I don't know much about the manga, but in the anime they fight 3 times.
In the 1. fight Raoh does indeed dominate in the beginning, refusing to even come off his horse until Toki arrives in Mamiya's village. However, after Kenshiro has broken the paralysis, that Toki had put on him, (in order to fight Raoh himself, believing that Kenshiro wasn't yet ready to confront Raoh) due to Lynn begging Kenshiro to break free and save Mamiya and Toki, the situation drastically changes, with Kenshiro and Raoh fighting to a standstill. Indeed, had Toki not then interfered, they would have killed each other. This would have been bad, because then it would have left Toki as the heir by default, only Toki was dying of radiation poisoning and therefore the whole style of Hokuto Shin Ken would've gone extinct. Because of this, Toki intervened. Incidentally, this is very similar to the true ending in the movie, where they fight to a stalemate, with Raoh walking away, saying their war has only begun.
The 2. fight takes place in the fortress of the Nanto Gosha Sei, where Raoh is trying to capture Yuria as she's the last Nanto General. They fight, with Rihaku of the Ocean as a witness. It is in this fight that Kenshiro uses the Musou Tensei for the first time, causing Raoh to s hit his pants. However, the fight causes the whole floor to collapse, leading Raoh to fall down a number of floors, right in front of Yuria, which leads to...
The 3. and final fight. This time both of them know the Musou Tensei (Raoh learning it because of his sorrow of Yuria's condition). The fight is long and intense, but Kenshiro finally strikes the fatal blow. However, it seems to be implied that Kenshiro was able to defeat Raoh only because Raoh had given part of his fighting spirit to Yuria, thereby weakening him for the final fight. Raoh and Kenshiro reconcile, with Raoh telling Yuria to spend her remaining days in happiness with Kenshiro. Bart and Lynn are there as well, witnessing everything. Raoh then "sends himself to Heaven", healing the Planet in the process. His final words are:
"OF THIS LIFE, I HAVE NO REGRETS!"
Hope this answered your question.
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17 years ago
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michael-nagler
17 years ago
It was pretty much recognized by everyone that physically, Raoh was the strongest of the 4 Hokuto brothers. However, the essence of Hokuto Shin Ken according to Toki is not strength or technique, but the soul. Incidentally, though Raoh was physically the strongest, Toki was the one who had the best technique. It's telling how formidable Toki was that even in his weakened condition, Raoh took him dead seriously, saying that "you're the only one worth getting off my horse for." Indeed, in Mamiya's village Raoh explains that the reason he feared the possibility of Kenshiro meeting Toki was that he would then learn Toki's technique, which was the only technique that Raoh truly feared. Actually, at one point Kenshiro states that before the war, it was actually Toki who was supposed to become the heir to Hokuto Shin Ken. However, when the war occurred and Toki was fatally poisoned, Toki realised that he couldn't be the successor anymore and renounced the succession, which fell upon Kenshiro. But a healthy Toki would've defeated Raoh.
So in essence, Ryuken choosing Kenshiro as the successor was because Kenshiro was an emergency fallback. Raoh could've been the successor if only he had given up his ambition (a little bit of ambition is good, but wanting to "rule the Heavens" is a bit taking it over the top). Toki and Kenshiro would've gladly let him be the heir otherwise. Toki would've been the successor, if he hadn't been fatally poisoned. Jagi was...well, Jagi. So the responsibility fell upon Kenshiro.
It really is too bad that Toki was not even mentioned in the movie, since he's such an important character in HNK continuity otherwise.
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17 years ago
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billy_bob_stapel
16 years ago
bout don't forget the series continued with hokuto no ken 2...at the beginning we see backflashes of the first series and julia died in the end of the radiation only a FEW days after kenshiro won against raoh...then he dissapears for ten years and bart and the little girl(forget her name) are grown ups fighting as the hokuto rebels(or northstar rebels) against an evil empire...the story is basically a rip off of the first series and of course kenshiro comes back to kick major ass again. he also has ANOTHER brother who looks quite similar to raoh..and that guy is the true heir of hokuto ryuuken (the former art of hokuto shinken) and an absolute killer(even stronger then raoh)...the series lacks to its predecessor(very silly main theme)but it's still a nice follow up. i got both series on dvd so you might wanna try ebay if you are interested.
