Characters / Fist of the North Star: First Series

Fist of the North Star Main Character Index
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This is a list of characters from Fist of the North Star. All names are derived from the most recent localization material.

Warning: This series finished serialisation over thirty years ago and is easily accessible in a variety of different media. The entire page contains major, unmarked SPOILERS for the entire series, so beware!

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Hokuto Shinken

Hokuto Shinken (北斗神拳; "North Dipper Divine Fist") is an 1800 year-old Chinese assassination art (2000 years in the Animated Adaptation from Toei Animation) formed during the Three Kingdoms Era of Ancient China. The martial art's power lies in striking one of the 708 keiraku hikou ("hidden channeling points") Pressure Points in the human body. This causes the victim to explode internally, but other uses include rendering the victim under the user's control or become incapacitated without any damage. Hokuto Shinken can also be used to heal certain physical and psychological wounds, such as restoring a person's voice, eyesight or memories, though its primary purpose is assassination. Furthermore, while the average person uses only 30% of their body's potential strength, Hokuto Shinken masters can tap into the remaining 70%, including the use of touki ("fighting spirit/Battle Aura") to project energy attacks, which can also strike pressure points without the user physically touching their opponent. Depending on the user, Hokuto Shinken can be a soft-styled martial art that depends greatly on accuracy or agility (such as Kenshiro and Toki), or a hard-styled art, which relies on strength and power (like Raoh).

Because of its lethality and difficulty to master, the law of Hokuto Shinken declares only one successor per generation. Those who were trained but not chosen to inherit the style must renounce its use voluntarily or risk having their memories erased or their fist destroyed.

Kenshiro

See here.

Raoh

Voiced by (Japanese): Norio Wakamoto (TV anime^note Debut episode only), Kenji Utsumi (TV anime, movie, Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment), Takashi Ukaji (Legends of the True Savior, Legends of the Dark King), Tesshō Genda (Legend of Heroes, J-Stars Victory Vs., Legends ReVIVE, Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star), Fumihiko Tachiki (Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage), Masami Iwasaki (Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise)

Voiced by (English): John Snyder (TV anime), G. Larry Butler (TV anime, recut dub), Wally Burr (The Movie), Andrew Love (New Fist of the North Star), Dave B. Mitchell (Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage), Patrick Seitz (Lost Paradise), Jason Douglas (Legend of the True Savior)

Voiced by (Latin American Spanish): Carlos Hernandez (Legends of the Dark King)

Stats: Level: AAA, Power: 5, Speed: 4, Skills: 5, Looks: 3, Charisma: 5

"The legend of the fear of Ken-Oh begins now!"

The self-proclaimed Ken-Oh (拳王; "King of Fists") and the "Conqueror of the Century's End" (世紀末覇者; Seikimatsu Hasha), Raoh is the Aloof Big Brother of Kenshiro and Toki and leads his army to deliver order to the land with an iron fist. Despite being a cruel, ruthless tyrant, Raoh is shown to have compassion deep in his heart and mourns for the fact that he has to kill his brothers to achieve his goals, but places his ambition above anything else. When he discovers that Yuria is the Last General of Nanto and takes her for himself, he finds he cannot defeat Kenshiro, who has learned the ultimate Hokuto Shinken technique Musou Tensei. He decides to kill Yuria, believing that by killing her he will come to learn of sorrow and achieve the technique, until she reveals she is already dying from radiation sickness. Admitting his love and sorrow over her impending doom, Raoh extends her life, which also enables him to learn Musou Tensei, but at the cost of being unable to best his adoptive brother.

When Raoh is defeated by Kenshiro, he commends his younger brother and raises his fist, dying by expending all of his energy into a pillar of light which rises into the sky, restoring sunlight to the dying world.

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• A Father to His Men: The reason some of the men in his army follow him. While he doesn't see his own men like this, his soldiers are willing to die for him if it came to that. The exception to the rule are the ones who enjoying badmouthing his name, and he decides to make a point with Koku-oh's horseshoe up their ass.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Raoh originally had blond hair in the manga, but was given black hair in the early anime series and movie, although his earlier design for the movie (as seen in a pre-production teaser) depicted him blond. Legends of the True Savior reverts it back to platinum/silver, until Legends of the Dark King gave him blond hair again.
• Adaptational Badass: His first fight with Kenshiro was originally a stalemate. He and Kenshiro beat each other and would have both died had Toki not intervened and separated them. After the fight, Raoh walked away (though with difficulty) but took longer to heal his wounds, whilst Ken collapsed immediately but his wounds healed faster. In the 1986 film Raoh is the definitive winner of the fight, he defeats Ken, and Toki can't stop him on account of being Adapted Out. The only reason he doesn't kill him is because Lin intervenes.
• Adaptational Heroism: Slightly in the anime. In the manga, he separates a family after gaining a man's martial arts techniques, which causes the family's Death by Despair. This Kick the Dog moment is instead given to Uighur in the anime. Also, during Ryuga's flashback in the manga, when he comes across a village that believes in non-violence, Raoh kills their leader, as he is disgusted by his choice to give up defending himself. In the anime, while he does beat him up, he doesn't kill him.
• Ambiguously Brown: In the 1980's animated adaptations he's drawn with a darker skin tone than what the manga implies. Most video games carry this over.
• Anti-Villain: For what it's worth, Raoh did make the world a better place, by giving his life and light to the world and, as the Den movies show, killing the less altruistic of his lieutenants.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: His death could be interpreted as this, since not only did he leave his body behind when he died, but he also died without regrets, a sign of higher understanding of the human condition.
• Aloof Big Brother: To Kenshiro and Toki.
• Always Second Best: To his brothers. Despite Ryuken's intent for Raoh to be the only Hokuto Shinken successor, he ends up being passed up in favour of Toki, and later Kenshiro. He also falls in love with Yuria, but she only has eyes for Kenshiro.
• Ambition Is Evil: Ultimately subverted; Raoh's goal of bringing order to the chaotic land is noble, but his methods aren't.
• Arc Hero: For a given measure of "hero". Raoh is the main character of the Last Nanto General arc, which revolves around his conflict with the Nanto Goshasei, quest to attain Musou Tensei, and ultimate redemption.
• Badass Cape: It isn't just for show either, since this is the method he uses to give Rei a slow, painful death.
• Battle Aura: All Hokuto practitioners have one, but his is notable in that he can use to punch people - as Rei learns the hard way.
• Berserk Button:
  • If you're one of his henchmen, don't do anything that would turn the name Ken-Oh into a four-letter word for the citizenry, or he'll see to it that Koku-Oh stuffs a horseshoe up your ass.
  • While Raoh makes it his job to strongarm the compliance out of the territories he conquers, he absolutely detests those who go out of their way to act completely docile, most especially if no effort is made at all to protect the women and children. One village of pacifists who claim to "use non violence as a weapon" against any bandits that pass by their village put Raoh in a pimp slap sort of mood.
• Big Bad: Of the first half.
• Boss Subtitles: "The Ruthless Conqueror - Raoh"
• Big Brother Worship: At both ends. Kenshiro and Toki loved and admired him before he began his conquest. He himself loved and admired his eldest brother Kaioh. However Kaioh turned to evil and he considers it his biggest failure and asks Kenshiro to defeat him if he's defeated by the latter.
• Blasphemous Boast: This exchange with Ryuken:
  Ryuken: "Raoh. What do you intend to use Hokuto Shinken for?"
  Raoh: "Obviously for myself!"
  Ryuken: "... To what end?"
  (Raoh points his finger skyward with a thrust)
  Raoh: "The Heavens!!"
  Ryuken: "So you seek to seat yourself in God's Throne of Power? God would not allow it."
  Raoh: "In that case, I will fight God himself!"
• Break Out Villain: Easily one of the most popular villains and characters in the manga owing to his badassery and his multifaceted character. Raoh has received the most spin-offs and side material than any other secondary character and the manga even has him as the protagonist in several of the later chapters.
• Bruce Lee Clone: In a less parodic way. Like Feng Wei, his Hard Fist style revolves around overcoming other styles and conquering them. He also broke the rules of the Hokuto Shinken dojo he trained at in his entire life and got scolded for it by Ryuuken, to the point the latter tried to stop him from misusing Hokuto Shinken. He also taken the styles of his prisoners by incorporating them into his skillset. And like Wei, he is a dark mirror to everything Lee stood for.
• Cain and Abel: The "Cain" to Toki and Kenshiro's "Abel".
• Character Development: He becomes a better person over the course of his conflict with his brothers, and ultimately perishes having achieved the spiritual enlightenment he once scorned.
• Cool Helmet: Raoh wears an awesome-looking horned one. Breaking it is a sign that the one who did it is a force to be reckoned with.
• Cool Horse: The elephant-sized black stallion Koku-Oh, whom Raoh singlehandedly tamed.
• Dark Messiah: After the nuclear apocalypse that engulfed the world, he took the name Ken-Oh (meaning "King of Fist") and began a campaign of conquest to take over what was left, and instill order in a chaotic age. His name became feared, especially by enemies; and revered by his loyal followers. He is however, like his brothers, Kenshiro and Toki, considered to be a hero of Hokuto Shinken, and had the appellation: "The Conqueror of the Century's End", in contrast to Kenshiro: "The Savior of the Century's End".
• Death Equals Redemption: Alongside redeeming the world with him.
• Death Glare: His default expression, whether he wants it or not; it also has its own sound effect. This particular glare once forced a 400 kg tiger to fear for its life.
• Diabolus ex Machina: For the majority of the last arc in the first series; one would think he could be the protagonist with all the lucky breaks he gets.
• Died Standing Up: One of Japanese fiction's most famous examples.
• Difficult, but Awesome: In Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment, he's one of, if not, the hardest character to learn, being the most Combo-oriented character with chains that deplete all of his opponent's life (even without the Mana Meter!), but is offset with poor speed, defense and move mix-up.
• Dope Slap: After their final battle, Raoh rushes Kenshiro over to Yuria's side by backhanding him in the back of the head. It's the bro thing to do.
• Do Well, But Not Perfect: If you're a village or oasis of average joes, surrendering to Raoh's rule is probably the best option you have. That by no account means you should let Raoh see you make absolutely no palatable effort to defend your women and children. One village had the nerve to wax about their "non-violent resistance" and moved not a single muscle at Raoh threatening a child except to smile at him. Raoh's response? Instead of taking their "compliance" at face value, he settled for their village chief's pain and pants wetting fear as he literally bitchslapped him into a bloody mess.
• The Dreaded: Raoh is such a fearsome tyrant that the name "Ken-Oh" is literally law, and sometimes used by some of his (more repugnant) minions used to justify anything. After recovering from his first battle with Kenshiro, villagers from the territories he took over either pray for his return, or warn of his wrath should said minions step out of line. He also invoked this trope during his battle with Rei by pressing the pressure point Shinketsushuu to give him a slow and agonizing death that lasts for three days so that his example will have all fear the name of "Ken-oh".
• Dub Name Change: Called 'Raoul' in the William Winckler Productions recut dubs.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: He sends his fist towards the heavens, says his last words and projects all his energy into the sky, bringing light to the desolate waste lands and becoming a statue in the process. He commits a Heroic Sacrifice for the whole world.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Raoh's early appearance differs later on. For one, in his first appearance in the manga, he separates a martial artist and his family, telling him if he were to set them free, then the child would grow up to hate him. This heavily contrasts how he Wouldn't Hurt a Child, since he at least wants children to grow up strong rather than letting them just die. And the fact that he just let a mother die with her child. It's no wonder this Kick the Dog moment in the manga was given to an already monstrous Uighur.
• Easily Forgiven: Is revered with honor and love posthumously, despite murdering his own adoptive father Ryuken, sentencing Rei to a slow, agonizing death and brutalizing anyone else who stood in his way.
• Emotional Bruiser: As much as he tries to deny it, Raoh has a heart just as sensitive and kind as Toki's.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • For all the blood he has shed to build his empire, Raoh does love and protect his citizens like a father, and does not tolerate senseless torture and brutality of helpless innocents who are (despite his issues) loyal to him, as his army of sadistic henchmen who thought he had "disappeared" found out rather painfully. He has a practially chivalrous hatred towards those who beat, kill or rape women. See Wife-Basher Basher.
  • In the Legend of Raoh: Chapter of Fierce Fighting, he justifies himself to the spirit of Ryuken by claiming that in effect, his unitary force is actually preventing them from being unleashed onto everyone else, and that he's planning to remove them when the time is right. He's not kidding about the latter, but he'd felt that he couldn't tell anyone else.
  • Despite his ambition to conquer the world, he (ironically, like Jagi in the manga Spin-Off Flower of Carnage) would never completely turn himself away from his duty as a Hokuto Shinken practitioner. Raoh went to Kenshiro's second fight with Thouzer to watch Kenshiro die, but even he felt obligated to verbally retort Thouzer when he began mocking their martial art. He also killed one of Thouzer's men for attempting to kill Kenshiro before the fight even began.
  • Despite him stating that he will crush anyone in the way of his ambition, he spares Toki's life after he defeats him, saddened by how much the radiation sickness has ravaged his body, the hero-worship Toki still has for him, and the extent Toki is willing to go to keep his promise of stopping Raoh should he go astray (going as far as Toki hitting his own pressure points and giving up what remaining time he has left alive in exchange to match Raoh's strength, only to still lose in the end). He likewise couldn't bring it in himself to kill Yuria when he discovers she's dying from the same illness, even if it could have made him complete his Musou Tensei, and in fact extends her life by a few years USING his own life force, thus hampering his abilities in his final battle with Kenshiro with the Hokuto Shinken successor admitting he only won because Raoh was not fully prepared in the climatic battle.
  • During a flashback in the Celestial Empire arc Raoh and his army attempted to invade the Gento village. Falco, the leader, severs his own leg as a peace offering so they would be spared. Raoh acknowledges the action and leaves the village alone, but not before attacking the treacherous and cowardly Jakoh. Raoh is disgusted by Jakoh's attempts to barter the village for his own safety and even tells Falco that he's better off killing him as Jakoh's an evil man who would lead them all to ruin.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • Toki. Being blood brothers, Raoh and Toki always loved each other with fraternal love, ever since they were kids. Back then, Raoh already had a huge soft spot for him. Raoh's brotherly love for Toki even moved Ryuken's heart and made him adopt both brothers as his Hokuto Shinken disciples. Even years later, as an adult Raoh declares his intention to conquer the world and even seize the heavens and becomes a mighty warlord, he finds his dear brother blocking the road to his ambitions (because of a promise Raoh himself made Toki make to him when they were still kids, that if Raoh's ambitions ever turned him evil, Toki would stop him), and both engaged each other in mortal fight, with Raoh ultimately emerging as the victor. However, Raoh came to tears after seeing his beloved younger brother's vitality ravaged and consumed by illness... and couldn't bring himself to kill Toki. Even as Raoh falls defeated by Kenshiro, he declares Toki was the only one who he truly loved as a brother.
  • Yuria. At first, however, unlike Toki who Raoh genuinely loves, he merely sees Yuria as a woman to be possesed; at first his feelings for her don't even resemble true love, as he simply attempts to seize her for himself unlike Toki (who also loved Yuria, but respected her and wanted her to be happy with Kenshiro). When Raoh realizes that maybe he will never reach Yuria's heart (when Toh suicides, shortly after declaring her love for him, and he rebuffs her) he promptly declares he will kill her instead. However once he captures Yuria and she accepts to be killed by his hand, Yuria coughs blood and he realizes she's actually dying; thus it dawns on him that Yuria has accepted her fate with calmness and serenity, and instead of killing her he spares her life, going so far as to extend her diminishing lifespan by a few years via pressing one of her vital points in the anime.
• Face Framed in Shadow: This is how he was introduced in the manga via flashback before we see his actual face.
• Heel–Face Turn: By the end of the series timeline, he's killed his less trustworthy generals to ensure no power vaccuum chaos, granted Yuria at least some more years of life to live in peace with Ken and given his own life to bring light to a blighted world.
• Fallen Hero: Raoh left his homeland of Shura promising to come back and liberate it. By the time he was an adult, various happenings throughout his life made him the ruthless, merciless conqueror of nations that the world feared him as.
• Fighting Spirit: Raoh's touki is so strong, he can attack an enemy without moving a muscle. Exemplified when Rei attempts to strike down Raoh on horseback, but is knocked away by his immense touki; Rei envisions it as a flurry of fists.
• Friendly Enemy: With Toki. Despite being on opposing sides of a war, they're still brothers, and they love each other despite being ideological rivals.
• Genius Bruiser: Although he prefers to use brute force and violence to resolve situations, he is shown on many occasions to be cautious and analytical even outside of battle. On top of having the leadership abilities to create a military force on the same level of organization as that of the Roman legions and developing the necessary infrastructure to lead the gloomy world into a more stable and relatively peaceful one.
• God-Emperor: Sees himself as one. He will not allow people to praise any saviors other than himself, and will try to eliminate any opposition.
• Godhood Seeker: He intends to literally take down God himself in becoming one.
• A Good Way to Die: He dies bringing light to the desolate wasteland without a single regret.
• Graceful Loser: Broken-and-defeated by Kenshiro, Raoh holds the young warrior's face for the first and final time like a big brother:
  Raoh: "Come, let me see the face of the man who has defeated Raoh. You are magnificent, my little brother."
  Kenshiro: "Big brother..."
• He Who Fights Monsters: He had every intention to save his big brother Kaioh before learning Hokuto Shinken. But then his intention to conquer the world, murder Ryuuken, brutalize villages, killing martial artists for their techniques, subjecting Rei to agonizing pain for three days before dying, and fighting his brothers made him as bad (or worse) than Kaioh.
• Hero Killer: Introduced in the main storyline by having Rei's days numbered and counting down painfully.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Very well hidden, unless you earn his respect like Shew, Shuren, Juza, Yuria and finally Kenshiro did.
• Hope Bringer: To his subjects, as they know he's hard but fair. It goes to the point that in one village people were still desperate even when Kenshiro showed up to deal with Raoh's rogue soldiers, but immediately recovered their hope when Raoh's second in command Ryuuga appeared.
• Horrible Judge of Character: For someone who wanted to restore peace and stability, Raoh sure picked some shifty generals. However, this is averted in Legend of Raoh: Chapter of Fierce Fighting, where he's entirely aware of his underlings' tendencies, but feels that he can't remove them...yet.
• Iconic Sequel Character: While Raoh may have been Kenshiro's most iconic rival, he wasn't introduced in the manga until the end of the Cassandra arc in Chapter 61, although the character's existence was alluded much earlier during the Jagi arc (in which the existence of Kenshiro's brothers-in-training was revealed, with Raoh appearing as a faceless silhouette in a flashback).
• I Did What I Had to Do: In Legends of the Dark King, he realizes that in order to change the world, he will have to become like a demon, even if he has to lose the trust of his allies in doing so.
• If I Can't Have You…: Raoh vows to make Yuria his lover or kill her trying. He winds up extending her life by a bit more.
• I'm Crying, but I Don't Know Why: Raoh is well aware of why he's crying as his fight with Toki draws to a close, realizing Toki was willing to shorten his time on earth even further to see to it he fulfill his vow to remove Raoh as a wielder of Hokuto Shinken. However, as his tears begin to flow before Yuria and her willingness to sacrifice her own life for the sake of his deciding duel with Kenshiro, Raoh is entirely reluctant to chalk it up to him actually seeing Yuria as more than just another tool for conquest and that he perhaps genuinely has feelings for her.
• I Regret Nothing: Potentially a contender for Trope Codifier. His last words are a proud declaration of how his life was lived without a single regret.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He initially appears to be a ruthless and iron fisted monarch with a callous disregard for human life...but is gradually shown to be an extremely kind-hearted, very chivalrous individual.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: From the innocent wish of an idealistic boy was a sea of blood and tears shed:
  Young Raoh: "I will return to the Land of Shura, the greatest warrior under Heaven, to defend and protect everybody."
• Kamehame Hadoken: Hokuto Gosho Ha and Tenshou Honretsu, the former with one hand and the latter with both hands and a boatload of touki. Ken eventually uses these moves in honour of him against the likes of Baran. In Twin Blue Stars of Judgment, Raoh's boss form has a buffed Gosho Ha as a super.
• Knight of Cerebus: Everyone before Raoh had no success in attempting to defeat Kenshiro and his allies. Raoh, in his first encounter, manages to actually hit Rei with a fatal technique (of course, it didn't kill him right away) and fought Kenshiro to a draw, the first time in the story Kenshiro had failed to defeat someone- provided they didn’t run away, of course.
• Kung-Fu Jesus: He LITERALLY brings light and hope back to the world by giving his remaining-life force to Heaven.
• Large and in Charge: Raoh stands at 6'11", according to his official bio. The only other characters in canon larger than him are Fudoh of the Mountains and the Devil's Rebirth. His already imposing presence means he's somewhat rarely drawn larger than them, anyways.
• Love Redeems: For what it's worth, his love for Yuria ends up making him a better person.
• Men Don't Cry: Invoked, then later subverted. In his youth, he expressed this belief to Toki, saying it's a sign of strength, and thinks Ken is too soft because of this. But when he fought him in a death match, he cried for the first time probably decades, moved by the tragedy of Toki's life. He later explained he held back those tears to honor him. This belief in this gets shattered when Kenshiro masters Muso Tensei, Hokuto Shinken's ultimate secret technique where the practictioner embraces their sorrows. He drops this mindset when he realizes he can never master Muso Tensei himself if he doesn't embrace his or other peoples' sorrows. He likewise is brought to tears when Yuria willingly agrees to die by his hand in order to learn Musou Tensei, for the sake of bringing light to the world again.
• Necessarily Evil: Bringing peace to a war-torn planet through sheer brute force.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If he hadn't taught Kenshiro kung fu while they were children, Kenshiro never would have become the successor.
• Noble Demon: Raoh is mostly this with hints of a Utopia Justifies the Means Tragic Villain. Sure, he'll subjugate the people of the wasteland to his will, but if his men are ruthlessly torturing villagers, then he won't hesitate to trample them to death atop his Cool Horse Kokuoh-go. Additionally, Raoh sheds a river of Tender Tears when his weaker, radiation-addled brother, Toki, cannot fulfill his childhood promise to stop Raoh's ambitions. Raoh openly shows respect for the bravery of the heroes who fall in battle, and notably orders his men to give Juza a Hero's Funeral for putting up an exceptionally valiant fight against him. He sheds further Tender Tears when compelled to kill Yuria, the final step in his transformation to godhood, yet could not because even a tyrant like him was deeply moved with respect for her kindness and nobility. The fact that he doesn't even kill Yuria but prolongs her life in spite of her radiation sickness so she can live on with Kenshiro shows his Vader-like redemption from Noble Demon to affectionate older brother.
• Oblivious to Love: Partly because of his traumatic childhood and partly because of his obsession with strength, Raoh is an emotionally stunted man who interprets everything in life in terms of conquest, including love. While he truly loved Yuria, he saw her love as a prize to be taken by right of conquest. Because of his obsession with Yuria, Raoh completely ignored other potential suitors who truly loved him such as Toh, Reina and Sakuya. In Reina's case, Raoh interpreted her love as camaraderie in the goal of conquering the wastelands.
• One-Man Army: Like Toki and Kenshiro, Raoh is a hugely powerful fighting force on his own and has easily taken down entire squadrons sent to kill him.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He helps Kenshiro escape from Thouzer's men at one point, and has him bandaged up after his defeat by Thouzer for this very reason in Legend of Raoh: Chapter of Love in Death.
• Pet the Dog: Beneath his rough exterior, Raoh still has his moments where he cares about people, including his own brothers:
  • When Kenshiro barely escapes with his life after Shiba's Heroic Suicide, Raoh finds him unconscious and personally tended to his wounds. The anime adapation instead has him send his aides to do it, but it was the thought that counts.
  • After he fully recovers, he explores his territories when he notices his men were having fun seeing one of the soldiers killing women while blindfolded. He puts a stop to it when he slaps him, which decapitates the soldier in question. Then he has Kouko-Oh stomp the rest.
  • After killing Koryu, he spares the man's two sons even after they attack him. It helped that they didn't know Hokuto no Ken and just harmlessly hit him with metal bars.
  • Realizing Toki pressing his own pressure points that also shaves a portion of his lifespan, he begins to shed tears out of pity and misfortune of his little brother. Having defeated Toki, he allows him to live in what remaining life he has left.
  • When he tries to kill Yuria in order to use her and the sorrow this would bring him to achieve Muso Tensei, he realizes that Yuria is actually dying from radiation sickness, and she would rather accept her fate rather than defy it. This moves him so much that he renounces killing her, and extended her lifespan for several years.
• Posthumous Character: Becomes one in future story arcs following his death. It's easy to tell if a character is going to be important by whether or not Raoh was somehow involved in their back-story (Falco, Jakoh, Akashachi or any of the Hokuto Ryūken practitioners). Bonus points if the character was actually related to Raoh (Kaioh and Sayaka or his son Ryu).
• Odd Friendship: Despite Raoh being an honorable man, he got along well with Jagi when they were students. After the apocalypse, Jagi became his subordinate.
• Rival Turned Evil: Raoh was merely one of the Hokuto successors once upon a time. Losing the successorship to Kenshiro, along with his unbridled ambitions going unopposed at the time, led to his rise as a nigh unstoppable dictator and an enemy of Ken.
• Serious Business: To coincide with the release of Legend of Raoh: Chapter of Love in Death, a Real Life funeral was arranged for him, although mainly done as a publicity stunt.
• SNK Boss: In his Ken-Oh persona for Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment, Raoh has increased offense and defense, and has a more powerful version of Tenshou Honretsu at his disposal (essentially the true version of the technique).
• Sparing the Aces: When he defeats Toki, instead of killing him like he does to anyone who opposes him, he carves his fist into the ground near his face, out of grief that the younger brother who followed his example and equalled him could have defeated him, if not for the radiation sickness slowly killing him. He wishes that Toki spend the remainder of his life in peace.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: After Toki's death, the series becomes more focused on Raoh than it does about Kenshiro.
• Strong and Skilled: Being a Master of Hokuto Shinken and possessing a powerful battle aura as well as inhuman physical strength, Raoh is 100% this trope. In fact he's so strong that his pressure point attacks cause horrible harm to Souther in spite of his immunity to pressure point attacks.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
  • Kenshiro's Rival Turned Evil who attempts to conquer the world and falls in love with Yuria before being defeated by Kenshiro in a tearjerking rematch. Are we talking about Raoh or Shin? Even their aliases are similar: Shin, until his reveal, was known as "King", while Raoh is Ken-Oh, the "King of Fists".
  • The underlying themes behind the two characters are similar as well. Shin wants to win Yuria's heart but is unable to do so because of his tyrannical nature, and Raoh wants to bring peace to the world but is unable to do so for similar reasons. In contrast, Kenshiro is able to accomplish both of these things because he's sensitive and kindhearted.
• Tender Tears: The only times where Raoh EVER cries is to show how soft-hearted and kind a person he is deep inside, rather than how macho he can be.
• Terror Hero: In Legends of the Dark King, at a point where he is just starting to build his empire, he is asked how he will rule over his subjects. He decides that fear will be the best way to govern people.
• Third-Person Person: In accordance with his monumental arrogance, he's fond of referring to himself as "Raoh" or Ken-Oh.
• Tragic Villain: Raoh is what happens when a villain has noble motivations but is Always Second Best. He wants to surpass Kenshiro as the Hokuto Shinken successor, but has the second-worst technique of all the brothers and does not learn from his battles. He's so fixated on his Unrequited Love for Yuria that he completely misses the women who are in love with him. His inability to accomplish any of his goals leads to his downfall.
• Unstoppable Rage: When he realized that he still feared Fudoh, and his men shot massive arrows through Fudoh when the latter made him retreat past a line he marked, despite giving his men explicit orders that they should shoot him should he cross that line. He later took his anger out on his men violently.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: There also was a young boy, left orphaned with his younger brother, who knew that crying will not make things better, and instead aspired to become stronger along with his brother. As the two get adopted by a martial arts master, the two finally learn to become stronger and this young child aspires to greater glory in his quest for strength. This boy grew up to be Raoh, but his story does have a happier ending.
• Utopia Justifies the Means:
  • He is actually somewhat liked by the people for the fact that he conquers, but doesn't destroy. The fact that he actually loves and protects subjects loyal to him like a father would his children really helps. At one point, Raoh comes across his men massacring helpless villagers. He has them all line up and kneel before him... and then crushes them all beneath the hooves of his monster horse.
  • Shin outright states that he plans to achieve utopia through slave labor and murderous henchmen.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Justified, in that he didn't have the chance to improve between his fight with Kenshiro at Mamiya's village and the one at the stronghold of the Last Nanto General: his wounds healed much slower than Kenshiro, and after that he had to subjugate his mutinous underlings that had rebelled believing him dead.
  • Otherwise Averted: Kenshiro and Toki assumed he had improved dramatically after Ryuken's death, and that was without the hundreds of techniques he stole from martial artists around Japan, and when he fights Rei he proves them correct by slapping Rei around with fists made out of his Battle Aura.
• Villain Has a Point:
  • In the 1986 film, right before he kills Ryuken, he points out a crippling flaw in the laws of Hokuto Shinken; by only allowing Ryuken's successor to use the martial art and making all the other students swear off using it. It would mean if the Grandmaster dies before passing the martial art down, Hokuto Shinken would be doomed to be a lost art. Ryuken actually concedes to Raoh that he's mostly right, but still points out he knows Raoh will use Hokuto Shinken solely for his own ends.
  • When Toh kills herself, Raoh calls her stupid for killing herself instead of him: if she really loved him, then to ensure that no one would have him, she should have turned her knife on him (even if it wouldn't do much).
• Villain Protagonist: Raoh is arguably the protagonist of the series in the original saga's last arc, as all the major battles feature him and revolve around his ambition and eventual redemption. He's also the player character in the hardest difficulty route in Fighting Mania.
• Villain Respect: No matter how villainous he is towards anyone who opposes him, he has enough room to respect those who opposes his power. This is noticeable with Mamiya's village where he watches the villagers fight back against his invading army, he doesn't attempt to raid the village the second time. He also displays respect to his opponents and even gives them an eulogy after he kills them.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Raoh is ruthless and uncompromising, yes, but his aim to bring order to the wasteland, by any means necessary, isn't exactly heinous on paper. It's the methods he employs that makes him an extremist.
• Wife-Basher Basher: Not only is Raoh one of the few tyrants in the post-apocalypse to have never harmed a woman, he despises those who do. This is demonstrated in the manga wherein he slaps the head clean off a rapist who served in his army upon finding out the bastard has been up to his old tricks in his absence. This major Pet the Dog moment is unfortunately ruined in the Animated Adaptation, wherein the slapper is changed to Kenshiro. In his own spinoff series, a young girl is raped and killed by bandits. Raoh avenges her by turning them into ground chuck with his own fists.
• Would Hurt a Child: Would threaten to, anyway, to force Fudo to fight him. It's not clear if he would have actually carried through, but he doesn't seem to show any concern about their fates after killing Fudo.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Mamiya would've been his only exception since she wanted to fight him, and he knows it. He wouldn't lay a finger on any other woman as described in Wife-Basher Basher entry.
• Your Tradition Is Not Mine: When Kenshiro was named successor to Hokuto Shinken, Raoh decided to start his conquest rather than giving up Hokuto Shinken. This gained the ire of Ken, Toki, and Ryuuken who all took the traditions of Hokuto Shinken very seriously. This was considered a bad thing despite Raoh's well-intended reasons to conquer the world.

