What they Say:
“Episode 21 – The End of the Death Match”
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers).
As the match begins to edge into its final stages, the battle between Takamura and Eagle becomes one of wills rather than skill. When the doctor attempts to end the match on account of the boxers’ injuries, both men rally against the call and whip the audience into a frenzy. The fight will go on, but both men run the risk of severing the muscle in their eyelid and having it become completely useless. They trade more punches until the cuts flare up again… but this time Takamura’s other eye is swelled shut and he’s left with very little visibility. It’s all that he can do to drag Eagle down with him as he falls, resulting in a rare double-knockdown. As the referee’s count begins, it will be a contest of willpower to see which man can make it to his feet.
As they struggle to their feet, it’s clear that there’s only one final push left in either of them. Eagle comes out swinging and appears to be the favorite to survive. Takamura is lacking the majority of his field of vision, and all he can see to orient himself is his opponent’s golden shoes. It’s then that his training kicks in, and as he envisions his hours in the gym practicing with his coach in training mitts, he somehow manages to hit the mark. Again. And again. Until through a blur of fists swinging through the open air are stopped by the coach himself who tells Takamura of his victory against all odds.
As the new champion, Takamura takes hold of his championship belts, but they don’t stay in his hands very long. He offers them to the coach, as a devoted son would to his beloved father. Now all that’s left to do is to give Aoki and Kimura the haircuts that they’ve been trying to avoid after their non-wins.
I’ve had a tendency to be sort of curmudgeonly with this series as I’ve been reviewing it. Weekly I struggle to balance the fact that I’m not a big fan of most sports anime nor the tropes that are associated with it with the reality that I have, for better or worse, sat through this anime in its entirety (including all the previous seasons) and have grown attached to certain bits and pieces of it. And even though I have my complaints about the character portrayals and the lack of seriousness that seems to rear its ugly head more frequently than I would like, there’s also always the looming possibility that an episode or two might break out of the formula and really provide a strong emotional climax to hold onto. This is one of those special episodes.
As expected, this episode is intense and gripping. Even though the outcome has been practically assured from the get-go since this isn’t really a proper place in the series to insert a token loss for any of the “important” characters, the way in which the match unfolds has been as unpredictable as it could possibly be, with the dual injuries adding a very different flavor than many of the previous matches had. With the series being so long-running one would think that it would be running out of ways to escalate the action and show something unique and fresh to the audience. In this case, the always-strong Takamura has been pitted against a man who is truly (and fairly) his match, and he’s forced to take the whole experience incredibly seriously, allowing for some small modicum of character growth in the process.
Unfortunately, the reappearance of Takamura’s dignity and seriousness is short-lived, gone almost as soon as he’s left the sports arena. As he hands his belts to the coach and rejoins his comrades at the gym, Takamura the bully takes up residence once again, forcing his underlings to make good on the hair-related bet they all made several episodes ago. This is really one of the most frustrating things about this otherwise great episode. It’s the feeling that even when big changes happen, they’re always subordinate to the status-quo; that it’s more comfortable to keep the characters who they are than have the seriousness of what they’ve been through actually have a chance to take root and create change. That doesn’t change the fact that I teared-up at the completion of the match, though.
This leaves us with about four episodes left in the season, and as usual with this show I’m having a difficult time trying to figure out what will be done with such a small allotment of time. It’s enough time to set up the general arc of another season (likely) but not really enough time to tell much more of a story during this one. With the pacing being so odd this entire season, it’s anyone’s guess what the next few weeks will have in store.
In Summary:
Takamura’s big match is over, Aoki and Kimura have gotten their “due,” and Ippo’s goal of boxing Miyata has been reinvigorated once again. It almost feels like the final episode of the season has just occurred, but there are still a few yet in store. So what will the coming weeks bring? If past seasons and story arcs are any indication, there are probably a few fists left to fly and perhaps even some big, unexpected developments. And, of course, probably a few laughs to deal with, too.
Episode Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment: Acer P235H 1080p LCD Monitor connected via DVI input, Logitech S220 2.1 Speakers, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560
