Shin of the South Star Holy Fist!
You Gave Your Life for an Unrequited Love!!
-From RQ87's Fist of the North Star site

Hokuto no Ken episode 78
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For a detailed overview of this episode, click here.

Kenshiro remembers Shin, the master of the South Star holy fist.
Original broadcast date: June 26th, 1986

Contents
1) Synopsis
2) Manga differences
3) Notes


Synopsis

Kenshiro, Bat and Lin stand outside Ryuga's castle, having started to cremate the bodies of Toki and Ryuga. Kenshiro thinks about what Toki told him, and hopes he is watching over him from heaven. He also thinks about the men representing other stars, such as Ryuga and the South Star six holy fists. He thinks about how the South Star six holy fists. split up, and recalls Shin, the man who set him on the journey of his destiny. After thinking about fighting Shin and his army, Kenshiro wonders if Shin has been reunited with Yuria in heaven.

Manga Differences

-This episode is mostly filler -the only part that happens at the manga is near the start, where Lin thinks that whenever Ken experiences sadness, he becomes stronger. The next few episodes are all clip shows about the members of the South Star six holy fists. The reason these clip shows were made could have been to fill newcomers to the series in on what happened with the South Star guys, as the sixth South Star General arc was about to start.

Notes

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

-The first few minutes of this episode are the same as the last few of the previous one. There is one difference with one of the clips used though:

Episode 77	Episode 78

The stars of the Big Dipper all shine brightly in this episode, whilst in the previous one, only the death omen star did.

-The title card for this episode does not have the usual black background. Instead, it features an image of Shin.

-Whilst Diamond, Club and Heart are featured in this episode, Spade is not.

-This is as good a time to mention it as any: Shin is meant to be the master of the South Star holy fist, yet there are 108 different styles of it, such as Rei's South Star waterfowl fist, and Souther's South Star phoenix fist. Does this mean Shin has mastered them all? No, it does not. So in the book Fist of the North Star Special: All About the Man (released in 1986), on Shin's profile page, his fighting style was listed as Nanto koshu ken (South Star lone eagle fist). This was never mentioned by name in any animated media until 2007, in the Legend of Yuria movie.