Reviews

When I wrote a review on the first season I was very glad to be able to write so many good things about it . All the expectations I had heading into the show were met . The 2nd season however didn't live up to my expectations at all .The show took away most of the things I loved about the first animated season . Let's take a look at the story first .While the first season had an amazing structure with builds and progress , this had little of that . I will deal with the progress issue in characters section but however lets talk about the pacing . The pacing was pretty inconsistent this season . The first few episodes hardly meant anything . Note that the series resumed after quite a few years and so they felt the need of putting way too many flashbacks . Hence the pacing wasn't good and the earlier episodes come of as pretty boring . The Date vs Martinez fight had little to offer as it was supposed to sell the spirit of Date and the skill of Martinez . It was supposed to be storytelling which we all knew was coming and did not draw out any excitement . The matches in season 1 had the unpredictability factor sold and demonstrated how gaps in boxers aren't that big . This season had to tell a different story and due to the inconsistent pacing the show felt bland .The good thing about the plot is this is a Hajime no Ippo series and when a long running shounen earns our love , its not easy to lose that love .

Art and Animation : Art is pretty good most of time . I did not like designs for a few characters such as kumi . But that is subjective . As expected modern animation gives this season a pretty good boost which it obviously needed .

Sound : I honestly felt like the soundtrack in season 1 played a huge role in selling multiple emotions , most notably the comedy . While the show had its strong moments the lack of diversity in soundtrack is somewhat a lacking in this season . With that being said the opening and ending are good regardless .

Characters : The show focused pretty little on Ippo this season . His character appeared cringy in the beginning of the season where he was being presented as a fanboy of other boxers he fought . Thankfully they don't present him in a similar way in the latter episodes . Other characters were supposed to get more time to shine in this season with Takamura playing a big role . However the characters have very little progression in this season . We only get more details on character backgrounds rather than getting more character depth . We did not learn any new fighting styles , we did not get new emotions out of the sport of boxing , we did not get much change in characteristics for the majority of the characters .
With that being said , the show introduced a good villain in Bryan Hawk who was pretty easy to hate . Itagaki adds to warm feeling providing kamogawa squad . Gero-Michi gets decent development although I personally wasn't a big fan of it .

Fights : This season doesn't do the best of jobs with the fights either . While the new animation helped , the intensity wasn't there . The storytelling was the focus which wasn't very interesting at any point other than maybe the Date-Martinez fight . Takamura vs Bryan Hawk was the attraction of the show which did pick up late in the season . However the tactical , realistic boxing from season 1 wasn't there for Takamura matches as they had to present him as superman and turn boxing into street fight .
With that being said the story behind Hawk vs Takamura was very good . The hardships of weight management gets good exposure . So the show carries on with the good job it does with showing viewers how difficult the sport is .

Conclusion : While the season isn't as good as the first one , it brings back our favourite characters and moves their stories a step forward . The show had its vulgar comical moments and at times the cringy ones too . Which were tolerable because this is simply Hajime no Ippo . The show ends with promise as the story finally shifts focus to Ippo . The improved animation will be a huge boost for the casual audience . The show is still Hajime no Ippo and it is still enjoyable to those who loved season 1 .