Hajime no Ippo - Champion Road

[ParaParaJMo]

Hajime no Ippo - Champion Road

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*Note: I had this review done after I did my other review back in the summer. Too lazy and too busy to re-do it

YouTube - Grappler JMo Anime Review Hajime no Ippo Championship Road

Story and Characters
Ippo in a brutal rematch with Sendo has once again emerged victorious and this time, he has also earned the crown of Japan. However, his title reign is only the beginning because this time, he faces another test in his first title defense in the Championship Carnival against the number one contender, former 5 time defending Jr. Featherweight champion, Kazuki Sanada. What’s also interesting to note is that Sanada is also a medical student and is currently practicing at a hospital where Kumi is a nurse. Because Kumi’s co-workers want to cheer on Sanada, Ippo’s chances of pursuing a relationship with her are at a halt. And to make matters worse, Sanada is currently under the tutelage of Kamogawa’s former rival during his days as a fighter, Hama Dankichi and he has now taught him his most dangerous moves, the hien and the tsubame gaeshi.

I thought they fit virtually everything well into this TV special. However, some of my main gripes in relation to this series will of course be in relation to what was omitted from the manga. For example, I was upset that they took out Hayami vs Kobashi for Sanada’s vacated jr. featherweight title, it was a fight people enjoyed and gives further character development for the winner for that fight at some capacity, and it also sets up how Ippo first meets Sanada and Dankichi, which made the build up more dramatic, while in this anime, their initial encounter is just at the weigh-in. Other than that, it serves the overall purpose of being a TV special and everything is paced just fine, but being based on a very long manga, your natural reaction is that you’re going to want more. In the mean time, I give the story and characters an 8/10.

Art and Animation
The character designs are pretty much the same except. The resolution is of course a much higher quality than the TV series and it adds more depth to it and makes the TV series look flat. The main fight of course still brilliantly put together as usual, but the ending felt repetitive and makes you wonder if this could be the direction Hajime no Ippo could be going. The execution of the hien is of course awkward, but I’m sure there are boxers in real life who have the capability of pulling off some a technique with the angles and speed, just like how Muhammad Ali in his Cassius Clay days could pull off the shot gun. But I liked how Sanada’s fighting style sort of represented an anti-Ippo fighting style at a technical and brawling level. Other than that, I wanted to see how Kobashi vs Hayami would have turned out in anime form and because of that removal, I am giving the art and animation an 8.75/10.

Music and Voice Acting
Not really much to add here except for Yamdera Koichi’s voice being lent as Sanada. If you don’t know him, he was the voice of Ryouga from Ranma ½, Kaji from Evangelion, Gyuunei from Char’s Counterattack, Togusa from Ghost in the Shell, and last and not least, Spike from Cowboy Bebop. I thought he was a very credible addition to this series and I like how he portrayed his outside personality of being an intellectual doctor very well and also portraying that aspect of his personality inside the ring. After this appearance in the manga, he has two more which played some useful parts to certain aspects. It’s a pity the anime so far has been halted which would prevent any future use of his talents. Also, the music in the series is still present and still appropriately used, so not much to really talk about rather than give the music and voice acting a 9.5/10.

Overall
Like I said, the ending to the anime is only the beginning in the manga. As much as I don’t like him, former UFC Welterweight champion Matt Hughes once said That a champion is not defined by winning the belt, but how far he can go with it, but that saying applies very well to this product. Ippo finally only achieved one step in his career and his overall goal throughout a huge portion of the manga is to seek his rematch with Miyata. I just felt that making this special only creates a demand amongst its fan base. I’ve heard that Studio Madhouse if given the opportunity would continue the series, which I hope does. Anyway, I just felt that there are better stories to make OAVs and TV specials of rather than just Ippo’s fight with Sanada which is why I give this an overall 8.6/10.