Hajime no Ippo New Challenger ep 23

Screens:

Summary:

Takamura raises his arms as a sign for a KO prediction, and the crowd goes wild. The round starts and Takamura and Hawk enter into an exchange and Hawk starts remember his past of street brawls in New York, and facing opponent with guns and coming out victorious. It’s these past experiences that give Hawk the confidence to beat Takamura easily; despite Hawk’s zeal though, Takamura is winning in their exchange. Hawk’s second starts wondering why Hawk’s losing in an in-fight now even though Hawk and Takamura have been even up to this point, and compares the two to two identical engines. As he thinks about them being “the same engine” Hawk’s second comes to a realization and gives Hawk a signal; giving a thumbs down sign. Hawk notices the sign and lands a body blow on Takamura; Takamura seems affected at first, but he brushes it off and starts rushing Hawk with a barrage of blows. The round goes on with Takamura continuing with his high pace and Hawk begins to only defend. When the gong rings, it becomes apparent what Hawk’s team was aiming for; it seems that Takamura spent all his energy that round. The coach comments that no new sweat is forming when he wipes off Takamura; it seems Hawk’s second came to the conclusion that while it seems Hawk and Takamura are like the same engine, Hawk is conserving his fuel while Takamura is going full throttle. Takamura confirms this in his corner as he comments that his limit as a Junior Middleweight is 5 rounds. The next round starts is easily beating Takamura now, and the atmosphere in the hall grows dark as the audience watches Takamura continuously get knocked down and struggling to get up.

Aoki comments that Takamura wouldn’t have any trouble fighting if it weren’t for the weight management, but Nekota asks if Takamura ever complained about it. He supported himself by answering to everyone’s expectations and silently trained to create a body that could last for 5 rounds and seeing a man as great as Takamura brings tears to his eyes. Everyone else starts tearing up too; all the while Hawk is pounding on Takamura. Hawk’s second remembers his first encounter with Hawk where he stopped Hawk from nearly beating man to death to which Hawk would’ve done had it not been for a promise of money, and Hawk was introduced to boxing where he would be rewarded for his violence. As Hawk’s second remembers this he comments it’s about time that Kamogawa threw in the towel, but Kamogawa doesn’t. Hawk’s second is shocked, and wonders if Kamogawa is so incompetent that he can’t even save his own boxer. The coach remembers what Takamura said about being honest about boxing and comments to himself that he wants to keep watching Takamura fight so he won’t throw in the towel. Hawk sends Takamura flying again, but this time Takamura is able to stay up and comments that something’s supporting his back and turns around and sees an imaginary coach supporting him. Takamura is able to grab onto the ropes for support, and in the stands Miyata comes to where the Kamogawa gym members are and tells them nothing will come from being silent at a moment like this. Aoki is the first to start cheering for Takamura, and then Ippo, Itagaki, and Kimura join in; cheering with tears in their eyes. They yell for Takamura to win, and say that Takamura is who they aspire to be. Hawk sends Takamura flying again, and Takamura is able to stay up again; this time he’s supported by his fellow gym mates. Takamura says he understands that there are people that support and believe him and he can’t let himself lose with them watching and he’ll fight even if his heart stops, if his heart stops he’ll fight with his soul, and if his soul disappears he’ll crawl out of his coffin and win. As Takamura is thinking these words, he lands three consecutive hits on Hawk’s face. At first it seems Hawk isn’t affected but he starts to buckle, and with that the round ends.

In Hawk’s corner, Hawk comments on his frustration on how Takamura was able to continue to stand despite the damage he received. Hawk tells his second he’ll be using his license to kill in the next round. In Takamura’s corner the coach is trying to keep Takamura’s spirits raised; Takamura smiles, grabs the coach and tells him he’s the best second. With that Takamura heads out to the next round.

Opinions:

Alright! This episode went really well, from Hawk beating on Takamura, to the ending where we see a glimpse of Takamura’s counterattack. It looks like we’re probably 3 episodes away from the end of the match, and there’s a lot of action to cover in between. They really did a great job showing off Hawk’s blood lust, and I hope they’ll do an equally good job showing off Takamura’s rage next episode.

PS. The last episode review will be out next, but it’ll be a little brief