Hunter x Hunter author Yoshihiro Togashi contributed to the Fist of the North Star 40th anniversary original art exhibition, themed: “Ai wo Torimodose!!” (Bring back the love!!). The Fist of the North Star exhibition was announced in March and celebrates 40 years since the manga debuted in 1983. The exhibit is held at Mori Arts Center Gallery in Roppongi Hills, Japan, and will be available from October 7 to November 19. The exhibit allows visitors to take and post photos of the art.
In the image, Togashi says, “40-year anniversary!!!!! Congratulations,” while Gon says “ひでぶ” (hidebu) which references the iconic death cry of Mr. Heart from Fist of the North Star, as well as a common yelp of pain in the manga. Togashi recently posted, hinting that he had resumed work on the manga Hunter x Hunter manga, which is currently on hiatus.
Togashi wasn’t the only mangaka to submit artwork for the exhibition. Rather, he was joined by a star-studded lineup that included: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure mangaka, Hirohiko Araki, One Piece‘s Eiichiro Oda, Dragon Ball‘s Akira Toriyama, Case Closed‘s Gosho Aoyama, Hajime no Ippo‘s George Morikawa, TOUCH‘s Mitsuru Adachi, and Rokudenashi BLUES‘ Masanori Morita, whose art are all pictured below. Morita and Togashi are also old friends, and released artwork together last year which went viral.
The Fist of the North Star exhibit is just one of a number of plans to celebrate the iconic manga’s legacy. On October 25, just two floors under the current exhibit, Mori Art Gallery will host a cosmology talk with the Roppongi Astronomy Club, exploring stars and constellations which are a core motif in the manga. Then in March 2024, an exhibit will open in Nagoya, followed by another in Kobe in Summer 2024. A Fukuoka venue will open in Spring 2025.
Mori Art Center Gallery describes the exhibition as:
In 2023, marking 40 years since the start of serialization, we will hold the first and largest Fist of the North Star grand original illustration exhibition in history.
The compelling original drawings brought to life by Tetsuo Hara’s overwhelming artistic skill, featuring the fantastically attractive characters created by Buronson – we have carefully selected 400 illustrations from the 136 chapters spanning around 3,000 pages up to the Raoh arc, as well as gems of color illustrations drawn during serialization. Along the theme of “love”, we trace the powerful story across 6 chapters.
Protagonist Kenshiro’s love involves complete self-sacrifice for others. We hope longtime fans and those encountering this work for the first time at this exhibition will feel this “love” engraved in their hearts.
The main poster for the exhibit is below:
Fist of the North Star will also receive a new anime adaptation, with the author Buronson revealing that the anime will aim to respect the original this time. VIZ Media holds the North American license for Fist of the North Star. They describe the first volume as:
One day, a wanderer appears out of the wasteland to bring justice to the guilty and hope to the people—a warrior named Ken, a man who bears seven scars upon his chest and holds the secret of a mysterious martial art known as Hokuto Shinken, the Divine Fist of the North Star!
Source: Official Website, Mori Art Center Gallery
Fist of the North Star © Buronson, Tetsuo Hara / Coamix 1983
Featured image: Hunter x Hunter © Yoshihiro Togashi, Nippon TV, Shueisha, Madhouse
Special thanks to Jeremy Sauer for the Japanese translations and Garuzow for the photographs.