Toki

Voiced by (Japanese): Takaya Hashi (TV anime, Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment), Hideyuki Tanaka (OVA), Kenyū Horiuchi (Legends of the True Savior, Legends ReVIVE, Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star), Hiroki Tochi (Legends of the Dark King), Tomokazu Seki (Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage), Shunsuke Sakuya (Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise)

Voiced by (English): Kirk Thornton (TV anime; Lost Paradise), Kyle Rea (TV anime, recut dub), Charles Campbell (New Fist of the North Star), David Wald (Legends of the Dark King, Legend of the True Savior), David Lodge (Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage)

Stats: Level: AAA, Power: 4, Speed: 5, Skills: 5, Looks: 4, Charisma: 4

"Kenshiro. Turn sorrow into fury, and live on."

The second eldest of the Hokuto Shinken brothers, Toki is also the biological younger brother of Raoh. Upon leaving the Land of Shura (originally, they left after their home village was destroyed), the siblings were taken in by Ryuken to be trained in Hokuto Shinken. Toki, who was a more passive individual and does not fight unless he is pressed to do so, believed that by manipulating the body's pressure points gently, it can be used to heal the human body and began developing techniques for this "healing art". When the nuclear war began, in order for Kenshiro and Yuria to be safe within a fallout shelter with other survivors, Toki sealed himself out and was exposed to radiation, turning his hair white. After Kenshiro is appointed the new successor, Toki left to establish the "Village of Miracles", where he heals the sick and wounded with his knowledge of Hokuto Shinken and its healing capabilities.

When Raoh began his conquering of the world, he ordered Toki to be imprisoned in the city prison "Cassandra". Upon being rescued by Kenshiro, Toki decides to face Raoh to fulfill an old promise to his brother and kill him to prevent his ambitions from succeeding. Unfortunately, Toki's radiation sickness has taken its toll and is defeated by Raoh. However, his brother does not wish to end his life and urges him to live whatever days he has left in peace. While Toki continues to heal the sick, Ryuga comes to the Village of Miracles to assassinate him, hoping that by killing Toki, it would help awaken the sadness within Kenshiro's heart and give him the strength needed to defeat Raoh. Toki complies with Ryuga's actions and is mortally wounded, but survives long enough after Kenshiro defeats Ryuga to tell his adoptive brother to use his and Ryuga's deaths to empower himself through sorrow.

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• The Ace: Toki was destined to be the successor of Hokuto Shinken before the war. However, after exposing himself to nuclear fallout to save Kenshiro, Yuria and a group of civilians during the conflict, his radiation sickness sapped much of his physical might. Yet, even in his current condition, he's still one of the absolute deadliest fighters in Fist of the North Star canon.
• Adapted Out: Despite having a large role in the original story, Toki was removed in the animated movie, and Kenshiro is left with only two brothers.
• Always Someone Better: He is the better to his brothers. Both Ken and Raoh always compliments his talents and was the potential successor of Hokuto Shinken. He willingly gave up the chance after being hit with radiation poisoning which leaves Kenshiro and Raoh to become a possible successor, but that role was ultimately given to Ken. Nonetheless, he always gives advice to Ken on how to deal with his dangerous enemies including Raoh himself.
• Badass in Distress: In the Cassandra prison, he never lost his composure. It's hinted that he stayed imprisoned within Cassandra of his own will, merely to await for Kenshiro to come at him.
• Bad Powers, Good People: Hokuto Shinken is an assassination art, feared across the land. Toki, however, uses it as a healing art. When forced to kill others, he even goes as far as to use his powers in such a way to make death painless, leaving his victims to feel euphoric and happy in the moments before their death.
• Beware the Nice Ones: As a child, he gives a bandit a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown for killing his pet dog. As a pacifist, he'll kill his enemies without ever touching them.
• Big Brother Mentor: Toki was a wise and benevolent man, and a caring brother. He was the one Kenshiro was closest to, and Toki helped shape him into the man he would become.
• Bittersweet Ending: In Legend of Toki, rather than being entangled with the Ryuga plotline, Toki returns to the Village of Miracles with his Love Interest Sara, presumably to live out his remaining days in peace. He finally dies from illness in Legend of Raoh: Chapter of Fierce Fighting.
• Boss Subtitles: "Maker of Miracles - Toki"
• Broken Pedestal: He has always loved and admired his older brother Raoh. However Raoh's ambitions caused his Start of Darkness to the point that Raoh himself told Toki if he went the wrong path, he'd be the one to seal his fists.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: He manages to pull off what Amiba tried to do when he presses pressure points that vastly increase his strength but burn through much of what little life he had left. Sadly, this doesn't work much better for him than it did for Amiba, but for different reasons: he strengthens himself so that he can use the strong style of Hokuto Shinken, rather than the gentle style he is most skilled with, and though he's still excellent with it, it isn't nearly enough to defeat Raoh, who is the master of that aspect of the art. It ends up being more a tribute to his love for his brother.
• Combat Medic: As a prodigy of the Hokuto Shinken and being able to make a healing art based on it.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The pressure point Sekkatsukō grants a person increased strength at the cost of shortening their lifespan. Toki had to secretly use this pressure point on himself during his duel with Raoh, but his brother saw through the ruse when he does not believe a terminally ill Toki can just be as strong as him.
• Dead All Along: Gracefully done in the aftermath of Kenshiro's fight with Ryuga.
• Died Standing Up: He passes away from a combination of radiation sickness and wounds inflicted by Ryuga while standing on his own two feet.
• Disease Bleach: Before the war, he had very dark hair. After falling ill with radiation poisoning, however, it has changed to a ghostly pale grey.
• Emotional Bruiser: More subdued than Kenshiro, but he has just a great smile that's warm and kind like his adoptive brother.
• Friendly Enemy: See Raoh's entry. Despite Raoh being his Arch-Enemy, he's also his older brother.
• Genius Bruiser: Of all the four brothers, Toki is easily the most skilled at the medical aspect of Hokuto Shinken to the point he knows of healing methods not even Kenshiro does and he quickly figured out the secret to Thouzer's invincibility without even witnessing the Nanto master in combat.
• A Good Way to Die:
  • He chooses to die forgiving the murderous Ryuga for his actions and cradles the dying man in his final moments, as merciful in death as he was in life.
  • His own personal style of Hokuto Shinken, Jū no Ken is this weaponized, as many of its techniques have the victim die without suffering and even in pure bliss and happiness rather than the extremely agonizing deaths that the mainstream style gives out.
• Growing Muscles Sequence: To deal with Raoh's overwhelming strength he uses a pressure point that increases his muscle mass and power to incredible levels, allowing him to actually match Raoh's power - but not the experience in using said power.
• Handicapped Badass: His terminal illness saps much of his strength and it gives him an Incurable Cough of Death. He is still THE most formidable fighter in the entire series, only surpassed by Kenshiro and Raoh because of their health. A healthy Toki wouldn't even be TOUCHED by Kenshiro or Raoh, let alone anyone else in the series.
• Healing Hands: Toki's mastery of pressure points and knowledge of the Hokuto Shinken allowed him to create the Hokuto Ujou Ken (Big Dipper Humane Fist), emphasizing healing though capable of self-defense and even its killing techniques do so by having the target experience immense pleasure rather than the pain before dying. He quickly became legendary for healing the sick and injured, and the village he resided in became known as the Village of Miracles for it.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Twice - first through contracting radiation poisoning after closing the doors of a fallout shelter from the outside to save Kenshiro, Yuria, and dozens of others, and the second by going through with Ryuga's plan to awaken true sadness in Kenshiro to help him unlock Musou Tensei.
• Honor Before Reason:
  • He allows Raoh to escape after his first fight with Kenshiro. While letting Raoh go was partially out of love for his brother and not wanting to see him die, he acknowledged that if the three of them kept fighting, they would all die that day. The brothers unanimously agree that a world with all of them dead is far worse off than none of them alive.
  • He chose to hit a pressure point that would end his life even sooner then fight Raoh with the Hard Fist style instead of his own Gentle Fist style to honor his brother's influence on his fist. Toki loses their fight for this decision.
• Hope Bringer: Oh, so much. He dedicates his life to easing the pain of the forsaken and defending the weak.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Even MORE idealistic and benign than Kenshiro. Part of what made Kenshiro such a good person is because he had a big brother like Toki to guide and inspire him.
• Kung-Fu Jesus: Almost literally, thanks to his most famous technique Hokuto Ujou Hagan Ken becoming nicknamed the "Jesus Beam". He even looks the part, unlike his other two brothers with this trope.
• Lightning Bruiser: He was a prodigy among the four Hokuto brothers, and can still keep up with Kenshiro and Raoh even while terminally ill.
• Locked into Strangeness: His hair turned white due to radiation and protecting people by sealing the bomb shelter.
• Looks Like Jesus: Just in case his messianic behaviour wasn't enough, he has long hair and a beard.
• Made of Iron: He survived an atomic bomb blast.
• Martial Medic: Toki uses his Hokuto knowledge as a means to cure the sick and weakened, and set up the Village of Miracles to better make use of Hokuto as a medical art for the people there. When he has to kill, he uses his fighitng style to ensure that his enemies feel bliss in their final moments instead of pain.
• Messianic Archetype: Toki looks like Jesus and ACTS like Jesus. When given the power of the Hokuto arts, he uses them for healing instead of harming, and often performs miracles for sick people. When he has to kill, he uses a technique that causes the victims to experience great euphoria as they die. Never once in his entire life has Toki put his life in front of anyone else's, he's the series absolute most altruistic character (though Shu and Fudoh do come close).
• Missed the Call: One of the reasons why Toki was chosen originally to be Ryuken's successor was because Toki was considered a prodigy amongst prodigies in the art of Hokuto Shinken, until fate had other plans. Sapped of his strength from radiation poisoning, he had no choice but to concede to Kenshiro. However, unlike other examples of the trope, Toki was not embittered by this and in fact, appreciated being free of the responsibility of succession so he could pursue his vocation as a healer. If anything, his biggest regret in not being the successor was knowing just how much of a huge burden it placed on Kenshiro.
• Morality Pet: To his older brother Raoh. The scene during which Raoh defeats Toki and, instead of killing him like he does to anyone who opposes him, spares him out of grief that the younger brother who followed his example and equalled him could have defeated him, if not for the radiation sickness may be one of the most heartwarming of the manga.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: In case his appearance, behaviour, healing abilities, and actions didn't tip you off enough, he's HEAVILY based off of Jesus Christ, down to the indiscriminate love and compassion towards everybody and the strength of character that it takes to maintain that benevolence in a world stuffed to the brim with absolutely horrible people. There's also him willingly sacrificing himself TWICE for the sake of humanity.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Despite seeing Amiba misuse Hokuto Shinken and the law decreeing users other than the successor must surrender their use of the art, he simply lets Amiba go with a firm warning. Toki would have no idea of just what kind of monster he would spare, one that would go on to murder countless people to spite him.
• The Paragon: No other character in the series irradiates compassion and goodness like Toki (though Shu and Fudo come close). Toki also seeks to not only help but guide people to a brighter future. His death was a great loss to humanity.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps
• Sparing the Aces: Hokuto Shinken tradition states that those students who do not become the successor must renounce Hokuto Shinken or have their fists destroyed so as not to be able to use it. However, while Raoh and Jagi maintain using Hokuto Shinken because they disregard its rules, Toki was actually given an exception for several reasons:
  • First off, his radiation sickness has crippled his physical health; while he may be still be capable of using the Hokuto Shinken, he is in no condition to challenge the successor for it
  • Second, he is considered the most prodigious at it in the martial arts' thousand year history that him not being able to use it would be a disgraceful loss.
  • Third, technically speaking, Toki does not use Hokuto Shinken, but the Hokuto Ujou Ken a healing art that Toki developed based on the Hokuto Shinken. As such, one could consider it a different style entirely (even if based on similar principles) and thus, Toki not falling under the rules anymore.
  • Fourth, there is no one left to seal his fists and Toki promised himself to stop Raoh if he turns evil, which has higher priority than renouncing the art.
• The Smart Guy: Out of all of his brothers, he can be considered this, especially with his vast knowledge on medicine, which led to the Healing Hands.
• Soap Opera Disease: His radiation poisoning leaves him well enough to both fight and conduct medicine, except for when the plot requires that it doesn't.
• The Stoic: He’s very calm and composed.
• Technical Pacifist: When he is forced to fight, Toki's Hokuto Ujou Ken techniques causes no pain; instead, it leaves his opponents with a sense of euphoria and extreme pleasure before an exploding death.
• Tender Tears: Seems to be a prerequisite for being a true son of Hokuto Shinken.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: An altruistic, good hearted and beloved doctor, who even spared his enemies agonizing ends, instead choosing ways to kill them that left them feeling heavenly bliss in their last moments, sadly beset by fatal radiation sickness. Then he drastically shortened his life even further with the Sekkatsuko pressure point in a last ditch effort to beat Raoh. He was such that even Raoh fondly remembered him in his last moments.
• Tragic Hero: His selflessness cause him to tank an atomic bomb and contract radiation poisoning to save a bunker full of people.
• Weak, but Skilled: Due to his illness, he's the physically weakest of the Hokuto disciples, but Kenshiro and Raoh admit they're far outclassed by him in skill and technique. If he had been healthy, neither of them would have been able to touch him.
• Worf Had the Flu: Raoh states that Toki had surpassed him in strength, but Toki's radiation poisoning severely weakened him in both of their fights.
• World's Best Warrior: He was this prior to his radiation poisoning. Even during the manga, he’s in the top five strongest fighters in the series.
• Wring Every Last Drop out of Him: He's said to be terminally ill when introduced. Later, he shortens his own lifespan in the hopes of getting strong enough to fight Raoh. Even when mortally wounded by Ryuga, he's still capable of walking while carrying a grown man.

Jagi

Voiced by (Japanese): Kōji Totani (TV anime, Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment), Chikao Ohtsuka (movie), David Itō (Legends of the True Savior), Wataru Takagi (Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage), Hidenari Ugaki (Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise), Yasuhiko Kawazu (Legends ReVIVE, Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star)

Voiced by (English): Peter Lurie (TV anime), Dan Woren (The Movie), Michael Sorich (Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage), Edward Bosco (Lost Paradise), Kaiji Tang (Legends of the True Savior)

Stats: Level: C, Power: 3, Speed: 3, Skills: 3, Looks: 0, Charisma: 2

"Hey, you: Say My Name!"

Jagi is the third of Ryuken's four adoptive sons and one of the top contenders of being the most ruthless, sadistic characters in the series (competed with Thouzer). When Ryuken appoints Kenshiro as his successor, Jagi is outraged that the youngest of them is chosen and attempts to physically goad and intimidate Kenshiro to renounce the title. Kenshiro easily beats him, disfiguring his face in the process, but spares his life out of pity. Forced to wear an iron mask to hide his hideously deformed appearance, Jagi swears vengeance and convinces Shin to kidnap Yuria as a slight against Kenshiro. When his brother's reputation as the "Post-Apocalyptic Savior" builds, Jagi gives himself the matching seven scars of the Hokuto constellation on his chest to tarnish Kenshiro's reputation, killing anyone he doesn't fancy. Unlike his brothers, Jagi will use any means to win, by fighting dirty and using weapons in battle meant to be fought hand-to-hand.

