Fist of the North Star Filler Guide

Fist of the North Star is a long running shounen manga created by Tetsuo Hara. It is about a legendary martial artist named Kenshiro who uses the power of his fists to protect those he cares for and defeat those who stand in his way.

The manga has been adapted into 4 anime TV series, one live action movie and multiple video games. As well as numerous spin offs and crossovers, which I will cover further down!

Fist of the North Star Plot

The story is set in post-apocalyptic Earth in the year 199X (Japans version of 1984). The world is ruled by an organisation called the Autonomic Republic of Sarlia following a nuclear war. Survivors of the war live in towns protected by walls, with many of them having been trained to fight to protect their lives.

The main character Kenshiro is searching for his kidnapped lover and meets a young boy named Bat who has been injured protecting his village from raiders. He visits a nearby town where he helps the villagers defend themselves from the raiders who he discovers are led by his old rival Shin and his elder brother Raoh. Kenshiro finds out that Shin has kidnapped Bat in order to use his blood to open up a gate that will lead him to become ruler of the world.

How Much Filler is in Fist of the North Star?

The Fist of the north star series has a remarkably high filler episode rate. There are a total of 152 episodes in the series, and there are a total of 20 episodes which are filler episodes, which gives it a score of 13% filler episodes.

Quick Filler & Canon Lists

Complete Filler List

List of filler episodes for Fist of the North Star in chronological order – Learn if it is worth watching

Episode 9 Villains! Say your prayers before you die

Episode 9 is a filler episode. The episode ends with a teaser to the next episode, which is the beginning of the “Madame Patra” arc, which occurs much later in the manga and anime.

Kenshiro and Bat run into a gang of bikers who are chasing after Mika, who had been kidnapped by her father. Kenshiro beats up the bikers and then saves Mika from certain death at the hands of her father and other villagers. Mika’s father takes her back forcibly but Kenshiro saves Jiro, Mika’s brother from Madame Patra’s henchmen who were going to kill him. Madame Patra is then seen talking about how she will go to see Ken again very soon when she gets thirsty. The lake near her castle suddenly has all its water drained out. The drained lake is now the only way to get into her castle, and she quickly closes it off.

Episode 9 is the introduction of Mika, who is the love interest of Kenshiro as well as being his first female companion. This is also the episode where Bat joins Ken in a fight for the first time.

This episode is a filler because it was not based on any part of the manga. This is the start of a substantial story arc in the anime, which did occur in the manga but much later.

This episode is a filler and shows Bat’s first fight with Kenshiro. The episode also introduces Jiro and his sister Mika, who will become larger roles later on in the series.

The episode ends with a teaser to the next episode, which occurs much later in the manga and anime.

Episode 10 Rekka Gyakuryuken! There are too many who must die!

Episode 10 is a filler episode. The anime uses this opportunity to explore the Dragon’s castle even though the manga never did.

The anime also gives more details about what happened between Kenshiro and Yuria in the past. It shows how Yuria and Shin met their end at the hands of Shin’s brother, Jagi.

The filler episodes were not present in the original manga, but were added to give more character development to certain characters and flesh out major plot points that could not be covered within a single episode.

Episode 10 starts with Kenshiro investigating the dry lake, as he was told by the villagers that there is a monster living in the lake. After Kenshiro discovers that the water has been drained away, he is attacked by the Mount Ryujin Guardian. Kenshiro defeats him and forces him to guide him to the top of the mountain.

When they reach the top, another man clad in blue flames attacks and kills the Mount Ryujin Guardian for guiding Kenshiro up to the mountain. The man from earlier calls himself Dragon, and invites Kenshiro to his castle for a feast. While Dragon prepares dinner, he reveals that Yuria and Shin stopped at his castle after their journey from Southern Cross City. He then shows Kenshiro a portrait of Yuria that Shin painted while they were staying in his castle. The next day, Dragon offers his sympathy towards Kenshiro for losing Yuria and invites him to stay longer at his castle.

Kenshiro leaves Dragon’s castle with renewed hope and realizes that there is a city on top of Southern Cross City on top of a cliff. He continues walking forward until he reaches Southern Cross City which explains why this episode is filler even though it follows directly from Episode 9 without any time lapses or flashbacks as with most filler episodes.

