Hajime no Ippo: Mashiba vs Kimura

ParaParaJMo Mar 17, 2014

9

Remember how I say that when you get to the end of the first anime series, it’s truly the beginning? This oav is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. It finally further gives the other characters deeper opportunities to develop and to be taken seriously. Especially in the case of Kimura who’s primary function has always been comic relief. It’s nice that the oav of course centers around on Kimura and you only view Ippo from a 3rd hand perspective which I thought was an interesting twist since he’s the main character. You really get to see how much boxing really means to Kimura and you really see him work hard for this opportunity to defy the odds. Aoki who is also primarily used for comic relief is also taken seriously and you truly start to care for these two crazy guys. You really feel how Aoki treasures his friendship with Kimura, and that he’s with him all the way. Also as a Miyata fan boy, I also appreciated how this anime makes great use for him in this oav and I thought it was really cool he could use the hitman style like Mashiba as well. Well, what I can say about the quality of the resolution and character design of this anime I already said in my review of Championship Road, which you can watch so I’ll leave this portion to the review to the execution of the fights. The sparring sessions Miyata and Kimura have are intense and it creates a sense of anticipation of how Kimura will do come the time the bell rings. The Detroit Hitman Style may come across as unrealistic to those who may not be familiar with boxing, when in fact it’s based on a style used by Thomas Hearns, who has fought in many of boxing’s greatest bouts in the 1980s against Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Marvin Hagler. If you look up his fights, then you’ll see how freakish his speed and reach really is. The fights are still intense and you can truly feel the passion these fighters have as they come closer to either victory or defeat. The overall quality of this fight is probably on the level of the Rocky Balboa and Mason Dixon fight.Fujiwara Keiji, the voice of Shingo from Initial D, Eledore from Gundam 08th MS team, and Reno from Final Fantasy VII Advent Children who voices Kimura brings a whole new stand out quality to his character thanks to the opportunities that this oav centers around him. Fujiwara always tends to play smart-ass characters but he plays Kimura in a way where you can finally take him seriously as if he were real. Same with Takagi Wataru, the voice of Garoad from Gundam X, Onizuka from GTO, and Tobi from Naruto Shippuden as Aoki is given these kinds of opportunities as well as a main supporting character. So you’re getting a truly dedicated kind of acting that is required for this particular story arc. The music specifically Inner Light, the 2nd opening theme song, is once again in use as well as the soundtrack from the TV series. No new additions is made which may be a bad point for some people, but I felt the current soundtrack was sufficient enough.This oav is a true representation of what Hajime no Ippo is all about. An excellent story, a wonderful cast of characters you can feel for and relate to, and an intense soundtrack. 

ReviewBonfire Apr 23, 2020

7

Just like the first Ova, this one is only about a fight including a little story that takes place before the fight. Nevertheless, it was a very pleasant 60 minutes that we were presented with this Ova and I can admit without exaggeration that this was better than the other. The plot, as can be seen from the name, related to the fight between the grim reaper Mashiba and the somewhat more serious clown Kimura. Including a small foreplay which was about training Kimura. There were no flaws in the animations. They were fluid, handsome, had color and shine. Especially it was again beautiful shounen animations that tempted the fight quite optical dynamics. Characters: Nothing has changed in the characters, they have remained the same. But this time in the Ova everything revolved around one of the characters Kimura, which made it a little bit more individual. Especially since this ova was not dedicated to the protagonist, which I also found quite interesting. Music: As with animations and characters, there was no real change in the music, so I'll stick to the series rating. Conclusion This ova impressed me much more than the previous one, even if it was a lot shorter. However, there was a bit of a change, because it dealt with a different character and also brought some humor. If you liked this series, this ova is also highly recommended.