Legends of the Dark King: A Fist of the North Star Story is a manga series by Youkow Osada that was serialized in the Weekly Comic Bunch from 2006 to 2007. It is a spinoff of the manga series Fist of the North Star by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara. The story centers on the Fist of the North Star antagonist Raoh and depicts his rise to power as the conqueror of a post-apocalyptic world prior to and during the events of the original work. The story of Legends of the Dark King also incorporates elements introduced in the movie series, including Raoh's childhood friends of Reina and Souga, who help him establish his army. The manga was adapted into a 13-episode anime series produced by Satelight and aired on Tokyo MX and other stations in late 2008. The anime has been licensed for North America by Sentai Filmworks and distributed by Section23 Films, The complete series was released on a DVD set on September 15, 2009. The series was re-released with the English dub on DVD and Blu-ray on July 20, 2010.
Plot
A global-scale nuclear war has transformed most of the Earth into a barren ocean-less wasteland, resulting in the downfall of modern civilization and a return to a lawless age of barbarism. The survivors of mankind begin to fight each other over the limited supply of uncontaminated food and water still left in the world. The strong ones begin to band together in gangs and armies, fighting each other over territory, while oppressing the weak. A man named Raoh appears, seeking to establish order in the post-apocalyptic world through his mastery of the martial art of Hokuto Shinken. With the help of his childhood friends Reina and Souga, Raoh takes on the mantle of the "King of Fist", as he gradually extends his reign, recruiting new allies in the process, while fighting against rival warlords who seek to challenge his authority.
Ten no Haoh was serialized irregularly in Weekly Comic Bunch from issues #231 through #300, lasting a total of 42 chapters, which were subsequently collected in five tankōbon editions. A two-part special chapter was published in 2008 in the September 12and 19 issues of Comic Bunch as a tie-in to the anime series.
Volumes
Anime
The anime version of Ten no Haoh, directed by Masashi Abe, aired in Japan on Tokyo MX and other channels from October to December 2008, lasting 13 episodes. The opening theme is performed by jealkb, while the ending theme is by minamuse. The series was licensed for Region 1 by Sentai Filmworks and released on a DVD set on September 15, 2009. Sentai Filmworks re-released Legends of the Dark King with an English dub in 2010. The series was released on Region 2 DVD in six volumes, with the first volume having been released on January 2009.
Episodes
Novelization
A web novelization of Ten no Haoh was published in the Hokuto no Ken DX mobile phone site, lasting six chapters.
Video game
A video game version of Ten no Haō was released by Interchannel for the PlayStation Portable in Japan on January 22, 2009. It is a cel-shaded 3D fighting game featuring 13 playable fighters from the manga and anime. All the characters are voiced by their voice actors from the anime series, with the exception of Raoh, who is voiced by Rikiya Koyama. Jagi and Amiba, who were omitted in the anime, are voiced by Tsuyoshi Aoki and Kazuyuki Okitsu respectively, while Kenshiro, who was unvoiced in the anime, is voiced by Hideo Ishikawa.
