Legends of the Dark King

Legends of the Dark King: A Fist of the North Star Story
Cover of the first volume
天の覇王 北斗の拳ラオウ外伝 (Ten no Haō Hokuto no Ken Raō Gaiden)
Manga
Written by	Buronson, Tetsuo Hara
Illustrated by	Youkow Osada
Published by	Shinchosha
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Weekly Comic Bunch
Original run	March 24, 2006 – August 24, 2007
Volumes	5 (List of volumes)
Anime television series
Directed by	Masashi Abe
Produced by	Futoshi Nakabayashi, Hisato Usui, Haruhisa Ishizuka
Written by	Hiroshi Ohnogi
Music by	KAZSIN (Kazuhiro Ishikawa, Shinya Naito)
Studio	Satelight
Licensed by	NA Sentai Filmworks
Original network	TVA, Tokyo MX, TVO, Kids Station
English network	Anime Network
Original run	October 10, 2008 – December 25, 2008
Episodes	13 (List of episodes)

Legends of the Dark King: A Fist of the North Star Story (Japanese: 天の覇王 北斗の拳 ラオウ外伝, Hepburn: Ten no Haō: Hokuto no Ken: Raoh Gaiden^?, roughly translated as "The Conqueror of the Heavens: Fist of the North Star Raoh Side-Story") is a manga series by Youkow Osada that was serialized in the Weekly Comic Bunch from 2006 to 2007. It is a spinoff of the manga series Fist of the North Star by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara. The story centers on the Fist of the North Star antagonist Raoh and depicts his rise to power as the conqueror of a post-apocalyptic world prior to and during the events of the original work. The story of Legends of the Dark King also incorporates elements introduced in the Fist of the North Star: The Legends of the True Savior movie series, including Raoh's childhood friends of Reina and Souga, who help him establish his army.

The manga was adapted into a 13-episode anime series produced by Satelight and aired on Tokyo MX and other stations in late 2008. The anime has been licensed for North America by Sentai Filmworks and distributed by Section23 Films, The complete series was released on a DVD set on September 15, 2009. The series was re-released with the English dub on DVD and Blu-ray on July 20, 2010.

A global-scale nuclear war has transformed most of the Earth into a barren ocean-less wasteland, resulting in the downfall of modern civilization and a return to a lawless age of barbarism. The survivors of mankind begin to fight each other over the limited supply of uncontaminated food and water still left in the world. The strong ones begin to band together in gangs and armies, fighting each other over territory, while oppressing the weak. A man named Raoh appears, seeking to establish order in the post-apocalyptic world through his mastery of the martial art of Hokuto Shinken. With the help of his childhood friends Reina and Souga, Raoh takes on the mantle of the "King of Fist", as he gradually extends his reign, recruiting new allies in the process, while fighting against rival warlords who seek to challenge his authority.