@Jay444111: Because the animation is terribly dated (you can level that criticism at just about every old show, but FotNS doesn't hold up at ALL) and recycles a lot of it, the vast majority of the episodes are filler (Ken wanders into some town/area, gets harassed by gang, sees local plight, kills leader in a 10 second fight, curses Shin/Jagi/Souther/Yuda/whoever he's currently tracking down, repeat), the plot is nonexistent and only ever changes twice (go after Shin to go after Raoh, everyone else along the way is incidental), and so on.
I love FotNS. I was exposed to the first of the OVAs, got hooked, played the games, and went back to watch the old show. Out of the 100+ episodes, only (about) 25 involve characters you care to see (besides Ken), and outside of the major characters or the odd special villain of the week (Mr. Heart, etc) every fight ends with a recycled Hundred Crack Fist animation loop. It's a series that's best watched with a Youtube compilation of the best fights (Ken/Shin, Rei/Raoh, Ken/Jagi, Toki/Raoh, Juza/Raoh, and finally Ken/Raoh), because the plot is nonexistent (you aren't watching it for the story anyway) and the shows really veers towards the boring side of things. I didn't even finish the 2nd series once Ken and Falco started getting their mainly tears going.
People build it up to be more then it is. Watch the new OVAs: they're hilariously over the top and a good time with friends. The original series is only for those who are really interested in the roots of the show (and may be better served by just reading the manga) or to brush up on some anime history. You'll see what I mean once you get 60 or so episodes deep and you're just praying for him to get out of the fucking desert and punch a name that you know instead of "dude with a bunch of whips" or "guy that throws a boomerang" or "guy that thinks he's Toki" and so on.
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