Among the most unusual items in Hokuto no Ken merchandising are these masks frozen mid-death scream, sold by the Hakaba no Garou gallery in Nakano. No Kenshiro, no Raoh, no heroes here: two masks reproduce the iconic screams that punctuate the death scenes throughout the series. The “Hidebu!” is none other than Heart, whose legendary death cry it represents, while the “Abeshi!” immortalizes another character, an ordinary victim of this end-of-century world.
Details
Become the victim
The masks, approximately 24 cm by 21 for the Abeshi and 21 by 21 for the Hidebu, belong to the grand tradition of the omen, the Japanese festival mask, whose historical manufacturers actually gave rise to the sofubi industry. Where the classic omen lets a child become their hero, these offer the exact opposite: becoming a victim of the Hokuto Shinken a split second before the explosion.
Finding one today
Long sold out in stores, the masks occasionally resurface on Mercari and Yahoo Auctions Japan for a few hundred yen, making them among the cheapest entry points in all of Hokuto merchandising. Only a “Tawaba!” is missing to complete the triptych of death screams, and we haven’t given up hope of seeing it appear one day.
