This season of HnI was simply stellar in all facets where do I even begin? It started off pretty slow with another Aoki championship match which was a cool mirror match not in terms of boxing style but career paths. Aoki is a non-orthodox fighter with crazy special moves like the frog punch and the double punch to name a few. Though Aoki has this wild style he takes boxing incredibly seriously and loves every aspect of it. Aoki trains hard. Imae Katsutaka, the champion Aoki is faced to take down, is different yet similar Aoki. He's what you'd call a stick in the mud, he dumped his girlfriend to devote all his time into boxing, to become stronger and become a champion. Imae looks at Aoki as a half-assed boxer who is making a mocking of the sport with his flashy moves and seemingly non-full commitment to boxing. In the fight over time Imae grows to understand Aoki more and realizes he's just as committed to the sport as himself! They're both boxers who aren't very talented, who won't go onto the world stage but have struggled tooth and nail to be where they stand proud now. Each loss Aoki learned and grew, for example the frog punch is one move that he developed strictly from a loss and as such became more powerful. In this matchup between Imae, Aoki uses a new special move cooked up specifically for this championship which was literally just him looking away from the opponent causing any foe to also look the other way meaning in theory you could get a free punch, stupid but fits the personality of Aoki to a tee. The fight becomes a slog, neither fighter willing to give up and results in a tie. Aoki showed him what a fighter with a girlfriend could do, and after the fight Imae hooks back up with the girl he pushed away. Overall a fitting conclusion to a Aoki fight, it'll be fun reading where his story continues in the manga.
Ippo had a massive fight this season, arguably his toughest fight yet! Coming up to this bout doubt was starting to fill Ippo as challengers sprouted everywhere, people thought of Ippo as a weak champion. Although Ippo wasn't weak in terms of skill, that much is apparent, he had one glaring weakness! The Dempsey Roll is easily countered by a good counter puncher because the Dempsey Roll is dependent on repetitive weaving back and forth to gain momentum. The Dempsey Roll creates blind spots which make it challenging to commit a counter punch, if you fail the timing or hesitate even slightly Ippo will destroy you! This was all discovered when Volg made a sudden reappearance in Japan saying he wanted to make a comeback in boxing which was a really heartwarming mini arc, loved it.
The Dempsey Roll is weak to counters but who can actually commit to snuffing it out? Well here comes challenger Ryuhei Sawamura, who's boxing style could only be described as pure unadulterated violence. Sawamura craves the feeling of bones breaking, tendons and meat ripping, blood gushing. He's more of a psychopath than a true boxer. This came from a trauma filled childhood when his stepfather abused him regularly and after his mother abandoned him. Sawamura stabbed his stepfather and ever since then has become addicted to violence, he's constantly itching to find a piece of meat to brutalize, the stronger the piece of meat, the more Sawamura can tenderize it with his cold merciless fists. The more pain he can induce towards his victims the more Sawamura can feast on. His inhumane fighting style causes him to get disqualified often but that doesn't change the fact Sawamura is supremely talented as a fighter. His cool merciless mentality gives Sawamura a big advantage against Ippo since he will not hesitate in the slightest to counter the Dempsey Roll. Miyata himself said Sawamura is even better at counter punching than himself, his punches are described as bullets always aiming to cause misery.
The build up to the matchup between the two is beyond hype, I couldn't stop myself from binging the entire section as it was so gripping! Ippo didn't come into this fight empty handed though, he trained to evolve the Dempsey Roll past the human limit. The evolution was quite simple really but heavily taxing on the body. By suddenly stopping midway though the roll, and starting again one can change the predictable rhythm, and counter the counter. This is easily said but in practice is near suicidal for the longevity of Ippos career! The stopping of the roll sounds like a car crash, the high pitch screeching of pain as the muscles in Ippos lower body tear apart from the sudden loss of momentum, he can only do it a few times a match otherwise he could cause permanent damage. As such, the stakes of this fight are insane, Ippo said he'll stop at nothing to bring Sawamura down, no matter how many midway stop Dempsey Rolls it takes! Putting everything on the line, Ippo is in a way almost fueled by the same innate drive as Sawamura, hatred. Though Ippos is fundamentally different as he's mad at the was Sawamura fights, it goes against what Ippo stands for. They're lives are fundamentally different too. Ippo is a pure bred boxer through and through, Sawamura was built with negativity. By sitting around all you get is betrayal, he can only put faith in himself, in those blood covered fists. Ippo is the definition of tenacity putting faith in everything his coach has installed in him. Sawamura isn't motivated by something that simple, it's absolute hatred. And a man driven to those abominable lows will stop at nothing. Sawamura wants to turn Ippo into a tender piece of meat and will not hesitate.
It was an outstanding fight stock full of passion between boxers with complete opposite career paths. In the beginning it looked fine for Ippo he was able to throw anything at him. But it was like Sawamura was luring his prey into his trap, letting the tough hard meat weaken slowly until is was perfect for slaughter. And as soon as Ippo used the Dempsey Roll Sawamura made Ippo pay with a counter like no other. Sawamura stepped back with no fear to get Ippo fully into view and sliced a counter mid roll, Ippo blacked out instantly. Coming back to it, Ippo soon realized his worst nightmare, he'd have to use the midway stop roll. The fight felt simply violent as Sawamura executed his style to feel Ippos pain via his fists, Ippo took a beating and a half. But Ippo persevered using the midway stop three times. I loved the character of Sawamura, his violence made me smile. After the fight no more challenges came in to fight Ippo, nobody thought of him as a weak champion again. I'm looking forward to seeing Ippo step into the world stage as nobody in Japan, other than Miyata, is left to be fought. The progression of Ippos fighting is world class no pun intended!
The final big bout this season was between Takamura and David Eagle! Having conquered the Jr Middleweight division, Takamura made the bold claim of winning a multitude of other weight classes. Which with someone as talented as Takamura, who became world champion with no losses, just maybe he could! He gave up the Jr Middlewight belt and challenged David Eagle, a super-champion of the Middleweight class. David is a champion's champ, who despite being undefeated himself remains modest and unpretentious about his insane power. He takes each match very seriously, training at each moment and strategizing too. Unlike Takamura who's a media nightmare, David is hard to root against, a true good guy. Compared to Takamura's last opponent Brian Hawk, David is the total opposite! The build up and overall stakes of this fight aren't as massive feeling like with Hawk v Takamura, but still large. Takamura's fights always feel larger than life, maybe because it's on the world stage but Takamura is this monster that we're just glad to be following around! There was one scare that perhaps Takamura's right eye was screwed up as claimed by Miyata, but as the fight went on Takamura showed off something special.
David is a orthodox fighter who uses tactics and fundamentals to win fights, Takamura's least favorite type of fighting. The bout is the hardest either have either had in their careers, David even claimed he has never been able to show his true potential in any fight until his match against Takamura. Both fighters had their left eyes cut, which gives scares that potentially the fight could end by medical leave. Eventually Takamura's right eye becomes swollen shut and with the left eye filling with blood he fights blind! Not only that but he hits everything perfectly aiming directly in David's vital spots. With absolute resolution Takamura finds the resolve to not fold and wins his second weight class! Overall I found Hawk v Takamura to be a more compelling bout, however Eagle v Takamura was very entertaining as well!
It's a bit of a shame that this is the end of the adaptation when there's still so much left, the manga is longer than One Piece after all! Seems you'll have to seek onwards into the manga if you want your HnI fix! That's where I'll continue my journey and hopefully I'll get to see Ippo's step into the world stage and much more!
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