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michael-nagler
16 years ago
Yeah, I know about Hokuto no Ken 2. I read somewhere that Buronson and Hara really wanted to end HNK with Kenshiro and Raoh's final battle, but due to the series' large popularity, their bosses forced them to make a sequal. I think Hara said that he doesn't even remember much about HNK 2. I can't blame him, its mediocre at best. Largely a rip-off, although it had some good ideas, like the teenaged Bat and Lin becoming leaders of the Hokuto Army and Rihaku becoming an elder statesman of said army. What I didn't like was the contrived Gento Empire and the Gento Ko Ken (I bet Buronson and Hara literally made those guys up on the spot), the whole Land of Shura idea and "Oh, Raoh has ANOTHER brother, who looks and sounds just like him!". And Yuria dieing in a few days after Kenshiro beat Raoh... gimme a break. If Raoh says that her life has been extended for several more years, then she'll live several more years. Heck, Raoh oughta come back from the dead and punch em all to the moon for that idiocy. The New Fist of the North Star OVA was also mediocre, they could've just left it at the first part. And how did Raoh's son Ryu come about? I don't recall him being attracted to anyone but Yuria, and he was quite busy with his conquerin'. Although it seems to be implied in the new series that Reina is the mother of Raoh's son.
Interestingly enough, the whole idea of Kenshiro and his brothers coming from the Land of Shura seems to have been contradicted by Hara's prequel series Souten no Ken, where a newborn Kenshiro is shown with Ryuken in 1970s Japan. Although Shura is mentioned again in the new OVA/movie series that have come out, and the last one features Akasachi the Pirate in the end. Although I don't think Buronson and Hara themselves have anything to do with that.
Frankly, after Raoh there should have been no more high-powered martial artists besides Kenshiro. He should've just gone someplace with Yuria where she could live out her remaining years in happiness with Ken, just like Raoh told her to. The Nanto Goshasei army reorganizes into the Hokuto army, with Bat and Rin becoming their leaders. The grown children of Fudo would also be included in the leadership, maybe with their status causing a bit of awe ("He's a Child of Fudo." something like that). Basically, the Hokuto army would be the HNK version of the New California Republic of the Fallout computer games, slowly putting Japan back together again. I think the next successor of Hokuto Shinken would be Ken and Mamiya's son. It sorta makes sense. Yuria told Ken at her deathbed to seek out happiness, just as Rei told Mamiya to seek out a woman's happiness right before he died. Mamiya fell in love with Kenshiro, but he couldn't return her love as long as Yuria was in his heart. Perhaps he also uncosciously knew, deep, deep down, that Yuria was alive, and that also kept him from returning Mamiya's feelings. But after having lived with Yuria for some years and being by her side as she died, I think he would (slowly) recover, having found closure.
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chingy20010
16 years ago
Sorry, I think your version would of sucked. We don't want to see 2ndary charecters battle it out when Ken just lives some place quite!
We wana c Ken kick bad guys! He's main charecter :)
I agree about Gento Ko - ken, it was weird like first they said Hokuto is the best and then gento peeps come out of no - where and suddenly they are the best! And in the end it turned out that they were in - fact not the best which led to even more confusion lol.
I don't agree about Shura. I think Shura story - line was the most interesting in all of the series! And Kaioh is the rules the most! He can have his dark energy it's so much that it comes out and destroys peeps!
And it was consistant that he learn Hokuto Ryuukei because they said Hokuto is best, so when he beat Ken it didn't contradict story line. Also because he was a brother of Keh - oh it expalins why he was so much powerful then other peeps, because he was a descendent of the Ryuukei. And when u watch FOTNS - 1 it's kinda weird why Hokuto peeps are so much stronger than everyone else, and it is explainted in FOTNS - 2 so I think it was very good series and I like it more then FOTNS - 1 althought FOTNS - 1 was cool too.
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