A new historical fiction/martial arts series is officially being placed under anime production for 2018 and its name is “Fist of the Blue Sky.” The newly announced anime project will be the third installment to the 35th anniversary of the “Hokuto no Ken” a.k.a. “Fist of the North Sky” franchise and will be under the supervision of its creator Tetsuo Hara.
“Fist of the Blue Sky” is as stated, a historical fiction/martial arts manga series written and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara. Released in May 2001, the manga was serialized by Weekly Comic Bunch and reached a total of 22 volumes before ending in August 2010.
More than this the series is recognized as the prequel series of “Souten no Ken” a.k.a. “Fist of the North Star.” This series was released in 1983 and serialized by Weekly Shounen Jump until 1988 with a total of 27 volumes. The story sets itself a post-apocalyptic world that has been destroyed by a nuclear war and takes focus on Kenhiro, the successor of a deadly martial art style known as Hokuto Shinken. With his skills, he dedicated his life to becoming a protector of the weak and fighting against all evil, evin his own clan “brothers.”
During its run, it had already received an anime adaptation in October 2006. The series was under Souten Studio and Studio APPP and ran until March 2007 with a total of 26 episodes.
The story tells of the “Yan Wang” or “The King of Hell” that is Kasumi Kenshiro and his great fighting abilities. Behind this deadly Chinese assassin martial art Hokuto Shinken successor however, is a chain-smoking Tokyo professor.
But upon hearing that his Triad friend Pan Guang-Lin and Pan’s sister Yu-Ling are in trouble, he travels to Shanghai to battle against the three Hokuto families, the Hokuto Sankaken. At the same time he helps Pan’s Qīng Bāng triad against their rivals, the immoral Hóng Huá Huì, in gaining territory and influence in Shanghai.
On another note the spin-off work, “Sōten no Ken: Re:Genesis” has now been confirmed for an anime adaptation release in April 2018 with TOKYO MX taking charge of its broadcast. The spin-off will be released in December 2017 under Monthly Comic Zenon. Written by Hiroyuki Yatsu and illustrated by Hideki Tsuji, the manga is a spin-off of “Souten no Ken.”
Source: AnimeAnime