After Rei's younger sister Airi is rescued from the Fang Clan, Airi speaks of her kidnapper's cryptic identity and Kenshiro deduces it was Jagi. Facing him on top of a burning building, Kenshiro kills his evil adoptive brother, but not before Jagi maniacally reiterates that Kenshiro must contend with their other Hokuto brothers if he is to prove his worthiness as the successor of Hokuto Shinken.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Gets a whole family of them in the Dream Mode of Ken's Rage.
• Accidental Hero: In his Dream Mode for Ken's Rage, this is what the entire plot is all about. He and Amiba show up at a village to raid it, only to arrive a fraction of a minute after the Fang Clan and Zeed arrive, joining the villagers' favor over to their side simply by showing up and killing them. Next, they manage to run into Thouzer's army while pursuing Zeed and the Fang Clan, eventually defeating the entire Nanto army as a result, earning recognition as a Hokuto Shinken user from Kenshiro and Toki. When they finally decide that enough is enough, they turn their attention on revenge against Kenshiro and Toki once and for all. However, it's revealed they actually defeated another set of impersonators, boosting their reputations even more while actually believing they had enacted their revenge.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: From black hair to blond in the Toei anime.
• Adapted Out: The Winckler recut dubs remove him from the series.
• Armor Piercing Statement: In the last moments of his life, Jagi cuts Kenshiro to the core by revealing Toki is still alive.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Although it does not absolve him of his evil actions, his death is portrayed in a more pitiable light in Flowers of Carnage. While he doesn't obviously receive this treatment in the original story, passing dialogue from Kenshiro indicates killing Jagi still gave him some inner anguish; he still saw him as his brother deep down.
• Ax-Crazy: The craziest of the Hokuto brothers, and arguably the whole villain roster.
• Badass Biker: Has an affinity for motorcycles.
• Bad Boss: It's a miracle Jagi even has henchmen, considering his complete willingness to slaughter them on a whim, making you think what keeps them loyal to him other than trying to not get him mad and take it out on them. Then again, it's been shown time and time again that these sorts of raiders aren't exactly smart to begin with.
• Battle Aura: Like his brothers, he radiates a distinct aura around him when he gets serious.
• Bad Powers, Bad People: In contrast to Kenshiro, Jagi exemplifies why Hokuto Shinken is an obscure martial art.
• Berserk Button: Call him by his name instead of Kenshiro's while he's destroying his adoptive brother's reputation? You're dead; anything involving a "younger brother"? You're dead; reel in terror at his disfigured face? You're really, really, REALLY dead. Bearing a resemblance to Kenshiro? Oh Jagi has really something gruesome for you.....
• Big Bad Wannabe: Jagi really wants to be a bigger threat than he really is. Despite being an Arc Villain and ruthless gang leader, he is introduced and killed off in the span of 6 chapters. His dirty fighting tactics, cowardice, and pettiness pales in comparison to many of the other villains (especially the likes of Shin and Raoh), and he is pathetic against Kenshiro's fists. He may be tough around normal people, but is the weakest of the Hokuto Shinken followers.
• Boss Subtitles: "Twisted Butcher of Hokuto - Jagi"
• The Brute: Relies more on brute force and tactics rather than the strategy of his brothers
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: During his confrontation with Kenshiro, he accused him of killing an innocent child. Jagi does not remember it even though it happened a short while ago. When Jagi finally does, he nonchalantly replies "Who cares if I've wasted a kid or two?".
• Cain and Abel: An archetypal example in Shounen with Kenshiro.
• Can't Catch Up: The fact that Kenshiro surpassed him in skill, despite Jagi being the older of the two and the one who'd seen more training, is the main reason he despises him. As he puts it, "a younger brother shouldn't be better than an older brother."
• Card-Carrying Villain: Revels in being an evil bastard. Although Jagi is evil, to begin with, he plays this trope up to tarnish Kenshiro's name.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Happens twice with Ryuken during Flower of Carnage, both times a defining moment in Jagi's life. First, he calls Ryuken out for not teaching him Hokuto Shinken (Ryuken did not want to because he loved Jagi as his adopted son and wanted to spare him the tragedy that befalls practitioners of Hokuto Shinken). Eventually, Ryuken relents; this is a bad idea. The second time is following the nuclear war and Jagi has lost his girlfriend. He threatens Ryuken and calls him a fool. Kenshiro does not approve, and the rest is history.
• Combat Breakdown: As Jagi's skills and an assortment of dirty tricks prove increasingly ineffective against Kenshiro in their fight, he abandons all principles of martial arts and his cunning and fights with sheer desperation. Kenshiro quickly makes short work of him not long after.
• Combat Pragmatist: Jagi makes using underhanded tactics into an art form. He spits needles during his Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs, uses a shotgun, and picks up a pillar to use against Kenshiro. The ultimate example of this is where he spills a tank of oil in Kenshiro's direction and ignites it. Naturally, it doesn't work, but it's such a great example that it was made into Jagi's "Fatal KO" in Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment.
• Despair Event Horizon: He clearly was close to losing all sense of hope completely when the bombs dropped, but he truly crosses it shortly after the death of his girlfriend Anna after being raped at the hands of a gang in Flower of Carnage. Combined with the news of Kenshiro's succession shortly afterwards, this is what drove him to flat-out monsterdom.
• Die Laughing: Spends his last moments mocking Kenshiro's complacency with his victory, maliciously taunting that things will get far worse, as their older brothers are still out there.
• Dirty Coward: Has the ignonimy of being the only Hokuto practitioner to beg and grovel for his life in the tradition's entire 1800-year history.
• Establishing Character Moment: On-screen he is introduced seemingly saving a woman from a bandit, not unlike Kenshiro. However, after subduing the bandit, he brutally tortures the poor guy until he suffers cardiac arrest; after this is done, he kills all the locals before declaring the woman is now his to play with.
• Evil Chancellor: He serves this role temporarily to Shin, kicking off the series. One of his many, many moments of pure unadulterated assholeness.
• Face Death with Dignity: One of the few major villains to NOT do this.
• Facial Horror: He wound up on the business end of Kenshiro's fists when he tried to kill him for succession of Hokuto Shinken, resulting in his face being horrifically scarred from swelling that necessitates metal plates and tubs to control. One mook had the misfortune of seeing Jagi's unmasked face and was extremely repulsed before Jagi killed him.
• Fate Worse than Death: Despite being spared by Kenshiro in their first fight, Jagi had to use metal implants to stop his head from erupting, causing him excruciating pain and fueling his desire for revenge.
• For Want Of A Nail:
  • So much could have gone better had his minions in Flower of Carnage not gotten to him in time to give him the bad news about Kenshiro's succession...
  • His Dream Mode ending in Ken's Rage ends with him actually making plans to leave and escape his fate...until he's alerted to Kenshiro being in the building.
• Freudian Excuse: Flower of Carnage does reveal many of the reasons he grew up the way he did, including him feeling that he was The Unfavorite and the death of his girlfriend Anna.
• Give Him a Normal Life: Like the rest of the Hokuto brothers, Jagi was adopted by Ryuken, rescued from certain death. Ryuken initially refused to teach Hokuto Shinken to Jagi, since not only could he not show favoritism, he also wanted to spare Jagi the tragic fate that follows practitioners of Hokuto Shinken. Needless to say, his reconsideration was a bad idea.
• Gonk: In the Legend of Yuria, a young Jagi resembled a psychotic gremlin.
• Guns Akimbo: Two Sawn Off Shotguns in Ken's Rage
• Hammerspace: Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment allows him to put oil drums on the stage, and pour oil puddles on the ground, and even summon a giant oil tank from nowhere. At least you can see the shotgun on his hip.
• Hypocrite:
  • One time mocking a defeated Kenshiro during training: "Only those who can overcome their feelings of anger and hatred can learn Hokuto Shinken!"
  • And of course, his sheer drive over "the younger brother exceeding the elder," when Jagi's own ambition growing up was to exceed both Toki and Raoh.
  • For all his crowing about being a prodigy of Hokuto Shinken, it's revealed after his death that he was really nothing more than one of Raoh's henchmen.
• I Have No Son!: Played with - in Flower of Carnage, Ryuken refuses to let Jagi call him father when he decides to teach him Hokuto Shinken, as their relationship has changed from father/son to master/pupil, but it's not really disowning him so much as establishing the change in their relationship. However, Ryuken does later shun Jagi after he becomes more ruthless and underhanded.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: The entire reason he hates Kenshiro is that Kenshiro challenged Jagi's fragile self-image and coping mechanisms. Jagi always knew he was the worst out of him, Toki, and Raoh, and he was able to accept this, because it made perfect sense to him that the youngest and least experienced of the three would also be the worst. However, Kenshiro, who was even younger and less experienced, not only started to catch up to him in skill, but showed signs of equalling Raoh and Toki, which culminated in him being named the successor. This entirely broke Jagi, because it seemingly proved that he could indeed have matched Toki and Raoh had he been a better student. Underneath all that swagger and egotism is a fact he's known deep down his whole life: his inferiority had nothing to do with age or even experience, he's just mediocre.
• Insane Troll Logic: When his halfassed Nanto Seiken is ineffective vs Kenshiro, he complains Kenshiro can't possibly know Nanto Seiken that well. This is despite Kenshiro's former best friend, Shin, being a master of the art and Kenshiro having fought him twice and killing him recently.
• Jack of All Stats: For all the crap his original depiction gave him, Jagi is much more skilled than he let on during his fight with Kenshiro. The databooks have his combat skills all rounded at 3/5, squarely fitting him into this trope and Master of None.
• Jerkass: Easily the biggest dick in Fist of the North Star. In fact, his feud with Kenshiro is basically the catalyst that caused a considerable amount of the conflict in the series.
• Just Between You and Me
  • From the anime series:
  "I want to tell you something funny, before you burn to a crisp. That guy, Shin, who you considered your friend, who do you think it was that turned him over to evil? IT WAS ME, THAT'S WHO!"
  • From the 1986 anime movie:
  "I'll give you a going away present for your journey to hell. Shin, who took Yuria away from you, was driven mad by none other than myself!"
  • From Ken's Rage 2:
  "That so-called friend of yours, Shin! I'm the one that made him sell his soul to the devil!"
• Kick the Dog: Legend of Yuria shows a young Jagi attempting to kill Yuria's puppy for no apparent reason.
• Master of None: Aside from his ability with Hokuto Shinken, he's also trained in Nanto Seiken, and he combines this with an intense degree of Combat Pragmatism. On paper, this gives him answers for every situation, but in practice, he is a significantly inferior Hokuto user to his brothers, his Nanto skills are downright poor, and his dirty tactics are less of a supplement to genuine skill and more a crutch he uses to cover for his weaknesses. Rather than trying to synthesize his smattering of abilities into something truly dangerous, his fight with Kenshiro has him largely just tossing out gimmick after gimmick, none of which do much to impede an opponent who has actually mastered one of his styles.
• Mind Rape: An application of Hokuto Shinken that only he has demonstrated is the ability to inflict this on people. Kenshiro undoes the effect Jagi pulled on a child to mess with him.
• Meaningful Name: His name comes from the word jaki meaning "evil spirit"
• Morality Pet: Anna in Flower of Carnage
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: After Jagi's death, the manga no longer mentions him and whenever Ryuken's students are mentioned, they usually refer to them as the "three Hokuto brothers", leaving Jagi unaccounted. Justified at first, since Jagi has already played out his role in the story, but even when Toki (and later Raoh) dies, the series continues to act as if only Raoh, Toki, and Kenshiro ever mattered (then again, Jagi had no role in the Land of Shura arc). Generally taken to embody how, given his monstrous behavior, Jagi is being deliberately forgotten to avoid staining the Hokuto Shinken legacy.
• My Greatest Failure: His failure to protect Anna is something he mourns, even in his dying moment.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: One of anime's greatest examples. By wanting to get revenge on Kenshiro, Jagi started a huge chain of events that led to Kenshiro becoming the savior of the post-war world.
• Nightmare Face:
  • Has this as the result of arguing against Kenshiro's succession◊...
  • In Ken's Rage, he even has a move where he removes his mask and kills his enemies through sheer horror.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: While Jagi isn't nearly as good or as strong as Kenshiro, Toki, or Raoh, he is still a proficient user of a martial art that's meant to turn its users into a One-Man Army. In the post-apocalyptic wasteland where there are very few powerful martial artists that could stand against a killing art as lethal as Hokuto Shinken, Jagi is very much an Invincible Villain unless guys like his brothers or other martial arts masters that can use super lethal combat styles, like Rei, come after him specifically (as there is no way he would go anywhere near super badass guys that could kill him).
• Offended by an Inferior's Success: He was fine with Raoh and Toki, his older brothers surpassing him, but flipped out at his younger brother Kenshiro also surpassing him. His inferiority complex is so bad he murdered a child for defending his older brother under the belief that a younger sibling should never surpass the elder.
• Out of Focus: After his death, the story pretty much drops him and he's very noticeably absent from most of the flashbacks to Kenshiro's early life. Many other characters still have a decent presence post-mortem, but Jagi tends to be forgotten.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: While Jagi is a punk compared to his brothers, he ISN'T a weakling. His brothers are all said to have talent that puts them among the best practitioners of Hokuto Shinken through its entire history and Jagi was just average in terms of skill. But Hokuto Shinken is so lethal and makes its user so strong that only exceptional people have any chance of fighting even an average user. Against anyone else except his brothers or equally skilled martial artists, Jagi is an Invincible Villain who could go One-Man Army on the standard mooks and bandits of the post-apocalyptic wasteland. If no one stopped him, it wouldn't have been odd for him to have eventually formed his own little fiefdom with a large group of soldiers and terrified serfs.
• Parental Favoritism: Ryuken loved him the most out of any of his sons. Unfortunately, Jagi never really accepted this, because this manifested in Ryuken's intense reluctance to teach Jagi Hokuto Shinken—he thought it meant Ryuken had some kind of contempt for him, but in reality, Ryuken knew that learning the style would ruin Jagi's life, and thought he didn't deserve to go through that.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: His Hokuto Senju Satsu and iconic Hokuto Rakan Geki techniques. As opposed to punches, however, they are rapid-fire jabs.
• Say My Name: His catchphrase; inverted in chapter 43 of the manga by Kenshiro himself.
  "Jagi... say MY name!"
• Shotguns Are Just Better: Jagi sure seems to think so, preferring his weapons to martial arts. Kenshiro shows him just how wrong he is.
• Sibling Rivalry:
  • Most prominently with Raoh, since Toki and Kenshiro actually cared for Jagi and tried to not be competitive, but eventually Raoh overshadowed Jagi WAY too much for the rivalry to be sustained. However, when his rivalry with Kenshiro blossomed, it became the driving force in Jagi's life.
  • Add to this that when news of Kenshiro's succession reached him, he was right about to commit suicide. Once he finally heard it, his rivalry with Kenshiro had become the sole driving point in life, since he technically already had lost all hope.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Jagi is Kenshiro's absolute polar opposite - evil, sadistic, underhanded, maniacal, sociopathic and completely lacking in empathy.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: None of his outfits have any physical sleeves, considering the tricks he has up his proverbial ones.
• Small Role, Big Impact: In the grand scheme of things, Jagi doesn't accomplish much and upon his death is quickly forgotten, but he not only convinced Shin to steal Yuria away, but in his death, reminded Ken that Toki and Raoh were still alive.
• Sore Loser: Jagi, who is quite knowledgeable of many Hokuto Shinken techniques, sincerely believes his first loss against Kenshiro was because he "tripped his foot" rather than Ken subduing his leg. Kenshiro lampshades how idiotic this is in their last encounter.
• Spikes of Villainy: According to gaiden manga Flower of Carnage, Jagi took note of what an effect Fudo the Ogre had on a young Raoh and made sure to incorporate Fudo's spiked shoulder pads into his own day to day wear.
• Spell My Name With An S: In all the Italian adaptations of the series, manga, anime and OVA, his name is always spelt "Jagger".
• Start of Darkness: Flower of Carnage explores this in detail.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: He really likes to combine this with his catchphrase in Ken's Rage.
• Tragic Monster: It's hard to see now, but he had such a tragic childhood and fate, it's through that and his own actions that he turned evil.
• Token Evil Teammate: In the Dream Mode of Ken's Rage for the Hokuto side.
• Too Dumb to Live: Jagi really should've known better than to brag to an already angered Kenshiro that he was the one who corrupted Shin which in turn robbed him of Yuria. All he accomplished was getting Kenshiro's full wrath and a severe beatdown.
• The Unfavorite: Subverted; Jagi believes Ryuken will not teach him Hokuto Shinken because he prefers his adopted brothers over him. It's the complete opposite, as Jagi is Ryuken's favored son since he sees him as a son, not a disciple.
• Unskilled, but Strong: He seems to actually have more raw strength than Kenshiro... But his technique is much poorer, resulting in Kenshiro's superiority.
• Vader Breath: As a result of his facial disfigurement.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Subverted: given his belief a younger brother won't ever be able to defeat an older brother you'd expect this, but between the fight where Kenshiro disfigured him and their final battle he learned Nanto techniques and generally had a massive increase in abities, going from being unable to even touch Kenshiro to scratch a much stronger Kenshiro. His problem simply was that Kenshiro was that much better.
• Villainous Friendship: With Amiba in Ken's Rage.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy:
  • One of the reasons Jagi wants to learn Hokuto Shinken is he desperately wants Ryuken's approval, failing to realize that Ryuken does not want to teach Jagi Hokuto Shinken because he loves him. There was no need to seek his approval at all.
  • Subverted upon Kenshiro's succession (when Jagi found out) and when he's dying: Jagi came to hate Ryuken, but never could completely turn himself away from Hokuto Shinken.
• Would Hurt a Child: He strands a child in the middle of the wasteland just to piss Ken off. And that's just one example - when Ken questions him about it, he doesn't even care. It's worse for the child's elder brother who also bears an unfortunate resemblance to Kenshiro.

Ryuken (Ramon Kasumi)

Voiced by: Junji Chiba (adult)/Kōji Totani (young) (TV anime), Chikao Ohtsuka (Legend of the True Savior), Hideyuki Tanaka (Ken's Rage), Masanori Machida (Legends ReVIVE)

Voiced by (English): Simon Prescott (TV anime), Jeff Corey (The Movie), Lex Lang (Legend of the True Savior)

^{Click here to see his younger self}

The 63rd successor of Hokuto Shinken and the adoptive father and master who trained Kenshiro, Jagi, Toki, and Raoh, Ryuken eventually chose the youngest of his adopted sons as his successor, prompting Raoh to challenge his decision by refusing to surrender the art. He almost defeated Raoh, but suffered a stroke before delivering the finishing blow, giving Raoh the perfect opportunity to kill his master. Whenever Kenshiro or one of his brothers faces an ordeal, they reflect back on Ryuken's teachings.

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• Adaptational Wimp: In the movie, it's inferred that Raoh actually did manage to overpower him.
• Batman Gambit:
  • The All About The Man guidebook reveals he knew Jagi was a scumbag and kept him around just so his successor would have someone evil to overcome.
  • Jagi's backstory in Flower of Carnage puts some doubts on this, for the most part. However, when you consider what kind of person Jagi is, Ryuken may not have been entirely wrong.
• Bratty Half-Pint: All the way back during World War II Shanghai in Fist of the Blue Sky.
• Doppelgänger Spin: Uses one against Raoh, one that travels in a North Dipper-shaped path, no less.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Subverted; Jagi believes Ryuken is this, but he never intended Jagi to be successor in the first place. Instead, he wanted Jagi to be a pawn to train the real successor. Like Batman Gambit, Flower of Carnage shows this to be for more sympathetic reasons.
• Jerkass: For the sake of producing a successor, Ryuken was willing to throw would-be disciples (who were still children) down canyons to test their strength and expel those too weak (like Kim) to advance onto higher levels of training to fend for themselves. Some continuities establish that the final decision to name a single successor while preventing others from passing on the style would involve Ryuken crippling them for life. For a great warrior of Hokuto Shinken, Ryuken is truly lousy father material. Flower of Carnage, meanwhile, paints a more flattering view of his personality.
• Kid Hero: Even as a kid, he was strong enough to defeat full grown adults, as shown in Fist of the Blue Sky.
• Lightning Bruiser: He ran rings around Raoh until his stroke kicked in.
• Meaningful Rename: His real name is "Ramon Kasumi" in Fist of the Blue Sky. When he became the 63rd Hokuto Shinken successor, he changed his name to "Ryuken".
• My Greatest Failure: In Flowers of Carnage, Ryuken clearly views Jagi as this the further he falls into evil. In their final confrontation, he can only sincerely apologize to his fallen pupil while barely concealing his immense shame and disappointment.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Plainly states to Kenshiro that his acts of kindness and compassion to one such as Jagi will bring him much misery and hardship.
• Old Master: He is the one who taught Kenshiro, Jagi, Toki, and Raoh the art of Hokuto Shinken. When Raoh, who up to this point had been shown as insanely powerful, challenged him to a fight, Ryuken easily beat him into a bloody mess. Sadly, it seems that Worf Had the Flu.
• Posthumous Character: He's long dead at the beginning of the series and only appears on flashbacks.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: Back when he was a middle-aged man and Raoh and Toki were still kids, Ryuken originally intended to take either Raoh or Toki as a disciple under his wing, but not both. To that end, he told the brothers to climb a steep and pretty dangerous cliff, and that whoever reached the top first would be his one and only student. Toki, the younger and weaker brother, had an injured leg preventing him from ever attempting the feat, but even as he told Raoh to go and climb alone for the both of them, the latter refused to leave his little brother behind, and such was his determination that he climbed all the way up carrying Toki on his back. Moved by Raoh's sheer resolve and love for Toki, Ryuken decided to take both brothers in.
• Succession Crisis: With his older students turning to evil or falling to illness, Ryuken ultimately put faith in the younger, yet more naive Kenshiro.
• Worf Had the Flu: Had it not been for his stroke, he would have permanently incapacitated Raoh.

Koryu

Voiced by (Japanese): Hidekatsu Shibata

A former practitioner of "Hokuto Shinken", who trained alongside Ryuken. When the pair fought to decide who would become next successor, Koryu yielded, as he realized that both men would end up killing each other. Secluding himself to isolation, Raoh seeks him out as his comeback opponent after his fight with Kenshiro.

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• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: His named technique, Shinchisei Massatsu (Seven Star Obliteration) was implied to be this. Unfortunately, much like Rei's Danko Sosai Ken before, it was thwarted by Raoh attacking and killing him before Koryu could finish it.
• The Rival: Was this to Ryuken when they were younger. His power was considered equal to Ryuken's; Koryu willingly gave up on the mantle of Hokuto Shinken succession because being equal in power with Ryuken would have led to death for both of them.
• Tiger Versus Dragon: Back when he and Ryuken were rivals for Hokuto Shinken succession, Koryu was nicknamed "Hokuto's Tiger" while Ryuken's nickname was "Hokuto's Dragon".

Nanto Roku Seiken

Nanto Seiken (南斗聖拳; "South Dipper Holy Fist") is comprised of 108 different branches and is the polar opposite of Hokuto Shinken: whereas the art of the latter involves internally destroying an opponent, Nanto Seiken uses air pressure to cleave and slice opponents externally. The top six masters of Nanto Seiken are called the Nanto Roku Seiken ("South Dipper Six Holy Fists"), with each one carrying a fate that corresponds to a star in the South Dipper constellation. All styles of Nanto Seiken are affiliated with avians.

Shin

Voiced by (Japanese): Toshio Furukawa (TV anime, Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment), Takuya Kirimoto (Legends of the True Savior, Legends ReVIVE, Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star), Tomokazu Sugita (Ken's Rage), Kazuhiro Nakaya (Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise)

Voiced by (English): Steve Blum (TV anime), Kyle Rea (TV anime, recut dub), Michael McConnohie (The Movie), Doug Erholtz (Ken's Rage), Greg Chun (Lost Paradise), Christopher Wehkamp (Legends of the True Savior)

Voiced by (European French): Daniel Russo (1986 film)

"Do you know what you lack, Kenshiro? Desire and ambition!"

The successor of Nanto Koshū Ken ("South Dipper Lone Eagle Fist") and the bearer of the "Star of Martyrdom", Shin was originally Kenshiro's best friend while growing up, yet he was secretly in love with Kenshiro's fiancée Yuria, but refused to do anything about it. When Jagi goaded him to take Yuria for himself, convinced by his words that Kenshiro was too weak to protect her from the horrors of the post-apocalyptic world (like Raoh, whom Shin knew also desired Yuria), Shin challenges and defeats Kenshiro in combat, engraving the signature seven scars on his chest. Taking Yuria with him, Shin amasses his own army of loyal thugs, taking on the title of "King" and establishing the city of Southern Cross as his kingdom.

Eventually, Yuria despairs at the misguided tyranny committed in her name by Shin that she takes her own life by jumping from the palace balcony. However, Yuria survives her suicide attempt from a rescue by the Nanto Goshasei, her sworn guardians charged to protect her as the Last General of Nanto. Shin is forced to relinquish Yuria as Raoh and his army are marching towards Southern Cross. He awaits for a revitalized Kenshiro in his palace and is defeated. However, rather than die by Kenshiro's hand, Shin throws himself off his palace to his death, as a final act of spite against his former rival.

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• Adaptation Expansion: In the manga, he's defeated at the end of the first tome and is more a Token Motivational Nemesis and a Starter Villain than anything else. In the anime, he lasts a lot longer and is the first Arc Villain. Antagonists of tomes 2 and 3 that were independant in the manga (the Godland Colonel and Jackal) become his subordinates and he's given several Filler Villains as well.
• Air Jousting: Probably the most famous example of this trope when he crosses aerial kicks with Kenshiro in their battle.
• A Lady on Each Arm: Introduced to the reader this way, with two concubines clinging to him as he decides to execute two underlings. It seems that with Yuria (or at least a very lifelike replica doll of her as the reader would soon find out) unable to reciprocate his feelings, Shin's needs have to be met elsewhere.
• All There in the Manual: Nanto Koshū Ken was not named at all in the manga and anywhere else until the All About the Man guidebook established it.
• Ambition Is Evil: The whole core of Shin's character is his ambition to win Yuria's love, driving him not only to scar Kenshiro in the way he did but continually commit atrocities in order to win Yuria's heart. He makes it very clear that Ken's lack of ambition was what lost him his initial fight with Shin.
• Arc Villain: The first one of the series.
• Bad Boss: His introduction shows him executing mooks who had the audacity to survive a fight with Kenshiro by running away.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: "However, I refuse to die by your techniques! Kenshiro... Farewell!!" This is hilariously made into a "Fatal KO" for Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment, though it can be interrupted. Lost Paradise averts this, where he does indeed hemmorhage to death from Ken's attack.
• Big Bad: The Adaptation Expansion in the TV series turned him into this for the first story arc, as did the live-action film.
• Boss Subtitles: "The Star of Martyrdom - Shin"
• Combat Pragmatist: Rises above most Nanto practitioners by sending Mr. Heart against Kenshiro.
• Dark Messiah: In the TV series.
• Dark and Troubled Past: The Right on King one-shot manga reveals this to be the case for Shin. His father, Gishaku, the former successor to Nanto Koshū Ken, lost his right arm to Thouzer's master Ohgai when he challenged the latter to a battle. Blaming his defeat on the love for his pregnant wife (instead of the fact that Ohgai, as the successor to Nanto Hōoh Ken, utterly outclassed him), he imposed a harsh discipline on his young son Shin to remove any such weakness. When he caught Shin bonding with Kenshiro, he punished him by burning the photo of Shin's mother that his son had been hiding.
• Death Equals Redemption: He and Kenshiro implicitly make peace once he's been mortally wounded.
• Defiant to the End: Shin refuses to die by Kenshiro's hand, instead jumping off the balcony of his fortress to his death to die on his terms.
  "Now, it is my turn to die. But I shall NOT die by the hand of the Fist Of The North Star! NEVER! FAREWELL, KENSHIRO!"
• Despair Event Horizon: If her failed suicide attempt wasn't a big enough hint, Yuria unconsciously whispers Kenshiro's name, finally breaking Shin's hope in ever earning her love. He entrusts her to the Nanto Goshasei shortly afterwards and resigns himself to fight Kenshiro to the death, believing that if Kenshiro wins, Yuria will be taken care of.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Rather than suffering at the hands of Ken's Unstoppable Rage, and later jumping to his death, he instead had his pressure points struck by Raoh before Ken faces him in the 1986 film.
• Disney Villain Death: Gives this to himself rather than be killed by Kenshiro's Hokuto Shinken.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: After he defeats Kenshiro and "winning" Yuria's love, he decides to build a city in her name. A city built on the back of slaves and blood that Yuria would never approve of. He keeps fighting to expand his empire and give her meaningless gifts she would never accept. It reaches its breaking point when he claims to Yuria that he will never stop until she will love him back and Yuria, to stop any further sufference, launches herself from the top of a building. At this point Shin realizes far too late that power and strength alone could not win her heart.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: He and Kenshiro were introduced as being former rival students under the same master, who supposedly dictated them both to avoid fighting against each other. Shin openly defies their common master's will when he turns on Kenshiro, defeats him, and leaves him wounded to die in the desert while taking Yuria from him.
• Emotional Bruiser: He has no check on his emotions, whether cackling like a madman or openly weeping when over his Unrequited Love.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Sure, he's a maniacal overlord who raids villages and enslaves people, but he's chivalrous to a fault and in the series extends mercy to a young servant who betrayed him. Moreso in the animated movie in which he isn't shown as a ruler enslaving villages and his primary reason for stealing Yuria was because of his belief Kenshiro is too naive and weak to protect her in the apocalyptic world.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • If Shin really knew and loved Yuria, he really shouldn't be surprised that she was Driven to Suicide by the cruelty and genocide committed in the name of earning her love.
  • In his Dream Mode of Ken's Rage, Shin is shown to literally not comprehend selflessness. However, he does come to understand love, which instigates a Heel–Face Turn.
• Evil Former Friend: Before the Apocalypse, he was Kenshiro's friend.
• Face–Heel Turn: He decides to use the Apocalypse to his advantage and make Yuria his, after killing Kenshiro of course. It's later revealed that Jagi convinced him to do it.
• Fallen Hero: His job as a member of the Nanto Roku Seiken was to act as a bodyguard for the emperor. The apocalypse brought out his worst side, and he became a maniacal tyrant.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: His outfit in Ken's Rage
• Finger Poke of Doom: Shin can kill you just by poking his finger straight into your heart. Many of his techniques for Nanto Koshū Ken are jabbing motions intended to drive his hand straight into the enemy.
• God-Emperor: Anime only, where the Golan Army has a portrait dedicated to him in their headquarters, referring to him as the God that chose them.
• Heel–Face Turn: Dream Mode of Ken's Rage is basically one to make Shin finally have a genuine turn by finally comprehending goodness and love.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Averted. Despite forcing Yuria to confess her love under duress and making her wear fancy dresses, there's no evidence that he ever forced himself on her.
• I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Shin loves Yuria because she is an emotionally strong-willed woman whom he sees as a challenge to make her willingly fall in love with him.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Zigzagged, in that Jagi spurred Shin into forcibly separating Yuria from Ken for himself, but ultimately played straight in that he leaves Yuria in the care of the Chariot Stars once they intervene in her suicide attempt. Hearing Yuria call out to Kenshiro in her knocked-out state, Shin is crushed, realizing that even if he manages to best Kenshiro again in their inevitable rematch, Yuria's heart is already set on Ken. All he can do is give Ken the best challenge he can muster and ensure Yuria falls in safe hands.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: To expand his empire, Shin had to kill a lot of raiders, gangsters, and other assorted terrible people.
• Love Makes You Evil: His obsession with Yuria turned him to the dark side, with a little prodding from Jagi.
• Love Redeems: When he meets the Nanto Goshasei and discovers that Raoh is heading to Southern Cross, he entrusts Yuria to them instead of allowing Raoh, the more ruthless tyrant, to have her, because if news of Yuria's survival ever reached Raoh, he would do anything to take her.
• Might Makes Right: Shin's personal mantra.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: He tried to murder Kenshiro at the beginning of the series in order to have Yuria for himself.
• Never My Fault: He’s bewildered over Yuria’s rejection and lays all the blame on Kenshiro for standing in the way of his romantic pursuit. The only reason Yuria doesn’t love him back is A- she’s already engaged to Kenshiro, B- he forced Yuria into staying with him while he’s torturing Kenshiro to near death, and C- he committed Rape, Pillage, and Burn as a means of wooing Yuria with a lot of vast riches and a literal city for her. He refuses to understand why someone as kindhearted as Yuria would be horrified of such atrocities committed under her name.
• Noble Demon: As far as his relationship (or lack of one) with Yuria is concerned, the one thing keeping him from crossing a line with her is his own pride in himself as a man and refuses to stoop to that kind of low. His devotion to Yuria, even when it becomes clear she would rather be dead leads him to leave Yuria in the care of the Nanto Goshasei while Shin resigns himself to his fate and intends to give Ken the best fight he can muster. All for Yuria's sake.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: That monologue about Kenshiro lacking resolve and therefore lacking power? Kenshiro took it to heart, as he learns in their fight inside Southern Cross. He then kills Yuria or at least, a very lifelike doll with her likeness right in front of Kenshiro, which sets him off.
• One-Man Army: In episode 21 of the TV series, where he thwarts General Barcom's mutiny alone.
• Pimped-Out Cape: Especially in Ken's Rage.
• Posthumous Character: In the manga, his character is fleshed out through post-mortem flashbacks after the Southern Cross arc is over, particularly when it comes to his position within the Nanto Roku Seiken; the revelation about Yuria's survival is one.
• Retronym: Since Shin is the first Nanto Seiken practitioner introduced in the story and the future of the manga was uncertain at the time, his specific style was never given a proper name. After other Nanto branches were subsequently introduced, Shin's own style became retroactively known as Nanto Koshū Ken.
• Rival Turned Evil: Was Ken's rival (as part of the Nanto school), but his unrequited crush on Yuria and poisonous advice from Jagi drove him to evil.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In a roundabout way. In the manga, Ken defeats him as early as Chapter 10, and God's Army and Jackal's arcs occurs afterwards. In the anime, he outlives them and their respective arcs takes place before his final battle with Ken.
• Stalker with a Crush: After meeting Yuria in the prequel manga spinoff Jibo no Hoshi ("The Merciful Mother Star")
• Starter Villain: He sets off as Kenshiro's old nemesis, but doesn't last beyond the first story arc.
• Suicide by Cop: a possible way to interpret his last stand against Kenshiro. Particularly the detail of having a lifelike mannequin of Yuria ready for sacrifice in front of Ken. If stabbing this doll was a gamble, best case scenario was, Kenshiro would have been demoralized and weakened leaving the real Yuria ripe for reclamation after Ken's defeat. Second best scenario, Yuria is in better hands after Shin confirms for himself the hard way that Kenshiro has truly absorbed the ambition Shin told him he lacked in their previous fight.
• Theme Naming: Each of Shin's lieutenants are named after playing card suits, with Shin's title of "KING" adding to the theme.
• Token Motivational Nemesis: Shin was introduced as an easily disposable antagonist in case the manga wasn't picked up beyond the initial ten chapters. As a result, there's no mention of any of the other Hokuto brothers or Nanto Seiken masters during the first few story arcs.
• Tragic Villain: Nothing Shin accomplishes can last because he cannot see his own wrongdoing. He tries desperately to love Yuria and does everything to appease her, but that everything is violence, plundering, and murder which only pushes her away. He wants to build an empire and raise humanity from its ashes with him as the ruler. Yet his empire is founded on the evil deeds he commits, uniting thugs and murderers to oppress the weak and force them to build said empire. That too inevitably fails in the TV series when the raiders and gangs (who don't share his vision and resent being used as fist-fodder against Kenshiro) inevitably mutiny against him and start killing each other and the common people; leaving him the ruler of a ruin.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: If Right on King is any indication.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind: More like he refused to level grind: his main goal when it came to Yuria and Kenshiro was to make sure the latter could protect her from Raoh, someone he knew he couldn't surpass before he came for Yuria, so he didn't improve his abilities after he defeated Kenshiro.
• Yandere: A rare male example in Shounen. He wants Yuria for himself and tries to get rid of the competition (Kenshiro).

