The End of the Century is Quite Normal. Kenshiro Appears!

This is the man who was meant to be the savior of the century's end. His name is Kenshiro, a rather strong-sounding name. But Kenshiro then gets yelled at -his boss tells him that this house isn't going to build itself! He needs to start pounding some nails. Kenshiro notices another worker doing just that, by using a hammer. But Kenshiro has seen through his technique, and has one of his own:

NORTH STAR HUNDRED NAILS FIST

Kenshiro has pounded all the nails, that's for sure. But, as his boss points out, the nails are all over the place -he didn't follow the blueprints! And to make things worse the house then falls apart.

The boss calls him an idiot and decides to fire him. Kenshiro walks home, but he thinks about how in this age, his strength is useless. And he can't hold down a job. But he does, at least, have access to the secret techniques of the Hokuto Shinken style...techniques like this one:

NORTH STAR STRAY CAT FIST

It doesn't take long for Kenshiro to be picked up by a girl called Lin, who returns to her home at the Ryuryuken convenience store. Inside, part-time worker Bat sees her and wishes she came in through the back, because he thought she was a customer. But he also isn't happy with what she's holding -that's the third one today!

The other two are Raoh and Toki, Kenshiro's "brothers" who trained with him in Hokuto Shinken. But the three talk about jobs, and how none of them have managed to get one yet. But Toki points out a notice on the wall -the store wants a part-time worker. Bat points out that the store is only after one worker, so only one of them can get the job.

Raoh thinks he, as the eldest, should get it. Kenshiro thinks age has nothing to do with it whilst Toki thinks now is the time for him to surpass them both. But Bat says that the owner is the one who does the hiring -and he's standing behind them. It's Ryuken, who the trio recognize, as he was the one who taught them Hokuto Shinken. He's also Lin's father.

Toki explains that Ryuken was their master, and he was an incredibly indecisive man. He was meant to choose one of them to become the successor to Hokuto Shinken, but he never did. In fact they all began to think that all he did was walk around randomly. But now is the time for him to choose the successor -Toki thinks it should be him!

Ryuken says he's Kinryu Kenjuro, or Ryuken for short. But he says he can only hire one (this recession sucks) and will now pass them the knowledge they need to get the job. They need to says welcome, they need to say thank you, and they need to say "would you like that warmed?". As the Hokuto brothers take this in, Bat says the last one makes no sense, but Ryuken then says that they also need to smile.

Raoh thinks he's got an advantage since he's known as the "King of Smiling". A customer then walks in, and Ryuken tells the three to go and find out and earn the right to part-time employment. Raoh thinks this is just a ruse, and that this is a test to see who can really become the Hokuto Shinken successor. He, the "King of Reading too much into things", is never wrong when he reads too much into things. Toki still thinks he is the one of the four brothers who'll be chosen. Bat says they keep saying four, but there is only three of them.

The other one is somewhat alone in a park -more about him later. Back in the store, Toki decides he'll go and welcome the customer, but Raoh can't imagine what the customer would feel like if someone as glum as him went. Raoh decides to go himself, and is unaware that the customer is trying to steal things.

Raoh screams a greeting, making sure to look down over the customer. This scares the customer badly enough to make him fall over and drop everything. Toki appears and apologizes for his violent and crude older brother, and tries to welcome him...but his illness makes him start coughing a lot, and he can't finish his sentence.

It gets so bad he coughs up blood. Kenshiro puts Toki to bed and then goes to the customer, but he then notices everything on the floor. He doesn't realize the customer was stealing, but instead notices some food and picks it up, yelling at the customer -would he like this warmed up?!

Bat tells the three that that guy is a shop-lifter. They have no idea what that means, so Bat explains. The three go to confront the thief, but he tells them his mother is sick, he lost his job and he dropped his wallet, which had a lot of money in it, that's why he has to do this. The brothers are moved by his story, and Raoh can't believe that he, the King of Smiling, still has tears left.

The customer sees he has a chance to leave, and runs off. But before he can get out, he gets run over by Heart, who crashes a bike through the front door. Heart announces he's here to steal everything without doing any of the work himself, and has his minions immediately start robbing the place.

The brothers can't understand what's going on, and Heart and his gang leave. Ryuken tells them to go after the gang, and whoever punishes them and gets the goods back will not only get the right to work here, but will also become the successor to Hokuto Chinken, or whatever it was. The Hokuto brothers get on Raoh's horse, Kokuoh, although Raoh isn't happy the others are on his horse. They tell him that the four brothers need to help each other out.

"Hey you! Say my name!"

(I won't. It still isn't the time to talk about the man inside this bubble.)

