Kenshiro has found Shin's fortress and tells Bat and Lin to wait behind, as this is his fight. As he heads towards it, he thinks about what happened between himself, Yuria and Shin a year ago. Shin confronted Ken and said he was going to take Yuria, as he desires her and that this new age -where the strong rule -he will have her. Ken tries to tell Shin that their master told them that the North and South Stars must not fight, but Shin says he has forgotten what that fool used to say. Shin uses a flying kick attack called Nanto gokusatsu ken (South Star hell murder fist), as Kenshiro uses a technique called Hokuto hiei ken (North Star flying defensive fist).

Shin's attack made Ken's knees and elbows slice open, and he is defeated. Shin then starts to stab his fingers into Ken, giving him seven wounds whilst telling Yuria she is the only one who can stop Kenshiro's execution -she just has to say she loves him. Yuria eventually does this, and Shin starts to walk away with her, leaving Ken for dead. Back in the present, Kenshiro enters the fortress.

After defeating some guards, Ken finds Joker, who tells him that Shin and Yuria have left this place. Outside, Shin, Yuria and some guards are off by car and bike to Southern Cross, Shin's newly constructed capital city. Back inside, Joker sets the fortress on fire and gets away on a giant eagle. Having seen the fire, Bat and Lin head to the fortress and find that Ken has survived. Ken coldly says that it will take more than this to defeat him now, and that he will get Yuria back.

Manga Differences

-At this point in the manga, Kenshiro has defeated Heart, and then fights Shin. But for the anime, they decided to change things around by moving a couple of plot arcs forwards, whilst pushing back the climatic battle between Kenshiro and Shin right to the end of the first chapter of the anime -episode 22 to be exact. A ton of filler was also added for the anime, as you'll see in upcoming episodes. Some like this, as you get to see a lot of what the North Star divine fist can do, whilst Shin and Yuria get much more screen time. Others dislike this and call the first chapter of the anime the weakest of the entire series due to some of the filler being downright silly at times, and the long time it takes for Kenshiro to battle Shin.

-The flashback sequence of Kenshiro being defeated by Shin was originally told just before he started to fight Shin in the manga.

-Shin's kick move is called "Nanto gokuto ken" (South Star hell slaughter fist) in the manga. The reason why it was changed to "Nanto gokusatsu ken" (South Star hell murder fist) was because the original name apparently offended Burakumin.

-Kenshiro's kick move was not named in the manga.

-Shin was already in Southern Cross in the manga -for the anime, they just had him holding out in some random fortress as he waited for Southern Cross to be completed. He and Yuria then head out to his new city, giving Kenshiro no clues as to where it is.

Notes

-Kenshiro's master makes his first appearance here. He is not named (Ken simply refers to him as "father"), but his real name will later be revealed: Ryuken. Ryuken would eventually appear in the series (in flashback sequences) later on, with a slightly different facial design to what is shown here.

-Both the manga and anime refer to this character as being both Kenshiro and Shin's master. This got retconned later -Ryuken only teaches the North Star divine fist, whilst Shin's master is never seen in this series. Shin's master would eventually be revealed in Legend of Kenshiro.

-Several shots from this episode are actually taken from the intro, namely a couple of Kenshiro walking, and some of him doing a few moves.

-When Ken fights the guards, there is a brief flash and the word "SWOK" appears on screen for less than half a second. This is the only time this type of comic book thing happens in the series.

-The next episode preview segment is now narrated by Shigeru Chiba. Up until now a couple of different voice actors have narrated it, and the staff still couldn't decide on who was to take the role permanently yet (Shigeru doesn't narrate the preview for the next episode). Shigeru also provides the voice for Joker.

Errors

-During this shot, Kenshiro's jacket is missing its sleeves.
-During this shot, Kenshiro's jacket has sleeves on both arms, instead of just the left arm.
-In the final shot of the episode, Kenshiro's arm band and bandages are missing.