Rei

Voiced by (Japanese): Kaneto Shiozawa (TV anime), Shin-ichiro Miki (Legends of the True Savior), Isshin Chiba (Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment, Legends ReVIVE), Takehito Koyasu (Ken's Rage, JP), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise), Katsuyuki Miura (Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star)

Voiced by (English): Daran Norris (TV anime), Jason Barker (TV anime, recut dub), Gregory Snegoff (The Movie), Matthew Mercer (Ken's Rage), Chris Hackney (Lost Paradise), Ricco Fajardo (Legends of the True Savior)

"'The Man With Seven Stars': until I find and kill you, I will do anything to survive...even if I have to eat mud!"

Representing the "Star of Justice", Rei is the successor of Nanto Suichō Ken ("South Dipper Waterfowl Fist"). Sometime after the nuclear war, when Rei left his village to train, his parents were killed and younger sister Airi was kidnapped by "The Man With Seven Scars" on her wedding day. Rei wanders the wasteland looking for Airi, mercilessly slaughtering anyone who stands in his way. During the Fang Clan's incursion on Mamiya's village, he runs into Kenshiro, and aligns with him to take down the savages, eventually finding out they are holding Airi hostage. Although Rei is forced by the clan to fight and kill Kenshiro, both martial artists cleverly turn the tide against their enemies and rescue Airi. Upon restoring Airi's lost sight, Kenshiro reveals that he is the "The Man With Seven Scars", but Rei laughs it off, unwilling to believe that the successor of Hokuto Shinken was the culprit. From then on, Rei becomes Kenshiro's most reliable ally and friend.

When Raoh and his army invades Mamiya's village, Rei insists on fighting the tyrant, despite Kenshiro being at Cassandra rescuing Toki. Raoh bests Rei in combat by putting him in a state of pain and suffering via the Shinketsushū pressure point, dooming him to a bloody end in three days. Deciding to live the last of his life by facing his old rival Juda, who had a hand in Mamiya's traumatic past, Rei duels with his former friend and wins, but is nearing his last moments. Before he passes, he urges Kenshiro, and especially Mamiya, the love of his life, to live on.

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• Absurdly Sharp Blade: More like absurdly sharp fingers. Rei can easily dice up his opponents to pieces with his bare hands.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: From black in the manga to light blue in the Toei anime. This caused some problems when it was time for him to be Locked into Strangeness. The 1986 movie streamlined this by giving him white hair from the beginning.
  • His hair in both Ken's Rage releases before getting Locked into Strangeness is a faded light teal, even though any official images have him with black hair.
• Amazon Chaser: Rei finds Mamiya very attractive and respects her courage and strength, but he would rather have her stay on the sidelines, if only because he's not comfortable with the idea of her getting hurt.
• Anti-Hero: An Unscrupulous Hero whilst searching for Airi, before reverting back to a straight-up heroic figure.
• Bash Brothers: With Kenshiro.
• Big Brother Instinct: This is Rei's motivation in a nutshell before he and Kenshiro crossed paths.
• Big "WHAT?!": Rei lets one out when Kenshiro asks him what he would do if Kenshiro just so happened to be the Man With Seven Scars Rei was looking for. After a pause, Rei composes himself, dismissing this question as a bad joke on Ken's part.
• Boss Subtitles: "The Star of Justice - Rei"
• Character Development: Starts off in the story getting by through thuggish behavior, whether its through hermit crabbing through alliances, stealing from rape gangs with clever trickery or at one point introducing himself to Mamiya in a rather sexually aggressive fashion. By the end of his involvement in the story, he's valiantly fighting for the family he's discovered (and rediscovered) and for the life of the woman he's devoted himself to.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Towards Mamiya. He basically starts drooling over her from the moment they first meet, and strips her in public on one occasion, but he's extremely protective of her and ends up using the last few days of his life to save her from the Death Omen Star.
• Courtly Love: The honorable and gentlemanly manner in which Rei expresses his love towards the Fiery Redhead Mamiya. He never gets to kiss her before his tragic death.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Rei is the only protagonist in the entire series to die in the usual Hokuto Shinken-induced way - gorily and painfully (even if he does get to keep a complete corpse). A Gory Discretion Shot is used to not show him dying this way explicitly, almost as if the creators themselves wanted to spare him the indignity. This just drives home how utterly tragic his death is. In Ken's Rage, the camera view doesn't even follow him inside.
• Death Glare: Naturally when some mooks make the mistake of hurting Rin, Rei deals one of these out along with a really furious threat.
• A Death in the Limelight: Once Raoh sentences him to an agonizing death in 3 days, the manga and anime center on Rei's attempt to defeat Yuda and avenge Mamiya, with Ken merely on the sidelines as an observer. The final episode Rei has in the anime before he dies is a clipshow dedicated to his life.
• Death or Glory Attack: Dankou Sousai Ken, at least in the TV anime; the technique would've killed Rei, but it would also cleave Raoh into pieces. Unfortunately, Raoh was able to predict this attack and trigger his Shinketsushū pressure point.
• The Determinator: Whether it's subsisting on eating mud to find the man who kidnapped his sister, or undergoing an extremely painful procedure to hold off the effects of Raoh's Shinketsushuu vital point strike, there is no length to which Rei will not go for those he cares for.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Unlike the anime and manga, he dies rather quickly by Raoh's hands in the 1986 film.
• Disease Bleach: After undergoing a treatment from Toki to extend his life by an extra day following his defeat at Raoh's hands, Rei's hair changes to stark white as a result of the stress from the excruciatingly painful procedure.
• Deuteragonist: Rei is this the second arc, and is the only hero other character than Kenshiro to take out a major villain in the original series. In the movie adaptation, he also slices up Uighur.
• Dogged Nice Guy: To Mamiya.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: A milder version - Rei forbids Mamiya from despairing over his death and asks her to live her own life to the fullest.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: So beautiful that he can be mistaken for a woman from a distance, if given a cloak. When introduced, he's taking advantage of this to lure bandits into attempting to run him down... so that he can kill them and take their food for himself.
• Dying Alone: To spare his friends and family the displeasure of seeing him die explosively, Rei locks himself in a house for his final moments.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Invoked when he decides that Juda would be a fine choice for his last opponent.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: His Dream Mode in Ken's Rage is this in a nutshell. After averting his death by Raoh, Rei is forced to pull a Face–Heel Turn, serving the tyrannical Thouzer as the Nanto Army Token Good Teammate, witnessing the death of Shew who's helping him, and fights Kenshiro, all to save Airi and later Mamiya. He finally turns against Thouzer once Mamiya inspires him enough to not serve evil. The result is that Rei, Airi, and Mamiya live Happily Ever After in the latter's village. Rei refuses to take that chance and prefers to meet his fate against Raoh.
• '80s Hair: His long hair turns into a mullet around the time he shows up in Cassandra.
• Emotional Bruiser: His first major Pet the Dog moment is when he warmly and kindly smiles at how the big brother of two siblings he gave chocolate to gave the bigger half to his baby sister. Aww...
• Face Death with Dignity: His reaction to finding out that he's got three days left to live is to hunt down his Arch-Enemy for a final battle, which he wins spectacularly. He then says goodbye to his friends with a smile, and goes to meet his fate with no regrets.
• Famed In-Story: If Kenshiro is about to instill an ass-kicking on someone and reminisces about his fallen allies and rivals, Rei will always be shown front and center, even over Toki.
• A Good Way to Die: Rei lives the last three days of his life exactly the way he wants to, and goes to his death completely at peace.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: In Rei's introduction, his alignment as a potential hero or villain was pretty ambiguous, thus he was drawn with rather shifty eyes. It isn't until his good guy credentials are established that he's drawn more consistently with big eyes.
  • Although Rei introduces himself to Mamiya in a rather creepy fashion in a bathhouse, Lin noted that Rei's eyes looked as gentle as Ken's in that moment.
• Go Out with a Smile: Double Subverted; after bidding his friends goodbye with a warm smile, Rei is stricken with a look of intense pain just before death... but when Mamiya looks up to see the Star of Death gone, she sees Rei's smiling face right next to the North Dipper.
• Grin of Audacity: Once Raoh explains to Rei about his fighting spirit ki acting as a shield against Rei's attacks, Rei sports an intense smirk as he prepares a sacrificial final attack vs Raoh.
• Hair Color Dissonance: His white hair is generally represented as blue-ish.
• He's Back!:
  • When he loses it against Raoh's men who are brutalizing Rin and the other villagers, reclaiming his humanity and living up to his title of the Star of Justice.
  • Additionally, after the agony of having his Shinreidai pressure point triggered by Toki, Rei explodes out of his hospital room and takes out two of Juda's thugs with one stroke each.
• Honor Before Reason: It's implied that even if he figured out that dueling with Raoh would have been one-sidedly against his favor, Rei needed to engage Raoh out of principle as Nanto's Star of Justice. Not only would backing down from the fight have been emasculating, but it would have gone against everything he began taking a stand for when he came to Rin's defense.
• Hot-Blooded: Quite rash, especially when it comes to seeing his sister Airi in peril. Ken has to hold him back in a Full Nelson to keep him from falling into an obvious Fang Clan trap.
  • There's also this line when Rei is facing Ken-oh's Armada as they try to subject Rin to torture:
  "I won't forgive you... You devils in human guise! Show me! What color is your blood?!"
• I Fight for the Strongest Side!: How he used to live while searching for his sister.
• Jerkass Has a Point: In his infamous Stay in the Kitchen moment described below, he ends up being Right for the Wrong Reasons - Mamiya is Overshadowed by Awesome and has an awful habit of being captured or almost killed, but it's less to do with her being a woman and more to do with her not knowing any supernatural martial arts.
  • Rei did have one clear point: If Mamiya had truly renounced her own femininity as she claimed, suffering a wardrobe malfunction would not be cause for hesitation in a fight.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Until Airi is rescued, when he becomes a straight-up Nice Guy.
• Knight in Shining Armor: In many ways, Rei is the ideal medieval knight - a fearsome warrior, incredibly chivalrous, and horribly chauvinistic.
• The Lancer: To Kenshiro, who calls him one of the greatest men he's ever known.
• Lightning Bruiser: THE fastest, most graceful fighter on the heroic side. Once his Shinreidai pressure point is used, Rei still packs a punch, and can take multiple Razor Winds from Juda.
• Living on Borrowed Time: But he sure as hell makes those last days of his life count.
• Locked into Strangeness: After having his Shinreidai pressure point touched by Toki to extend his life, the pain is so great that Rei's hair turns white.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He's certainly got the long hair downpat, and he's the most bushiest of the cast in the original series.
• Meaningful Funeral: Rei may have died alone, but he did not die unloved. His place of death is surrounded by those who loved him, crying bitter tears at the loss of such a great man.
• Mr. Fanservice: In the manga Spin-Off Soukoku no Garou ("Bloody Wolf's Darkness Blue")
• One-Man Army: As he's a master of Nanto Suicho Ken, one of the strongest Nanto branch styles, this comes as no surprise, as many of Raoh's men and a lot of Fang Clansmen can attest to.
• The Power of Love: Right after he dies, at the funeral (re: burning the house down) Mamiya stares into the Heavens and realizes that she cannot see the "Star of Death" anymore. In Fist of the North Star, anyone who sees the star dies within the year, no exceptions. Mamiya is the only character spared this fate because Rei used the last three days of his life to save her.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Literally in the animated movie, with his pale pink protective cloth that makes people believe the one coming to them is a woman.
• Redemption Equals Death: Just as he rises to his destiny as the Star of Justice, he pulls a Senseless Sacrifice.
• Sacrificial Lion: After forming a strong bond with Kenshiro and his True Companions, as well as receiving plenty of attention as a major character, Rei is the first one to fight against Raoh, and gets killed for his efforts. The anime even uses his death to mark the halfway point of the first series.
• Senseless Sacrifice:
  • As a show of gratitude to Kenshiro, Rei tries to take down Raoh to spare him the duties of being the Hokuto Shinken successor. Raoh dooms Rei to a slow, painful, helpless death.
  • It ends up being subverted overall. If Rei hadn't been given three days to live by Raoh, he wouldn't have seen the brand on Mamiya's shoulder, and would never have killed Juda to save her from the Death Omen Star. His death is tragic, but he manages to accomplish a miracle before he passes.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: Like any self-respecting One-Man Army in this series, his outfit doesn't contain sleeves.
• Smug Smiler: During the Fang Clan arc, he sports this kind of smile until Airi is rescued.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Before they set off to deal with the Fang Clan, Rei says to Mamiya that she shouldn't get involved in physical fights because she is a woman. When Mamiya scoffs at this comment, Rei decides to make his point more bluntly and shreds Mamiya's clothes off, causing her to cover up.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: A practitioner of Nanto Seiken? Kenshiro's best friend? Hopelessly in love with a woman he can't have? It could be argued that Rei was originally created as a stand-in for Shin due to how quickly Shin was killed off, but Rei quickly overshadows Shin and becomes a character in his own right. Arguably, Rei is what Shin would and should have been like if he hadn't fallen into evil.
• Tender Tears: Sheds these for Mamiya's suffering, the love of his life.
• Too Many Belts: His outfit in Ken's Rage
• Token Good Teammate: In his Dream Mode of Ken's Rage, he becomes this for the Nanto side when Thouzer holds Airi hostage. Shew also counts, but Rei's the more visible example (that, and Shew is a Non-Player Character until the sequel).
• Tragic Hero: His is the Star of Justice, meaning he must live and die for others. When confronted with a villain who he cannot defeat, he decides to pull a Heroic Sacrifice which is rendered null and void when a Curb-Stomp Battle leaves him with three agonizing days to live.
• Undignified Death: Defied. Raoh meant to give Rei a slow, agonizing death over the course of three days to make an example of him. But Rei makes full use of his limited time through sheer force of will and with some help from Toki, allowing him to finish Yuda off and save Mamiya from the doomed fate the Star of Death promises. Forbidding anyone to comfort him in his last minutes, he dies inside of a house after locking himself in and said house is set on fire as the party mourns. This is however played straight in the 1986 anime movie.
• Wife-Basher Basher: Lampshaded by Rei during their first encounter with the Fang Clan:
  "I think we're both here for the same reason: we are both weak to the tears of a woman."
• Your Days Are Numbered: Rei winds up on the receiving end of an attack from Raoh that would cause him to hemorrhage all of his blood in three days' time, causing excruciating pain up to the moment of his death. He enlists Toki's aid to extend this deadline by one day so he can defeat Juda.

Juda

Voiced by (Japanese): Bin Shimada (TV anime, Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment), Kissho Taniyama (Legends of the Dark King), Ryūsei Nakao (Legends ReVIVE), Keisuke Baba (Ken's Rage)

Voiced by (English): David Gerrold (TV anime, recut dub), Blake Sheppard (Legends of the Dark King), Christopher Corey Smith (Ken's Rage)

"Everyone...am I beautiful?"

Bearing the "Star of Enchantment" (also known as the "Star of Betrayal"), Juda trained alongside Rei in the ways of Nanto Seiken, but grew to resent him as Rei's Nanto Suichō Ken style was considered more elegant than his own Nanto Kōkaku Ken ("South Dipper Crimson Crane Fist") style. When Juda betrayed the Nanto Roku Seiken and aligned with Raoh, the six masters were divided into two factions: one for preserving order, while the other promoting chaos. He forms his own army, the "UD Gang", and uses them to gather concubines for himself, leaving them to his men when he no longer considers them beautiful. He had kidnapped Mamiya at one point, but she escaped. Juda eventually discovers her location, bringing himself into conflict with Rei again. When Juda is defeated, he concedes to Rei that he is the more beautiful of the two, admitting in his dying words he had secretly admired him.

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• Adapted Out: He's the only member of the six sacred fists not featured in the True Savior series, not even when Rei is briefly focused during the Legend of Yuria. He doesn't even appear as a spirit during Kenshiro and Yuria's wedding in Legend of Kenshiro.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: He looks like a beautiful woman in Rei Gaiden, and, in the Ten no Hao spinoff starring Raoh, he's a Long-Haired Pretty Boy, but in the main series, his face looks like an old lady's which isn't helped by his makeup.
• Assist Character: In the ASW fighting game, Juda's fighting style revolves around using his henchmen, the one-eyed Dagar and the midget Komaku, to trap his opponent.
• Berserk Button: Juda goes ballistic after receiving some minor cuts on his face.
• Bad Boss: Juda's a terrible boss to his underlings, regularly mistreating and abusing them, especially his harem.
• Boss Subtitles: "The Star of Enchantment - Juda"
• Camp Straight: Possibly; he looks like a walking Camp Gay stereotype, but his introduction showcases a harem of women. It's his comments after his defeat at Rei's hands that makes the whole thing ambiguous.
• Casting Gag: One of his japanese voice actors is well known for voicing another effeminate and sadistic psychopath.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The Star of Enchantment is better known as the Star of Betrayal, after all. He's playing both ends against the middle in the Hokuto-Nanto conflict and is ultimately out for himself.
• Combat Pragmatist: Knowing Rei's style depends on footwork, Juda chooses his battlefield to be flooded by the breaking of a nearby dam, resulting in the mud bogging Rei down and Juda's Razor Wind based style Nanto Kōkaku Ken to cut him up.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: In Soukaku no Garou, Juda sends a thousand man army against Rofu, Rei's Evil Mentor. It ends very badly for Juda...
• Death by Irony: Downplayed. His obsesssion with beauty proves to be his downfall in his fight against Rei, due to the graceful flip that is a part of his Hishou Hakurei technique, but he ends up being critically wounded by it instead. However, he ultimately forces Rei to kill him with it by forcing his hands to stab deeper.
• Defensive Feint Trap: One of his special moves in the ASW fighting game has him feign being stunned. It's possible to cancel it into any hit, allowing Juda to gain an extra star for using the "Fatal KO" mechanic when the hit connects.
• Driven by Envy: His one-sided feud with Rei started because he couldn't accept the idea that Rei's Nanto Suichō Ken was more graceful than his own style.
• Depraved Bisexual: All but outright stated - he's a sexual predator on a literally industrial scale, harvesting hundreds of women from nearby villages for his harem, while his last words to Rei are thiiis close to being a Dying Declaration of Love.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • In the manga, he notices one of his haremettes has a scar on her forehead, and disowns her to the point he has her driven out into the desert. In the manga, one of them tried to be prettier for him, and does the same thing as the first example, because no one is allowed to be more beautiful than him.
  • If you see anything that looks beautiful that isn't your boss, he will personally cut your face to pieces, as one of his own mooks learned the hard way]].
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Moreso in any prequel material than the original manga.
• The Dragon: To Thouzer in Ken's Rage
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Died in Rei's arms, the only man he considered worthy of his envy.
• Easily Forgiven: Despite his misogyny and evil deeds, Rei mourns his rival's death with sympathy.
• Effeminate Misogynistic Guy: Extremely effeminate and treats his harem as dolls.
• Evil Is Petty: The punishment in Juda's harem for any visible flaw in their appearances, such as a bruise or a scar? At best, "mere" banishment to the wasteland and an uncertain fate. At worst? Being delivered to the "tender" attentions of Juda's minions...
• Evil Redhead: A self-absorbed, cruel and devious sex slaver and potential rapist who makes Rei and Mamiya's lives hell? Sporting vivid red locks that he keeps in obsessively good shape? That's Yuda alright.
  • Hair Color Dissonance: Sometimes it's bright red, sometimes it's closer to pink
• Excessive Evil Eyeshadow: An uncommon male example.
• Face Death with Dignity: As much of a scheming, underhanded Sissy Villain as he is, Juda accepts his defeat with remarkable grace. He chooses to grab Rei's arms and ram them into his chest, preferring to die at his old rival's hands rather than attempt to escape or beg for his life. With his last words, he admits that Rei is the superior man in every way. See Graceful Loser below.
• Face–Heel Turn: As part of betraying the Nanto Roku Seiken.
• Fan Disservice: In his introduction, we see a muscular Juda walking around in a speedo and putting on lipstick and eyeshadow? No wonder reaction to this scene was mostly negative.
• The Fighting Narcissist: Trope Maker and Trope Codifier in Japanese media.
• Flanderization: Legends of the Dark King (at least the Animated Adaptation) took Juda's eccentricity and treachery up to eleven while downplaying his martial arts skills, casting him into a screeching, reckless caricature instead of the devious opportunist he was in the series.
• A Good Way to Die: Once Rei finally trounces him, Yuda chooses to force Rei's arms to impale him, finally admitting that Rei was always the strongest and most beautiful of the two.
• Graceful Loser: "Rei, you're the one man that I admired. The strongest, most beautiful man in the world. At least let me die in your arms..."
• Green-Eyed Monster: His Start of Darkness can be attributed largely if not solely to petty jealousy of Rei's Nanto Suicho Ken being far more graceful than Yuda's Kokaku Ken.
• Jerkass: His motivation for screwing up Rei's life, as well as the lives of many others, was that he found beauty in another person's fighting style.
• Meaningful Name: He is the Star of Betrayal, his main claim to fame is betraying his fellow Nanto practitioners, and his name is Juda—one letter off from one of the most famous betrayers in all of culture.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed:
  • Many Japanese readers have claimed Boy George was the model for him. Given that the series came out in the '80s, they might have a point...
  • He also looks an awful lot like Dee Snyder of Twisted Sister fame.
• Razor Wind: Although most Nanto Seiken styles make some use of this, Nanto Kōkaku Ken particularly favors long-ranged attacks.
• Rummage Sale Reject: Even by the series' standards, especially for a major character. Nice, uh, scarf...
• Sissy Villain: Nail polish, makeup, higher voice tone than most of the cast, flamboyant mannerisms and flashy outfits...yup.
• Spell My Name With An S: Is it "Yuda" or "Juda"? The former is the literal transliteration of his name, which in turn is the Japanese transliteration of Judas Iscariot, but "Juda" gets the point across quicker and tends to be the "official" transliteration in most media.
• Suicide by Cop: Although Rei may have critically wounded Juda with the Hishou Hakurei technique, Juda takes the initiative to die by Rei's hands literally by shoving them into his chest.
• Unknown Rival: Despite Juda's obsessive hatred of Rei, Rei paid him little mind. It isn't until Rei finds out Juda's former enslavement of Mamiya and his betrayal of the Nanto Roku Seiken that their hatred becomes mutual.

Thouzer

Voiced by (Japanese): Banjo Ginga (TV anime, Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment), Akio Ōtsuka (Legends of the True Savior, Legends ReVIVE, Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star), Toshihiko Seki (Legends of the Dark King), Nobutoshi Canna (Ken's Rage), Hiroki Tochi (Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise)

Voiced by (English): Kyle Rea (TV Anime, recut dub), Illich Guardiola (Legends of the Dark King), Ezra Weisz (Ken's Rage), Greg Chun (Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise), Christopher Sabat (Legend of the True Savior)

"The Emperor has no need for love! Death to all those who oppose me!"

The strongest of the Nanto Seiken successors and the self-proclaimed "Holy Emperor" (Seitei), Thouzer represents the "Star of Leadership" and is the successor of Nanto Hōoh Ken ("South Dipper Phoenix Fist"), a style that, like Hokuto Shinken, can only have one successor. A ruthless tyrant who seeks to conquer the world like Raoh, Thouzer does not wish to promote stability in the wasteland but instead wants to satisfy his own ego. He targets children for use as slave labor for the construction of his "Holy Cross Mausoleum", a massive pyramid that he intends to use as an everlasting symbol of his reign, which also doubles as a monument to honor his master Ohgai, whom he had to kill to become the successor. Of the armies opposing Raoh, his is the most formidable, yet Raoh will not make a move on Thouzer, who claims to be immune to Hokuto Shinken.

