Uncensored screenshot from the film trailer.
Censored screenshot from the actual film.
When the Fist of the North Star anime was first released in Japan in 1986, all the gore and death scenes were completely clear. However, when Toei released the movie on home video, all the gore scenes were censored with a blurring effect, and the scene where Galf crushes a man's head was removed entirely.
From that point, every VHS and DVD release worldwide had blur effects over the gore and the head-crushing scene was cut, this may have also occured on the English dub from Streamline Pictures. There were the usual "destroyed in a warehouse fire" rumors that always arise around lost animation, but Toei has actually never made an official statement on the issue.
Available Uncensored Footage[]
On a side note, some Italian versions of the film were less censored than any other version, even the Japanese ones:
- The scene where Shin gives Ken his seven scars doesn't feature the blue tint, the colors have been left alone.
- The scene where Galf crushes a man's head is actually shown.
This scene of Galf crushing a man's head was completely removed from home video.
One of the few uncensored death scenes. This is from an Italian VHS release.