In terms of the story it felt like Ippos kinda back-tracked a little bit, becoming a little more timid compared to how he left us at the end of the first series despite his accomplishments. That's not to say he went ALL THE WAY back to how he was in the very beginning. I'm not trying to say its bad or anything but really, it didn't feel like the same Machunouchi and it was a little unexpected. For me that goes throughout this installment of the show. He did take a back seat to some of the other characters this time around but still, it felt different.
Expanding more on the story portion of this installment, I really really REALLY enjoyed the fact that this time around it wasn't all about Machunouchi. There was a lot of things happening all over the place for a few people this time around and a lot of it was enjoyable for me. Some of the stuff felt a little rushed but thats understandable because well... For one thing, this time around there was only 26 episodes, and not 75. Second is that a good portion of the "meat and potatoes" of a few of the fights we see this time around aren't even apart of the Kamogawa Boxing Gym so I understand that part of it. Although I do think they spent enough time building on those fights, especially the Date/Martinez fight. While the build for Date/Martinez was good I do wish they slowed the pace for the fight a little bit but that's just personal preference. They did it well for what they were trying to do in my eyes.
For me it was nice to see a little expansion on Takamura. He has always this super human of the show with a ego to match. This time around while his ego stayed where it was, we got to see him in a more "human form". I mean that in the aspects of the intense weight management he has to do before fights. This is actually the fist time we get a real look at what he has to deal with. Also this time around he doesn't just get in the ring and leave without breaking a sweat. His ego is untouched through it all though and that leaves to some unexpected comedy at times. I personally liked the aspect of his last fight where the animal in him (As well as Hawk) came out and it wasn't just a boxing match anymore. I wasn't expecting something like that.
I think this was a good continuation of the series overall. Sure it might have seemed a little rushed at times, might have not been as polished around the edges as could have been and it might have been missing some of the usual "adult humor" from the first installment but hey, I'd say they did a really good job of keeping a great thing going. Too many times do we see something great diminish in quality by a good amount when going into a sequel and I can say personally they didn't let that happen here and I appreciate it.
