The artist behind the iconic manga Fist of the North Star, Tetsuo Hara, names one thing he’s willing to do that AI couldn’t dream of.
“What AI cannot do is ‘resolve to die,’” Hara told Goethe. “Suffer, suffer, suffer and think deeply. And then when you think ‘I could actually die,’ it’s ‘this is what I want.’ That’s when the ‘soul enters’. Those soulful paintings make all readers happy… To do that, risk your life, give up your desires, kill yourself. See through it no matter how painful it is. That is all what I have.”
Hara illustrated Fist of the North Star, while Buronson was responsible for the story. These comments come as the Fist of the North Star Exhibition in Roppongi is currently celebrating the manga’s 40th anniversary. Launched on September 2, 1961, the Fist of the North Star manga was Hara’s first long-form work after his The Iron Don Quijote manga serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump was canceled after two volumes. Also illustrating Keiichiro Ryu’s Keiji, works starring Hara have sold a total of more than 117 million copies worldwide. Unbeknownst to many fans, Hara has suffered from keratoconus almost since his professional debut – an eye disease previously thought to be incurable. During the interview, he revealed that he had surgery in June 2023, improving his vision tenfold. Even with excruciating headaches after the surgery, he fought against both the AI and himself, locking himself in his studio and painting dozens of works of art for the exhibition.
The biggest news to come out of the 40th anniversary is said to be the new Fist of the North Star anime from Warner Bros. production in Japan, announced on September 12, 2023. Brand new cast and visuals for the anime are also available. was revealed, Hara and Buronson emphasized the “special attention” the new anime will pay to the original manga. CBR breaks down the Fist of the North Star series and what fans should know before the reboot. First published in September 1983, Fist of the North Star received a critically well-received anime series that ran for 152 episodes from October 1984 to February 1988.
VIZ Media licenses the Fist of the North Star manga in North America, with Volume 1 described as follows: “One day, a wanderer emerged from the wasteland to bring justice to the guilty and bring brings hope back to the people—a warrior named Ken, a man who bears seven scars across his chest and holds the secret of a mysterious martial art known as Hokuto Shinken, the Divine Fist of the North Star! ”
Source: Goethe, X (formerly Twitter)
