A Man Lives to Fight!
The Door to the Showdown Finally Opens!
-From RQ87's Fist of the North Star site

Hokuto no Ken episode 17
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For a detailed overview of this episode, click here.

Shin gathers together his entire army.
Original broadcast date: February 14th, 1985

Contents
1) Synopsis
2) Manga differences
3) Notes


Synopsis

Shin calls together his army for a meeting. Hydra, Wolf and Mahari, three of his Captains, are present, and Generalissimo Balcom also appears. Balcom explains to the army about Kenshiro and how dangerous he is, as he has defeated the likes of Zeed, Colonel and even Devil Rebirth. Shin says that the world only needs one art of assassination, and his South Star holy fist is just that.

Saki has overheard their words, and goes to tell Yuria that she heard them talking about the man with seven scars. Knowing that this is Kenshiro, Yuria thinks about the time she lost Ken and how he was left for dead in the desert, but she now knows he is still alive. She explains to Saki that Shin started to expand his territory in the most violent way possible: going around from town to town and killing anyone that got in his way. His men then took prisoners to make into slaves, whilst also increasing the size of his army. He told Yuria all of this was just for her.

Yuria's story is enough to reduce Saki to tears, as she says that she feels so sorry for her. Meanwhile, Ken, Bat and Lin are taking cover from a sandstorm, and Bat asks the big question: will they ever find Southern Cross? Meanwhile, Shin says to himself that he will never let Kenshiro take Yuria back.

Manga Differences

-This is a filler episode, and the majority of it is not in the manga. However the parts where Shin kicks through a guy and his army attacks villages actually were in the manga, but they are shown when a dying Shin explains to Kenshiro how he tried to win Yuria's heart. Also at this point in the manga, Shin's men find some jewels which Shin takes and tries to impress Yuria with, but she rejects his gifts -this scene was used in the fourth episode of the anime.

Notes

-During the title card sequence, the usual jingle used in previous episodes does not play.

-This episode is the first clip show of the series. There are several more to come.

-The clips showing Kenshiro's fight with Club stop after Kenshiro blows his hands apart. In the actual episode, Kenshiro uses another technique to kill him.

-If you don't count the reused footage or the next episode preview line, this is the only episode Kenshiro doesn't speak in.

-The clips used in this episode are the same apart from the music, which is often different from what was originally used.