Shin

Shin
	; Shin, as he appears in the manga.
Name in Kanji	シン
Name in Romaji	Shin
Alternate spelling(s)	Sin
Fighting Style	Nanto Koshū Ken
Family	Gishaku (father, Right on King)
Position(s)	Leader of the KING organization
Appearances	Manga (ch. 4-10, 121), Anime (ep. 1-22, 97), Yuria Gaiden, "Rei Gaiden"
Voice actor(s)	Toshio Furukawa; Takuya Kirimoto (Yuria Den, Kenshiro Den, Legends ReVIVE, Fitness Boxing: Hokuto no Ken); Tomokazu Sugita (Hokuto Musou, Shin Hokuto Musou); Ryōtarō Okiayu (DD Hokuto no Ken); Toshiyuki Morikawa (Ichigo Aji); Kazuhiro Nakaya (Hokuto ga Gotoku); Steve Blum (TV series dub); Michael McConnohie (1986 movie dub); Doug Erholtz (Hokuto Musou dub); Greg Chun (Hokuto ga Gotoku dub)

"A wonderful age is upon us. The strong can take what they want without restraint!"

— Shin

Shin (シン) is the successor of Nanto Koshū Ken (南斗孤鷲拳, "South Dipper Lone Eagle Fist"), one of the martial art styles within the Nanto Rokusei Ken. He bears the destiny of the Star of Martyrdom (殉星, Junsei), who is destined to live and die for love.

History

Shin secretly desired Kenshiro's fiancée, Yuria, ever since they first met. After the nuclear war and the death of Master Ryuken, Shin was goaded by Jagi into confronting Kenshiro and taking Yuria for himself. Shin challenged Kenshiro and paralyzed him with the Nanto Gokuto Ken technique before engraving seven scars in the shape of the Big Dipper on his chest to coerce Yuria into swearing her love for him.

During the following year, Shin and his army conquered the former Kantō region. He assumed the title of KING and built Yuria the city of Southern Cross to win her affection. However, his continued atrocities only drove her to commit suicide by leaping from the palace balcony. Yuria survived due to the intervention of the Nanto Goshasei, who arrived at Southern Cross to save Yuria from Raoh's imminent invasion. Shin entrusted Yuria to the Goshasei's custody and allowed his reputation to be tarnished by pretending he was her murderer.

It was after this that Kenshiro infiltrated Shin's headquarters and the two fought once more. Driven by Shin's words after their first battle, Kenshiro defeated him by striking his vital points in the shape of Shin's emblem - the 'Bloody Cross'. Maintaining that Yuria had died, Shin refused to perish by Ken's hand and took his own life by jumping from the palace balcony, as Yuria did before him. After the battle, Kenshiro buried his fallen rival out of respect for their mutual love for the same woman.

TV series

In the TV series, Shin's empire is notably larger compared to the manga. In addition to his four lieutenants (Heart, Spade, Diamond, and Club), it also includes the God's Army organization, Jackal's gang and a host of subordinate groups. As Kenshiro continues to thwart his efforts at every turn, Shin assembles his remaining troops and sends them on an all-out assault against Kenshiro as he approaches Southern Cross. After Kenshiro is presumed dead, Balcom seizes the opportunity to plot a mutiny against Shin, and although Shin defeats him, the city is destroyed in the chaos. With Shin vowing to build another Southern Cross, Yuria decides to commit suicide from the palace balcony and prevent the violence repeating itself.

1986 movie

In the 1986 movie, Yuria mentions that Kenshiro and Shin grew up together and had a brotherly friendship. Shin's army is defeated by Raoh's troops who invade Southern Cross before Kenshiro's arrival - whilst Shin is defeated off-screen by Raoh himself. When Kenshiro finally arrives, Shin is already dying from his previous fight with Raoh, but in his final moments he reveals that Raoh has taken Yuria to Cassandra.

Kenshirō Den

The 2008 movie Kenshirō Den introduces Shin's Nanto Koshū Ken predecessor, Fugen, as well as Shin's former training partner, Jugai, who was said to be of equal ability.

Fighting Style

Shin is a master of Nanto Koshū Ken (unnamed in both the manga and anime), which focuses on the use of hand thrusts to stab his enemies. His stabbing power is such is that he could penetrate through Heart's body, infamous for its ability to absorb fists and render them useless. Shin can also employ kicks in his style which allow him to slice tendons. The 1980s anime extended the style with knife hand slices, and rapid punch techniques, the latter of which could counter muscle hardening techniques, by causing cracks. His thrusts could also activate pressure points causing enemies to explode.

Shin is a very powerful fighter, causing Kenshiro's first known defeat, while sustaining little to no injuries. According to Shin himself, his own desire for Yuria empowered him by giving him the drive needed to overcome Kenshiro while the latter lacked any of it and was arguably hesitant to fight against his friend. After Kenshiro developed an ambition of his own to fuel his power to save Yuria, Shin found himself on the receiving end of Kenshiro's attacks for most of the fight. When he pretended to kill Yuria to deprive Kenshiro of his motivation, Kenshiro's anger empowered him further, at which point Shin was no match for the Hokuto Shin Ken successor.

Character Rating

From Hokuto no Ken: Kyūkyoku Kaisetsusho: Seikimatsu Haō Retsuden.

Level: A
Power: 3
Speed: 4
Skills: 4
Looks: 4
Charisma: 4

Trivia

Tetsuo Hara based Shin off of the Iron Don Quixote's villain Shinichi Igarashi.
Banikis Gigo from Konjiki no Gash Bell!, has a striking resemblance with Shin.
Hien, a character from Sakigake!! Otokojuku, bears a slight resemblance to Shin.
Steve Blum (Shin's English voice actor) is married to Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Yuria and Mamiya's English voice actress).

v • d • eKing's Organization
Leader	Shin
Four Lieutenants	Spade • Diamond • Club • Heart
Other Members	Joker • Balcom • Dragon • Patra • Dante • Zaria • Wolf • Gorath • Garekki • Mahari • Hydra • Toda • Nariman
Allies
God's Army	Colonel • Mad Sarge • Major • Buckham
The Warriors	Jackal • Fox • Scorpio • Hawk
Other Allies	Zeed • Junk • Baron

Shin

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