When we woke up to this particular bit of news this past weekend we thought ‘oh, we’re already dead’ because this was one heavenly announcement. Okay, played out references aside, Viz Media announced on the 17th that they would be finally releasing the original Fist Of The North Star. One would presume they’ll be sticking with it to completion this time as many people fans from all generations of anime fandom have been waiting for this one. Very rare to see any tweet about a stateside manga release get 2K retweets, much less an ancient one, but that goes to show just how many people are excited to get their hands on the seminal comic.
Viz Media will be releasing the iconic Fist Of The North Star manga crafted by the legendary Tetsuo Hara and Buronson duo in the summer of next year. It’s coming in both deluxe hardcover and digital editions that barring catastrophe should serve as the first time the manga’s officially seen an English run from start to finish. Not too many exact details have been made public yet, but its just nice knowing we have a little something to look forward to in 2021 before our world turns into Kenshiro’s.
This new edition of the Fist Of The North Star manga actually marks the fourth time the series’ has been brought to the US market, and the third by Viz specifically. Way back in the 90s, the released two chapter flipped monthly comic books in the style of your average Super Hero Comic, which they did with Ranma and Dragon Ball Z too. With that not being successful, they released a small handful of flipped trade paperbacks without ever finishing the story. Then the now-defunct Gutsoon Entertainment came in a few years later released a right-to-left edition of the manga, but it was digitally colored and only lasted 9 volumes. Finally, Viz is doing it right two decades later.
The Fist Of The North Star manga comes to the States next summer.