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• 0% Approval Rating: In Ken's Rage, Thouzer's own soldiers will periodically betray him because of how cruel he is. Shin even uses this to his advantage.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Can you imagine this man as a loving chap who likes to have fun, wants to be friends with Kenshiro and is buddies with all his Nanto Seiken fellows? That’s exactly what Thouzer’s spin-off, Hokuto no Ken: Ichigo Aji, is all about.
• Animal Battle Aura: Gets one in the anime in the shape of a phoenix. In Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment and Ken's Rage, his Tensho Juji Hōoh technique literally becomes a phoenix that he can throw at enemies.
• Ass Kicking Pose: Doesn't believe in these. According to him, taking up an orthodox fighting stance implies a need for defense, something that's beneath him and his "divine body". However, his style has a single stance, reserved for use only against the most worthy of opponents; during his rematch with Kenshiro he states that even though his style normally does not have any stances, he must discard his martial art's philosophy to defeat him.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: In Legends of the True Savior, Thouzer takes a leaf from Shin's book and kills himself instead of dying by Hokuto Shinken.
• Blood Knight: So supremely confident in his invincibility that he welcomes with relish any attempt to take his life, just so he can prove the would-be assassin wrong.
• Breakout Villain: Next to Raoh, he's the most well-known villain of the franchise, thanks to his good looks, Dark and Troubled Past, his badass menace, and his memorable fight with Ken. He's also a known Fountain of Expies, with characters like Phoenix Ikki and Shinobu Sensui taking influence from him.
• Bizarre Human Biology: The mechanics for Thouzer's Emperor's Armour actually has a basis in reality; it's revealed that along with his pressure points being mirrored from their normal positions, his internal organs are as well, making him a case of someone with the condition situs inversus totalis with dextrocardia.
• Boss Subtitles: "Emperor of Nanto - Thouzer"
• Confusion Fu: His default combat stance - that is to say, none - makes it difficult to tell what he's going to do next.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Thouzer was an infant orphan raised by Ohgai to be his successor. As a final test to succession, Thouzer unwittingly killed his master, who intentionally died by his disciple's hands as the style dictates. Traumatized by the fact he murdered his mentor and father figure, Thouzer declared he longer needs emotions of compassion and love and delves into Ax-Crazy.
• Death Glare: His default expression.
• Determinator: Even though Kenshiro disables the use of his legs, which forms parts of his ultimate technique, Thouzer still limps towards Kenshiro to fight, including his damaged arms. Lampshaded by his own words.
  "I am the Holy Emperor Thouzer: Emperor of the Nanto Roku Seiken! No retreat! No mercy! No hesitation!"
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • Invokes one towards Shew if the latter tries to kill him, his army will murder the parents of the slaves.
  • Played for Laughs in his Ichigo Aji spin-off where he would kill literal ants trying to suck his blood with Nanto Ho'Oh Ken and spears a mosquito for doing it.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Yes: he could have conquered Asgarzul, the sanctuary city that protects women, but like Shin and Raoh simply visited it and held back in respect for what it stood for.
• Evil Laugh: For someone who claims to have no emotions left, he really loves doing this. Personified in Ken's Rage, where his laugh can kill mooks from a distance!
• Evil Sounds Deep: His villainous bass is impressive as is (one could be forgiven for assuming voices didn't naturally come that deep back then), but his ability to project is what knocks him out of the park with this trope.
• Fallen Hero: Subverted; despite showing all the signs of being a fine young man, and his master's every intention that he grow up to be a hero, Thouzer did nothing heroic after becoming the master of Nanto Hōoh Ken, as the process of becoming a master was so traumatic for him that he swore to cast away any semblance of compassion or love in his heart, turning him cold and cruel until his redemption at the hands of Kenshiro.
• For the Evulz: Pretty much his entire modus operandi. Almost every action he takes is for the purpose of amusing himself with someone else's suffering.
• Freak Out: After accidentally killing his master.
• Glass Cannon: In Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment, Thouzer's one of the best damage dealers with a Super Mode that increases his speed, but is tied with Mamiya for the worst defense.
• A God Am I: His born immunity to Hokuto shin-ken made him believe he is the god-emperor.
• A Good Way to Die: Subverted; Kenshiro defeats Thouzer with Hokuto Ujou Moshou Ha, a technique based on compassion. Thouzer is incensed his opponent would show him any form of mercy. However....
• Graceful Loser: Despite everything, he was finally humbled by Kenshiro, calling him his greatest opponent.
• Greater-Scope Villain: It was him that caused the Nanto Seiken branch to break apart and even had Yuda to do it as it became part of his plans to rule after the nuclear war ended.
• Heart in the Wrong Place: His source of Nigh-Invulnerability.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: When he's convinced that he's facing an opponent who is equal to him in power, he discards his normal stance-less fighting style and uses his secret technique.
• Ignored Epiphany: In Ken's Rage, every single person around Thouzer tells him it's better to build an empire where the subjects adore you rather than fear you, as they will be more loyal. All of his minions betray him throughout the story, but he still doesn't listen, demanding the impossible of his remaining subjects and sacrificing them whenever possible.
• Jabba Table Manners: A prime example - Thouzer sets up a banquet of a dozen courses just to watch the attending slave children shake in hunger at the sight of it. After eating less than half a plate, he smashes the table, ordering all the scraps to be thrown into the trash, just so he can take twisted joy in watching a child being beaten for trying to eat a drumstick.
• Jerkass: Oh yes... and there's plenty of examples of why he is one. It does not make it any easier to hate him when he made Shu avoid killing him by revealing that hostages have been taken.
• Jerk Justifications: Part of his Freudian Excuse: he believes compassion and love are a weakness.
• Large Ham: Despite claiming to have given up his emotions, he's very theatrical.
• Light Is Not Good: He's associated with crosses and bright light, and he's called the Holy Emperor.
• Made of Iron: While everyone who masters a certain school's technique is one, Thouzer's the most literal one, claiming he carries the "Emperor's Armor", making him immune to Hokuto Shinken techniques. This is replicated in Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment, where he does not use his arms to block, but his chest. Subverted when it's revealed that his pressure points are simply reversed, after which he proves just as vulnerable as any other strong martial artists Kenshiro has already fought. Legends of the Dark King shows that even though Raoh had no knowledge of his weak points, the mere force behind his blows is more than enough to injure him regardless.
• Meaningful Name: "Souther" is an actual word meaning "southerly wind", which seems to fit in with both the fact he is the strongest of the Nanto Roku Seiken and the avian Theme Naming of their martial arts.
• No-Sell: Thouzer's immunity to Hokuto Shinken is a bog-standard case of this, until you find out he has an actual Real Life medical condition that causes his organs and pressure points to be mirrored from their normal placements. It's a bit delayed, but after taking a first hit from Raoh in Legends of the Dark King, it's likely that given sufficient force, one could injure him despite his condition. In short, Raoh is so strong that he's able to force a sell out of a No-Sell!
• Perpetual Smiler: Has a wicked Slasher Smile for the majority of his screentime.
• Pimped-Out Cape: In Ken's Rage
• Purple Is Powerful: His primary color in Ken's Rage
• The Rival: To Raoh.
• Spell My Name With An S: Is it "Thouzer" or "Souther"? One would think it's the latter due to Meaningful Name, but recent merchandise seems to favor the former. That's not even counting other variations such as "Thouther", "Sauzer" or even "Thoutoher". Ken's Rage and Lost Paradise use "Thouzer", but the English voice actors in the former pronounce it as either "Suh-ther" or "Sow-zer" while the English voice actors of the latter pronounce it more consistently as "Thow-zer." The Discotek DVD set however chooses "Souther" in the subtitles, and the English manga uses this spelling.
• Spiteful Gluttony: Deliberately wasting a banquet just to torment his child slaves - eating like a slob, no less.
• Start of Darkness: It began with "To master Nanto Hōoh Ken, you must be tricked into killing your beloved master and father figure".
• Straw Vulcan: One can argue Thouzer is a heavy-handed (though totally valid) example of a villain you can potentially become when you cynically claim to give up your emotions.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: A blonde Nanto Seiken master who builds an empire because Love Makes You Evil, defeats Kenshiro in their first battle, and is associated with a cross motif? He's the third character in the first series to take cues from Shin.
• Took a Level in Kindness: In his dying breath, he sees Ken as his Worthy Opponent and took his words about love bringing warmth to heart just before he passes.
• Tragic Villain: He just couldn't bear the final test of his art and became crazy over giving his former master and father figure a worthy tomb.
• Troubled Abuser: His merciless treatment of people and loved one is because of what he had to do to his master to become master of his Nanto style.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Ohgai adopted him when he was just an innocent boy and taught him everything he knew; he gave the orphan all the warmth and love of his heart, raising him to be the next successor of this mighty battle art. Thouzer looked to be a noble and worthy master...until the final test.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Well, he tried, though his kind-hearted old master would most likely weep tears of shame at what his beloved pupil/adoptive son has done in his memory, after all the trouble he died for. If you successfully use Thouzer's "Fatal KO" in Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment, he poses and declares, while an image of Ohgai appears, "Your Holy Cross Mausoleum will be completed soon!"
• Worthy Opponent: Regards Kenshiro as this during their first battle. He even recognizes Kenshiro's style and technique as superior to his own, but declares them to be useless against him as he carries an "Emperor's Armor" that makes him immune to Hokuto Shinken.

Shew

Voiced by (Japanese): Katsuji Mori (TV anime), Hōchū Ōtsuka (Legends of the True Savior, Legends ReVIVE), Takahiro Yoshimizu (Ken's Rage)

Voiced by (English): Steve Kramer (Ken's Rage), Eliah Mountjoy (Legend of the True Savior)

"I will not forgive those who steal the light away from the children!"

The master of Nanto Hakurou Ken ("South Dipper White Heron Fist"), Shew represents the "Star of Benevolence". Before the nuclear holocaust, Shew served as Thouzer's second-in-command and was present when a young Kenshiro participated in a kumite between their rival schools. Shew was Kenshiro's final opponent and defeated the young martial artist easily, but rather than take his life as the rules declared, Shew forfeited his eyesight to Thouzer as payment, sensing the untapped potential within Kenshiro. Years later, Shew leads the primary resistance against Thouzer's army and reunites with an older Kenshiro. In order to save his villagers, Shew surrenders to Thouzer and is forced to carry the apex of the Holy Cross Mausoleum with the tendons in his legs cut to complete the monument. However, the tyrant intends Shew to die at the top, thus orders a volley of arrows to hit him, including a spear thrown by Thouzer himself. Before the weight of the final piece of the pyramid crushes Shew, he miraculously recovers his eyesight, just in time to see Kenshiro for a final moment.

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• Boss Subtitles: "The Blind Warrior - Shew"
• Cruel and Unusual Death: After carrying the capstone up Thouzer's pyramid with severed tendons in his legs, Shew is bombarded with arrows, skewered with a javelin thrown by Thouzer, and finally crushed beneath the stone's weight.
• Doomed Moral Victor: Given the decision to kill Thouzer, or casting the lives of dozens of innocents - mostly children as hostages, Shew chooses the latter, and is forced to carry the capstone of Thouzer's pyramid, shredded leg tendons and all, to the top. But Thouzer's men cuff his legs with Shew expected to be crushed by the stone's weight "christening" the pyramid. Shew spends some of his last words accepting his death, but declaring that the pyramid will not stand for long, and that the North Star will overcome the Pole Star - as no South Star will ever shine as ruler of Heaven.
• Disability Superpower: He might be blind, but he can see with his heart.
• Doting Parent: To all children. He is proud of his son's Heroic Sacrifice to rescue Kenshiro even if it meant never seeing him again.
• The Dragon: He was Thouzer’s most powerful henchman and served as this for a time.
• Emotional Bruiser: Hard to believe this sweet and gentle man is a great warrior, isn't it?
• Extremity Extremist: Nanto Hakurou Ken specializes in kicks.
• A Father to His Men: And to the children who have lost theirs to Thouzer's tyranny.
• The Friends Who Never Hang: Introduces himself as Rei's best friend, but they never interact in the series.
• Friend to All Children: Shew blinded himself over killing a young Kenshiro and gave his life to protect the slave children of Thouzer.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: While not benevolent-looking the scars on his eyes come from him becoming the Star of benevolence.
• Handicapped Badass: Blindness caused by his own hands does not hamper his mastery of Nanto Hakurou Ken at all.
• Heel Realisation: Following his win against the young Kenshiro, who has accepted his own impending death as a consequence of his loss and states that it was an honor to fight such a great opponent, Shew violates the match's rules by demanding his life be spared and blinds himself to compensate and satisfy regulations. Thouzer was left speechless by Shew's sacrifice, who also realizes that Shew was awakened to his destiny as the Star of Benevolence by the actions of a boy.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Agonizingly marches to his death to spare the lives of one hundred hostages.
• Honor Before Reason: He won't kill Thouzer if there is a chance the children die doing it and will go so far as letting himself be tortured to death by the tyrant to spare them.
• Kung-Fu Jesus: Literally bears a cross (of stone) to save children from Thouzer unto his death.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Invoked. He met Kenshiro (for the second time) and challenged him to a duel. When Ken got the upper hand, Lin cried at him not to kill him. Shew then reveals that he's a friend of Rei's, and only fought him to see how strong the Hokuto Shinken successor was as he needed his help against Thouzer.
• Nice Guy: Part and parcel of being the Star of Benevolence is Shew's care for his friends and the innocent children around him, as well as blinding himself to spare a young defeated Kenshiro's life. Even when Thouzer forces him to his death, Shew's blood runs from underneath the Holy Cross Mausoleum's capstone in such a way that Toki wonders if Shew is mourning Thouzer. As Shew himself put it, "Though my eyes have lost their light, the tears refuse to run dry."
• Papa Wolf: Arguably the greatest in the series next to Fudoh of the Mountains, as his love for children conflicted with his duty as a warrior. Unfortunately, this cost him a priceless opportunity to slay a completely defenseless Thouzer, then his dignity, and finally his life.
• Secret Test of Character: He initially pretends to be a villain when he meets Kenshiro as an adult, so that Kenshiro will fight him without holding back. The purpose was to see if the rumored "savior of the post-apocalyptic world" was really all he was cracked up to be, even if it meant risking his life in a real fight against Kenshiro.
• Spell My Name With An S: It is "Shew", "Shu", "Shuu" or "Shuh"? Depending on the kanji, "Shū" can mean "kick", to which Nanto Hakurou Ken specializes in just that.
• Tender Tears: Has a heart arguably softer than both Kenshiro and Toki's.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: One of the very few unambiguously good people in this wasteland torn by nuclear fire. Even Raoh, who would usually sneer at benevolence, reverently acknowledges Shew's death as "a magnificent end".
• Tragic Hero: The loss of his wife and later his only child both weigh heavily on Shew. He's immensely compassionate to his soldiers and to the children under his protection, but ultimately that compassion leads to his undoing by Thouzer. With so many innocents held under the Holy Emperor's thumb, Shew can do nothing except march to his own death.

Yuria

Voiced by (Japanese): Yuriko Yamamoto (TV anime and movie), Yuriko Ishida (Legends of the True Savior), Midori Matsuo (Twin Blue Stars Of Judgment), Houko Kuwashima (Ken's Rage), Aya Hisakawa (Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise), Rei Sakuma (Legends ReVIVE, Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star)

Voiced by (English): Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (TV anime), Alison Lees-Taylor (TV anime, recut dub), Melodee M. Spevack (The Movie), Stephanie Sheh (Ken's Rage), Sarah Anne Williams (Lost Paradise), Alexis Tipton (Legends of the True Savior)

^{Click here to see the Last Nanto General} The Last Nanto General with Rihaku

"Ken...I couldn't keep my promise to you..."

Kenshiro's fiancée, Yuria grew up alongside him and his adoptive brothers at Ryuken's temple, admired by many other men, particularly Raoh, Toki, Shin and Juza. When Kenshiro was defeated by Shin, Yuria agrees to go with Shin so long as Kenshiro's life is spared. Kept against her will in Shin's stronghold of Southern Cross, Yuria becomes unable to tolerate the atrocities Shin was committing in her name, thus throwing herself off the top of his fortress to her death.

However, her suicide attempt was prevented by the Nanto Goshasei, her sworn protectors who reveal that Yuria is a direct descendant of the Nanto bloodline, and represents the "Star of the Compassionate Mother", destined to become the Last General of Nanto. When Raoh resumes his conquest following the death of Thouzer, Yuria orders the Nanto Goshasei to stop his advance. Upon learning from Fudoh of the Mountain that Yuria is alive, Kenshiro rushes to her location, but Raoh gets to her first, taking her with him. When the tyrant is determined to defeat Kenshiro, he demands Yuria's life in order to learn the ultimate Hokuto Shinken technique Musou Tensei and Yuria complies. However, upon seeing that Yuria is dying from radiation poisoning, he manipulates one of her pressure points and extends her lifespan. After Raoh is defeated, she spends the last remnants of her life in peace with Kenshiro, secluding themselves from the rest of the world.

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• Adaptational Badass: Downplayed. Near the end of the Shin arc in the anime, she cuts a rebellious soldier in the fact and apparently falls to his death. Toei writers assumed because she is of Nanto blood, she has had some skill in self-defense while the manga made it clear she's a pacifist.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: A weird case. It was black in the manga to red with violet during the Southern Cross arc in the Toei anime. The anime has her hair purple in scenes involving Shin's arc, but was red in the flashback between her, Ken, and Shin. It becomes purple again when Fudo explains her survival.
• Damsel in Distress: She's captured first by Shin, and then by Raoh. Rescuing her is Kenshiro's primary objective in the first and last story arcs.
• Driven to Suicide: In an attempt to stop Shin's madness. We find out she was saved at the last moment.
• Dude Magnet: There's no indication that Yuria was the World's Most Beautiful Woman, and she really didn't do anything, yet men really, really want her, like moths to a flame. Justified because of the fate to which she corresponds to - compassion and grace.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: See Spared By Adaptation below; Yuria lives happily ever after with Kenshiro after Raoh's death in Ken's Rage. Too bad the sequel corrects this by killing her off to follow the source material.
• Emotionless Girl: Before coming to Ryuken's temple, a young Yuria didn't emote, who had sealed away her emotions after birth, until she met the caring, kind and selfless Kenshiro.
• Expy: Of the Buddhist female figure Guanyin (known as Kannon in Shinto Buddhism in Japan), whose principles are compassion, love, mercy and kindness.
• Healing Hands: After Raoh loses his composure and attacks several of his troops because they didn't shoot him dead after he yielded to Fudoh, Yuria uses this mysterious power of hers to heal some of Raoh's injured men. It never comes up in play again, though.
• The Heart: She's the only member of the Nanto Roku Seiken who does not possess any martial arts, but her compassion and kindness can move the hearts of even the most merciless of tyrants.
• Leitmotif: "Yuria Eien Ni", the anime's ending theme during the Southern Cross arc. It plays again prominently as she resurfaces at the center of the conflict during the Last General of Nanto arc.
• Macguffin Girl: Once she's under the Nanto Goshasei's care, she takes to playing the role of the story's Helen of Troy with a fair amount of grace and humility, and continues to do so even as Raoh's captive. Knowing Raoh and Kenshiro will have to settle their score, she's willing to surrender her life to Raoh if it means he can learn the sadness necessary to match Kenshiro's mastery of Hokuto Shinken.
• Posthumous Character: Post-Southern Cross arc; even in death, she is fondly remembered by many individuals for her beauty and personality. Doubly Subverted when she never died, until the Time Skip.
• So Beautiful, It's a Curse: She’s very beautiful, with a golden heart to match, and devoted to her fiancé Kenshiro. This doesn’t stop bloodthirsty warlords like Shin and Raoh from fighting Kenshiro and kidnapping Yuria due to their obsessive love towards her. Roah was an extreme case, since he was willing to kill her if faced with rejection.
• Save the Princess: Kenshiro's objective in the first arc is to save her from his old rival Shin; she ended up killing herself. Later, Yuria gets taken by Raoh to lure Kenshiro for their final battle.
• Secretly Dying: It's revealed late in the series that she's gotten radiation poisoning from the nuclear fallout. While it's not as bad as Toki's, it does begin to cripple her as the first series draws to a close.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Such is the unconditional love and compassion of Yuria, the fiancée of Kenshiro, that even the tyrant Raoh, whose fists could shatter Heaven and Earth, is utterly helpless before her redemptive kindness.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: For all the violent and cruel warlords wanting her as their consort, Yuria loves Kenshiro for his kind and caring nature.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In Ken's Rage, Raoh's reason to achieve Musou Tensei is changed, consequently changing Yuria's fate (he simply lays his hand against her, rather than feel sorrowful over her radiation poisoning and impending death). Before his last words, he states Yuria will live for several more years (originally, she lived roughly a year post-Raoh's death). In fact, the game makes no mention of any radiation poisoning. Sadly rectified in the sequel, as the game follows the manga to the final arc, thus Yuria living through it would force the plot to be changed drastically.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Her romance with Kenshiro sums up this trope to a T. She’s forced into a Sadistic Choice between loving Shin or watching him torture her fiancé, Kenshiro, to death. Shin would try to win her over by plundering villages, gifting rare valuables, and building a city for her, but Yuria rejected him in favor of Kenshiro and heartbroken over the innocent lives killed in her name. So she flung herself off the castle to end Shin’s reign of terror. Except she survived and eventually gets a chance to reunite with Kenshiro, but Raoh kidnaps her and has no qualms with killing Yuria if she rejects him. But Raoh spares her and leaves her to Kenshiro… because he finds out she’s already dying of radiation poisoning but extends her lifespan for a few years to that she’ll be happy with Kenshiro.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Yuria was a paragon of grace and goodness, unfortunately, her existence only drew conflict and sadness to her, and by extension to her beloved Kenshiro as well.

Nanto Goshasei

The Nanto Goshasei ' ("South Dipper Five Chariot Stars") are the sworn bodyguards of the Last General of Nanto. Like the Nanto Roku Seiken, the Goshasei corresponds to the constellation of Auriga, the Charioteer, with all five members representing an element. They make their appearance in the final arc of the first part of Fist of the North Star, all opposing Ken-oh and his advance towards the General.

Huey of the Winds

Voiced by (Japanese): Kazuyuki Sogabe (TV anime), Hiroshi Tsuchida (Legends of the True Savior, Legends ReVIVE), Ryousuke Kanemoto (Ken's Rage)

Voiced by (English): Bradford Hill (TV anime, recut dub)

The first of the Nanto Goshasei who faces Ken-Oh, Huey is the leader of the "Wind Brigade." While his fighting style is unnamed, unlike other Nanto Seiken styles that uses air pressure, Huey can manipulate air currents to slice his opponents apart easily, including steel.

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• Apologetic Attacker: The only person in the series to utter the words "forgive me" after killing a mook.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Blue, just like his hair.
• Blow You Away: A secondary skill he's acquired on account of his Razor Wind abilities. Even after his death, a cold forceful wind batters Raoh's troops and spreads Shuren's fire.
• Combination Attack: He has a few with Shuren of the Flames in the manga Spin-Off Houkou no Kumo ("Way of the Clouds")
• Dying Smirk: Dies like this after receiving a single massive punch from Raoh. Before he passes away, he tells Raoh the Last General of Nanto will avenge him, and that he will see Raoh again in hell.
• Fragile Speedster: Very agile and can slice thugs to ribbons, but Raoh kills him with a single punch.
• Kiai: "EEEEAAAAUUUUUAAAAHHHH!!!"
• Razor Wind: Controls the actual element of wind, whereas other Nanto fighters concentrate air pressure.
• Spell My Name With An S: While "Hyui" is a direct transliteration, a promotional poster released by Raijin Comics when they were publishing the short-lived "Master Edition" of Fist of the North Star spells his name as "Huey". Supposedly, the character was named after the singer Huey Lewis.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Only has two episodes in the anime, whereas in the manga, Huey was killed off faster than Zeed.

Shuren of the Flames

Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (TV anime), Nobuyuki Hiyama (Legends of the True Savior, Legends ReVIVE), Hiromu Miyazaki (Ken's Rage)

"For the sake of my General's eternal light!"

The second of the Nanto Goshasei encountered by Ken-Oh, Shuren is the leader of the "Crimson Army" and a master of Gosha Enjō Ken ("Five Chariot Fiery Passion Fist"), which allows him to cover his body in flames. Shuren leads the Crimson Army to halt the advance of Ken-Oh and his army and to avenge his "brother star" Huey.

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• Combination Attack: With Huey in Houkou no Kumo
• Due to the Dead: Upon hearing of Hyui's death, Shuren has his own castle set alight as a funeral pyre to his fallen friend.
• Fiery Redhead: In the anime, as well as most subsequent adaptations.
• Fingore: When attempting to strike Raoh, Raoh grabs Shuren's fingers in his own, and crushes them.
• Manly Tears: A river of it for Huey.
• Neck Snap: When Shuren attempts his last stand against Raoh by burning him to death, Raoh grabs Shuren's head in his massive hands, twists it 180 degrees, crushes it, and leaves his body to be burned by his own flames.
• Personality Powers: Unfortunately, we don't see too much of him, but he wields a style revolving around lots of fire, and he's a Hot-Blooded Ham.
• Playing with Fire: Gosha Enjō Ken manipulates phosphorus to engulf enemies while slicing them to pieces.
• Undying Loyalty: Shuren dutifully marches towards Raoh, and his own death, all for the sake of his comrade (Hyui) and his General.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Like Huey, Shuren appears in only one episode following his introduction; he lasts just slightly longer in the manga.

Juza of the Clouds

Voiced by: Yoshito Yasuhara (TV anime), Keiji Fujiwara (Legends of the Dark King), Masaya Takatsuka (Ken's Rage), Hiroaki Hirata (Legends ReVIVE)

Voiced by (English): Terrence Stone (Ken's Rage), Mark X. Laskowski (Legends of the Dark King)

A master of his own self-taught martial art style, the free-spirited Juza is a childhood rival of Raoh and friend to Yuria. While growing up with the latter, he began to fall in love with her and wished for hand in marriage, but is lambasted when told that Yuria is his half-sister from the same father. Afterwards, Juza began living a life of promiscuity and indifference, even while Ken-Oh begins to direct his attention to the Last General of Nanto. When Juza learns of the true identity of General, he challenges Raoh to a duel and stalls his advance by stealing Koku-Oh. Unfortunately, Raoh manages to wound Juza enough, forcing a rematch between them. Juza's life expires soon afterwards from taking, but not before he dies refusing to tell Raoh who the General is.

