Ippo’s future comes under discussion as an old friend says his goodbyes.
What they Say:
“Episode 14 – Empowering Words”
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers).
At Dr. Yamaguchi’s office post-match, Ippo is forced to face the facts; if he continues to rely primarily on the Dempsey roll for his victories, his career could very well be cut short. And if he ever wants to face Miyata again, he needs to come up with an alternate plan for training himself to victory. As he hobbles down the street on crutches, Umezawa pulls up and offers Ippo a ride, along with some news – he’s quitting his job at the Makunouchi boat rental in order to pursue his dream of becoming a manga artist. According to their pact, Umezawa wants Ippo to be the first to read his completed first manga, but what he doesn’t expect is for the other members of Kamogawa Gym show up to offer their opinions on it as well. Unfortunately, a fight breaks out over the manuscript and it’s damaged, but Umezawa isn’t upset – the fact that so many people were fighting over the manga and foaming at the mouth to read each new page solidifies his desire to enter a contest for new authors. Ippo stays up all night to help fix the torn pages, and marvels at Umezawa’s work ethic.
Back at the gym, Ippo learns that, after his victory over Sawamura, all the other potential challengers to his title rescinded their challenges. Whereas once Ippo was a “cheese champion,” his skill set full of exploitable holes, now his training has filled those gaps and then some. Though he’s on forced rest for a while to recover, his coach is still thinking ahead to Ippo’s next match, which might involve a boxer from outside of Japan.
After Umezawa leaves, his empty position is quickly filled by Itagaki, who wants to learn from Ippo’s example and build his strength on the job. Itagaki marvels at the strength and balance it takes to the daily work required for the boat rental. He vows someday to catch up with Ippo, who’s ability to carry very heavy things is an inspiration. At his next match, it seems as if Itagaki’s extracurricular training has paid off, helping him to achieve an easy victory.
For an episode in which nothing in particular really happens to further the boxing storylines, a great deal of things happen in terms of character development and various minor side plots, making it into a very full and fulfilling episode to watch. The episode is full of transitions, the major one being Umezawa’s transition from employee to self-made manga artist. I found this to be a nice way to tie off what’s become quite a lengthy character relationship, and it was nice to see Umezawa’s former “life” as one of Ippo’s bullies addressed once more and kind of tied off with a nice bow. This isn’t the type of anime that tends to get me all emotional, but in this case Umezawa’s warm farewell and Ippo’s almost infallible kindness to allow bygones to be bygones was especially touching. For a show that has a tendency to rely a lot on very juvenile humor (and yes, there’s some of that, too), it was nice to see something a little bit more genuine.
In a surprising twist that very well could have gone more comically than it did, Itagaki’s new job as Ippo’s fishing boat kouhai does a good job of reiterating Ippo’s strengths when, over the past story arc or so, a lot of energy has been funneled into pointing out how many flaws he actually has as a fighter. For someone like Itagaki whose career as a boxer has barely gotten underway in comparison to most of the other characters, basics like strength-building and balance are potentially more meaningful skills to build, and the results are dramatic. It was a little odd to be seeing a match again already (however brief it might have been), but it was a good way to demonstrate how great a difference natural exercise can make in addition to more focused, purposeful training.
I’m very curious to see Ippo make his debut on the world stage, which is what this episode seems to suggest will happen in the future (though I expect that will probably happen in a later season considering this one is half over already). With Takamura it was almost a given; the man is a superhero with a personality to match, and the world stage is the only one which can accommodate his personality. With Ippo, though, it will be interesting to see how his very restrained, gentle personality plays out in such a wide open playing field. This is definitely something worth anticipating in the long term, I think.
In Summary:
It’s not entirely clear what the future holds at this point, other than probably another matchup for Takamura in the works (judging primarily from the imagery in during the opening theme). With next week’s episode title suggesting a more mundane, home-life adventure for the characters to handle, I’m curious to see how the series will transition into its next sports-related item. For a more character-focused episode (or string of episodes, whatever it may be), this one managed to put a lot of things on the table at make time for some bit players that don’t always get much glory, but are important to Ippo’s success in their own way. As a reprieve, it was very successful. As the calm before an oncoming storm, though, I wish it had provided a bit more to chew on.
Episode Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment: Acer P235H 1080p LCD Monitor connected via DVI input, Logitech S220 2.1 Speakers, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560