If Berserk is my all-time favorite manga, Fist of the North Star might as well be right up there. Yes, the latter’s story is finished. The anime adaptation is both faithful and dated. But it’s glorious. I’m knee deep into Season 6 on CrunchyRoll. The lore dump you get regarding Kenshiro’s past was unexpected. I wasn’t prepared but it definitely explained a lot. There have been moments in the story where I understood why Buronson wanted Kentaro Miura on his team. If seasons 1-4 were a base game, 5-7 are most definitely good DLC. It definitely explains why Raoh believed himself to be the heir to the Divine Fist of the North Star. Toki possessed all the traits to be the heir but his sickness took away his qualification. Kenshiro showed glimpses of being the Prince that was Promised. Wait, I didn’t mean to make a Song of Ice and Fire reference but here we are. Kenshiro was foreshadowed as a kid to be the one. Darn, now I made a Matrix reference. The land of Asura is revealed. The split faction of Divine Fist and Lapis Lazuli adds weight to Kenshiro’s journey. This is because many of us remember Fist of the North Star up to Kenshiro’s stalemate with Raoh. Their first fight was revealed in the anime film. Many of us didn’t watch the anime series that adapted the manga to its entirety. The film left out a lot of plot development. It omitted consequences and the winds of things to come that Kenshiro would await.
As I indulged myself with Fist of the North Star, I spent hours working on FireFrei’s artwork. The novel’s initial draft has its chapter art inserted. However, inspiration struck to whip out my art tablet and pen. I got to work. I did Episode 1’s black ink tracing and now it comes down to coloring. This is where some degrees of OCD and perhaps ADHd kicks in. Manga artists typically keep it simple with just solid coloring and shading. However, I always feel compelled to etch and grind away digitally, just as I do physically. The main difference between my digital and physical approach is simply course correction. I also managed to learn how to make art as a backdrop for text on the Pages app. For me, that’s a game-changer as it’ll help with immersion in each chapter.
In last night’s work, I realized I am more comfortable with being a light novel author. I am unafraid to simply lean in on that format. Some authors are great at being mangaka. Some are brilliant comic book artists and authors while some are great artists or great authors. Being a light novel author helps me get the balance for what I know I’m skilled at. As far as chapter episode transferring and editing? I’m halfway through Episode 6. As a result, I was reminded how critical it is to where the journey of Emmanuel Lucifer goes. I promised myself that once I have everything on my Mac, I would write a chapter every month. From there, short or long, that’s how it will be until October comes around. This way, I can have it ready to complete artwork, final editing for publishing for the world to enjoy.
