In the early 1990s, French teenagers did not exactly watch TV programs like “SpongeBob SquarePants” or “Hannah Montana”…

The show you are about to discover today was then considered the ultimate dessin animé (cartoon) not to miss on French TV for the 12-year-old boys on Wednesday afternoons.

And nevermind that the storyline featured some pretty violent scenes!

A fact which would eventually lead a consortium of concerned parents and even politicians (such as Ségolène Royal, the ex “partner” of French President François Hollande ) to pressure the French TV channel TF1. leaving it no other choice in the end than pulling the plug for good on the show, to the greatest chagrin of millions of French kids who were ready to skip school just to watch an episode!

Set in a Mad Max-like post-apocalyptic world, “Ken, le survivant ” (“Ken the Survivor”) tells the story of a warrior named Ken (or “Kenshiro” in the original Japanese anime “Fist of the North Star”), a Master of a martial art known as “Hokuto.”
The first French doublage (dubbing) of this cartoon is to this day deemed controversial: The fans of the original show see the “tongue-in-cheek ” French style as an affront to the original Japanese version, while others seem to enjoy the various jeux de mots (puns) it often contains, such as the constant references to the martial art of “Haut Couteau de Cuisine ” (literally “the High Kitchen Knife”) instead of “Hokuto”!

♦ Intro to “Ken, le survivant ” (“Ken the Survivor”, or “Fist of the North Star”) ♦

An exclusive Transparent French Blog Translation:

Ken, the Survivor of Hell