Hajime no Ippo New Challenger ep 24

Screens:

Summary:

Takamura is getting pummeled by Hawk; as Takamura is taking the beating, Takamura begins to lose consciousness and starts hallucinating. All the pressure of everyone counting on him and the frustration of his difficult weight management peak, and Takamura remembers how the coach was hit by Hawk. After seeing an image of Hawk, Takamura goes crazy and lands a counter on Hawk. In the stands, Aoki and Kimura are surprised and remark that Takamura has snapped; Ippo asks what happens after that, but no one has ever even seen Takamura snap before so they have no idea what will happen. Takamura starts attacking Hawk, and the flow of the match reverses and Hawk is the one now being beat on. Hawk’s second comments on how Takamura’s natural power, consisting of small precise punches to the vitals, is a terrifying thing to keep hidden; whereas Hawk’s natural power is wild full swings. After taking an uppercut directly to the jaw, Hawk falls and the referee starts counting; Takamura starts regaining consciousness at this point and thinks the count is for him, but get surprised to see Hawk on the floor. Takamura begin wondering what happened and starts to get pissed at the prospect of winning without remembering the winning punch, and hits the corner pole and tells Hawk to get his ass up. As soon as Hawk gets up Takamura darts towards him, but the referee tries to pull him away because the round ended.

In Hawk’s corner, Hawk is cowering in fear; Hawk’s second comments that at times like this he’d think about the weight management and time hitting the mitts because it gave him his backbone. His second tells himself that Hawk’s backbone is weak; in the face of adversity he becomes so pitiful, Takamura on the other hand has a backbone stronger than most men. Hawk gets desperate and says he’s the world’s best so he doesn’t want to lose. Hawk’s second decides to bet it all on Hawk’s pride and tell him it’s all or nothing from here on out. The next round starts to begin and the coach uses some Vaseline to style Takamura’s hair to its usual style and Takamura tells him he’ll be back when he’s king. Takamura and Hawk begin an exchange in center ring; with Takamura taking a lead in the exchange.

A heavy air begins to flow around the arena and the coach comments that something isn’t right. Just as the coach thought; as Takamura goes in for a left straight, the champion bends back. It’s clear that this is what Hawk has been waiting for, and Hawk goes in for a counter; as Hawk’s fist touches Takamura’s face, Takamura turns and the punch just grazes his mouth. Takamura lands a downward left towards Hawk’s surprised face and slams him to the ground. Everyone’s surprised the coach comments that Takamura has completely surpassed his teachings and Hawk’s second comments that Takamura’s combination of strategy and instinct is the ideal of boxing. Hawk desperately gets up and says “If it weren’t for you….” but before he can say any more, Takamura lands another straight to Hawk’s face. The referee starts counting down, and Aoki, Kimura, Ippo, and Itagaki start running towards center ring; Hawk is still standing, but spews blood out of his mouth and the count reaches 10 signaling the end of the fight.

Opinions:

Yes, that glorious counter is exactly as I remember it and probably looks even better since it was animated. With this the Hawk arc is just an episode away from being over; since there’s still the “coronation” scene to be shown. After this arc ends the next thing to look forward to is a story from the coach’s past and for those who haven’t seen it, it’s a hell of a story.