The SaiGAR Tournament 2008 is starting up, and I’m here to argue the case of Kenshiro.

Kenshiro is the latest master of an 1800 year old martial art called “Hokuto Shinken,” or Divine Fist of the North Star. It is the most deadly and powerful martial art known to man, and it involves mastery of the body’s various pressure points to cause a variety of effects. It is a martial art so powerful that traditionally only one master is allowed at a time, while the other students are forbidden from ever using it again, either by choice or by force.

As for Hokuto Shinken itself, here are some of the things it can do.

-By hitting one set of pressure points, he can cause a person’s head to explode after the count of 3. During this time he tells his victim to think about all the terrible sins they have committed in their lives.
-He can make a person walk backwards forever.
-He can force you to point a gun at yourself.
-He can make your arm tell the truth.
-In fact he can make any part of your body explode.
-Part of Hokuto Shinken is learning from other martial arts, so if you’re a master as well, he’s probably going to pick something up from you and use it just as effectively
-He can cure blindness caused by psychological trauma

That last one isn’t very violent now is it? Ah, but that’s where the true character of Kenshiro lies.

He is the inheritor of an almost two-thousand year old assassin-based martial art, but it is not solely because of his capacity as an assassin that makes him deserving of the title of Hokuto Shinken Master, it is also because of his compassion.

Kenshiro lives in the era after 199X, a cataclysmic year where the world was destroyed by nuclear war. In the aftermath of this nuclear war, the planet has become a place where the strong oppress the weak, where violent gangs rape and pillage families and towns.

It is the end of the century.

And Kenshiro is its savior.

Kenshiro aids the downtrodden, gives hope to the innocent, and is able to sense the true intent of any individual. He is accompanied by two young children in his travels, children who represent the hope of the future. Even when faced by strong opponents, he can tell when they are truly evil and when they are simply misunderstood. Fighting a pair of twins, he is unable to continue fighting them as he can see the sadness within their faces. Indeed, these brothers fight against their will because a man has kidnapped their beloved younger brother. Kenshiro not only has ultimate strength, but ultimate empathy.

But if you are evil? If your intent truly is malicious?

Why, you’re already dead.