I think another important part of understanding Souther (and Yuda to an extent) is also taking into account the POLITICS of HnK's post apocalyptic world. By that I mean, Souther's school is destined to lead the martial side of the Nanto society which is clearly shaping up to become the main political power in HnK next to Raoh's army. It could even be that he was planning to overthrow the Nanto general, but my point is, Souther is basically the closest thing to the Hokuto successor in Nanto. Only one person can inherit the style at any time (hence his master's suicide) and it clearly is the most important of the six main Nanto schools. His master's death closed him off emotionnally, but it's easy to guess that the rest of his life he was basically venerated and feared as a soon-to-be dictator and his emotional wound eventually turned to egocentric nihilism because he was so far removed from everyone. That could be why he seems to derive a twisted kind of pleasure from the suffering of children, he's wasting their life just like his master wasted his in his mind. It's also why he reserves such a cruel fate to his only close friend Shu. He WANTS to deny his humanity and pretend nothing matters, once in power he would have continued to work his slaves to death on vanity. The pyramid is the ultimate monument to nothingness and empty grandeur, and the more people he sacrifices to the pyramid, the more senseless and absurd the monument becomes, a cruel representation of his worldview. Framing Nanto as a militaristic sect kinda gives hindsight to how extreme and cruel most of its practitioners can be in response to emotional trauma. It's funny how (most likely not entirely by design), HnK villains tend to have differing relationships with the concept of love that shape their expression of evil. Yuda (and Jagi) got an inferiority complex, Souther is detached, Shin is obsessive, Raoh is possessive, Amiba is narcissistic, etc. And that's why Kenshiro showing empathy towards him works for me. Ken doesn't forgive him, but he understands how one can fall prey to such nihilism (after all, he has tasted despair before at the hands of Shin). Him showing mercy at the end is his way to shatter Souther's pretense and expose him for what he truly is : a wounded and abandoned child longing for death besides his master. In a way, both lost their reason to live (Ken's was Yuria) but had different reactions to it, although both self-destructive. Souther is trying to kill of every trace of his humanity and Kenshiro wanders aimlessly, fighting injustice until he eventually dies alone in the desert. When you compare both of them to how happy they looked in their flashbacks, you could say they're both already dead.
I view Souther to be a deconstruction and analysis of the powerhouses of the Eighties, considering how he tries to bury emotion underneath stoicism and badassery. He isn’t able to do so, however, and thus needs to learn how such a philosophy is unhealthy at Souther’s extreme. Plus, Kaioh is like a more well-developed Souther, who has has actual motivation, and keeps consistent with that freudian motive.
I do agree that souther should have been a bit less confused on his feelings towards the end,but i find it funny he goes to his dads statue and cries "daddddyyyyy..."
The fact that we could've got a really interesting look on how Souther got his superiority complex, his relationships with other characters and his past overall but instead we got Ichigo Aji is probably one of the biggest disappointments with HNK's expanded media. I don't wanna just say the anime will fix it (cause it's easy to just assume the anime will fix any and all issues with the story even though it's not out yet) but I would like to see them give him and some of the other key players a bit of extra service to help new fans connect with them more.
Souther is my favorite villain of the series due to his sadistic and ruthless personality. He could've been the one villain that was unrepentant to the bitter end while being an actual threat, those are my favorite type of villains. I still agree with you that his backstory was forced, but the way you reimagined it being told by Shu instead and how that plays out was really well done. Still wish he was unrepentant though
He’s not my favorite by any means, but I do enjoy his fighting style, character design, plus his weakness is probably one of my favorite twists in all of manga. My FAVORITE tho has to be either Raoh or hyoh(please make a video on hyoh I really like these vids❤)
To be honest if I have some doubts about my feelings about character I am doing two things, read their Gaiden (if there is any) and play their campaning in Ken Rage 2
I don’t like that in manga and anime, characters who are related to each other do not interact in any way. There were no meetings where 6 nanto gathered, how did Toki and Rao communicate with Jagi, and does Han even know Hyō and Kayo?
