Hokuto no Ken Episode 12
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I am Death Itself!! I'll Chase You to the Ends of Hell!!
-From Rage Quitter 87's Fist of the North Star site


For a detailed overview of this episode, click here.

Kenshiro hunts down Jackal's gang.
Original broadcast date: January 10th 1985

Contents
1) Synopsis
2) In the manga...
3) Errors





Synopsis

Kenshiro hunts down Jackal and manages to find Fox. The two fight, and Kenshiro soon defeats his opponent and makes him reveal where Jackal is going. Later on Jackal and his gang visit a bar, but the bartender tells them that Kenshiro has been here. They then all see Fox's body and all of Jackal's gang get scared. They try to flee, knowing the man with seven scars must be nearby. They try to use their bikes, only to find that someone has drained the gasoline out of all of them.

They then see Kenshiro, but think that he may spare them if they kill their leader. They head back into the bar and confront Jackal, but he manages to get away and then kills them all by throwing some dynamite into the building. Kenshiro then confronts Jackal, but he refuses to go down without a fight.

Jackal tells Ken that he is a master of Nanto Bakusatsu Ken (South South Explosive Kill Fist) and starts to throw sticks of dynamite at him. Ken evades them all and is about to finish Jackal off, when Joker appears and takes Jackal away. Kenshiro is left alone in the town, and there are no signs of his enemies anywhere.



In the manga...

-The start of the manga varies greatly from the anime. In the manga, Ken, Bat and Lin take the children from Toyo's village back to Johnny's bar. Ken tells Johnny to look after them, but he doesn't want to. So Ken hits a pressure point on his head and tells him he will die in a month! Ken then tells him that the only way he can be saved is if he returns. Ken also tells him to make sure the kids don't get hungry. Johnny reluctantly complies. In the anime, Ken leaves the Bat, Lin and the other kids in Toyo's village.

-There is no village attack scene in the manga. Ken just happens to find a couple of Jackal's thugs instead, who have killed a couple of other guys to take their food. He kills one and puts the "message" in the other.

-Fox decapitates the villagers in the manga, whilst it was toned down to him just slashing then in the anime.

-Speaking of slashing, Fox takes a leak on a dead guy in the manga, saying he always feels the need to do so after killing someone.


-Fox's men are told to get the food and are never seen again in the manga. In the anime, Fox tells them to get the food, but then sees them explode.

-When Jackal and his gang enter the bar, Jackal ends up killing the bartender in the manga, whilst in the anime, he lives (although he might have died when Jackal blew up his place).

-Jackal decapitates one of his own men in the manga, whilst it was toned down to just striking him in the anime.

-When Jackal tries to use his wrist blade against Ken, Ken hits him in his arm in the manga, with such power than it gets broken. It was changed to him being hit in the chest and slammed into a wall for the anime.

-Jackal's fighting style was never named in the manga.

-In the manga, Jackal heads to the prison by himself. For the anime, they changed the story to feature Joker (who was never in the manga) coming to assist Jackal.



Errors

-In one of the shots of Jackal throwing dynamite, the effect used for the lit fuse spark doesn't keep up with the cell art for a couple of frames.











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