History FistOfTheNorthStar / TropesQToZ

** The poor folk in the town ruled by Zaria, he can control people with some kinda black magic. When he does, the eyes go red.

** There was another Visual Novel-style game released by Banpresto in 1995, simply titled ''[[RecycledTitle Hokuto no Ken]]''. It was released for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation and UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn and took place after the events of the manga. Lin gets kinapped (again) on the day of her wedding with Bat and another Hokuto school (Hokuto Mumyoken) is behind the events.

* RescueArc: Pretty much the entirety of the Southern Cross arc (especially in the anime version). The constant kidnapping of Lin during the Kingdom of Shura arc also qualifies.

%%* RuleOfCool: Followed ''to the letter''.
* RummageSaleReject: Even if the 1980's ''did'' have pretty awful clothing, is ''this'' the best that the cast can come up with?

* ThisIsUnforgivable: When Kenshiro growls this phrase at you, it goes without saying that you're pretty much screwed. Kenshiro goes one further after [[spoiler:Shu]]'s death: "Not '''one hair''' of you will remain in this world!!!"

* TropeMaker: Quite simply, ''FOTNS'' is THE granddaddy of most Shonen fighting series (along with ''Franchise/DragonBall''), and pretty much every trope that applies to them was codified by it (Again, with ''Dragon Ball''). It's easier to mention which fighting series are NOT in any way influenced by it).

* TragicHero: Raoh, for several reasons actually. (1)He wants to restore order and peace to the world by means of instilling fear and terror,(2) he wants Yuria to fall in love with him through similar methods, and (3) his ultimate goal is to become so powerful that even the heavens will bow down to him. His status as a tragic hero is especially prevalent in the spin-off series, ''Legends of the Dark King.''

** Even if the world is burnt by nuclear fire, it will only stay bad if you chose to let it stay bad: If you have the power and are willing to care, even a wasteland can be made a better place.
** Despite the nuclear war, there seem to be quite a few people still left, and later on in the manga the post-war civilization has developed to a point were a large number of independent states exist here and there.

** Another time, there's the memory of the Hokuto Shinken final test, where Ken and Raoh have to face a tiger and are expected to make the tiger back down through sheer badassness -- killing the tiger instead is considered a major screw-up. And Souther's final test for his phoenix-themed martial art

* ThisIsUnforgivable: When Kenshiro growls this phrase at you, it goes without saying that you're pretty much screwed. Kenshiro goes one further after [[spoiler:Shu]]'s death: "Not '''one hair''' of you will remain in This World!!!"

** A ''lot'' of glaring villain examples in the filler episodes, in particular a BadBoss known as David who has just witnessed Kenshiro ''demolish his fifteen-feet tall henchman'' Glen (whom he brainwashed as a slave since childhood) ''with ONE hand.'' When Kenshiro took pity on Glen and gave him a second chance to be a good person, David just '''had''' to murder said-giant in cold-blood by shooting his full of arrows, '''then''' taunts Glenn as he expires for being a weakling complete ''with'' EvilLaugh in front of the horrified-and-angry STILL PRESENT Kenshiro.

** In episode #3 of the 1st animé series, the Diamonds mooks make some poor sod shoot down a tin can from the head of his own son. This is a clear ShoutOut to the story about the famous Swiss FolkHero Myth/WilliamTell.

* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: There's a bridge where Raoh's thugs have checkpoints at both ends to search for Kenshiro, so Kenshiro attempts to evade them by hiding in a wagon of straw that his ally Fudo pulls across the bridge. The thugs have drafted villagers to do their searching for them, and one of these villagers at the entrance of the bridge spots Kenshiro, but deliberately pretends that he didn't see him. By the time Fudo gets to the other end of the bridge, another villager has ratted out the villager who has covered for Kenshiro, hoping to be humbly rewarded with food and such. However, ''both'' villagers are killed by Raoh's thugs, one for helping Kenshiro, and the other for ratting out the first villager!

