Only thing I slightly disagree with is the you can/can’t v reversal this thing. Since even v reversal on block puts space between you to avoid the throw / hit mix up.
I’d be a fucking crazy person if I talked all the shit I do about DBZ but didn’t recognize that FotNS is just as dumb and tropey. Shonen power fantasy anime/manga from that rough block of time are all sort of like that.
FotNS will always hold a very special place in my heart because watching the movie (waaaaay back in the dark ages of animu when I found the Streamline Pictures version on VHS at the mall) was the first experience where I realized I was watching some Japanese ass cartoons.
Then people started getting super murdered in really exotic ways and way later you get a brief flash of boobies. Left a lasting impression.
For me it’s an “of its time” thing. If you saw it as I did or can put yourself in that mindset, its a fun time. But that style of anime has come a long way since then and other than exploding heads, slicing fingers, and extremely large men fighting each other FotNS is really straightforward.
However if you don’t love the original theme song to the show you are a goddamn monster.
Edit: Actually thinking about it more and doing some internet digging, I think it was the Orion home video version. They had a nifty run of English anime. I remember buying up a bunch of those.
The tropey part of HNK is kind of exaggerated. It has a lot of the monster of the week stuff. Then you get to the storyline with the big players and it kind of becomes slightly Homeric in scope.
The characters are actualization of character flaws allowed to inflate themselves due to physical power.
Have you ever seen the 90s english live action version of FotN? It was guilty pleasure of mine when I was a teenager. I know if I go back and watch it, like classic Voltron, it will be trash, but damn if was cool to see Kenshiro explode fools. Shin sucked though, I remember being able to tell that the actor knew no martial arts and his stunt double was obvious as fuck.
Edit: The whole movie is up on YouTube
Edit 2: Shit, just found out there is Japanese version of this and they brought in the original anime VAs for the Japanese voice track. Why do I suddenly want to find this