Fist of the Blue Sky
Fist of the Blue Sky (蒼天の拳, Souten No Ken) is a prequel to Tetsuo Hara and Buronson manga and anime Fist of the North Star series, starring Kenshiro's predecessor (and Ryuken's older brother) Kasumi Kenshiro, 62nd inheritor of Hokuto Shinken or "God Fist of the North Star." Instead of a science fiction Mad Max landscape, the story takes places in actual historical setting in the 1935 Shanghai, China during the Second Sino-Japanese war.
Beginning publication in 2001, the series will reach its 14th volume tankōbon in publication in Japan on January 9, 2006.
Plot
The main protagonist of this story is Kasumi Kenshiro, better known as "Yan Wang" or "The King of Death" (derived from the myth Yan Luo Wang), Kasumi is a laid back and chain-smoking Tokyo professor who possesses the deadly Chinese assassin martial art Hokuto Shinken (Kasumi's personality is different from Kenshiro) who travels to Shanghai after hearing the news of his Triad friend Pan Guang-Lin and his sister Yu-Ling (Kasumi's love interest) are in trouble.
In Shanghai, Kasumi has to fight the three Hokuto families like Hokuto Sonkaken, Hokuto Sōkaken, and Hokuto Ryūkaken (based on the royal families of Romance of the Three Kingdoms). At the same time Kasumi has to help Pan's "Qing Bang" Triad gang against the immoral "Hong-Hua" Triads in gaining territory and influence of Shanghai.
Many of the plot points mentioned in the comic contain some accurate historical facts like how Shanghai was controlled with the International Settlement (the story focus mainly on the French settlement) the refugee Jews in China who escaped from the Nazi persecution in Europe and the Japanese Army invasion, Chiang Kai Shek and his Kuomingtang is mentioned as well.
Tetsuo Hara wanted the fights in the manga to look more traditional Chinese martial arts, so the action is somewhat faster and more detailed than those in Fist of the North Star. Hara went to Shanghai in person to get his inspiration.
