Hokuto no Ken

Next Yomikiri: Hokuto no Ken II

Synopsis

Kenshiro Kasumi, the current successor of Hokuto Shinken, stands before a bull. His girlfriend, Yuki, and his father watch as he uses a technique to destroy the bull. His father explains to Yuki that what she just saw was the power of Hokuto Shinken, but she must not tell anyone about it. Ken says that in this age, he probably won't ever have to use it. His father believes however that the style must be passed down as evil never dies. Ken then takes Yuki home on his bike, whilst saying that really, he just wants to live a normal life with her. He drops Yuki off at the apartment complex she lives at, but as he turns around to leave he bumps into someone who tells him to beat it. Ken returns home.

The large man enters the building and kills a couple of people, but Yuki happens to witness one of the murders. She calls Kenshiro and says what has happened, but then the murdered enters her room and kills her. Hearing her cries for help over the phone, Ken races back on his bike, whilst his father follows in his car. Ken reaches Yuki, but finds she is dead and that another man with a gun is in the room. Ken's father enters the room and is shot, but not badly. Ken defeats the guy by kicking him in the face.

The police then arrive, but the Chief decides to arrest Ken and his father and accuses them of murdering Yuki. Ken says that it wasn't them and points out the body of the guy he defeated, only to find that he has vanished. The two are put into a cell and Ken wonders why the police have done this to them. Ken's father thinks the police may be controlled by someone else, and explains that the wounds he saw on Yuki's body were inflicted via techniques of the Taizanji Kempo (Taizan Martial Art style), a martial arts school which is actually a training ground for highly skilled assassins. Goda, the real killer, and the police Chief then appear outside the cell, and Goda taunts Ken by saying it was good of him to take his place in jail.

When they have left, Kenshiro rips apart the bars to the cell and, under the instruction of his father, goes out to take revenge. He finds Goda and the Chief talking to the police commissioner in another room. The Chief attacks Kenshiro first, but is quickly defeated and killed when Kenshiro hits pressure points that devastate his body. Goda then attacks Kenshiro, trying to rip him apart with his powerful fists, only to have his hands destroyed. Kenshiro finishes him off by using a technique called Hokuto Soryu Ha (North Star Twin Dragon Wave). As Goda dies, Ken tells him that most people only use 30% of their strength. Hokuto Shinken allows him to use the other 70%.

The commissioner tries to act as if he was forced to go along with this, but Ken secretly hits a pressure point on his head before leaving. The commissioner watches Ken try and leave the room, and then pulls out a gun. Ken tells him that he cannot kill him, as he is already dead. The commissioner's head then explodes. Ken gets his father out of the cell and leaves the police station with him, stating that he was right -evil never dies. To be continued...



In the anime...

-Several parts of the anime for filler scenes or episodes were taken from the one shot versions of Hokuto no Ken. The character called Goda was used as a nameless villain who was experimented on by Amiba and sent to attack Kenshiro in this episode. The battle in the anime is almost identical to the one in this manga.

-And as a note, several parts of this manga were used when the real manga started, such as Ken breaking apart some cell bars and the speech about Hokuto Shinken and power percentages.