I enjoy Souther, but reason he’s good in ways is sometimes hating a villian is what makes them good. Also I guess he does have complicated things and honestly Souther story should have been more explain in a way after his master died how did he become more corrupted other than his sorrow. :/ I don’t have lot say except enjoy video and I should say. Let’s hope HNK problems be fix in the remake. Hope : )
Another thing that couldve been fleshed out is why Souther hates Hokuto, because he actually has a good reason. The story just skims over it. All of the schools in HNK follow this vague "grand plan" and they're informed of their role early on. Souther is the emperor and he has to not only take on a huge responsibility, but he had to sacrifice his master, who he loved more than anyone. That same destiny says that he has to play a support role to the Hokuto school, which sacrificed nothing. Naturally, he's going to want to change his fate by showing those entitled Hokuto punks who's boss. Of course, Souther isn't a misunderstood saint. He's flawed, but in an understandable way. Souther spent his whole life believing that he's naturally superior to everyone else and nobody has ever proved him wrong. Everything he does is excusable because the Holy Emperor is always right. A shame that was all condensed into "My master died and it pissed me off"
I think so. Shuu seemed awfully concerned about Souther's redemption. There's also that one line where Southern says "I can't break the rules, even for you", implying that Shuu was special in his eyes.
@@babysinclairfan that makes sense. It's kinda cool how souther didn't seem to be so evil in that flashback. I wonder when exactly he started to enslave children
I just like his looks, his style, his voice, his story BEFORE they busted a Naruto on him. BUT what I like about him the most is that he had the absolute best moment in HnK for me. When he dropped kenshiro on his ass
Tbh souther is evil, I mean yeah you make good points. Yuda though, he in no way deserved a I forgive you death. Like dude just ran around kidnapping women doing horrible shit. Like tf you mean rei shows sympathy 😭
The most evil thing Souther did was change his name to Thouzer, just to fuck with us
actually true
I think another important part of understanding Souther (and Yuda to an extent) is also taking into account the POLITICS of HnK's post apocalyptic world. By that I mean, Souther's school is destined to lead the martial side of the Nanto society which is clearly shaping up to become the main political power in HnK next to Raoh's army. It could even be that he was planning to overthrow the Nanto general, but my point is, Souther is basically the closest thing to the Hokuto successor in Nanto. Only one person can inherit the style at any time (hence his master's suicide) and it clearly is the most important of the six main Nanto schools. His master's death closed him off emotionnally, but it's easy to guess that the rest of his life he was basically venerated and feared as a soon-to-be dictator and his emotional wound eventually turned to egocentric nihilism because he was so far removed from everyone. That could be why he seems to derive a twisted kind of pleasure from the suffering of children, he's wasting their life just like his master wasted his in his mind. It's also why he reserves such a cruel fate to his only close friend Shu. He WANTS to deny his humanity and pretend nothing matters, once in power he would have continued to work his slaves to death on vanity. The pyramid is the ultimate monument to nothingness and empty grandeur, and the more people he sacrifices to the pyramid, the more senseless and absurd the monument becomes, a cruel representation of his worldview.
Framing Nanto as a militaristic sect kinda gives hindsight to how extreme and cruel most of its practitioners can be in response to emotional trauma. It's funny how (most likely not entirely by design), HnK villains tend to have differing relationships with the concept of love that shape their expression of evil. Yuda (and Jagi) got an inferiority complex, Souther is detached, Shin is obsessive, Raoh is possessive, Amiba is narcissistic, etc.
And that's why Kenshiro showing empathy towards him works for me. Ken doesn't forgive him, but he understands how one can fall prey to such nihilism (after all, he has tasted despair before at the hands of Shin). Him showing mercy at the end is his way to shatter Souther's pretense and expose him for what he truly is : a wounded and abandoned child longing for death besides his master. In a way, both lost their reason to live (Ken's was Yuria) but had different reactions to it, although both self-destructive. Souther is trying to kill of every trace of his humanity and Kenshiro wanders aimlessly, fighting injustice until he eventually dies alone in the desert. When you compare both of them to how happy they looked in their flashbacks, you could say they're both already dead.
Oh man oh geez louis, that guy in the patreon screen must be really cool and handsome.
An amazing individual for sure. They don't even know he saw this 3 days earlier.
I view Souther to be a deconstruction and analysis of the powerhouses of the Eighties, considering how he tries to bury emotion underneath stoicism and badassery. He isn’t able to do so, however, and thus needs to learn how such a philosophy is unhealthy at Souther’s extreme. Plus, Kaioh is like a more well-developed Souther, who has has actual motivation, and keeps consistent with that freudian motive.
