The Southern Cross arc is the second half and conclusion of the Shin arc. In the Hokuto no Ken manga, it is the second arc in the series, while in the anime, it is the sixth arc.
In this arc, Kenshiro finally makes it to the city of Southern Cross and finishes off the remaining members of the King Organization, leading to his final battle against Shin in an attempt to save Yuria.
Characters[]
Recurring[]
- Kenshiro
- Bat
- Lin (anime)
- Pel (anime)
- Shin
- Yuria
- Joker (anime)
- Balcom (anime)
- Saki (anime)
- Jennifer (anime)
Minor[]
- Club (manga)
- Heart (manga)
- Aruna (anime)
- Temujina (anime)
- Wolf (anime)
- Gorath (anime)
- Garekki (anime)
- Mahari (anime)
- Hydra (anime)
- Toda (anime)
- Nariman (anime)
Anime & Manga Differences[]
- While this arc happens directly after the King arc in the manga, the anime placed the Golan arc and Warriors arc in-between and adding connections to Shin in them, as well as placing two filler arcs, the Patra arc and the King's Disciples arc so the Shin arc has more depth to it and having it so Kenshiro's final fight against Shin doesn't happen until the end of the first season.
- In the manga, Kenshiro fights against Club when entering the city and then fights against Heart in Shin's throne room just before his battle with Shin. In the anime, Ken already defeated Club and Heart way earlier back in the King arc in different locations.
- Lin is present throughout the entire arc in the anime whereas, in the manga, she does not reappear until the Golan arc.
- In the anime, many subplots were added in before Kenshiro actually steps foot in Southern Cross, such as:
- Kenshiro's entire battle against the various subdivisions of Shin's army.
- Yuria and her handmaiden Saki plotting an escape and having Saki's brother Temujina escape to go inform Kenshiro that Yuria is in Southern Cross.
- A resistance group from Gina Village led by Jennifer that is fighting to oppose the King Organization.
- Balcom, the leader of Shin's army, attempting to stage a coup d'état against Shin because of his annoyance at Shin's obsession with Yuria.
[]
| Southern Cross arc | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ← King arc (Manga) ← King's Disciples arc (Anime) |
Golan arc (Manga) → Fang Clan arc (Anime) → | |||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||