Hokuto no Ken 2 Episode 9
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Synopsis

The North Star Army can see the Imperial capital. Rihaku explains that he Emperor has given Jakoh the authority to give out orders and put him in a position of absolute power. The strongest warrior of Jakoh's forces is Falco, the golden light of the Gento Kouken style. Bat says that one of Falco's men told him that Falco could bring back the light into people's hearts and wonders what that meant. Rihaku tells them that many years a go, Raoh went to Falco's village and confronted Falco. Falco decided to sacrifice one of his legs, on the condition that Raoh left his village alone. Raoh agreed to this. Back in the present, Jakoh is physically abusing Falco when Shoki storms in, threatening to kill him. Falco stops him, and Shoki wants to know why he is so loyal to scum like Jakoh.

The flashback resumes and shortly after Falco had cut his leg off, Raoh sensed Jakoh via the evil aura he had. Raoh believed that Jakoh would cause great misery later, and told Falco to kill him now. Back in the present, Shoki tries to kill Jakoh again, but Falco seemingly kills him. It turns out he had put him in a state of death though, and he tries to get Shoki out via the capital's canal system. However, Jakoh is aware of this and has Boltz fatally wound Shoki with one of his spears. He tells Boltz and Taiga to keep tabs on Falco, as he doesn't think they can trust him any more.

The North Star Army happen to be by the canal and they see Shoki. Shoki is barely alive, and manages to tell Kenshiro that he must kill Jakoh. Rihaku explains that the spear belongs to the blue light General, Boltz. A short time later, Boltz sees the North Star Army heading towards him, and sets their flag on fire as a symbol of what is going to happen to them if they try and fight. However, Boltz is suddenly sent crashing into a wall, as his own spear hits him -Kenshiro says he will never be forgiven!




In the manga...

-Just before Rihaku arrives, the manga shows Gill at a grave for his brother. This doesn't happen in the anime, as Gill is dead.

-Shoki makes his first appearance in the manga when Falco sees him, in the anime, he had a new debut scene where he fights Kenshiro, in this episode.

-Myuu is not present in the manga version of this episode. She's introduced slightly later.

-As mentioned before, Boltz and Taiga were not in the manga -instead, they replaced two other characters called Sheeno and Jask, who are Jakoh's sons. In the manga, Sheeno and Jask made their debut when Falco is summoned before Jakoh. I have no idea why this change was made.

-In the manga, Sheeno is the one who fatally wounds Shoki, and he does it by hiding beneath the water. Jakoh and Jask are not present when he does the attack. In the anime, Boltz is the one who attacks Shoki, but he does it from dry land and Jakoh and Taiga are present.

-The flashback where Ken and Yuria enter Shoki's village is shown when Ken and the rest of the North Star Army find the fatally wounded Shoki in the manga. In the anime, it was shown earlier, in the episode where Shoki and Ken fight each other.

-In the manga, Sheeno is killed by his own spear when Ken throws it at him -it goes right through his throat. In the anime, Boltz gets hit by a spear, but it hits part of his cape so he survives.




Notes

-There was a two week gap between this episode and the previous one airing during the original broadcast. Usually, new episodes were once per week.

-When Boltz and Taiga are first seen in this episode, the animators literally copied the poses Sheeno and Jask were in (look at the manga panel above), right down to them having pickaxes -even though Boltz and Taiga are never seen with these weapons again (they vanish after this shot).

-The scream Jakoh makes when Shoki is about to kill him is hilarious.