That's funny, because I never thought that this is what the season was about. Maybe the source material can be blamed.but I don't think so Hawk Part of that does have to do with the bad idea of making Nao a "bad guy," cheating during the match, and then trying to soften him up for a defeat and making Hawk a comically one dimensional antagonist for Takamura that I'm supposed feel like he stands a chance in winning against.
The big tip off for me is that with the first series (I think it's good but over hyped) I never doubted what the characters were feeling and why, and was engaged in every fight. There has just been a strange disconnect in what I'm seeing and the intensity of the characters throughout the show. I felt it there in the Date fight, but not so much in the Miyata, Nao, and Hawk fights. It had more to do with the show really connecting the heart of each fight with some earthy struggle on the characters' part. I honestly don't remember the music of the first series so much (exception of the openings), so I don't think that's the problem. This may be nitpicking, but fuck me there was way too much emphasis on blood in this episode, i know in the manga Hawk coughs up a ton of blood, but fuck that was way OTT, it's like his stomach exploded. I will say though that this episode was probaly the best out of all episodes on the fight, but then thats not saying much, music also killed a lot of emotion and drama once again. If this director remains for the next season i can't way to see how he butchers the anderson and sawamura fights. Kimura v Mashiba came out as epic IMO in the anime form more so than in the manga as well for the same reasons. Sendo v Ippo II, is epic as fuck in manga and i felt the anime even made it more epic, through music direction and how scenes where handled. However the end result was just lackluster. This fight is meant to be epic but i just nowhere near felt that at any time during this fight in the anime, to me it just felt like any other fight, music direction and everything just worked against it, however the animation for the most part was good, i also liked how some of the POV action shots where handled. The fight itself in the anime, i felt, didn't do it justice at all, i could say why i felt this but i would jsut be repeating what i have already said so many times already, the fact is the direction just failed it. Thus Ippo’s journey to the top of the boxing world begins.Alright well thats the end of that then, let me just say that takamura v hawk is my favourite fight in the manga before i start. With a sudden desire to get stronger, for himself and his hard working mother, Ippo trains relentlessly to accomplish the task within the time limit. Thinking that Ippo does not have what it takes, Takamura gives him a task deemed impossible and gives him a one week time limit. It is only then that Ippo feels something stir inside him and eventually asks Takamura to train him in boxing. Takamura places a photo of Ippo’s classmate on a punching bag and forces him to punch it.
As he regains consciousness, he is awed and amazed at his new surroundings in the gym, though lacks confidence to attempt anything. Ippo faints from his injuries and is brought to Takamura boxing gym to recover. One day, in the midst of yet another bullying, Ippo is saved by Takamura Mamoru, who happens to be a boxer. Constantly running errands and being beaten up by his classmates, Ippo has always dreamed of changing himself, but never has the passion to act upon it. Summary : Makunouchi Ippo has been bullied his entire life.
It follows the story of high school student Makunouchi Ippo, as he begins his career in boxing and over time obtains many titles and defeats various opponents. Serialized by Kodansha in Weekly Shōnen Magazine since 1989 and collected in over 123 tankōbon to date. “The First Step”) is a Japanese boxing manga series, written and illustrated by George Morikawa.