey Lewis), Han (modeled after Freddie Mercury) and Emperor of Light Baran (modeled after young Pete Burns).
108	** 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 [[Franchise/StarWars Ben Kenobi]].
109	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: These situations provide the majority of the story's motivations and plot devices.
110	* 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.
111	* NoSavingThrow: Once you get hit with a killing technique from Hokuto Shinken, it doesn't matter whether you are a mook, a villain, or even a hero in Rei's case. YouAreAlreadyDead. The only reason that Rei lived long enough to take down Yuda was because Toki used a technique on him meant to extend the time he had to live.
112	* NonIndicativeName: Out of the six members of the ''Nanto Roku Seiken'' (South Dipper Six Sacred Fists), only five of them are martial artists. Since Yuria has no fighting skills, there's only five main branches of ''Nanto Seiken''.
113	* NotHyperbole: If Kenshiro tells that after he's through with you there will be not one hair left from you, he MEANS it! [[spoiler:Thouzer found out about it the hard way.]]
114	* NotWorthKilling: Kenshiro thought this about Jagi when he disfigured him. Kenshiro would later regret his decision, as it backfired a lot (Jagi was the one whose conniving caused Shin to decide that Kenshiro didn't deserve Yuria, and Jagi's later ''raison d'etre'' was to drag Kenshiro's name through the mud.)
115	* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: Averted in the very first scene.
116	* OffscreenTeleportation: Ken, the first time he's against Jackal, does this a lot. Though this is justified as Hokuto Shinken is explicitly called the art of ''assassination'', so sneaking up on unsuspecting mook or warlord is a specialty of his. Some characters are explicitly shown to teleport, like Joker.
117	* OneManArmy: Pretty much every named character except for Lin and Bat. Heck, even ''Mamiya'' qualifies... albeit, a one ''woman'' army.
118	* OneNameOnly: Everyone except Buzz and Gill Harn. In the pilot, Kenshiro had the full name of "Kasumi Kenshirō", which would later be used by [[Manga/FistOfTheBlueSky his uncle]].
119	* OneSidedArmWrestling: Kenshiro gets into one with a {{Mook}}, who amplifies the danger by having buzzsaws spinning so the loser gets their arm cut off. Kenshiro spares the mook from having his arm cut off... by snapping it around the buzzsaw.
120	* OnlySixFaces: More than a handful of the women look ''remarkably'' similar, which is used as a plot point. Also, before his character development kicked in, Rei looked a hell of a lot like Shin.
121	* OneSteveLimit: Quite a few aversions:
122	** [[KungFuJesus Toki]] and [[BattleAura Tōki]], although the latter has a long vowel and is alternatively pronounced "aura" in some panels.
123	** Ryūken could refer to the Hokuto Shinken master who trained the four Hokuto Brothers or the Hokuto branch named after a shining stone.
124	** The name Zaku was used twice for two different minor villains: one of them a servant of Ken-oh and the other is a member of the Tentei army who is killed by Kenshiro off-screen.
125	** Ryū is the name of either, Raoh's posthumous son or Kaioh's pet dog.
126	* OrganDodge: Thouzer is immune to Kenshiro's pressure-point attacks in their first battle because he was born with dextrocardia with ''situs inversus totalis'', which completely reverses the position of all his internal organs and pressure points. When Kenshiro learns Thouzer's secret during their final battle, Thouzer's doom is sealed.
127	* OrwellianRetcon: There are quite a few instances throughout the various reprints of the manga (particularly in the recent [[http://www.haratetsuo.com/archives/5555 Kyukyokuban editions]]) in which some of the art and dialogue were tweaked. Even long before that, some of the scenes from the original ''Weekly Jump'' run (such as [[http://i.imgur.com/aF1qrI9.jpg Kenshiro's first encounter with Heart]]) were altered for the Jump Comics collected editions.
128	-->Original line: ''Pigs belong to the butcher shop.''
129	-->Altered line: ''Pigs are not worth talking to.''
130	-->Second altered line: ''Pigs belong in their pens.''
131	* OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank: Raoh and Kenshiro's battle in the 1986 film. At one point during the battle, both of them temporarily fall unconscious, only for Raoh to wake up and find himself covered in ''litres'' of both his and Kenshiro's blood.
132	* PapaWolf:
133	** Kenshiro to Bat and Lin; Fudoh to his various orphaned kids; and Ein to his daughter Asuka.
134	** Subverted, in comedic fashion, by the leader of the Fang Clan once Kenshiro genuinely challenges his facade.
135	** Shown almost literally when a wild dog protects its child from Sara and Seiji who it thinks were a threat.
136	* PaperCutting: Yuda vs Rei; Kenshiro vs Thouzer; Raoh vs Kenshiro; Kenshiro vs Sanga; Kenshiro vs Clifflanders, and other occasions.
137	* PayEvilUntoEvil: Kenshiro will deliver a painful and deadly punishment to the [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] murderers and pluderers he meets.
138	* PerfectHealth: Played straight to absurd degrees. Somehow, a barren wastleland where food and medicine are rare can ''also'' serve as a WorldOfMuscleMen, where dudes can sustain enough muscle mass to be built like tanks. This is lampshaded a couple of times by stating that the beefy gangs typically raid and enslave villages where there's food, but the raiders almost invariably either kill the civilians or don't give them enough food, water or resources to keep up production. Further, it's {{Hand Wave}}d that martial arts in this world are magic and can not only heal wounds and illnesses, but the [[AllThereInTheManual databooks state]] that people like Kenshiro can survive for months without food or water. Regular people aren't so lucky in ''any'' of these concerns.