I do agree that souther should have been a bit less confused on his feelings towards the end,but i find it funny he goes to his dads statue and cries "daddddyyyyy..."
It seems to me that Southerner was also swallowed up by power, since he is the emperor, and all the rest are his subjects
The fact that we could've got a really interesting look on how Souther got his superiority complex, his relationships with other characters and his past overall but instead we got Ichigo Aji is probably one of the biggest disappointments with HNK's expanded media. I don't wanna just say the anime will fix it (cause it's easy to just assume the anime will fix any and all issues with the story even though it's not out yet) but I would like to see them give him and some of the other key players a bit of extra service to help new fans connect with them more.
Souther is my favorite villain of the series due to his sadistic and ruthless personality. He could've been the one villain that was unrepentant to the bitter end while being an actual threat, those are my favorite type of villains. I still agree with you that his backstory was forced, but the way you reimagined it being told by Shu instead and how that plays out was really well done. Still wish he was unrepentant though
He’s not my favorite by any means, but I do enjoy his fighting style, character design, plus his weakness is probably one of my favorite twists in all of manga. My FAVORITE tho has to be either Raoh or hyoh(please make a video on hyoh I really like these vids❤)
Yuda is literally the best character have you seen his deep backstory real tragic stuff, don't understand the hate
bro commited war crimes just cuz bro was jealous 💀 (unless he has an even further back story that is in a gaiden or smth)
@@funnerfacts_121 I think ut should be obvious I was joking but I guess I have to write JK
To be honest if I have some doubts about my feelings about character I am doing two things, read their Gaiden (if there is any) and play their campaning in Ken Rage 2
I would do anything to live in an alternate universe where Strawberry flavor never existed.
I don’t like that in manga and anime, characters who are related to each other do not interact in any way. There were no meetings where 6 nanto gathered, how did Toki and Rao communicate with Jagi, and does Han even know Hyō and Kayo?
I enjoy Souther, but reason he’s good in ways is sometimes hating a villian is what makes them good.
Also I guess he does have complicated things and honestly Souther story should have been more explain in a way after his master died how did he become more corrupted other than his sorrow.
:/
I don’t have lot say except enjoy video and I should say. Let’s hope HNK problems be fix in the remake.
Hope : )
Another thing that couldve been fleshed out is why Souther hates Hokuto, because he actually has a good reason. The story just skims over it.
All of the schools in HNK follow this vague "grand plan" and they're informed of their role early on. Souther is the emperor and he has to not only take on a huge responsibility, but he had to sacrifice his master, who he loved more than anyone. That same destiny says that he has to play a support role to the Hokuto school, which sacrificed nothing. Naturally, he's going to want to change his fate by showing those entitled Hokuto punks who's boss.
Of course, Souther isn't a misunderstood saint. He's flawed, but in an understandable way. Souther spent his whole life believing that he's naturally superior to everyone else and nobody has ever proved him wrong. Everything he does is excusable because the Holy Emperor is always right.
A shame that was all condensed into "My master died and it pissed me off"
So you're telling me souther and shuu were friends?
I think so. Shuu seemed awfully concerned about Souther's redemption. There's also that one line where Southern says "I can't break the rules, even for you", implying that Shuu was special in his eyes.
@@babysinclairfan that makes sense. It's kinda cool how souther didn't seem to be so evil in that flashback. I wonder when exactly he started to enslave children
I just like his looks, his style, his voice, his story BEFORE they busted a Naruto on him.
BUT what I like about him the most is that he had the absolute best moment in HnK for me. When he dropped kenshiro on his ass
def was nice to see a genuine threat after ken was rolling a majority of the villains
Busted a Naruto?
@@DragonessKia(sad backstory)
no
4:37 kenshiro was on some lean during this gameplay
I was waiting for someone to notice this. Looking back in editing that shit had me laughing.
@@Mczprosvids blud really embarrassed himself Infront of fake jagi L move
Tbh souther is evil, I mean yeah you make good points. Yuda though, he in no way deserved a I forgive you death. Like dude just ran around kidnapping women doing horrible shit. Like tf you mean rei shows sympathy 😭
Yes. You should apologize to him and kiss his boots.
"Nah, ima do my own thing"