We ditched AI for some good old-fashioned creative thinking…which required a few extra appendages.

There’s never a dull moment in the SoraNews24 editorial offices in Tokyo. While boredom may plague the average salaryman out there, our team will always find something to do when the going gets slow–which isn’t that hard, considering that the world is still in desperate need of new fashion statements and original office sports.

It was one such recent day when our zaniest Japanese-language reporter, Mr. Sato, was struck by a sudden burst of inspiration fed by his love for a classic martial arts anime. Fist of the North Star began as a manga in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump in the mid-’80s before being adapted into a now-classic anime that laid the foundation for countless more to come. Protagonist Kenshiro‘s signature move, the Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken (“North Star Hundred Rending Fists”), is especially iconic as he pummels his opponent with a mind-bending number of punches that make it look like he has multiple arms–all to the tune of a high-pitched chorus of Bruce Lee-style battle shouts.

▼ Animation captures the blurry effect better than anything, but you can get a sense of the attack below.

As someone who grew up wanting to emulate the coolness of Kenshiro as he used his (literal) killer technique, Mr. Sato found himself pondering whether there were a way to replicate it in real life without the use of AI. He decided that there’s a definite warmth in human-made things, even if they’re a little rough around the edges. In fact, it’s precisely in that slight awkwardness that the creative spirit resides.

With his mind made up, it was time to call in the reinforcements. On this day, his fellow reporter Masanuki Sunakoma would transform into Kenshiro’s lesser-known variant–Kenshiro of SoraNews24.

▼ At this point, Masanuki knows to just go along with anything that Mr. Sato sets his mind to.

Mr. Sato had been waiting for this moment ever since Masanuki joined the team and he was struck by the newbie’s resemblance to Kenshiro. Actually, let’s just call him Sunashiro from here on out. When he put a chest guard on, the resemblance only increased.

▼ Mr. Sato thinks Masanuki is halfway to Kenshiro just by being himself and he’s 70 percent there with the chest guard on.

Oops! Mr. Sato realized that the chest guard was on backwards, so he made Sunashiro fix it in order to take a new photo. Part of that clumsiness is precisely what makes Sunashiro so charming, though.

When he edited Sunashiro into a post-apocalyptic background scene, the resemblance was really uncanny. Dare he say that Sunashiro is actually Kenshiro’s modern-day, intrepid journalist reincarnation.

At this point Mr. Sato asked Sunashiro to start practicing his famous attack move, but this is where he was limited by the confines of real-world physics–namely, the fact that he could only replicate 1/50 of the 100 punches with his two arms.

▼ He was able to strike a cool pose, though.

Maybe it was time for him to go engage in a shonen anime-style training montage that involves sitting under waterfalls and splitting boulders with his bare fists.

At that moment, however, part of the SoraNews24 team swooped in to save the day. At least this way Sunashiro could level up his damage with 12 total fists.

BEHOLD–the North Star Twelve Rending Fists attack!

It was a nice first try, but his arms in the back would never be able to reach and utterly decimate his opponents. Some kind of modification was needed.

▼ Also, where were the missing arms?! They couldn’t have just gotten up and walked away…

A few teammates ended up coming forward and crouching at his feet so that their arms would stay more in the forefront.

There we go. NOW we’re talking.

At this point Sunashiro thought that he was off the hook, but Mr. Sato had one more request up his sleeve. He instructed him to rest his right leg on top of the table.

The others joined in from other angles, and wouldn’t you know it–Sunashiro could also perform the North Star Twelve Rending Kicks attack.

Mr. Sato was exceedingly pleased with his direction. Anime-style attacks COULD be achieved decently well in analog style after all.

Oh, and by the way, for anyone reading this now…you’re already dead.

All images © SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
[ Read in Japanese ]