139	* PerformerGuise: Legends of the Dark King starts off with this instance, when Raoh disguises himself as a performer with a giant koto, though the disguise is not too convincing considering how huge he is. When the ruler of a local area requests to hear him play, he then calmly smashes said koto and then declares that he cannot play the koto.
140	* PersonOfMassDestruction: Pretty much all the main fighters throughout, from Kenshiro to Kaioh.
141	* PetTheDog: One villain did this (literally), then did a HeelFaceTurn.
142	** Rin also has a puppy named Pel who disappears at the end of the first series, only to inexplicably appear as a FreezeFrameBonus in the final episode of the second, being held by ''[[spoiler:Amiba]]'' of all people, most likely as a gag included by the artist for that scene.
143	* PillarsOfMoralCharacter: A constant plot point through much of the series. For example, much of Kenshiro's turmoil for facing against [[spoiler:the imposter]] Toki stems from the fact that not only is Toki his (adopted) older brother (whom he is obligated to respect and revere), but Toki also saved his life when they were children. It pops up in other ways now and then, as well.
144	* PlayingWithFire: Shuren plays this trope note-for-note with one interesting variation: instead of being supernatural, his fire skills are described coming from expert use of chemicals combined with a high level of martial arts.
145	* PlotLeveling: The Land of Shura arc was an attempt to scale the series up after [[spoiler: the death of Raoh, ''the'' iconic villain of the franchise and previously the biggest possible BigBad in the wasteland]]. It responded by trying to raise emotional torque and physical danger on all dials, complete with the new BigBad [[spoiler: Kaioh, Raoh's elder brother, who could be described as an attempt to make Raoh 2.0.]] The final arc discarded this and simply accepted that, at Kenshiro's level, any remaining [[BigBad Big Bads]] were going to be [[MonsterOfTheWeek Punks of the Week]] at best.
146	* 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.
147	* PointsOfLightSetting: The series presents a postapocalyptic take on this with fantasy elements, inspired by ''Mad Max'', in which a largely barren world is home mostly isolated communities with their own problems upon which main characters stumble and murderous bandits and warlords roaming the deserts between them.
148	* PoliceAreUseless: Given that the closest thing that most places get to having police is gangs that have transitioned from overt banditry to running protection rackets, it's not surprising that when they do appear, they are generally worse than useless and the local populace invariably needs Kenshiro to protect them from the cops.
149	* PosthumousCharacter: Ryuken has been long dead [[spoiler:due to his fatal confrontation with Raoh]], and solely appears through flashbacks.
150	* PowerCreepPowerSeep: It happens in the numerous action and fighting oriented games for the franchise, lesser fighters like Jagi turns into capable {{Combat Pragmatist}}s with strength and weapons on par with the major combatants; Mamiya in particular gets the greater doses due being the only ActionGirl in these adaptations, she improves so much that it borders on NewPowersAsThePlotDemands.
151	* ThePowerOfFriendship: In his climactic battle against Raoh, Kenshiro reveals that he has the power of all his friends behind him. Subverted earlier when [[spoiler:Rei, attacking Raoh, tried to invoke it. ''Really'' bad timing, Rei.]]
152	* ThePowerOfLove:
153	** Raoh, meanwhile, is only able to learn Hokuto Shinken's ultimate technique, Musou Tensei, [[spoiler:through his love of Yuria and sorrow over her sad fate]]. Which was MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours by Kenshiro when [[spoiler:he revealed that not only does he have sorrow over Yuria too which gives him as much power as Raoh, he also has sorrow over losing his beloved big brother Raoh!]] The Power of Love is ''all over this story''. If Raoh and Kenshiro's case wasn't enough, see Kenshiro vs. Thouzer, which itself is also all about this.
154	** Possibly also how Lynn could free herself from Zaria's hypno-magic spell.
155	* PrecisionGuidedBoomerang: The Colonel deploys several small, metal, razor-sharp boomerangs (perhaps a deliberate homage to ''Film/MadMax2TheRoadWarrior'', which was very influential on the series), as part of his complex martial art. They are all on target, despite him plunging the battlefield into darkness (to make it hard to see the boomerangs!) Ultimately it's revealed he's psychically guiding them.
156	* PreMortemOneLiner: "You are already dead." But if that's true, is it ''[[BondOneLiner really]]'' pre-mortem?
157	* PressurePoint: 708 of them to be exact, with equal ability to heal as well as kill if the right ones are pressed. More precisely, the vital points used by ''Hokuto Shinken'' is known as the ''Keiraku Hiko'', which roughly translates to the "hidden points of the meridian". The rival style, ''Hokuto Ryuken'', uses another set of pressure pointd called the ''Keiraku Hako'' or the "destructive points", which has exactly 1109 points.
158	* PronounTrouble: The Last General of Nanto and the Heavenly Emperor are both revealed to be female. The former case can be justified, since the Five Chariots were intentionally hiding the Last General's identity to prevent Raoh from going after Yuria.
159	* PsychopathicManchild: The Fang Bandits, which are an entire ''group'' of animal themed Psychopathic Manchildren.
160	* PummelDuel: TropeMaker in Anime.
161

Context FistOfTheNorthStar / TropesIToP