** Nanto Seiken uses a combination of both this and RazorWind - rapid movements of the hands and feet create razor-sharp 'blades' of air pressure, letting practitioners cut off heads with their hands, poke their fingers through ribcages and slice dozens of enemies apart with a single spinning kick. Hyui, the wind-themed member of the Nanto Gohasei, has a similar style that uses pure long-ranged RazorWind, whilst Hokuto Shinken practitioners like Raoh can also cut people in half with their hands and feet, but through raw strength rather than manipulation of air currents.

* WhipItGood:
** Uighur is a huge, huge man running a prison, so the theme of control and enslavement is still there but without any of the usual vampiness associated with whips. In fact, he's presented as a serious martial artist (well, as serious as you can be if you're not named Kenshiro, Toki, Raoh, Souther, or Rei anyway).
** A military-style minor villain from one of the earlier episodes also wields one capable of slicing people in half. For all the good it does him against Kenshiro.

* ShesGotLegs: 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]].

* RefrainFromAssuming: The opening theme "Ai Wo Torimodose" is often shortened to its GratuitousEnglish phrase "You wa Shock."

* UpToEleven: Kenshiro's already a one-man killing machine but the movie instalments ramp up his power to ridiculous levels.
** In the 1986 movie, he topples a skyscraper with ONE PUNCH and proceeds to WALK THROUGH IT while it's collapsing.
** In ''Kenshiro Den'', he single-handedly destroys an entire army (and bear in mind this is a prequel).
** Averted by ''New Fist of the North Star'', when Kenshiro is foiled by a metal grid and needs help from a supporting character to break free.

* {{Zeerust}}: The original manga was published during [=1980s=], at a time when most doomsday predictions placed the end of the world at the late [=1990s=]. Thus, the nuclear war occurs in the year [[ExtyYearsFromNow 199X]] and the term ''Seikimatsu'' ("end of the century") is used to refer to the era the story takes place. This becomes ZeerustCanon in all of the newer spin-offs published after 2000 and onward, which continued using the term ''Seikimatsu'' when referring to the post-apocalyptic period the story takes place.

* {{Troperrific}}: Yes, it starts in the year [[ExtyYearsFromNow 199X]]. Yes, it features absurd villains with absurd haircuts. Yes, it features a martial arts style [[CrazyPrepared that seems to have a counter for everything]]. Yes, there's a lot of pans and people explaining what they just did. Yes, it features [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil a linear progression of threats to our heroes]]. Yes, it defined basically everything we know and make fun of as a "Shonen" show, and yes, it plays ''every single one'' of those tropes utterly, completely straight without irony. The show wouldn't ''possibly'' be as effective if it did otherwise, however. If the show made light of Kenshiro's abilities or had the villains act in any other way or any number of subversions that viewers are now perhaps used to, [[Manga/BoboboboBobobo it would be a fundamentally different show]]. [[UnbuiltTrope Of course, when it first came out, most of these tropes weren't solid enough to be subverted anyway]].

* YourSizeMayVary: Attacking opponents suddenly much bigger? Kokuoh-Go, Raoh's unusually large horse, becoming large enough to completely stomp mooks under his hoofs when moments ago the same hoofs were only as big as those mooks' heads? Raoh himself, usually only two heads taller than Kenshiro, suddenly becomes a giant at least as twice as tall? Mako begging for mercy from Jagi, whose knees are now at head level? This series has a lot of this.

* YourSizeMayVary: Attacking opponents suddenly much bigger? Kokuoh-Go, Raoh's unusually large horse, becoming large enough to completely stomp mooks under his hoofs when moments ago the same hoofs were only big as those mooks' heads? Raoh himself, usually only two heads taller than Kenshiro, suddenly becomes a giant at least as twice as tall? Mako begging for mercy from Jagi, whose knees are now at head level? This series has a lot of this.

* RatedMForManly: One of the contenders for the manliest anime of all time.

* TheWarOnTerror: In the intro to ''Jun'ai no Shō'' - which is the first part of the ''Shin Kyūseishu Densetsu'' film series - it is implied that this was the reason for the nuclear war.