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• '80s Hair: The kind that would put any other Casanova Wannabe to shame; an obsessively maintained coiffure.
• The Ace: Among the Nanto Goshasei warriors, he was considered to be the most gifted of them all as far as fighting prowess goes.
• Adapted Out: His fight scene with Raoh was omitted in the second Legend of Raoh movie, despite being one of the most iconic battles in the manga.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Black in the manga, light blue in the anime (to match with his half-brother Ryuga), and brown in Ken's Rage.
• Anti-Hero: He's a lot more smart-mouthed and hedonistic than the other members of the Nanto Goshasei, but just as selfless and protective of others when he's on the battlefield.
• Arc Hero: Juza briefly functions as the main hero of the series, as Kenshiro is completely absent from his conflict with Raoh.
• Badass Longcoat: In the Houkou no Kumo manga and Ken's Rage; it comes sleeveless, too
• Badass Normal: One of the few men to seriously challenge Raoh, and with a fighting style that is completely self-taught.
• Boss Subtitles: "Capricious Man of the Clouds - Juza"
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Implied by Rei during their encounter in the Houkou no Kumo manga, by him asking Juza why he doesn't master his fighting style. Juza evades the question by saying he doesn't have to. While he is considered a prodigy fighter among the Goshasei and does show off his genius talent in battle by coming up with many original techniques, he didn't have any interest in protecting the Last General of Nanto for most of his life and frequently escaped from his training practice as a kid. This may also explain why in a flashback, Ryuken stated that Juza and Raoh were equals (while they were teens), but in adulthood he still loses to Raoh - the latter had completed his martial art's training, but Juza presumably never bothered with his, and his talent alone was not enough to win in the end.
• Brother–Sister Incest: Defied Trope; he reluctantly gives up on the idea of pursuing a relationship with Yuria after finding out that they're siblings.
• Cain and Abel: The Abel to Ryuga's Cain in Houkou no Kumo. Juza confronts Ryuga after learning the latter has joined Raoh's forces. Calling Ryuga out for allying himself with a power-hungry warlord, Juza attempts to knock some sense into his half-brother, but they prove to be evenly matched and their fight ends in a stalemate. Unable to sway him back to neutrality, Juza is told by Ryuga that their next fight will end with death for either of them, before leaving. This was, however, the last time Juza would see him.
• Chivalrous Pervert: He would be this towards any and all women except Yuria, with whom he remains only chivalrous. In Houkou no Kumo grabbing Mamiya's boobs earns him a good beating before Airi recognizes him. He soon begins hitting on Airi afterward.
• Confusion Fu: His style is self-made and self-taught, but he's able to fight on an equal level with several carriers of 2000+ year old styles because of how unorthodox and chaotic it is.
• Defiant to the End: Rather than betray the Last General of Nanto, he decides to insult Raoh one last time.
• Determinator: Especially in the anime Adaptation Expansion final fight against Raoh, where he keeps on fighting even after he's dead.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: He doesn't win against Raoh, and ultimately accomplishes nothing (other than stalling him a couple of days), but he goes down swinging and earns a hero's burial from his rival.
• The Gadfly: Juza does seem to have a penchant for making fun of bad guys, particularly giants like Daruka or even Raoh himself. His very introduction has him urinating on Daruka (a minor giant Mook villain) and literally stomping on his face TWICE before breaking his neck (in the anime, the urinating bit was changed to Juza pouring a bucket of dirty water on Daruka's mouth). Back when Raoh and Juza were teens, he dared to steal some eggs from Toki and Raoh (moving so fast they didn't see him coming and realized too late the eggs were gone) and when Raoh asked him to give the eggs back, Juza splatted one of them on the latter's face before disappearing. Years later when they fight for Yuria's sake, the man doesn't waste a chance to humiliate Raoh again - from stealing Koku-Oh right in his face, to slapping his own butt at him for some good mockery measure, to insulting and flipping the bird at him during their last duel in the anime; it's probably why Raoh hates Juza so much (before his death anyway).
• A Good Way to Die: Explained in his Gaiden. He was a free-spirited, talented young man, but also a Heartbroken Badass after learning that Yuria was his half-sister and sadly became a hedonist Stepford Smiler without any purpose in life. After learning from Airi that Rei died for Mamiya, Juza admired him for being able to do a Heroic Sacrifice for the woman he loved, and cursed the fact that he couldn't do a similar sacrifice himself since Yuria was dead (or so he would believe) after the Southern Cross arc. This is why once Juza meets Yuria again as the Last General of Nanto, he not only rejoices at the sight of her still alive, but revels in the fact that he's now able to make a Heroic Sacrifice for her sake. And if he gets to troll Raoh along the way, that's even better for him! He clearly doesn't want to die, but once he realizes Raoh has become too strong and will most likely kill him, he goes on to meet his fate anyway, for the woman he always loved, and a good death he gets. So good it is, that even Raoh himself goes from utterly despising Juza for his constant "lifeless troll" attitude, to utterly admiring him for his bravery and determination during their duel, and orders his men to bury him as a hero.
• Go Out with a Smile: Raoh presses a pressure point that forces Juza to give up the identity of the last Nanto General. He manages to resist through sheer willpower and insults Raoh instead, then dies grinning about how awesome the whole thing was. In the anime he passes away keeping a smile as his body finally collapses from blood loss and exhaustion.
• The Hedonist: As a result to reveal about Yuria to be his sister, Juza descended into a hedonistic and promiscuous lifestyle to bury the pain from his broken heart. He doesn't change his ways until he learns that Yuria is still alive and he sees Kenshiro is a strong, compassionate, and caring man.
• Hero Antagonist: As noted under Raoh's entry, the Last General of Nanto arc is more Raoh's story than Kenshiro's. Since Juza is one of Raoh's biggest rivals, he qualifies as this.
• Hero of Another Story: In his own gaiden, Houkou no Kumo he alone saves several villagers from Raoh's dominion before confronting the tyrant himself.
• Heroic Bastard: Implied in the original manga and anime, in which he didn't find out about his relation to Yuria until adulthood. Made more explicit in the Gaiden material, in which he is not only revealed to be younger than Yuria's full-blooded brother Ryuga (suggesting that Juza was conceived from an extramarital affair), but that he is also a literal Son of a Whore.
• Heroic BSoD: When he finds out the love of his life is his half sister and watches her run off into the sunset with Kenshiro.
• Heroic Neutral: He's a good man at heart, but could care less about the conflict surrounding Raoh. Once he meets Yuria again, he stops being neutral, and confronts Raoh in her name.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: He cannot help but be unconditionally kind to women. In the anime, he also tells his loyal gang of punk followers to live free before his rematch with Raoh, showing that he does care for them and wishes them well after what would be his last fight.
• The Kindnapper: His Establishing Character Moment has him kidnap several women who were already taken by thugs. His harem is composed of kidnapped women who are more than willing to live in his castle.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: When he sees for himself that Kenshiro IS a decent, kind man, Juza acknowledges that Yuria will be happy if she spends her life with him.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In the anime, after suddenly averting his death from the manga, Juza states the following.
  "I'm of the clouds. I move and do as I please. We're gonna do things my way."
• Lovable Sex Maniac: He's woman-mad, but extremely likeable.
• Love Martyr: He dies protecting the woman he loves.
• Mr. Fanservice: On BOTH sides of the fourth wall; enough so that Houkou no Kumo is drawn by a female Shojo manga artist gushing over how pretty he is.
• Neutral No Longer: After learning the Last General of Nanto's real identity (Yuria, the one woman Juza always loved). Before this, he was a Chaotic Neutral guy.
• Power Palms: His Gekiheki Haisui Shou ("Strike Wall Backwater Palm") technique, which has him charging his touki on his palms for a blast at point-blank range. It was supposed to cause extreme damage to Raoh's body, but doesn't work because he had stricken "Kyomei" pressure points on Juza's shoulders, debilitating his arms and the technique's power.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Has his own variant done with rapid kicks. He can easily humiliate the average Mook this way, or even give a major threat like Raoh a hard time with this move.
• Senseless Sacrifice: Doubly so - Juza attempts to break one of Raoh's arms in his final moments; it doesn't work. Juza dies refusing to tell Raoh who the Nanto General's identity is; Raoh correctly infers it from watching the way Juza refuses.
• Spell My Name With An S: Juza? Juuza? Jyuza?
• Stepford Smiler: Of the "secretly depressed" variety. He loved Yuria since childhood, until the revelation of her being his half-sister took a toll on him. Even then, he's still a smartass.
• Unconscious Objector: Continued to fight Raoh for a while despite being dead.
• Unlucky Childhood Friend: He was in love with Yuria when they were children, but he gave up on pursuing her when he realised she was his half-sister and in love with Kenshiro.
• The Worf Effect: Despite an amazing stand against Raoh, he's ultimately crushed by Raoh's superior strength to show how desperate the situation is.
• Worthy Opponent: Raoh admits as much, including Koku-Oh (since Juza is the second person to ever mount the stallion), thus orders his men to give him a hero's burial.

Fudoh of the Mountains

Voiced by: Shōzō Iizuka (TV anime), Daisuke Gōri (Legends of the True Savior), Hiromu Miyazaki (Ken's Rage), Nobuaki Kanemitsu (Legends ReVIVE}

Voiced by (English): Travis Willingham (Ken's Rage), Brent Mukai (Legends of the True Savior)

Once known as a terrible outlaw called "Fudoh the Ogre", this titanic, self-centered ruffian cared for no one but himself, pillaging whatever he could find and killing anyone who stood in his way. During a rampage through Ryuken's dojo, Fudoh was able to instill fear into a young Raoh. When a young Yuria stood up to him to protect a dog and its newborn litter of puppies, Fudoh learned the importance of life from this experience, drastically changing his ways. Becoming one of the Nanto Goshasei, Fudoh would protect the Last General of Nanto, including several orphaned children, to whom he would be their foster father. As Ken-Oh makes his way closer to the General, Fudoh is dispatched to ensure Kenshiro meets the General first, but relinquishes their identity when Kenshiro presses him for information.

In order to overcome his fear of Kenshiro, Raoh challenges Fudoh, threatening to kill his children if he does not comply. Becoming Fudoh the Ogre again, the giant protector is heavily injured by the superior Raoh, yet Fudoh manages to make Raoh retreat slightly, causing Raoh's men to impale Fudoh with several large lances and arrows, mortally wounding him. However, the fear that was instilled into Raoh continues to linger, despite the giant's death soon afterwards.

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• Badass Adorable: A big cuddly teddy bear of a sweetheart who is kind to children, and is the only character to really qualify for this trope in the franchise.
• Beware the Nice Ones: When he becomes Fudoh the Ogre again, he tells Bat and Rin to shield his childrens' eyes when killing one of Raoh's Giant Mook foot soldiers.
• Big Beautiful Man: Unlike other Stout Strength type characters, Fudoh is ruggedly handsome and good-looking, which is probably part of the reason why he's a heroic character.
• The Big Guy: He isn't called "the ogre" for nothing and is definitely a good guy by the series starting point.
• Boss Subtitles: "Warrior of the Mountains - Fudoh"
• Bumbling Dad: It's an act, yes, but all the better to let his children grow up with warmth, happiness and laughter.
• Doting Parent: To every child under his care.
• Doomed Moral Victor: Raoh may have killed Fudoh's physical body, but Fudoh absolutely demolishes the tyrant's belief in himself as a man.
  "My body may die; I may be reduced to but a single drop of blood. But those with courage will rise time and again to face you; while you, Raoh, will live for the rest of your life but a mere terrified coward!!"
• The Dreaded: His massive frame and nihilistic attitude before his Heel–Face Turn made Fudoh the Ogre the first man to ever inspire fear in Raoh. Raoh, resolved to kill any doubt left in his mind sets out to fell Fudoh once and for all as a warm up against Ken but faces something even more frightening than Fudoh's initial nihilism: the defiant resolve brought on by love and sorrow. Though Raoh ultimately kills Fudoh off, Raoh loses a symbolic battle and is left embarrassed and ashamed at himself for even flinching before him and the defiant sadness of the children under Fudoh's care.
• Emotional Bruiser: Even back in his days as a bandit all it took was a puppy to make do a Heel–Face Turn.
• Everything's Precious with Puppies: During one of his bandit raids, Pre-Heel–Face Turn Fudoh was very interested in knowing what Yuria was hiding behind a door all for the sake of ruining her day alongside everyone else's. Once he forces the door open, Yuria presents her pet dog and her newborn puppies, one of which licks Fudoh on the nose and immediately changes his attitude as he comes to learn the value of life.
• Friend to All Children: He's an adoptive dad to dozens of children, and they all love and respect him.
• Gentle Giant: Fudoh's one of the few giants in Fist of the North Star to be a genuinely nice man even though he didn't start out that way.
• A Good Way to Die: Even as he is trashed by Raoh he kept going and the soldiers had to shoot him with ballistas because Fudoh succeeded in pushing him back. He is fine dying knowing Kenshiro will take care of his children and defeat Raoh who proved himself a coward during their fight.
• Happily Adopted: All his children.
• Heel–Face Turn: Fudoh embodies the Rousseau Was Right ideology that is the heart of the series.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He knows he won't survive his fight with Raoh, but manages to completely shatter the tyrant's confidence and set the stage for his ultimate defeat at Kenshiro's hands.
• Meaningful Name: Shares his name with a Buddhist deity whose name means the "immovable one".
• Mighty Glacier: He is really slow but can break mountains.
• Nice Guy: He's one of the friendliest people in the whole series.
• Oddly Small Organization: Hyui and Shuren have their squads, Rihaku has his army, and Juza has the ruffians he calls friends, but of all the Nanto Goshasei, Fudoh prefers to act as a One-Man Army, and only has a handful of soldiers to act as guards or scouts.
• One-Man Army: Fudoh, one; Ken-oh Bike Squad, ZERO.
• Papa Wolf: Threaten one of Fudoh's children and he'll destroy you.
• Tender Tears: Of love shed for children in suffering.
• The Power of Love: What Fudoh's children gave him to find the strength and courage to absolutely DESTROY the seemingly invincible tyrant Raoh's confidence in himself.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: A genuinely kind foster father to all of his adoptive children, and an effective hero in his own right.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Big time. Before he met Yuria, he was just one more giant, ruthless bastard that Kenshiro would have asploded without a second thought. Then he turns into a Nice Guy.
• Tragic Hero: He knowingly sacrifices himself to break Raoh's spirit.
• The Worf Effect: Much like Jyuza, his defeat at hands serves to show that Kenshiro is The Only One who can stop Raoh.

Rihaku of the Oceans

Voiced by (Japanese): Takeshi Aono (TV anime), Katsuhisa Houki (Legends of the True Savior, Legends ReVIVE), Eiji Takemoto (Ken's Rage), Kazuhiro Yamaji (Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise)

Voiced by (English): Kyle Hebert (Lost Paradise), Chris Rager (Legends of the True Savior)

Leader of the Nanto Goshasei, Rihaku possesses no martial arts training (in the manga), but he is a military strategist. He prepares a series of booby traps for Raoh when he attacks the headquarters in search of the Last General of Nanto. Post-Time Skip, Rihaku serves as the senior strategist of the Hokuto Army led by Bat and Lin.

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• Adaptational Badass: In addition to the details below under Non-Action Guy, Rihaku's martial art style in the anime was skillful enough that Raoh had to dodge some of his initial attacks and Rihaku is shown destroying stone statues and pillars each time Raoh dodged his incoming blows.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If it weren't for the traps he put to fight Raoh, the tyrant wouldn't have escaped from his fight with Kenshiro, nor captured Yuria on his way out.
• Non-Action Guy: In the manga, Rihaku has no actual martial arts, but rather his specialty comes from his military planning and his ability to set up traps. The anime gave him his own fighting style Gosha Hasui Ken ("Five Chariot Wave Crush Fist") and had him have a tussle with Raoh.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Rihaku is saddened to learn of his only daughter, Toh's, death. After Raoh's attack he cremates her. As Ken and Rihaku take a respite to remember the dead comrades and cremate the bodies of the Nanto soldiers lost to Raoh, it is Toh, Rihaku's daughter, who takes his place with the other fallen Goshasei warriors as they look on at the Charioteer stars in the night sky.
• Sole Survivor: Of all the Nanto Goshasei.

KING

With the world a wasteland a new order arises. Shin brings a number of gangs under his iron fist and fashions an army. Situating their capital at Southern Cross he becomes the King he's always wanted to be, naming his organization after that title. Though his army gives him an edge it's still a disorganized mess of violent thugs more eager to tear down the ruins rather than fulfill Shin's dreams of building an empire.

The organization was expanded significantly in the Anime wherein a ton of Filler Villains were added to fill out the ranks and a number of formerly independent villains (Jackal and the Godhand) were absorbed into the organization.

Spade

Voiced by (Japanese): Tesshō Genda (TV anime), Kōji Totani (Twin Blue Stars of Judgment), Yasuhiko Kawazu (Ken's Rage 2), Takumi Yamazaki (Legends ReVIVE)

Voiced by (English): Kirk Thornton (TV anime)

One of the four lieutenants in Shin's "KING" organization, Spade is the first one encountered by Kenshiro, and is the weakest of the group, barely above the average punk in strength. Not really a martial artist, Spade uses a variety of weapons like a wrist-mounted crossbow, dual axes, and a spear to fight.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: From white in the manga and Ken's Rage to red in the anime
• The Bully: Spade’s general idea of fun is to attack people he thinks are weaker than him.
• Detrimental Determination: He keeps on trying to go after Kenshiro after the latter let him walk away. Twice. Even after Ken caught an arrow he shot at him in mid-air and threw it back at him.
• Dirty Coward: Once Ken takes out his eye, he makes a run for it... only to come back later.
• Expy: Bears a resemblance to Wez from The Road Warrior
• Eye Patch Of Power: Considering that he got it by being utterly humiliated by Kenshiro, it may as well be an eye-patch of disgrace instead.
• Eye Scream: He loses an eye to a crossbow bolt, courtesy of Kenshiro.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Is blinded by the same arrow he shot at Kenshiro
• Oh, Crap!: After Kenshiro decimates his forces and breaks his arms at the elbows. Then Kenshiro turns him into a human grenade...
• Quirky Mini Boss Squad: The weakest of Shin's card-themed henchmen.
• Too Dumb to Live: Just how many times has Kenshiro give someone a second chance after seeing them cruelly hurt and mistreat the weak and the helpless? Just how many times has he given someone two chances to walk away alive? He gave Spade two chances to run, yet Spade still returns for more from the same man who blocked an arrow with two fingers, left him with the use of one eye, and is a master of the martial arts like his boss. His common and self-preservation senses had to have been turned off.

Diamond

Voiced by (Japanese): Daisuke Gōri (TV Anime), Naotsugu Yoneda (Twin Blue Stars of Judgment), Mitsuhiro Sakamaki (Legends ReVIVE)

Voiced by (English): Peter Spellos (TV Anime)

The second of Shin's lieutenants, Diamond is a bright, garishly-clad warrior skilled in bojutsu. Very sadistic, his torture of the local villagers incites Kenshiro to kill him.

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• Blood Knight: Like Mr. Heart and unlike Spade and Club, Diamond isn't a Dirty Coward. He relishes the opportunity to get into a fight, and even after Kenshiro tossed him and his staff up in the air with ease, Diamond's back on his feet for another go.
• The Bully: Diamond likes trying to get families to kill one another.
• Kick the Dog: In the manga, Diamond forces a little girl to hold up her father who has a noose around his neck, a scene inspired by Frank's most despicable act in Once Upon a Time in the West. Because the scene was too cruel to adapt for the anime, he instead forces a father to go William Telling with his son, balancing a target can on his head.
• Monster Clown: His face paint makes him resemble one in the manga.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Bears a strong resemblance to the shock-rockers of KISS.
• Quirky Mini Boss Squad: The second of Shin’s henchmen to try to take a stab at beating Ken.

Club

Voiced by (Japanese): Kōji Totani (TV anime), Riichi Nishimoto (Twin Blue Stars of Judgment), Takashi Ohara (Legends of the Dark King), Hayato Fujii (Legends ReVIVE)

Voiced by (English): Robert Martin Klein (TV anime)

The third of Shin's four lieutenants, Club is a martial artist trained in the Praying Mantis-style and enhances it with the addition of iron claws. Known for training in his style by butchering unwilling, helpless villages, Club is surprised when Kenshiro is more than a match for him.

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• Adaptational Modesty: He's depicted as wearing a pair of pants in the anime.
• Animal Motifs: He's similar to a praying mantis, given his thin, wiry frame, use of claws as a weapon, and almost predatorial inclination towards violence.
• The Bully: Club's brand of cruelty involves locking people into cages with him and making them fight him.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: In the manga, he barely lands a hit on Ken while in the anime, he manages to cut Ken's chest. Not that it made any difference.
• Dirty Coward: Begs and screams like a little girl for the mercy that he never gave the men whose lives he toyed with.
• Finger Licking Evil: Apparently he finds Kenshiro's blood on his claws to be delicious.
• Fingore: Ken jabs his fingers and in the anime, it either shatters them or makes them explode (the animation makes it unclear which), while in the manga it snaps his finger bones and the fractures pierce through the skin.
• Fragile Speedster: He's fairly quick on his feet (by comparison to the average, untrained joe), but he's small as hell and folds up as fast as any other mook when faced down by Ken.
• Lean and Mean: When compared to the more bulky physiques of Diamond and Spade, and Mr. Heart's girth, Club's a lot more thin and wiry. He's also one of the more openly sadistic.
• Licking the Blade: Current trope picture-boy. Once he gets a hit on Kenshiro, he promptly licks the blood off his claw. Of course, it’s the only hit he gets before Ken takes him out.
• Quirky Mini Boss Squad: The penultimate henchmen Kenshiro faces before challenging the mighty Mr.Heart.
• The Sociopath: Takes intense sexual pleasure in men's despair whom he forces to fight him for their lives.
• Wolverine Claws: Corollary ground rule Second in Fist of the North Star - Never Bring a Knife to a Fist Fight, as Club's fingers and spinal cord finds out the less-than-comfortable way.

Heart

Voiced by (Japanese): Shōzō Iizuka (TV anime and Twin Blue Stars of Judgment), Junpei Takiguchi (movie), Takahiro Fujimoto (Ken's Rage), Chafurin (Legends ReVIVE)

Voiced by (English): Joe Romersa (TV anime), Robert Axelrod (TV anime, recut dub), Dave Mallow (The Movie), Travis Willingham (Ken's Rage)

The last of the four lieutenants, Mr. Heart is a large overweight fighter whose stomach is composed of a rubber-like substance capable of absorbing any external impact, earning him the nickname the "destroyer of martial arts".

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• Achilles' Heel: Though it's never used against him. Mr. Heart admits that his ability to be a Kung Fu-Proof Mook is only against Hokuto practitioners because of their need to damage pressure points. Against Nanto Seiken practitioners, who can slice flesh easily, he's as weak as the average joe. Even though Kenshiro invokes Attack Its Weak Point on Heart, his weakness is just about the same as everyone else, just hidden better.
• Acrofatic: In the anime, he somersaults off a cliff and lands on his feet before confronting Kenshiro.
• Adaptational Name Change: Whether intentional or not (as none of the other KING lieutenants appear in the movie), Mr. Heart is spelled 'Hart' in the Streamline dub of the 1986 movie.
  • In early promotional material, Heart was called 'Elephant', to fit more in line with Fox and Jackal's animal naming scheme.
• Adaptational Wimp: Gets killed in seconds during the 1986 Fist of the North Star movie.
• Affably Evil: When he’s calm, Mr. Heart seems to be the most level headed of the lieutenants, speaking in polite terms even with his opponents. In his introduction, he appears to be the only Nice Guy in Shin's army as he scolds his own men for harassing a bartender. Unfortunately, he immediately changes personality when he noticed he actually got his palm cut by a shard of broken glass and drew blood.
• Ascended Extra: In the manga, Mr. Heart was a Giant Mook who lasted only four chapters before he was killed (two episodes in the anime). However, he's a recurring character in various video games despite his fairly minor status (when it comes to Shin's card-themed minions, he's usually either given the most attention or the only one to get any attention). His popularity can be attributed to the fact he is one of the first adversaries in the manga who proves to be more than a mere pushover against Kenshiro.
  • There's a reason why he's called "Mr. Heart" (or "Heart-sama") and everyone else is just "Spade", "Diamond", and "Club".
  • He's even a playable character in Ken's Rage via Downloadable Content, and he's unique by being placed in the "Special" category, yet doesn't use weapons. Instead, his body literally is rubber-like, as he can inflate his belly and hand. He can also breath fire and fire a beam of ki from his mouth.
• Berserk Button: The sight of his own blood.
• Blood Upgrade: He becomes a lot more dangerous when he sees his own blood due to becoming overwhelmed with fear and panic, causing him to freak out and go on a rampage until he calms down.
• Boss Subtitles: "Destroyer of Fists - Heart"
• The Dragon: In the manga and other media based on the manga, he's this to Shin. He's Shin's last (and most powerful) henchman, fought in Shin's palace and is immediately followed up by the man himself. In the anime, however, due to a bunch of later arcs being merged into Shin's arc, this role is given to Joker and he's just another Giant Mook with plenty of henchmen left to go after he's been dealt with.
• Fat Bastard: Downplayed. He may be a villain, but he comes across as being the least evil out of all of Shin's lieutenants, and is even shown scolding his own men for harassing a bartender, and even when he does become violent from the sight of his own blood, it's more of him wildly panicking and freaking out.
• Freudian Excuse: His own prequel manga revealed the source of him freaking out over his own blood being spilled: As a child, his sister was killed in front of him by slicing her open, which splattered her blood all over Heart.
• Giant Mook: A fairly well-known example for Shōnen, though he becomes a bit more of a conventional type in the movie.
• Gonk: His girth prevents him from being too nice to look at. Although...
• I Was Quite a Looker: Can you believe that Mr. Heart used to look like THIS in the spinoff prequel manga Heart Gaiden? Though the canonicity in that manga is rather unclear.
• Kevlard: Practically Trope Codifier.
• Kung Fu-Proof Mook: Due to Kevlard, he's apparently immune to Kenshiro's pressure point strikes, until Kenshiro moves the fat around his belly and hits the points accurately. In Ken's Rage, this is represented as immunity to damage, hitstun, and knockback until the player wears down his guard gauge.
  • According to Shin, that fat makes him immune to any and all martial arts and weapons aside from Nanto Seiken (and his introductory scene has his men react to him berserking by throwing a loadful of maces at him. That tickled him before he threw them back by flexing his fat). Had Hokuto Shinken not included a technique specifically to move away the fat and hit the pressure point, he would have been right.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: He might not be as much of a sadist as his colleagues, but he’s still not a nice guy.
• Logical Weakness: His Kevlard is for dealing with blunt blows rather than sharp ones, much like how a real life kevlar vest can absorb the shock of bullets but can be sliced apart by a knife. Nanto Seiken techniques can be used against him but in the original they never are.
• Macho Camp: Just before he fights Kenshiro, Mr. Heart begins admiring the martial artist's marvelous physique in a flirty tone of voice. Whenever he's not serious, he uses atashi as his pronoun.
• Mighty Glacier: Heart can’t be very fast for his size, but he hits very hard.
• Minor Injury Overreaction: Despite his enormous frame, a small bleeding cut can send Mr. Heart into a wild frenzy.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: The other lieutenants were introduced via their sadistic pettiness (bullying innocent villagers, forcing them into sadistic choices, or just killing them for fun), which ultimately gets Kenshiro involved and leads to their deaths. Mr. Heart is specifically introduced to pursue Kenshiro and pays more attention to hunting the man down rather than just being a dick.
• Quirky Mini Boss Squad: The last and most powerful of Shin's minions
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Notably, Mr. Heart is the first villain to beat Kenshiro until he vomited blood onscreen, reminding us our hero is still human. In Ken's Rage, he introduces the fat/giant enemies.
• Your Size May Vary: How tall he is tends to vary from adaptation to adaptation, as he ranges from being taller than most of the characters, but not being an actual giant, to being taller than a smaller building.

Ken-Oh's Forces

When Raoh proclaims himself the Conquerer of Century's End he amasses a massive army to sweep across the land. His military is staffed by mercenaries, thugs, fanatics, and gangsters all following who they believe to be the strongest man in the wasteland. The pool of villains is quite diverse ranging from vile monsters to men looking to fix the broken world. Not all of them are particularly loyal to Ken-Oh but his strength and the fear he commands keeps them in line.

Kokuoh

Juza riding Kokuoh

Raoh's gigantic black horse. Kokuoh dutifully stays by his master's side throughout all of Raoh's trials and fights. The horse is quite intelligent and able to aid his master in combat, though only does so sparingly. Kokuoh only lets those he deems worthy ride him, such as Juza who steals him away to make fun of Raoh or Kenshiro who inherits the animal after Raoh's defeat.

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• Cool Horse: He's a horse the size of an elephant that can carry the titanic Raoh. His hoofs can crush a man.
• Only the Chosen May Ride: Kokuoh is particular about who gets to ride him, and it's clear that he favors Raoh above all the others. Juza was able to steal and ride him, though he noted that Kokuoh kept resisting him and wished to return to Raoh. After Raoh's passing Kenshiro rides off on him into the sunset to conclude the first series.
• The Executioner: Raoh's favorite way of dishonorably discharging anyone under his command who've fallen out of favor with him is to have Kokuoh flatten them under a single hoof.
• Undying Loyalty: Of all of Ken-Oh's forces it is Kokuoh who is the most loyal to Raoh. When his army abandons him for fear that he would lose to Kenshiro, it was Kokuoh alone who remained by his master's side and allowed him to ride on his back when it looked like Raoh's legs would fail him.
• Worthy Opponent: Though it is unspoken, Kokuoh did respect Juza for being able to ride him and indicates that he wished for an honorable burial for him even though he was his master's enemy.
• Your Size May Vary: Like a lot of the giant characters in the series. Kokuoh is indeed supposed to be far larger than any real horse, but how big he is varies from "very big horse but still within the realm of possibility" to "monstrous, prehistoric titan who can crush a man under a single hoof."

Ryuga

Voiced by (Japanese): Hideyuki Hori (TV anime), Daisuke Sakaguchi (child) (Legends of the True Savior), Daisuke Matsubara (Legends of the Dark King), Takeshi Mori (Ken's Rage), Yasuyuki Kase (Legends ReVIVE)

Voiced by (English): John Swasey (Legends of the Dark King), Doug Erholtz (Ken's Rage), Jessie James Grelle (child) (Legends of the True Savior)

Ryuga is the master of Taizan Tenrōken ("Mt. Tai Celestial Wolf Fist"), who represents the solitary "Star of the Celestial Wolf" (better known as Sirius), neither part of the North Dipper or South Dipper constellations. Taizan Tenrōken, known as a horrible martial art, scoops the chunks of its victims' flesh while leaving them with a feeling of bitter coldness. The elder brother of Yuria (and, by proxy, the half-brother of Juza), Ryuga aligned with Raoh, believing he had the methodology to restore order to a chaotic wasteland, until he begins to question his loyalty when he meets Kenshiro. In order to see whether Raoh or Kenshiro's ways are correct, Ryuga goes on a mad killing spree of innocent people, hoping to goad Kenshiro into a fight. To that end, he kidnaps Toki and challenges Kenshiro at his fortress. However, Ryuga was already dying during their duel, having disemboweled himself prior to the fight. He reveals to Kenshiro his motivations were to create enough sadness within Kenshiro's heart, so as to grant him the power to endure this era. With a locket of Yuria he keeps and shows to Kenshiro, Ryuga dies trusting that his sister made the right choice by choosing the successor of Hokuto Shinken.