Toki and Kenshiro suck up to Raoh, telling him that he is the King of making horses go faster. Raoh says that's right, and gets Kokuoh to speed up. They soon catch up with the gang, and Toki starts throwing members of it behind them, making them land in a police station.

Kenshiro confronts Heart and tells him that if he wants something, work for it. Those who steal from others are pigs. Heart gets insulted, but Kenshiro then hits a pressure point on him -which means he's already dead! But Ken then admits that it isn't that bad, instead, he will become what he really is. Heart doesn't understand what he's talking about, but then he begins to change...

...and gets a lot fatter. Kenshiro batters Heart with a lot of punches, sending him the same way as the gang -straight into a jail cell. The Hokuto brothers take everything back to the store, where Ryuken, Bat and Lin are impressed with their work. Ryuken tells them the time will soon come for him to choose which one of them will get the job.

But he then falls asleep. Lin tells them that her father always goes to sleep at night time. Bat heads home for the day, wondering about those three guys. Said guys are following him, and sneak into his apartment -as soon as Bat turns on the lights, the three of them welcome him home.

Sing, Kenshiro, to Take Back the Love!!

Since the previous story, Kenshiro, Raoh and Toki have been in the store. They beat up thieves, and beat up thieves, and beat up...well that's about all they've done for the past month. Since they don't actually have jobs here, Ryuken rewards them with some cash.

Kenshiro leaves, and Raoh and Toki follow him, saying that he is going to "that place". Bat and Lin are curious, so they follow as well. They enter the Nanto shopping district, and suddenly the Hokuto Brothers run around a corner. Bat and Lin follow and see that they're going into "Bar Yuria".

Ken goes in and quickly finds Yuria, his fiancee. But Raoh and Toki barge in to say hello. Ken tells them not to fall in love with her at the side. Toki things there's nothing wrong with loving her on the side, and even Raoh, the King of Loving on the Side, wonders what is wrong with loving her on the side? As they begin to fight, the narrator explains how it got to this...

A few years a go, Ken told Yuria that the successor still hadn't been chosen, and he still didn't have a job. He can't make her happy right now, so she'll have to wait. He'll come back to her one day. Yuria says she'll wait for him forever, until he has a annual salary.

Back in the present, Kenshiro presents Yuria with the reward Ryuken gave him. Raoh and Toki present her their rewards too, but they then realize Yuria isn't moving, and hasn't even spoken since they got here. They wonder why, so Lin tells them it might be because they've gone into a bar and haven't ordered anything yet. The brothers think that must be it. They order milk, milk and cow's milk.

But Yuria still doesn't move. They see that Yuria is staring at a jukebox. Does she want them to sing? Raoh thinks he's got an advantage, as he, the King of Music Notes, is the best at Hokuto Music.

The brothers all want to choose "Ginkoi", a popular duet song. But they then get into a fight over who gets to go first, until they realize the mic isn't even working. That's because they need to pay to play, and the machine costs 100 yen per song. And the problem is that together, their rewards only total 21 yen.

Lin decides to help them out, and puts some money into the machine. The music starts to play, but they realize that it isn't the song they wanted. Instead, a band enters the bar and starts to play. After singing for a few seconds, Spade, the band's singer, says that he'll be collecting a 50,000 yen copyright fee now.

The Hokuto brothers start complaining, but Spade tells them they didn't read the small print -and indeed, the jukebox does state that once you put 100 yen in, a band will appear and play a song, before collecting a 50,000 yen fee. And the button they pressed to select the Ginkoi music was actually also a "I accept" button. So Spade and the others just want what's theirs.

The Hokuto brothers think that's stupid, and Raoh says nobody would pay for their terrible version of Ginkoi. Spade says they'll take it by force, but he and his gang are promptly beaten up and sent crashing into Bar Death Omen Star, which charges 50,000 yen per drink.

With the band defeated, Kenshiro and the others go back to Yuria, asking her to sing with them. But she then falls over. The Hokuto brothers then find out that this Yuria is just a doll! They see a note on the table from the real Yuria, stating that she's just gone out for a bit, so they can drink and sing as much as they like.

Raoh says they can all sing, which is what they decide to do. Bat thinks this is annoying, but he then notices someone else behind the bar. Someone who is making dolls of Yuria, and saying that he loves her!

NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW

The idiot trio goes to the shopping district's festival, where Ryuken sets them a challenge. Also, is the Ryuryuken store open for 24 hours?! Find out next time in DD Hokuto no Ken -"“Money Never Dies! South Star is the Enemy! \ Don't Sleep!! The Convenience Store Without a Headstone!”