Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger

Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger continues where it left off in the first season. Ippo is now the Japan Featherweight champion. But in the second season, Ippo is not in the major role and the anime focuses more on other characters, especially on Takamura. Which is something great because in my first season review, I mentioned that the characters of this anime are its greatest weapon so focusing more on Miyata, Eiji and Takamura was great to watch. I think each of them took themselves a step further and became even better characters than before. But I can't say the same for Ippo.

Ippo wasn't ... an original main character in season one, which is not something bad as I also mentioned in my review for the first season. After all, this is still an adaptation of a shounen manga that is older than 30 years. But despite that, Ippo was an enjoyable character to watch. He was determined, hard-working and a character whose progress was again, enjoyable to witness. But in season two, Ippo felt like he was going backwards instead of improving. I know being arrogant isn't in his character, but for a Japan Featherweight champion, he still remains so passive about certain things. I would never want Ippo to be arrogant or cocky but I would really appreciate seeing him gaining some self-confidence since it is very different from being arrogant.

If I to talk about the matches, they were more legendary but as might be expected, they were far more exaggerated than season one. Do I mind that? Honestly, no. Because this season, no matter how exaggerated it was, had the best fight of Hajime no Ippo so far without a doubt.

Visually, the image quality has increased much more, naturally. Opening and ending wise, second season is still as good as the first season but I have to say, It was sad that I could not hear some of the soundtracks that fit the atmosphere in this season.

As conclusion, New Challenger, despite some minor problems, is a pretty good season as a continuation of the first season. Those minor problems are the reason why I'm not giving it a 10 again.

This is the second season continues right where the previous one left off. We already see a Japanese champion ippo and a Takamura aspiring to a world title. I love that throughout the series the characters do not stop evolving, always showing their human side. Of how they got to that moment of the fight, of the life that they do what they want to do. The animation is outstanding, the soundtrack is incredible and it is a masterpiece please if you did not see it, run to see it do you that favor. You will thank me.

En español:
Esta es la segunda temporada continua justo ... donde se quedo la anterior. Vemos ya a un ippo campeón de Japón y a un Takamura aspirando a un titulo mundial. Me encanta que en toda la serie los personajes no paran de evolucionar siempre mostrando su lado humano. De como llegaron a esa momento de la pelea, de la vida de que hacen lo que quieren hacer. La animación es sobresaliente, la banda sonora increíble y es una obra maestra por favor sino la viste anda corriendo a verla hacerte ese favor. Me lo vas a agradecer.

The first season of Hajime no Ippo had already conquered me, but this second season only confirmed my passion for this anime. The story has not lost its pace from the start. It is very gratifying to see the evolution of Ippo and the great evolution of another character, Takamura. I didn't like him very much at first, but in this second season the author made a big development of him in which he made the character even more significant in the story. the animation remains great in both fight and normal scenes. The only big difference now is that the entire anime is in ... 720p quality. Opening and ending are also really cool, the soundtrack remains the same wonder as always, I felt that only "Stand Proud" was missing at some point, but that's ok. Hajime no ippo takes you to a world where boxing is the greatest motivation that exists among the characters, whether you are a fan of the sport or not, you feel very present in the fights, cheering and celebrating together with the characters. Final grade for Hajime no Ippo is 10. A true masterpiece of the sport genre.