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• Adaptational Heroism: In the manga, his murder of Toki is preceded by him killing Toki's patients. In the anime, he just makes a beeline for Toki and refrains from killing innocent people.
• Anti-Villain: Ryuga only wanted peace in this new world, but his actions were totally misguided, such as killing innocents in order to see if Kenshiro was the savior the world needed.
• Boss Subtitles: "The Lone Wolf - Ryuga"
• Cain and Abel: The Cain to Juza's Abel in Houkou no Kumo. Juza battles him because he has joined Raoh. They end in a stalemate, and Ryuga tells his half-brother their next fight will end with death for either of them, before departing. They never see each other again, though.
• Death Equals Redemption: Invoked this by committing Seppuku before fighting Kenshiro.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Toki's, who soon follows him to join the stars above.
• The Dragon: Raoh's second-in-command.
• Easily Forgiven: Toki cradles him as he dies, and comments that they'll both become stars to watch over Kenshiro. Previously, Ryuga was mass-murdering Toki's patients to provoke him.
• An Ice Person: Taizan Tenrōken is represented as a bleak wind freezing over its victims as they die.
• I'm Cold... So Cold...: His techniques have this effect on his victims, as their nerves slowly lose sensation and renders them completely numb before blood violently spurts from their wounds.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Invoked; Ryuga wanted to bring out Kenshiro's sadness and anger so he can learn Musou Tensei and gain the power to defeat Raoh, something Toki had tried to do indirectly during his final bout with his brother.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Modeled after David Bowie as "The White Duke"
• Odd Name Out: Ryuga is one of the few martial artists during the first half of the manga who isn't affiliated with Hokuto nor Nanto
• Remember the New Guy?: Inverted. He's Yuria's older brother, and Kenshiro has known her since childhood, so he should really know who Ryuga is. Nope - the audience meets Ryuga before Ken does.
• The Stoic: When he isn't pretending to be an evil sadist to enrage Kenshiro.
• Suicide by Cop: Subverted. He commits kagebara prior to his fight with Kenshiro, to atone for his sins in case Kenshiro wasn’t strong enough to kill him.
• Suicide Mission: As noted above, he never had any intention of surviving his battle with Kenshiro.
• Token Good Teammate: Ryuga is the only practitioner of a style of Taizanji Kenpo seen in the main series that isn't either a cruel bandit or a vicious brute of some kind. Even including non-canon materials, the ratio of good to evil practitioners is pretty damn lopsided towards the latter side.
• Tragic Villain: He wants order restored to the world, and tries to achieve this by going on a bizarre mass murder / suicide mission.
• We Hardly Knew Ye:
  • He's The Dragon to Raoh and Yuria's older brother, so you'd expect him to be a major character, but he only appears for a five-chapter story arc.
  • Unlike most of Kenshiro's friends and rivals, we never see his upbringing in flashbacks, not even those of his sister Yuria or half-brother Juza. However, Ken's Rage 2 delves more into his backstory.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Zig-Zagged. He has white hair, and his mass murder and killing of Toki is inexcusable, but Kenshiro and Toki forgive him when they learn that all he wants is peace.
• Worf Had the Flu: It's likely that he would have put up more of a fight against Kenshiro if he hadn't disemboweled himself beforehand.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl/Would Not Hurt A Child: In the anime, after startling Saki (Yuria's former handmaiden) as she tends to Yuria & Shin's graves, he assures her that he doesn't hurt women or children.
• Zero-Approval Gambit: What his whole plan boils down to. He tries to fight Kenshiro to test his strength and confirm if Ken is stronger than Raoh, but Ken utterly refuses to fight Ryuga as he sees Ryuga's inner sadness as well as his noble and righteous heart deep inside him. This leaves Ryuga no choice but to make himself a villain, by slaughtering innocent villagers and kidnapping Toki (who has secretly agreed to Ryuga's plan) in hopes to force Kenshiro go and fight him to the death. To atone for the killing of innocent people, Ryuga has fatally stabbed himself before his fight with Kenshiro, so as to ensure his own death even if Ken fails to defeat him.

Uighur

Voiced by: Daisuke Gōri (TV anime), Kenta Miyake (Legends of the Dark King), Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (Ken's Rage), Naomi Kusumi (Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise), Tsuguo Mogami (Legends ReVIVE)

Voiced by (English): Gregory Snegoff (The Movie), Rob Mungle (Legends of the Dark King), Alan Shearman (Ken's Rage), Paul St. Peter (Lost Paradise)

The Warden of Cassandra, a prison city where many of Raoh's enemies are locked up, never to see the light of freedom again, Uighur is a giant Mongolian warrior who wields long, sharp Taishan-style whips and a powerful shoulder tackle. He preserved Cassandra's legacy as an inescapable prison until his fight with Kenshiro.

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• Bad Boss: Is wholly willing to hold the loved ones of his own henchmen hostage to ensure their loyalty.
• Back for the Dead: He manages to temporarily get back up to yell about how Ken and Toki must not meet before finally expiring. In the anime, he delivers one last speech about how Cassandra's legacy hasn't ended and that it will eventually return instead.
• Beard of Evil: A thick sinister Viking-like beard.
• Boss Subtitles: "Hell's Gatekeeper - Uighur"
• Cool Helmet: A horned helmet not too dissimilar to that of a viking's helmet. He inexplicably hides a pair of multi-pronged whips underneath the horns, and the furry tuft in the middle hides a blade.
• The Dragon: Due to the 1986 movie condensing a lot of story, Uighur's role is upgraded to Raoh's right-hand man. He gives orders to the troops, and while Raoh prevents him from fighting Boss Fang, when Rei shows up Raoh leaves it to Uighur to kill him.
• Evil Laugh: One of the most ridiculous/hilarious ones ever recorded
  • "Your hope has become despair!"
• Evil Sounds Deep: Courtesy of Daisuke Gori, Uighur has a ridiculously deep and soulless voice.
• Hate Sink: He is a purely evil man void of redeeming qualities who exists to do nothing but cause to pain and misery to other people, to the point where he outright refuses to kill people who are willing to die peacefully and quietly solely because of his sadistic love of screaming. He also has an incredibly detestable personality, as he is extremely arrogant and smug, as well as being hostile and rude towards just about everybody that isn't Raoh.
• Hope Crusher: Thoroughly enjoys breaking the spirits of his prisoners, and expresses his belief that there's no such thing as saviors. "Your hope has become despair!", indeed.
• Horns of Barbarism: He wears a helmet with two large horns. Being the warden and enforcer of Cassandra, he rules the prison city through savagery and iron fists. Not only does his helmet invoke a barbaric image in a post-apocalyptic city, but its horns are also actually armed with thousands of whips within.
• Ironic Name: A character named for the Uyghur people who is the warden of a brutal prison camp. If he were created today, you'd think it was a political statement.
• Large and in Charge: The biggest and meanest guy in Cassandra.
• Large Ham: Ye gods. Every aspect in him shouts this out loud, from his bombastic dialogue (usually about Cassandra's legacy as an inescapable prison and preserving it) to his attire that makes him look like an escapee from Conan the Barbarian and his Evil Laugh also, of course.
• Loves the Sound of Screaming: He basically customized the brand of torture employed in Cassandra specifically to get just the right tone of lamentation in the screams of his prisoners. Needless to say, he's quite a piece of work. Because of this, he finds no point in killing people who have chosen to Face Death with Dignity because to him, "it isn't fun".
• Made of Iron: He survives the Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken, at least until the effects of the attack explode him again.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Oh, look at this Giant Mook! Kenshiro is going to turn him into swiss cheese...oh, wait - is Kenshiro actually hurt from his shoulder slam? Oh, crap!! Still doesn't stop Kenshiro from getting up and wrecking him once he figures out how Uighur's technique works. Averted in the 1986 movie in which Rei killed him in one blow after effortlessly dodging his whips, though.
• Pride: He obsesses over the reputation and legacy of Cassandra, the prison he governs over.
• Sadist: Definitely. The point where he won't kill people who aren't afraid to die because it's no fun to him.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Like many villains in the show, he doesn’t wear a shirt.
• Wardens Are Evil: What else can you call someone who likes to torture inmates?
• Whip of Dominance: Uighur is the sadistic wardern of the slave city of Cassandra and he wields a whip not only as a symbol of his position, but as his preferred weapon. His martial art is the Taizan-ryu Soujou Ben ("Taishan Style Twin Streak Whip"), where he utilizes a pair of whips which he swings blindingly fast, enough to catch Kenshiro off-guard for a moment. He also has a pair of special whips hidden in his helmet which he uses as a powerful snare, usually followed up by his signature shoulder tackle.

Raiga and Fūga

Raiga Voiced by: Yuji Mikimoto (TV Anime), Mitsuhiro Sakamaki (Legends ReVIVE)

Fūga Voiced by: Ikuya Sawaki (TV Anime), Kouzou Douzaka (Legends ReVIVE)

Raiga

Fuga

The twin gatekeepers of Cassandra, Raiga and Fūga are masters of the Nishin Fūraiken ("Dual Gods Wind Thunder Fist") style, a martial art that can only be practiced by twins with the same physique and mentality. They work for Cassandra's giant warden Uighur, who has their younger brother Mitsu held hostage.

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• Adaptational Badass: In the Manga, they are tortured to death by Qasim and Zarqa, in the Anime, those two subdue and torture them, but Raiga and Fūga break their restraints and defeat them.
• Ascended Extra: They appear a bit longer in the anime, where they fight their former master in a filler scene.
• Bash Brothers: Literally. They're a pair of twin brothers who're thick as thieves.
• Elite Mooks: When prison guards, they were considered among the best, and the Warden relied on them for more powerful foes.
• Heel–Face Turn: Though they were never heels by choice.
• I Have Your Little Brother: Uighur compels their obedience by holding their younger brother Mitsu hostage.
• Razor Floss: Nishin Fūraiken uses wires going from one brother to the other. Anything that passes between them is sliced to pieces.
• Redemption Equals Death: In the manga, they perish holding up a ceiling to allow Kenshiro and the others to escape. Their fate is similar in the anime, except they are killed by one of Raoh’s minions, Burg, while they do so.
• Redemption Promotion: When they make their Heel–Face Turn they have way more opportunities to show off their badassery by taking on the prison guards, Ken-Oh's elite soldiers, and even their own master, whilst as villains they could only match Rei.
• Single-Minded Twins: The basis behind their Nishin Fūraiken, as it only works because they have the same mentality and physique.
• Scary Black Men: Subverted. They might be introduced as antagonists but they're only opposing Ken & co. because Uighur's got their brother Mitsu hostage and are quick to join Ken's side.
• Tag Team Twins: Nishin Fūraiken boils down to this, as it's exclusively used by twins who have the same body and same mindset for synchronized attacks.
• We Hardly Knew Ye
• Wonder Twin Powers: Nishin Fūraiken is exclusive to identical twins.

Allies

Toyo

Voiced by (Japanese): Reiko Suzuki (TV anime), Seiko Fujiki (Legends of the True Savior)

Voiced by (English): Catherine Battistone (TV anime), Linda Young (Legends of the True Savior)

A kind-hearted philanthropist, Toyo is an old lady who takes it upon herself to become a mother for orphans who lost their parents to death or abandonment in the nuclear wasteland. Raising them in the safety and prosperity of an oasis, she took in a foul-mouthed, but tender-hearted pickpocket named Bat as her own son, until he left to give his younger siblings more food to eat. The well in her garden is a magnet for marauders, barely kept at bay by her possession of one of the few remaining rifles in the world. Her cold-blooded murder at the hands of Jackal sent Kenshiro on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.

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• Adaptation Name Change: She makes an appearance in the first Legend of Raoh movie under the name of Martha.
• Friend to All Children
• Go Out with a Smile: As Bat calls her "Mommy" for the first time and last time.
• Heroic Sacrifice: When Jackal's men arm two kids with sticks of dynamite and send them into a panic, Ken can only get to one. Toyo manages to chase the other down and throw the stick just far enough for the blast to only kill her while she protects the child.
• Mama Bear
• Never Mess with Granny: Tragically deconstructed; although she still knows how to use a rifle, she's becomes so frail she can no longer handle it straight.
• Shipper on Deck: Seems to be this for Bat/Rin in Legend of Raoh and Ken's Rage 2.
• Spared by the Adaptation: She survives the events of the first Legend of Raoh movie and manages to bid farewell to Bat under good terms.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth

Airi

Voiced by (Japanese): Arisa Andō (TV anime), Umeka Shōji (Ken's Rage), Ryōko Shiraishi (Lost Paradise)

Voiced by (English): Kim Mai Guest (TV series; episodes 24-29), Christina Carlisi (TV series; episode 33), Barbara Goodson (The Movie), Dorothy Fahn (Ken's Rage), Carrie Keranen (Lost Paradise)

Airi with Rei

Rei's younger sister, Airi was kidnapped by Jagi on the day of her wedding, then sold into slavery. Such was Airi's suffering that she blinded herself in despair by using poison. When the Fang Clan began terrorizing Mamiya's village, the members got hold of her after they killed her previous captor, hoping to use as leverage against Rei. She was rescued by Rei and Kenshiro, the latter of whom restored her sight with his skills in Hokuto Shinken. Airi remains in Mamiya's village and gains the courage to stand up and defend herself with the help of Rin when the army of Ken-Oh army invades the village.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: From blond in the original manga to pink in the TV series to blue in the movie. Ken's Rage brings it back to the appropriate blond.
• Bound and Gagged: The Fang clan does this to her to stop her from killing herself.
• Break the Cutie: Her parents were murdered and she was kidnapped to be sold into slavery by Jagi. After which she was repeatedly sold and raped by bandits until she regressed her mind into subservient despair.
• Damsel in Distress: She's kidnapped and sold into slavery by Jagi, and Kenshiro and Rei have to save her from the Fang Clan.
• Forced to Watch: She and Mamiya are tied up and made to watch Kenshiro and Rei's duel.
• Interrupted Suicide: See above. Airi tries to kill herself by chewing through her tongue rather than watch Kenshiro and Rei fight.
• Rape as Drama: Though they could not openly say it on network TV (or the manga back in the 1980s, for that matter), it's implied this is what drove Airi to blind herself out of despair as a slave.
• Spell My Name With An S: Is it "Airi" or "Aili" or "Ailee" or "Iris"?
• Took a Level in Badass: Goes from being a terrified hostage to mowing down Raoh's foot soldiers with a crossbow.
• Will Not Be a Victim: When a Ken-Oh battalion ravages Mamiya's village, Airi is hidden by Rin who was willing to kill herself just to keep Airi safe. When Rei arrives and starts beating them back, they realize that by getting to Airi they can make Rei stand down. One man charges her, and she unveils a crossbow she'd grabbed earlier and kills the man, making a speech that helps inspire the defeated villagers into retaliating against the invaders. She goes on to kill a few other soldiers during the fight.

Toh

Voiced by: Mika Doi (TV anime)

Rihaku's daughter and an attendant to the Last General of Nanto, Toh participated with the Nanto Goshasei and their war against Raoh. Because of her secret conflict of love for their arch-enemy, Toh attempts to dissuade the tyrant from taking Yuria and offers herself to him. When he rejects her, Toh commits suicide in front of him, hoping her death will be embedded in Raoh's heart.

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• All Love Is Unrequited: At the very least, her final gesture towards Raoh manages to make him lose his cool by quite a bit when he realizes his feelings towards Yuria, much like Toh's towards Raoh, will remain unreciprocated.
• Body Double: Poses as the Last General of Nanto in order to trick Raoh.
• Disposable Woman: While previously named female characters in Fist of the North Star were hardly "disposable", Toh practically wins this title.
• Driven to Suicide: Kills herself in front of Raoh so that he will never forget her. He was unimpressed.
• The Heart: Amongst the Nanto Goshasei, she's the non-combative, peaceful, and kind member, as well as the only woman. When Kenshiro and Rihaku are cremating the bodies of Toh and the fallen Nanto soldiers lost to Raoh, they look on at the five Charioteer stars in the night sky, while remembering the fallen Goshasei warriors; Toh taking Rihaku's place alongside the other four deceased Goshasei.
• Honey Trap: Sort of. Her only meaningful role in the story was to infiltrate Juza's lair as one of the girls who lived with him, only to serve him some spiked liquor. When Juza passes out from the drug's effect, she has him sent to the Nanto capital, where the Last General of Nanto unmasks before Juza, in order to make him fight for the General's cause. Juza remarks that Toh's doing was a "dirty trick".
• Love Martyr: Harbored unrequited feelings for Raoh, and took her own life so that Raoh would remember her. He sneers that she would have been better off trying to kill him to prevent anyone else from having him.
• Rescue Romance: She initially thought so, which developed her crush on Raoh. Unfortunately for her, Raoh was completely disinterested in her.

Minor Villains

Zeed

Voiced by: Eiji Kanie (TV anime), Hidekatsu Shibata (The Movie), Nobuaki Kanemitsu (Legends of the Dark King), Shunzo Miyasaka (Ken's Rage), Hiroshi Tsuchida (Legends ReVIVE)

Voiced by: Joe Romersa (TV anime), Michael Forest (The Movie), Richard Epcar (Ken's Rage), Christian Thorsen (Legends of the True Savior)

A giant mohawked ruffian with the characters "Z-666" tattooed on his head, Zeed is the leader of the "Z-Gang", a biker gang that has raided numerous villages and delivery crew for their food and water supply. A man who does not know the meaning of mercy, Zeed and his gang are notorious for killing even women and children. As the main villain of the manga's first chapter, Zeed falls prey to Kenshiro's Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken technique.

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• Adaptational Name Change: In the English Dub of the 1986 animated film, he's called 'Xander'. Meanwhile, the dub of the series calls him 'Zeedo' despite getting nearly everyone’s names correct.
• The Bully: He frequently makes threats during his attack on Rin’s village, and had he been allowed some time, likely would have made good upon them.
• The Brute: Despite not being as smart as other villains in the series, Zeed is fully aware that explosive weapons shouldn’t exist in the post-apocalyptic world, as evidenced when his gang find some of their own who fell victim to Kenshiro’s techniques.
• Big "WHAT?!": The originator of the memetic phrase "NANI!?", although he wasn't trying to be overly long or loud in that time; his death scream was louder.
• Boss Subtitles: "Predator of the Weak - Zeed"
• Carry a Big Stick: Dual Wields two spiked maces in Ken's Rage.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In the now defunct MMO game, Zeed had a girlfriend named Jera.
• A Father to His Men: His character profile in Ken's Rage states that he shows great compassion for his underlings, despite his callous treatment of the people.
  • Zeed isn't nearly as dismissive as the rest of Fist of the North Star's minor bandit villains, who treat their mooks as little more than time buying meat shields at best. As soon as he recognizes the signature explosions killing his men right in front of him during his raid on Rin's village, he angrily tries to make good on his threat. Further, during his introductory scene where he attacks a convoy, he is pleased with his mens’ work and even has some fun disposing of some useless pre-war money with them.
• Large and in Charge: At 9 feet tall, he towers over the 6 foot tall Kenshiro... for all the good it did him.
• Giant Mook: Introduces the weapon-wielding mini-bosses in Ken's Rage.
• Hostage Situation: With Rin as the hostage. Ken still beats him easily.
• Starter Villain: He and his gang serve the role of being used to demonstrate the power of Kenshiro's Hokuto Shinken.
• Tattooed Crook: His notable "Z-666" tattoo on his forehead.
• Villain Team-Up: Allied with Boss Fang in the Dream Mode of Ken's Rage.
• Warm-Up Boss: Whose spectacular death sets these ground rules for the audience in Fist of the North Star - 1) Size means squat in this world and 2) if you have a mohawk, expect to die by exploding internally.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Gets the least amount of screentime of all of the villains, but this doesn’t stop him from showing how cruel the villains are in this series.
• Would Hit a Girl/Would Hurt a Child: Kenshiro was exhausted and dehydrated to the point of death when he was trapped in that cell with Bat... and then hearing that Zeed is infamous for the above two tropes gave him the Heroic Second Wind to LITERALLY tear the bars off his prison to kill him and his men.
• Your Head Asplode: The first villains to do so, among many, many others.
• Your Size May Vary: Whatever the incarnation, Zeed always has a tendency to suddenly grow twenty feet tall.

Colonel

Voiced by: Kōji Yada (TV Anime & Movie), Hayato Fujii (Legends ReVIVE)

Voiced by (English): Barry Stigler (TV series), Dave Mallow (The Movie)

The founder and leader of the "Golan Organization" ("God's Army" in the anime), a military gang composed of religious zealots. The Colonel is a veteran warrior gifted with extra-sensory perception and a master of the deadly Nanto Seiken art of Nanto Muonken ("South Dipper Silent Fist), which uses claws and boomerangs. He was formerly a patriotic member of the elite Red Beret special forces until he lost his faith in his country when he was summoned to a meeting with the corrupt politicians and businessmen who actually controlled his nation. After his superiors inadvertently caused the nuclear holocaust, the Colonel and his Red Beret soldiers survived, eventually founding the city of "Godland", attributing their survival as divine destiny. His army kidnaps young women in order to use them as breeding stock for his soldiers.

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• Adaptational Jerkass: He's a pretty nasty piece of work in both the manga and the anime, but the anime removes his Freudian Excuse and his delusional fanaticism is played up and he's made into Shin's minion (where his God is revealed to just be Shin himself).
• Awesomeness by Analysis: He can read his enemy's eyes and muscles and know exactly how they're going to move, to the point where he can even land blows on Kenshiro before the latter wises up to his style. He's so good at this that he's got a reputation for being psychic.
• Colonel Kilgore: He's the leader and most powerful member of Godland, having copied the martial art styles of many different schools. He relishes combat, and the pre-requisite to joining his army is to kill on command, be it an enemy, a civilian, your fellow comrade, or even your own brother.
• Demoted to Extra: In the anime, the Colonel went from being the feared leader of his own organization to a deluded lackey of Shin who worships him as a god. In fact, the Colonel has it worse in the movie, where he is simply an informant who is killed by Shin without putting much of a fight.
• Evil Gloating: Gets into this after hitting Kenshiro from behind with a spear after he rescues Lin.
  "You fool! Because of one little girl, your power has vanished. Compassion has always been the ultimate sign of weakness!"
• Evil Sounds Raspy: In the anime's English dub.
• Fallen Hero: He was once a member of an elite war unit. Now he’s a military cultist.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Ken tells him with these words: "You have only exchanged one mistake for another." Notable in that even as early as the killing blow he lands on Shin, Kenshiro reaches an understanding with Shin after and regards him as a friend posthumously, just the same as he does with most other villains with a tragic backstory that he faces. Nothing about the Colonel's backstory or reasons for creating a nation of supermen can justify or lessen the blow of routinely making orphans of children and reducing women to breeding stock. Worse yet, whereas most of Kenshiro's respectable opponents had always regarded their own villainy with a twinge of sorrow, Colonel instead sees his work not as a necessary evil but as his and his countrymen's God-given right to inflict upon who he wills it towards.
• Large Ham: To an extent in the anime dub. Such as when he orders the Major to kill Kenshiro and during his fight with Kenshiro.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: Was this in the manga, until the day he was summoned to his general's mansion, where he found the general and a group of politicians and businessmen involved in a drunken party with prostitutes. The bigwigs proceeded to humiliate the Colonel by having two scantily-clad prostitutes dump drinks on his head and laughing at him, with the general taunting the Colonel about his Red Beret soldiers being "paper tigers" while drunkenly blurting out his intention to start the nuclear war. When re-telling this to Kenshiro, the Colonel sums up his emotions by saying, "We gave our lives in loyalty to those rotten pigs!"
• Psychic Powers: Subverted. He has a reputation for this, but actually, he just reads his opponent's eyes and muscles.
• Rummage Sale Reject: Averted; the Colonel and his men hold the distinct honor of being the only characters in the entire franchise (excluding Fist of the Blue Sky) to wear a complete, recognizable modern set of clothing that is not disheveled, torn, missing sleeves and/or liberally mixed with Arabic/Medieval/Viking elements. Understandable, since they were a military unit prior to the war, and have maintained their cohesion and discipline ever since.
• Social Darwinist: Believes men who are unfit to join his army must be eliminated.
• Stripped to the Bone: Kenshiro finishes him with a move that literally blows all of the flesh off of his bones.
• Undying Loyalty: To Shin in the anime. He and God's Army all refer to Shin as a god.
• Villain Has a Point: Manga only. He formerly served one of the militaries whose actions made the world the ruin it is today. He views them as a bunch of despicable, decadent fools whose stupidity ended the world.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: The first opponent to give Kenshiro a hard time in the anime. He managed to land some cuts and slashes on Kenshiro. It was only after Kenshiro catches on to his style does the Colonel stop posing a challenge.

Mad Sarge

Voiced by (Japenese): Yasuo Tanaka

Voiced by (English): Jamieson Price

The drill instructor for the "Golan Organization". A giant of a man, who is able to stab a knife ten times a second and trains new recruits into the organization. He also uses blood-sucking needles against his opponents.

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• Bad Boss: He forces his subordinates to undergo dangerous training exercises where they have to go at each other for real.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: One of the most notable things he does is forcing the soldiers he trains to undergo training without any safety measures whatsoever, meaning he forces them to go at each other for real, and when he sees one of them hesitating to kill a fellow soldier because said soldier is his brother, he forces the soldier to stab him.
• High-Pressure Blood: Weaponized through his blood-sucking needles, which are hollow and are designed to force the blood out of his enemies' bodies.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Would you want to be a soldier under the command of someone named Mad Sarge?
• Spam Attack: One of his specialties is to stab with a knife ten times in a second, which he does while dual wielding.

Major

Voiced by (Japanese): Tomomichi Nishimura

Voiced by (English): Kirk Thornton

The Major was a Golan commando who used a razor-sharp wire garrote (changed to a whip in the anime) that could decapitate people, as well as throwing knives.

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• Adaptational Weapon Swap: A Razor Floss garrote in the manga, a whip in the anime.
• Hate Sink: He's possibly one of the nastiest members of the Golan army, as one of the first acts he does is to kill a father in front of his daughter, then kills a woman's husband while stating that he intends to make her his new wife, whether she likes it or not.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: His fate is an invoked version of this, as Ken forces him to kill himself with his own weapon.
• Lean and Mean: He has a very thin build and is one of the evilest members of the Golan army.
• Off with His Head!: How he kicks it in the manga. Ken makes him strangle to death by his own whip instead in the anime.
• Stronger Than You Look: He has a very lean build, but can toss people around with his garrote/whip.

Jackal

Voiced by (Japanese): Masayuki Katō (TV anime), Hiroshi Ohtake (movie), Kouzou Douzaka (Legends ReVIVE)

Voiced by (English): Tom Wyner (TV anime), Carl Macek (The Movie)

A ruthless biker who roams the deserted wasteland with his gang in search of a new hideout, Jackal possesses no real martial art skills, but fights using concealed blades and dynamites, and is a bit more cunning than the average thug. He incurs Kenshiro's wrath after killing Bat's adoptive mother, Toyo. Although he manages to elude him for a while, Kenshiro catches up to him at Villainy Prison. He eventually tricks the "Devil's Rebirth" into fighting Kenshiro by claiming they're long-lost brothers, but this proves to be Jackal's ultimate undoing.

