Spoiler Alert! I do not claim the rights to own Hajime no Ippo. This is just a review of my thoughts about the anime episode 1 & 2 and the manga episodes.

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The third season of Hajime no Ippo was out on crunchyroll last October 3, 2013. The anime version has surprised us with the opening fight of Makunouchi Ippo and Shimabukuro Iwao. It was then shown in the anime the flashback of Ippo’s memories of his    father. This flashback has been significant to their match as both grew up with the sea as part of their lives. Shimabukuro grew up as a fisherman in Okinawa and use the sea as a training ground to his advantage in building up his stamina. This gave Shimabukuro the confidence to declare to the public that he would defeat Makunouchi’s demsey roll. In the manga series of Hajime no Ippo, it was shown that before their match, Shimabukuro visits Makunouchi in their house because he was dying to see the ocean and Ippo was the only person he knows who could show him the sea. Ippo warmly accepts him and shows him the ocean. However, to Shimabukuro’s surprise, the ocean in Tokyo Bay was beyond to what he expected. No blue sky, no blue water, very far from what he see in Okinawa.

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After seeing Makunouchi in person, Shimabukuro was looking forward to a match between two men of the sea. However, Shimabukuro didn’t sense any fisherman’s pride in Ippo, which led him to disappointments. He also added that Tokyo Bay is a filthy place and should not be called an ocean. True seaman should not live in such a place. In return, Ippo answered him that this place (Tokyo Bay) doesn’t compare to Okinawa. However, this is the sea that both his parents love and for him this is the World’s greatest sea.

In the lights of their conversation, Ippo’s mother shows up and met Shimabukuro. He then sense the fisherman’s pride in Ippo’s mother by smelling her and took back all the things he have had said to Ippo and admits that Ippo was truly a son of a fisherman. Before he left, he leave Ippo a message to ponder Asking him how long he can stay under water without breathing?

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Makunouchi’s training has been seriously tough because of the threat of Shimabukuro defeating the demsey roll. One week before the fight, Ippo got severe muscle strains on his lower limbs that hinders him to do more trainings. Coach Komogawa, his coach, i nstructs him to float in the pool without moving to relax his muscles. Aoki then ask Kumi Mashiba to look after Ippo making sure he won’t do unnecessary movements. Unfortunately for Kumi, Itagaki and his sister was also there to look for Ippo. Floating in water had help Ippo to relax his muscles and regain his energy. After the following days after floating on water, Ippo returned to the gym with high adrenalin and started practicing with mitts together with Coach Komogawa. Ippo’s high spirit had left him fight subconsciously, forgetting that he is just practicing mitts with his coach that almost injured Komogawa. Luckily for Komogawa, Takamura was there to stop Ippo’s rage.

Hajime no Ippo has a lot of surprises to give Which is one of the things that I love about this anime. It never fails to surprise me. Funny antics are really sublime and made me laugh ’til I drop. For instance, the weigh in of Shimabukuro and Makunouchi before their match. Due to the tension felt by both fighters, Ippo unintentionally taken off all his clothes including his underpants leaving him naked in front of the media. Luckily for the kids, it was not shown in the anime. (LOL!)

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The fight of Shimabukuro and Makunouchi was indeed interesting. It was the first time Ippo had fought a challenger which is smaller than him. Shimabukuro was no doubt a strong and tough challenger. It was rather a quick phase of events in the anime series. However, if you want a detailed information about the match of these two boxers you can read them on manga starting on episode 425. It has been a long in fight match that left them both cyanotic (bluish discoloration of the skin) due to hypoxia or prolonged time of insufficient oxygen supply in the body. There was a time that Makunouchi was desperate and fighting subconsciously and his body automatically moves because he remembers the fundamentals of boxing his coach had taught him. In the end, Makunouchi caught Shimabukuro off guard and end the match with his signature move/attack the demsey roll.

I really love the part where in Shimabukuro accepted defeat and told himself that Makunouchi was not a man of the sea, that he is a pure, unadulterated boxer. Too bad for Shimabukuro, boxing is not in the sea, it is in the ring. He is fighting as a fisherman, while Ippo was fighting as a boxer. Makunouchi once again won his Fourth defense in Japanese Featherweight Title. KO time: 7round 2:15. Makunouchi Ippo 17 fights 16 Wins 16KO 1Lose.

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