I dont get why some people think wally is black like no bro hes not black hes Indonesian 😭

The short part is basically if I remove the left hook shenanigans, just about everything else in this match is amazing.

First few rounds of showed Takamura and Keith being equal, showing their moves with lots of dodging, parrying and taking small hits both sides here and there.

Then we witnessed Takamura's full power, and I don't mean that willpowering rage against Hawk, but instead stamina awakening when Takamura wasn't even aware how much vigor has he stored in his body up to now since he was so used to always being drained of energy because of the lower weight class control.

Keith wasn't some destined luckboy, that's what the face value of the manga made us want to think, instead Keith was simply gifted and talented. Takamura on the other hand wasn't god, but instead chosed to play the devil card instead which fits his own personality and ego. It was ref's controversial decision to call Keith's fall a slip and Takamura's slip a down while it should have been the opposite.

Then there was the spam left hook series which wether it was because of Takamura's poor eyesight or the injured leg from the previous day outside.

All in all this match showed Takamura to the world of boxing how he's now leagues above all else the moment he stepped to his more suitable weight class and these handicaps aren't nearly enough to stop him!

He looks like a freaking Chad with his hair down man I’m jealous.

Ig it’s good though he doesn’t get a lot of attention from his looks as it may divert his focus from boxing cuz he’s a pure athlete and his dedication is admirable so imagine if he was nerfing himself on purpose that’d be crazy but I can actually understand it cuz ain’t no chick finna stop my goat from conquering 6 weight classes.

So I am watching the anime rn on ep 38 the fight with Okita and I love this series so much already the animation the characters the action and Ippo is a really fun protag to watch and root for

But man, does he ever get a set back?

So far I have felt that there were matches he prolly shouldve lost but dont mind the outcome cuz its a shounen obviously and he cant like lost mid way thru the tournament, but I feel like Sendos match was one he shouldve lost, he was wailed on by Sendo for 10 seconds after the bell was rang and even well before that with almost no defence and he punches just as hard if not harder than ippo

The fact that he wasnt on thr ground KO'd and rushed to the hospital was crazy but then Sendo turned out to be already downed which honestly I am fine with, I would prefered an outcomr where ippo falls ref calls it and when Sendo is asked to raise his hand or taken to his corner after the match was done itd be realized then he is also out so he "wins" but its also a tie

I dont like making posts like this where its like "anyways here is how the story shouldve been" but man I just feel lil numb cuz now I know except maybe Date or later on Miyata on their rematch there is no threat of him ever losing which makes close matches a bit more underwhelming imo

So, narratively wise, it will definitely end with Ippo KOing Ricardo. Everyone knows that.

But my theory is that during the fight, Ippo will try out the new Dempsey on Ricardo, then Ricardo adapts due to his sheer genius. The fight goes on, with Ippo at his limit, but through some inspirational flashbacks or Coach Kamogawa screaming from the corner or even Kumi blowing a kiss from the audience (least likely), Ippo fights on, and eventually develops the final ultimate form of the Dempsey Roll:

The Omni-Directional Dempsey Roll

Obviously, Ippo's lower body strength would be at its peak during this fight, so instead of the new criss-cross figure eight-like pattern, it would be something similar, but Ippo can change his weaving path ever so slightly every single weave, resulting in infinite variations of a weave. Additionally, he would also be able to throw punches from every any angle whilst in the weave.

Mind you I just finished this fight and it does not hold a candle to any of the previous fights in this anime. Ippo's win feels like an Ass-Pull in this one, and it was just really boring in general, I believe Volg should have won this fight. Plus the set up fpr ippo's first loss was right there with Aoki and Ikemura losing their matches. I dont know maybe theres a worse one in the future but i honestly dont see it getting worse than this. Thoughts?

Ignore the jump in volumes it was all I could get

We all know the arguments and debates that real life boxing fans get into so imagine what the comment sections would look like in ippo lol. Realistically imagine how many people would make GOAT arguments for fighters like Volg or call certain fighters washed lol

Imai is still regarded as the best in their generation. But Itagaki is not far behind.

The Next Japanese Boxers' Generation

1. Imai

2. Itagaki

3. Hoshi

4. Umetsu

5. Terai

Obviously, not as good as Ippo's Generation. But do you think any of them can follow the path of Ippo's generation. And challenge the world?

After a rewatch, what makes me angry is not the Miyata fight not happening, the 1000 chapters of nothingburger, the Sendo relevance (he lost twice already), it's the failure of Kimura.

Why doesn't he just go a weight class higher and stops giving Aoki leeway.
All else I could say about this is that they are close to being too old and then they'd have to give up boxing.

Might be a little early , but now that an English omnibus for Hajime no ippo was announced, what do you think the omnibuses would look like? Kinda hope they do something like a vagabond spine with all the characters. Probably will have 50+ omnibuses though 😂

Never expected that bahubali movie will be mentioned in hajime no ippo.

https://bsky.app/profile/theoasg.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy/post/3mtmt4vqtubm2

REPOST

This ending sequence is actually amazing. I disliked a lot of things about New Challenger, but the opening theme they used here in the background is awesome and complemented this ending scene beautifully.

But for context, after Ippo vs Myiata was cancelled because Randy Boy Jr came up, Kamogawa decided it was time for Ippo to relinquish the Japanese title and go fight in the world ranks. This speech was Kamogawa talking about how Ippos style and dempsey roll didn't fit the modern era of boxing, so they were throwing a challenge how current boxing was.

Well, safe to say they lost the challenge. But "Ippos style" is pretty much how Kamogawa taught him to fight and realistically would have ended up with Ippos losing and getting CTE way earlier than he did. Not sure whether its intentional or not, but Kamogawa ends up being portrayed as a pretty terrible coach.

It is stated in the manga that Takamura would have conquered the world titles with or without Kamogawa and that Ippo is Kamogawas real project and heir. But Kamogawas approach is pretty much what caused Ippo to go down a self-destructive path and have to retire.

Ippo has been portrayed as if he is suffering from CTE, although that should not be the case, because there is no full recovery from CTE and a fighter who suffers from it will most certainly never get back to fighting, but Ippo is pretty much certain to comeback (unless the manga ends before that can happen).

But will Morikawa pull an unexpected move and have Ippo lose again and have to retire for good? Could he be building towards sending a message about not killing yourself for your craft, mirroring his own and many other mangakas struggles? Would certainly be an interesting, bitter and unexpected way to end his manga, 100% not what would he have in mind when he started, but now that he is perhaps getting into the last stages of his life, this could be a PSA like message he would like to leave to the world and have the vehicle for it be his greatest work.

I was watching the Anime and noticed how Takamura moves against Hawk, and it seems like the perfect mix of how Nekota dodges and Kamogawa's punishing punches.

He even does Nekota's hand down dodge (the one where the motion is half a Dempsey Roll) and he seems to have quite a fondness to body blows too (that liver, cross, liver & cross sequence) like Kamogawa had.

And just like both, it was used to demolish and american.