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• Animal Theme Naming: The members of his gang (including himself) are all named after animals, although only two of his lackeys are named in the manga (Fox and Hawk).
• Bad Boss: Gleefully betrays his employees so long as it can be profitable to his wealth or health.
• Badass Normal: Jackal isn't a martial artist, but is a cut above most gang bosses due to his surprising cunning, his arsenal of weapons, and fighting like a complete cad.
• Badass Longcoat: In most of his appearances he wears a nice coat.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Two wrist blades hidden in his gauntlets.
• Combat Pragmatist: His weapons include wrist blades included in his gauntlets and dynamite sticks. That's part of how he managed to survive Kenshiro much longer than any other gang leader in the series. His proclivity toward this is something he directly acknowledges.
  Jackal: Hey, as long as it works.
• Consummate Liar: Ken may think he's a scumbag, but he does compliment him on his ability to tell a convincing lie. He manages to avoid all the trappings of Saying Too Much when manipulating Devil's Rebirth.
• Dirty Coward: He may as well be the living incarnation of this trope. He explicitly makes a point of only picking on the weak, backstabs his men to stall for time, fights with hidden weaponry and explosives, and will invariably lie and beg to save his own life when cornered.
• Demoted to Extra: Despite his role as a central villain in an entire story arc of the manga, Jackal appears in the movie as an unfortunate lackey of Jagi, whose head gets blown up by him just for taking a peek at his unmasked face. Even in the anime, he's nothing more than an underling for Shin, whose ass gets saved by Joker on one occasion.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Like Zeed, Jackal got a girlfriend named Jill in the now defunct MMO game.
• Evil Genius: He's extremely clever and resourceful, as well as an excellent manipulator, which enables him to survive much longer than the average post-apocalyptic thug against Ken.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Jackal meets his end by not only being blown up with his own dynamite but by being blown up while held in place by the Devil's Rebirth, whom he tricked into believing that Jackal was his older brother, as the giant desperately begged his "brother" for help.
• Nothing Personal: He tells Ken he doesn't have a reason to come after him and his gang while having dynamite strapped on two of Toyo's children, one having killed her trying to save one of her adopted children with a wounded shoulder. Unfortunately for him, Toyo's death and Bat's grief made it very personal for Ken.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Him lying to Devil's Rebirth about being his older brother proves to be his undoing due to the latter's love for his family leading him to grab onto Jackal, begging for comfort as they are both blown up by a stick of dynamite.
• Throw Down the Bomblet: Jackal's primary weapons are dozens of dynamite sticks.
• Weak, but Skilled: Downplayed. He's strong enough to compress two of his mooks' heads into each other with his bare hands, but he's clearly more of a planner and trickster than a fighter.

Fox

Voiced by (Japanese): Koji Totani (TV Anime), Takeshi Aono (Movie)

Voiced by (English): Michael Deak (TV Anime), Tom Wyner (Movie)

A member of the Warriors gang and Jackal's 'right-hand' man. He fights using a technique known as Chōtō Chihai Ken, in which he plays possum and then launches a surprise attack, decapitating his victims in mid-air with hidden sickles mounted on his wrists.

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• Blade Below the Shoulder: His signature weapons are his wrist-mounted sickles.
• Bowdlerise: His tic of getting the urge to urinate is removed in the anime.
• Character Tics: He has a very vulgar one, as he gets the urge to urinate after he murders somebody.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: He can jump high into the air while lying on his back.
• Desecrating the Dead: He is seen urinating on the corpse of somebody he murdered in the manga.
• The Dragon: Towards Jackal.

Devil's Rebirth

Voiced by: Eiji Kanie (TV anime)

Voiced by (English): Joe Romersa (TV anime)

A giant killer who earned his nickname due to his monstrous appearance, the Devil's Rebirth is a practitioner of the Rakan Niō Ken ("Arhat Deva Fist") style, which specializes in controlling the wind. He was sentenced to 200 years of solitary confinement in Villainy Prison after killing over 700 people with his monstrous strength.

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• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Boy, is he big.
• Blow You Away: Kongou Fuusatsu Ken technique, which allows him to create a hurricane-force gust of wind.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Practically an innocent, easily-manipulated toddler in the body of an adult when it comes to his beloved mother.
• Impossibly Graceful Giant: Kaiju version. He's a fifty-foot-tall martial artist who is capable of surprisingly agile jumps.
• Made of Iron: Whoo, boy. He was originally sentenced to execution 13 times for his massacre. He survived all 13 attempts, which is why he got sent to 200 years in solitary confinement.
• The Man They Couldn't Hang: As explained above.
• Monstrosity Equals Weakness: "Weak" is an exaggeration, but being literally the size of a 10-story building is STILL not enough to survive Kenshiro's wrath.
• Psychopathic Man Child: His whole reason for fighting Ken is because Jackal convinces him that Devil's Rebirth and him are Brothers, and by defeating Ken they can go find their mother together.
• Spell My Name With An S: In some translations, he's called the Devil's Reverse.

Kiba Daioh/Boss Fang/Fang King

Voiced by: Takeshi Watabe (TV anime, The Movie), Kohei Fukuhara (Ken's Rage) Keikou Sakai (Legends ReVIVE)

Voiced by (English): Simon Prescott (TV anime), James Avery (The Movie), Alan Shearman (Ken's Rage)

Kiba Daioh is the leader and patriarch of the Kiba Ichizoku ("Fang Clan"), a tribe of mountainous bandits whose members are garbed in wolf furs. Kiba Daioh is a giant man who has mastered the art of Kazan Kakuteigi ("Mt. Hua Horn Wrestling"), an ancient art said to be the root of modern Sumo wrestling. He even has the ability to turn his flesh into steel. When Rei's beloved sister Airi falls into Kiba Daioh's hands, Kenshiro and Rei join forces to rescue her and wipe out the Fang Clan.

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• Animal Motifs: His entire clan's thematic motif is wolf-skin-clad Mongolian Warriors.
• Bait the Dog: As shown in Papa Wolf, it looks like he'd be an example of a villain who still has people that they love and treasure, given his interactions with his children display him being enraged at their deaths, before he reveals he sees them as being replaceable.
• Boss Subtitles: "Leader of the Fangs - Boss Fang"
• Demoted to Extra: In the movie, Boss Fang is simply another stepping stone for Raoh during his conquest, and his steel body technique is not enough to save him, as Raoh simply shatters his steel skin and turns him into meat slurry.
• Dirty Coward: Willing to sacrifice his own children to save himself.
• Extra-ore-dinary: One of his fighting techniques, Kazan Kougai Kouhou consists of turning his entire body into steel, or simply making it just as invulnerable depending on your translation.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Boss Fang attempts a Wounded Gazelle Gambit on Kenshiro while secretly lighting a stick of dynamite behind his back. Kenshiro, however, anticipated the cowardly act and had used a pressure point beforehand to lock the muscles in his hand then warns him not to try anything stupid. To Boss Fang's horror, after having lit the dynamite, the hand holding it wouldn't open to let go, causing his arm to be blown off.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Catches one of Raoh's soldiers in his teeth and EATS him in the movie.
• Made of Iron: Literally with Kazan Kogai Kohou, though it can be dispelled by hitting certain pressure points.
• Moral Myopia: He mourns the deaths of his sons and begins seeking retribution, despite the fact his clan is just as guilty of many atrocities.
  • Insane Troll Logic: He decides in order to avenge his fallen sons, Kiba Daioh orders the deaths of their recently captured slaves as a tribute to them.
• Papa Wolf: Played straight, then subverted with delightful viciousness at the last minute
  Random Son: "I thought you loved us, Papa! We're of the same blood right?"
  Kiba Daioh: "Oh shut it! As long as I'm alive, I can conceive as many bastards like you as I want! Now stall [Kenshiro and Rei] so I can escape!"
• Villain Team-Up: With Zeed in the Dream Mode of "Ken's Rage''.

Amiba

Voiced by (Japanese): Takaya Hashi (TV anime), Kazuyuki Okitsu (Legends of the Dark King), Tomokazu Seki (Ken's Rage) Kenyu Horuichi (Legends ReVIVE)

Voiced by (English): Kirk Thornton (TV anime), Steve Staley (Ken's Rage)

Amiba is a Toki impersonator who attempted to tarnish his reputation by taking on his identity (through managing to change his facial appearance and reproduce the same scar on Toki's back) and the "Village of Miracles". A former student of Nanto Seiken, Amiba dropped out from the school and attempted to imitate Toki's use of Hokuto Shinken as a healing art to steal his thunder. After Toki scolds him for misusing Hokuto Shinken on a patient, Amiba joins Ken-oh and his army. With Toki imprisoned in Cassandra, Amiba successfully impersonates the healer, capturing villagers seeking Toki as experiments to test out new pressure points in order to perfect his version of Hokuto Shinken.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job:
  • From black in the manga to white in the anime, likely done to avoid the Continuity Snarl of Amiba being able to trick Kenshiro when Toki's hair became white after the bombs dropped. His natural hair color, though, is blond in the anime.
  • The Shirogane no Seija Spin-Off manga rectified the original's issue by giving Amiba white hair when posing as Toki.
• Adaptation Expansion: The Soukaku no Garou manga extends his backstory, revealing he was a student of Nanto Suichō Ken, which explains how he and Rei know each other.
• Ax-Crazy: He’s clearly nuts, that’s for sure.
• Boss Subtitles: "Self-Taught Genius - Amiba"
• Clipped-Wing Angel: Amiba enters a Super Mode by pressing his own pressure points to bulk up, only for his hands to explode and physique to regress back before he even had a chance to attack, leaving him completely defenseless. In the anime, as he’s walking back to his death, Mamiya taunts him by suggesting that he push the points to stop himself, leading to him flailing the stumps of his arms around.
• Dirty Coward: Begs for mercy once Kenshiro delivers the coup de grâce.
• Disney Villain Death: After getting pummeled by Kenshiro's Zankai Sekiho Ken attack, Amiba is forced to walk backward off the top of his tower, then falls crying out to Ken-Oh.
• Disproportionate Retribution: He becomes a sadistic murderer in order to ruin Toki's good name in retaliation for being brushed aside as a hinderance to medical aid Toki was lending and being accidentally slapped in the face to top off the humiliation of his genius being completely ignored.
• Easy Impersonation:
  • Subverted; Amiba manages to disguise himself by literally rearranging his face so that he looks more like Toki and even goes as far as to reproduce the scar on Toki's back. The only real oversight is Kenshiro later reveals that Toki's hair became white due to nuclear fallout, yet he is still tricked by Amiba's black hair in the manga. In the anime, this is rectified by giving Amiba white hair,
  • In Ken's Rage, his hair is black, but Rei immediately calls him out (albeit not for this reason).
• Entitled Bastard: Besides the sheer pettiness, he believes that as a genius fighter, he can use or butcher whoever he wants without reproach. Rei and Ken both tell him that he's full of it.
• Evil Genius: A throwaway line after his death reveals that he had this position in Raoh's army, and to his credit, Amiba is a very clever man. But he loves to go on and on about how he’s a genius.
• Fatal Flaw: Amiba's undoing is his egotism. He is very smart and very good, and when he teaches his new techniques to trained Hokuto Shinken fighters like Jagi and Raoh, they make good use of them. But, because he neglects the basics, and because his skill plummets when he's emotional, he starts screwing up during his fight with Ken.
• Glory Hound: He has an insistent need to have his ego stroked, and saw the emulation of Toki's medical usage of Hokuto Shinken as the best way to do it. The problems stem from how little he cares about the lives that he has to toy with just to barely scratch the surface of Toki's level of competence. The literal slap in the face he receives from Toki set him on the warpath once he realizes his supposed genius will never be recognized by Toki.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: His facial structure is exactly like Toki's, except for his eyes.
• Insufferable Genius: Claims he can master any martial art style in the shortest amount of time, and there's a certain amount of truth to that.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: He's convinced he's learned enough of Hokuto Shinken to be a master of his own variation of the style. As Kenshiro angrily points out, he doesn't have the training to successfully imitate it. See also Clipped-Wing Angel.
• Legendary Impostor: Pretends to be Toki, famous healer and master of Hokuto Shinken, in part to profit from it, and in part do deliberately smear Toki's name.
• Mad Scientist: Fits the mold even without the look - Amiba taught himself a few Hokuto Shinken essentials, as well as new ground simply via trial and error at the expense of innocent lives. This is also Amiba's main crime- his minions go out into the city he's stationed in and gather civilians for him to use as test subjects.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Word of God states his appearance is modeled after Christopher Lambert in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes.
• Psychopathic Manchild: His entire reason for impersonating Toki and ruining his reputation is because the latter slapped him in the face one time. He also hates being ignored, and in general acts like a spoiled brat.
• Reincarnate in Another World: Becomes the protagonist of an isekai-styled fantasy world after being killed by Kenshiro.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He claims to have improved Hokuto Shinken and discovered pressure points that nobody knew, using as a demonstration a technique that increases his muscle mass only for his hands to explode and him to deflate like a balloon. To add salt to the wound Toki uses the exact same technique, only his hands don't explode, and both Raoh and Kenshiro recognize it.
• Unstoppable Rage: Averted; Amiba is actually a worse fighter when he's angry since it makes him more likely to screw up the delicate pressure points systems of Hokuto Shinken.
• Villain Team-Up: With Jagi in Ken's Rage; Shirogane no Seija reveals Jagi was the one who helped Amiba with his impersonation.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: He claims he is nothing like Jagi and there's truth to be had in that when he no sells Kenshiro's initial assaults. Although he's put on the ropes when he sends Kenshiro into an Unstoppable Rage, through some dirtiness he quickly turns the tides. It's only after Rei hurts his ego does Amiba become emotionally unstable enough to make a fatal mistake and lose the battle.
• Weak, but Skilled: Amiba doesn't lie when he claims he is a genius, as the databook has his skill level at a whopping 4/5. However, his subpar power and average speed make his skill in practice less effective against a powerhouse like Kenshiro.

Anime-only characters

Pel

Rin's little (yet brave) pet dog who appears only in the Animated Adaptation.

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• Canine Companion: He follows the trio in their journey and he even helps out Bat, Rei and Mamiya when Rin is lost wandering the desert.
• Canon Foreigner: Created exclusively for the anime.
• Everything's Precious with Puppies
• Kick the Dog: He's given this treatment by one of God's Army men. Literally.
• Spell My Name With An S: He's known as Bell in certain translations. The official dub of the anime renders it Peru.
• Timmy in a Well: When Rin gets lost and collapses in the desert, Pel's barking alerts a bunch of traveling merchants, who come and rescue her.
• What Happened To The Dog?: Pel disappears after the Thouzer arc, only to make one last cameo during episode 70 before vanishing from the show for good. No explanation is given for his sudden absence.

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Joker

Voiced by: Shigeru Chiba (Japanese), Richard Cansino (English)

A chief officer in the KING Organization Joker is Shin's right-hand man in the anime. He's slippery, tricky, and fights with razor-sharp playing cards.

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• Co-Dragons: At first he seemed to be Shin's sole Dragon up until Balcom was introduced. Balcom leads Southern Cross's regular army whilst Joker is the go-between Shin and the various gangs under him. As a result, it was on Joker's orders that Ken faced many foes and when Balcom fails to kill him Joker elects to do it himself.
• Death Dealer: His main weapons are his sharp playing cards. He uses them to send Mr. Heart into a rampage to take down Kenshiro.
• Face Death with Dignity: When Kenshiro has him beaten and about to explode he gives Joker an ultimatum: die or give a message to Shin. Joker told him to shove it and chose to die rather than grovel.
• Filler Villain: Probably the most recurring of all the anime-only bad guys.
• Flash Step: Can appear from thin air, as if he had just teleported. When trying to use this for his advantage in a direct fight against Kenshiro, he is quickly outmatched as Kenshiro can easily keep up with him.
• Graceful Loser: After being beaten and having only a few seconds left to live, instead of undergoing a Villainous Breakdown like many other mooks, he simply sends a message to Shin informing him of Ken's victory and then calmly wonders who would emerge victorious from their up-coming fight, Shin or Ken.

General Balcom

Voiced by (Japanese): Seizō Katō (TV anime)

Voiced by (English): Beau Billingslea (TV anime), G. Larry Butler (TV anime, recut dub)

A recurring anime-exclusive henchman under Shin. The leader of Shin's army, Balcom is a powerful and brutal user of Taizanji Kenpō able to harden his muscles and strike at incredible speeds.

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• Bald of Evil: When his helmet is destroyed we see he has no hair on his head.
• Beard of Evil: Thick, black, and savage.
• Co-Dragons: He and Joker are both Shin's top henchmen. Balcom directly manages Southern Cross's regular army, whereas Joker manages the miscellaneous gangs serving under Shin and serves as reconnaissance.
• The Dog Bites Back: One of the reasons that he rebels against Shin is his growing resentment of Shin wasting hundreds of men and resources fighting Ken without any compensation.
• Eviler than Thou: He also hates how Shin reigns in the destructive tendencies and plundering of him and his mooks because he tries to make Yuria happy.
• Expy: Of Baiken Kinbu, from the original Fist of the North Star pilot, using his same techniques and getting killed in the same way.
• Filler Villain: He's only in the anime, both to provide an extra obstacle to Kenshiro and to give Shin a Villainous Valour moment when he inevitably tries to kill him.
• Four-Star Badass: He's the only minion under Shin that can give him a halfway decent fight.
• General Ripper: He sends his soldiers against Shin, and while they fight, have grenades tossed down, consuming all the combatants in an explosion in an attempt to kill Shin.
• He Knows Too Much: Killed a non-agreeing general just on the possibility that he might squeal to Shin about the plot against him, even after said general claimed he wouldn't interfere.
• Mythology Gag: He's heavily based on Baiken Kinbu from the pilot, to the point where he has the same techniques and dies in the same way as he does.
• No-Sell: His breathing technique allows him to do this to certain weapons, such as knives or large rocks. It doesn't work against Shin, however.
• The Starscream: He and Shin's still living staff stage a coup against him in episode 21.

Buckham

Voiced by: Takeshi Watabe (Japanese), Jonathan Cook (English)

• Evil Sounds Deep: Buckham has one of the deepest voices in the anime dub.

Patra

Voiced by: Yoshino Otori (Japanese), Riva Spier (English)

Dragon

Voiced by: Saburo Kamei (Japanese), Bob Papenbrook (English)

Dante

Voiced by: Tessho Genda (Japanese), Michael Sorich (English)

An anime-only villain serving as the Villain of the Week for episode 14. Dante was a ruthless gang leader and Nanto Seiken practitioner whose partner in crime, Duran, left to live a peaceful life as a doctor in a village. Upon finding this out he and his gang go to destroy all Duran had built.

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• Ambiguously Gay: His design has an obvious leatherman vibe to it and he kisses the men he kills, although it's never stated if he just does it to taunt them or because he finds them attractive.
• Awesome Aussie: The dub gave him an Australian accent, possibly because of the boomerangs that he incorporates into his "Nento Soikehn".
• Disney Villain Death: Kenshiro makes him walk towards a volcano helplessly then he falls in.
• Filler Villain: Only present in the anime.
• Leatherman: His getup seems to be a throwback to the trope. He does bear an uncanny resemblance to the OG example, Glenn Hughes.

Zaria

Voiced by: Katsuji Mori (Japanese), Joe Romersa (English)

Baron

Voiced by: Koji Totani (Japanese), Steve Bulen (English)

Junk

Voiced by: Yuji Mikimoto (Japanese), Jerry Gelb (English)

Wolf

Voiced by: Yusaku Yara (Japanese), Steve Bulen (English)

Gorath

Voiced by: Takeshi Watabe (Japanese), Joe Romersa (English)

The second of Shin’s final six commanders to fight Kenshiro. He uses a tank, which he claims is the only one still intact.

• Horny Vikings: He isn’t one, but wears a stereotypical Viking helmet.
• Tank Goodness: He uses a tank on Kenshiro… It goes about as well as you’d expect.

Mahari

Voiced by: Tesshō Genda (Japanese), Wally Burr (English)

Garekki

Voiced by: Keiichi Noda (Japanese), Steve Kramer (English)

The commander of the Golden Wolf army under Shin. He is also the inventor of the Nanto Ningen Hodan (South Star Human Cannonball) style.

• Awesome, but Impractical: The premise of Nanto Ningen Houdan involves launching out of a cannon and striking down the opposition. Garekki and his men make it look easy to perform despite that they carefully plan out their attacks in advance.
• Gunboat Diplomacy: He resorts to this in order to get Gina Village to hand over Kenshiro. When the village denies having him, Garekki gives them two hours (during his lunch break) to bring Kenshiro to him or the Golden Wolf army would attack.
• You, Get Me Coffee: His request for lunch includes a cup of coffee.

Hydra

Voiced by: Koji Yada (Japanese), Jonathan C. Osborne (English)

Toda

Voiced by: Banjo Ginga (Japanese), Peter Spellos (English)

Jennifer

Voiced by: Masako Katsuki (Japanese), Carol Stanzione (English)

• Automatic Crossbows: She's able to fire several bolts from her crossbow without the apparent need to reload.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Jennifer guides Kenshiro (along with Bat and Rin) towards Southern Cross so that he can kill Shin. They encounter an artillery cannon at the outskirts of Southern Cross, and after barely avoiding being killed by an initial barrage, Jennifer tells Kenshiro that she'll ride out and deliberately draw their fire, giving him an opportunity to safely attack them during the time when they're reloading between shots. Kenshiro doesn't say anything to dissuade her, with his expression suggesting he knows it's the best option in the situation despite Kenshiro generally not wanting innocent people to die on his behalf. Even if Kenshiro could somehow survive a direct hit with an artillery shell (a ridiculous feat even by Hokuto users' standards), he's also got Bat and Rin along with him in the jeep who are targets, and thus Jennifer's sacrifice saves all three of them.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Bears many of Mamiya's personality traits and mind you she appears near the end of the Shin arc just a few episodes before the TV series enters the Fang arc.

Temujin

Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka

Voiced by (English): Kirk Thornton (TV anime), Bradford Hill (TV anime, recut dub)

• Heroic Sacrifice: He escaped from Southern Cross to search for Kenshiro but was chased by Shin's troops for miles and received several arrow shots in the back while driving away. By the time he met Kenshiro, he was already limping and died upon speaking with the Hokuto Shinken successor. His sacrifice was definitely not in vain because while the details he gave were vague, his words gave Kenshiro an idea of where to go to find Southern Cross thus speeding up his journey considerably and just right before Raoh's army marched upon the city to conquer it.

Garou

Voiced by: Masato Hirano

Ryuga's second in command, Garou helped lead Ryuga's soldiers in bringing order to Raoh's territories, the soldiers having attempted rebellion in his absence. He is a master of Taizan-ryū Zanjin Battōjutsu, a martial art that incorporates his sword. He makes it a point that his loyalty is to Ryuga rather than to Raoh himself.

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• A Father to His Men: He cares about those under his command enough that he demands them to avoid trying to avenge him when Ken beats him, as he knows that Ken will easily kill them.
• Alas, Poor Villain: One of the less wicked members of Ken-Oh's army. When he's defeated he, like his boss, convey that they hope Ken can finally make the world a better place.
  "How I wanted to beat you myself for Ryuga. I acknowledge my failure by your hands to Ryuga. But this chaotic world needs a great tree. And that tree is you."
• Animal Motifs: Wolves. His name is the Japanese word for a Wolf, and he travels accompanied by his subordinates, much like how Wolves travel in packs. There's also his unquestioning loyalty towards his master Ryuga which is similar to a dog's loyalty to their human.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: He is honorable, loyal, respectful, dignified, and noble, befitting of his Samurai-like appearance.
• Elite Mooks: Ryuga's forces self describe themselves as this and it shows. They function more like a trained group of soldiers rather than the brutish gangsters that populate the wasteland. It's their division that brings Raoh's deserters to heel.
• Filler Villain: His boss was from the manga, but Garou was created for the anime.
• Fingore: In his fight with Kenshiro, Kenshiro backhands his sword hand, destroying Garou's fingers.
• Mook Lieutenant: Not a general himself, but a sub-commander of one of Raoh's divisions (Ryuga's army). He distributes his leader's orders. He also wears a gold breastplate to distinguish himself from the army of blue breastplates.
• Noble Demon: He's an enforcer of a brutal regime, but he does believe in Ryuga's cause. After Kenshiro defeats him, Garou demands that his underlings stand down and not engage Kenshiro in revenge as they would die as well.
• Noble Wolf: Invoked by his name as well as him having an actual sense of honor as well as actual morality and compassion, as he cares about his underlings and requests for them to avoid avenging him, as he knows Ken will easily kill them.
• Samurai: He possesses undying loyalty to his boss Ryuga, has a strong sense of honor, wields a Katana, and his armor resembles a typical suit of Samurai armor.
• Undying Loyalty: To Ryuga, a man who's goals and ambitions Garou believes in.
• Worthy Opponent: He views Kenshiro as this, having wanted to defeat him for Ryuga. As he is dying he acknowledges Kenshiro as the better combatant.

Bella

Voiced by: Keiko Toda

A prisoner of Cassandra. She succeeded her father as the user of Ranzan Kurenai Ken style of fighting. She and her mother were rounded up and imprisoned in Cassandra, later she was deployed by the warden to fight Kenshiro, banking on Ken's inability to hit women to allow her to succeed.

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• Action Girl: Successor to her own martial art, she was one of the series's few female fighters.
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: A confusing addition to the anime on account of another anime addition. She was sent after Kenshiro because Ken doesn't hit women, except he'd previously fought and killed another anime-only villainess, Patra. Even if Uighur didn't know this, there was very little to indicate Kenshiro Wouldn't Hit a Girl with how few female opponents he'd had.
• All for Nothing: Her mother had already been killed before her fight with Kenshiro started and she got killed by Targel for failing her assignment in the first place.
• Anti-Villain: Her mother was taken prisoner by Uighur and she's forced to fight Kenshiro. She doesn't want to fight him and isn't particularly malicious on her own, but she has to save her mother.
• Filler Villain: Like Joker and Balcom, she's an anime-only obstacle for Kenshiro.

Balga

Voiced by: Masaki Terasoma (Legends of the True Savior)

One of Raoh's former generals, Balga lost his motivation to fight following his defeat. As his personality becomes softer, the devious Kouketsu takes advantage of this and enslaves Balga and his villagers. In order to work hard to ensure his son Shingo and the other villagers' children are unharmed, Balga plows Kouketsu's fields, despite the unlikelihood of anything growing there. When Kenshiro arrives with Raoh's son Ryu, they defeat Kouketsu and his men, liberating Balga and his people, and reclaiming Balga's honor. After Baran, the "Emperor of Light", is defeated, Kenshiro leaves Ryu in Balga and Shingo's care.

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• Adaptation Expansion: In the original manga, an unnamed soldier shot Raoh in the leg with an arrow to stop him from killing Yuria to achieve Musou Tensei; Legend of Raoh: Chapter of Fierce Fighting establishes it is Balga. Furthermore, an additional scene in the movie regarding Raoh killing his generals to prevent them from seizing power after his death includes Balga locking them in the throne room with the tyrant, implying he knew about Raoh's agenda all along.
• Anti-Villain: Legends of the True Savior paints Balga squarely as this; not only does he know of Raoh's true intentions regarding the rest of the generals, but he weeps for him, knowing full well he will lose to Kenshiro in their final duel.
• Nice Guy
• Number Two: Raoh's most trusted general in Legends of the True Savior and the only one spared when Raoh decides to kill the rest of them.
• Reasonable Authority Figure

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