Hajime no Ippo New Challenger Ep 8

Screens:

 

Summary: 

  Just as it looks like Date’s Heart Break Shot landed on the Champion, we see that Ricardo got an elbow block in which causes Date’s right fist to shatter. Takamura isn’t sure if it was on purpose or a coincidence, but remarks that it’s now become the worst case scenario with Date’s fist most likely shattered meaning he can’t fire the Heart Break Shot anymore. 

  Ricardo closes in on Date and comments how he’s surprised at how Date still has some strength left, but now that his trump card’s been defeated his loss is definate as he has nothing left.  With that Ricardo continues his combos on Date, though Date is maintaining his guard position. In the stands, Ippo begins thinking if it was useless from the start, and Ricardo lands a hit on Date’s face which causes his mouth guard to fly with his own blood splatter flying away with it at the crowd. With that hit, Date is on the ropes and Date assesses his own damage. His mouth is filled with blood and Date can’t feel anything on the bottom of his mouth meaning his jaw is most likely cracked if not shattered, his ribs are also broken, and on top of all that his right fist is shattered.  Date comments to himself that he’s in quite the hopeless situation, and begins wondering if it was hopeless from the start and bell sounds ending the round. In his corner Date’s second is telling him he’s done more than enough and tries to convince him to throw in the towel, and Date begins to agree with him, until his wife approaches his corner. She just firmly stands there staring at Date before handing his bloodied mouthguard one of the corner men telling them to clean it, and goes to her husband telling him that he’s close and there’s only 3 rounds left. She continues saying that she’ll continue watching him till the end. 

  Date asks for his second to come closer and they all surround him, and Date spits out blood into a funnel. Date’s corner is trying to convince the coach to throw in the towel since it’s obvious that Date can’t continue in this condition, but the coach tell Date to go ahead and fight since he still has things left to do. Meanwhile in Ricardo’s corner, Ricardo’s coach comments on how it’s useless it is for Date’s corner to allow him to continue to fight as it would be meaningless in his current situation. Ricard though remarks to him that this is boxing, and as long as a man can stand there exists a chance for a  miracle can happen, but it’s his job to make sure that chance is 0% even if that means that Date Eiji becomes an unfortunate accident. 

  Back in the stands Date’s son is asking his mother about his father, but his mother just tells him to continue watching his father untill the end. Date’s wife thinks to herself that she would like the fight to stop, but looking at Date’s eyes, if it stopped things would be the same as they were 7 years ago. This fight is important for Date to return to his self, and the only thing she can do is support him. The stands start chanting Date and round starts and Date goes on the attack with his left, but Takamura comments that he can only attack with his left because his right fist is shattered. The champion also believes this, but is surprised when Date uses his right and fires it at him. Ricardo wonders why he’s using his right when it’s shattered, and Date begins to remember why he’s standing there right now. Date flashbacks to how he met his wife Aiko at the end of a match when her friends brought her along despite her not liking boxing because it’s scary; then he flashes agin to him announcin his first World Title match and how excited he was, because he wanted to show her his figure at the top of the world and Aiko, knitting booties, responds sayin that her knews will have to wait then. 

  Back to the match Date attacks the champion, remembering that the reason he fights is to look cool in front of his girl and continues attacking Ricardo with intents to win the match. Ricardo fires his left at Date’s jaw and can feel the bones shifting indicating that Date’s jaw is completely shattered, and thinks to himself that this is bad for Date since if this continue Date really will become an unfortunate accident. Ricardo’s coach tells him to stop his hesitation as his oppenent is still standing. As soon as Ricardo comes back to his senses, Date rams his left into Ricardo’s face and begins to combo his Heart Break Shot right after. Date’s Heart Break Shot flawlessly lands on Ricardo, and the crowd roars on the prospects of this counter attack. 

  As Date goes in to finish Ricardo with his left, In his mind he aks his wife if she’s watching, because with this he’ll return to his former self. Just as Date’s left is about to connect, Ricardo dodges it. While crowd is stunned, Ricardo remarks to himself that it’s sad; Date’s speed and timing were perfect, if he also had the power to match it, then he would have suceeded in stealing his time. Had his fist not been broken, he very well may have won the match. He continues saying that “Who is the boxer you respect the most?” is a question he gets often, and that from now on he will respond ” he lives in a small country in Asia, a samurai I met in Japan.” Ricardo remarks that they’ll probably never meet again and tells him he’ll always remember him and with that he bids farewell to Date as his right connects.  The match ends, and Date leaves on a stretcher with applause raining down on him.

  The next day Kimura is looking at the paper reading the article on the match, and he and Aoki talk about how if the last Heart Break Shot worked, things would’ve been different. Takamura tells them to stop it as there’s no point talking about “What ifs or would’ves” now that the match is done. Takamura contines talking about how Date will probably retire now, but before he can finish his sentence, Ippo’s loud hit on the punching bag interupts Takamura and he asks Takamura to stop right there. Fuji comes in right after and talks about Date’s condition stating that he’s fine and will eventually recover. Takamura tells Ippo to go visit him, but Ippo is reluctant as he’s unsure of what to even say. Takamura tells that he should still go, since there’s a reason to Ippo seeing him. 

  Ippo goes to see Date at his room in the hospital. In his hospital room, Date’s wife says she knew since the match with Ippo Date’s scar on his nose has stopped hurting, and at that time he had already returned to being himself. She continues saying that she couldn’t say it back then, but she’ll say it now: “Welcome back Eiji-san”. At this point Ippo comes in, saying he heard Date regained consciousness. Taling in a broken manner, Date asks Ippo to hold out his hand. Upon doing so, Date touches Ippo’s hand and says “Baton Touch”, telling Ippo that he’s now passed on the task to Ippo. As he leaves, Date’s son Yuuji asks him if Ippo will be the next to challenge the challenge the champion and get revenge for his dad. Ippo sorrowfully remarks that as he is now, he can’t win against the champion and walks away. Yuuji starts crying calling Ippo a coward and saying if he were only bigger he’d do it himself. His mother stops him though, and tells him he misunderstood something. She tells him that Ippo said “As he is now” implying to him that he’ll challenge the champion in the future. 

 

Opinion:

  Well that was a hell of an episode. I’m surprised that they covered so much this episode, I thought the episode would’ve ended with Eiji firing his last Heart Break Shot. Though seeing as they have a lot of manga arcs stockpiled, they can afford to finish up this and other future arcs without extending anything. 

  Overall I was satisfied with the Ricardo vs. Date fight.  Date lost, but it sets up Ricardo as that strong of an opponent and makes beating him that much more meaningful. In more ways than one now, since Date passed on the task to Ippo. Anyway reading the manga know that Ippo is still a long ways away from challenging Ricardo, but it’s slowly getting there and it’s going to be a hell of a fight.

  Speaking of Ippo, as of late I ‘ve been getting pretty tired of his habbit of putting people on Pedestals. Granted he’s only done it for Miyata and Date, but it’s kind of frustrating seeing him refusing to face reality in the efforts to keep his heroes as he remembers them. There’s a thin line between faith, and idolizing and it’s clear that Ippo is a little over the faith line since he refused to acknowledge the possiblity of Date retiring.  Given Date’s age and degree of injuries, it’s a given that it’s the only option he has since the recovery itself would take a while, then there’s getting back into shape for the ring which would put Date way past his prime. In any case, next week preps for Ippo’s next fight which is against Hammerhead Nao, which is nice to get on to the next fight. But I’m more interested in the Brian Hawk vs. Takamura fight, since the opening has  a small glimpse of it. My blood boils just thinking about it!