Hajime no Ippo: Boxer no Kobushi

This new or "bonus" episode is an addition to the series -as far as I know- only included in the DVDs, as 'Round 76: The fists of the boxer'.

Through-out the series, we get to see the background of almost every secondary boxer character, such as Kimura, Aoki, Miyata, Sendo, Volg and Date, but we don't really get to see how it was that Takamura enrolled into boxing. Well, that's what we get in this Special Episode, Kamogawa instructor notices his potential and decides to give him the Kamogawa treatment in his gym and the road, which despite Takamura’s doubts, get him his first results (All ... in a very funny way).

The animation looks more modern and brighter, just as in New Challenger. So what are you waiting? Just watch it :)

I am not going to say much about this OVA/Special, since it's only ~20 minutes long, just want to write down my feelings towards this.


If you haven't read the description yet: It's about Takamura-san's past and how he got to boxing. Doesn't sound too special, huh? Well, it isn't. But that doesn't matter, since it doesn't try to be special at all. This OVA tells us a lot about Takamura's attitude towards boxing and what he did before he started his career as a boxer. Also it shows us what kind of character Takamura has and gives us some good hints about his relationship ... to his coach. Even the fight at the end of the episode told us a lot about Takamura's personality and (especially) his strenght. The humour of this "episode" is as funny as always and the animation and soundtracks just stayed the same, also the enjoyment level was really high since this is Takamura at his best, who is probably the funniest character throughout the series.

Overall, I think this was a perfect OVA and I can recommend this to every Hajime no Ippo fan out there. Really, there is nothing bad about this, except one thing: I wish they would have told us something about Takamura and his relationship towards Miyata-kun, since he left really early in the anime and we couldn't see how they felt towards each other, although this isn't really necessary I guess. In my opinion it's a 9/10, because I just don't feel like this is a "masterpiece".

This ova tells us on how Takamura got into boxing the first place.

Solid story with funny atmosphere and decent dialogue and shows how Takamura develops over time. The characters are decent. We are introduced to the beginning relations between Kamogawa and Takamura which was great. Most of the other characters get very few lines and screentime except for maybe Yagi. The visuals have definitely improved and there was an obvious difference, such as the crispier details and nicer animation. The music is pretty much the same from the original, with similiar uses of symphonies and intstruments

A likable OVA and a recommened watch. Nothing bad or ... flawed about this ova and was well done.