The Times of London covers the “fantasy funeral” held Wednesday in Tokyo for Raoh, the central antagonist from the Fist of the North Star manga, anime and live-action movies.
More than 2,500 mourners turned out to the Buddhist temple, where Raoh, who after nearly three decades was defeated by his brother Kenshiro in the latest movie, was laid to rest.
One attendee told the Times that the often-merciless Raoh “was like a father figure.” But Roland Kelts of Tokyo University put things in perspective, calling the ceremony, “perhaps the most extreme blurring of reality and fantasy that Japanese pop culture has produced.”
Fist of the North Star, by Tetsuo Hara and Buronson, originally was serialized from 1983 to 1988 in Weekly Shonen Jump, and later collected in 27 volumes. It spawned animated TV series, animated films and OVAs, and live-action movies.
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:55 am
Y’know, I know people mourned the death of Superman, and people are apparently mourning the death of Raoh, but did anyone publically mourn the death of Captain America?
April 28th, 2007 at 8:08 am
Is the new Fist of the North Star as popular as the old one?
Even the video game just released is based on the previous work.
But I do love to see more animation game for PS2 ~