Episode 14 A miserable era! The good die so young

Episode 14 of the anime features a filler storyline that was not present in the original manga. The filler plot introduces Dante, one of Shin’s strongest warriors, and Duran, a former member of Dante’s gang. The episode ends with Dante falling into the volcano after being defeated by Kenshiro.

Episode 14 starts out with Ken, Bat, and Lin traveling through a forest on their way to Shin’s territory, where they will supposedly meet Shachi. As they walk, Ken and Bat are arguing about who is stronger. They run into a man named Duran, who invites them to his village. After some initial misunderstanding from the villagers, Duran clears everything up and invites them into his village. He tells Kenshiro that he is the doctor of the village and introduces him to some of the other villagers. Duran’s sister warns Duran not to trust the strangers. That night, two of the gang enter his cabin and tell him to kill Kenshiro with some gunpowder. If he doesn’t do it, they will kill everyone in his village.

The next day, Ken asks Duran for help to get some herbs because he has a cold. He takes Ken up a volcano and tells him that he wants him to help him get some herbs for a medicine that will cure his sister’s illness. Ken starts peeling the leaves of a tree on the volcano, and Duran tells him that the herb he is looking for grows only at the top of the volcano.

Meanwhile, Dante and his gang are riding on horses and heading up the volcano. They notice a large explosion in the distance, which is where Duran and Kenshiro were headed. As they head up the volcano, they are surprised to see that Kenshiro is still standing! One of the gang members takes a young girl hostage. Duran tries to save her but gets cut by one of them. The man holding the girl then tries to run away from Kenshiro, but Kenshiro throws his sword at him instead. He hits pressure points on Dante which make him walk forward and he ends up falling into a river below along with his men.

The next day, Ken tells Bat that there must be something wrong with Duran because he was willing to kill them all in order to protect his sister’s village. Bat tells Ken that he must have had a good reason for doing it. At night, they go back to where they met Duran earlier that day and put flowers on his grave as an apology for how things turned out.

This episode is a filler because it is not based on any portions of the manga. The storyline was added to the anime to provide a new twist on the series. It also allowed for Dante, one of Shin’s strongest warriors, to be introduced early in the series, which was something that did not happen until much later in the manga. The filler plot introduces Duran, a former member of Dante’s gang who joins Kenshiro after his sister becomes ill. After helping Ken and Bat find herbs on a volcano, Duran sacrifices his life to save Bat from one of Dante’s gang members and falls into the river below with Dante and his men.

Episode 15 Count to three! You’re the one to die

Episode 15 is a filler episode of Hokuto No Ken. The plot is basically that a young girl named Karen is captured by Zaria and he makes everyone in the village zombies except for Ken, Bat, and Lin. Ken then fights Zaria and defeats him with the Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken, but not without help from Lin’s tears.

The filler part is that the anime does not follow the manga at all. While this episode was being made, the manga had not even reached this point in its story line yet. So it is just an anime original story. Also, after this episode, the series goes back to following the manga’s storyline for a while, until about Episode 19 when it does another filler episode (Episode 20 follows up on Manga Chapter 58). The next time that it follows the manga’s storyline (Episode 21) is when Kenshiro faces Raoh for a second time in Manga Chapter 59 (Episode 24).

Episode 15 starts out with a young girl named Karen being chased by some punks. She is rescued by Ken and Bat. In the next scene we see Ken, Bat, and Lin walking through some wilderness. They then come across a village that is surrounded by what seems to be a fog. The three of them go in anyway, and find out that it is a trap set by Zaria, one of the Seven Stars of Nanto (South). It turns out that the villagers are zombies controlled by his spell.

After he has defeated all the punks who tried to capture Karen, Ken saves her and they go to her house. There they find Lin in another room. However she becomes a zombie herself because of Zaria’s spell and attacks them both. Ken then has to find a way to save her and get out of the village. He finds out about Zaria through one of the zombies. He goes to confront him in his cathedral, and when he gets there Zaria uses his spell on him too.

While this is going on Bat is trying to climb up a chimney but gets stuck in it. He almost falls but manages to hang on. Back with Ken he is still unconscious because of Zaria’s spell so Lin has no choice but to cry into his ear in order for him to wake up. Once he wakes up he tries to fight Zaria but before he can land a hit, Zaria’s spell over him wears off and he beats him with the Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken, followed by a kick that sends him flying through the roof of the cathedral. The episode ends with Karen thanking Ken and Lin for saving her life and returning back home with them after they defeat Zaria.