
Score: 8.62/10
Hajime no Ippo: Rising
Synopsis
Japanese Featherweight Champion Makunouchi Ippo has defended his title belt once more with the help of his devastating signature move: the Dempsey Roll. However, new challengers are rising up left and right, claiming to have an answer for the move responsible for crushing his opponents. Will Ippo be able to step up to the challenge, or will the weight of his pride destroy him before he finds out just what it means to be strong? Meanwhile, fellow Kamogawa Gym mate Aoki Masaru is just a hop, skip, and a Frog Punch away from claiming his own belt, ready to take on the Japanese Lightweight Champion! Hajime no Ippo: Rising continues Ippo's quest to become stronger, featuring the same cast of loveable dimwits from Kamogawa Gym, as they put their bodies and hearts on the line to make their way in the harsh world of professional boxing. With a will of iron, Ippo steps into the ring once again. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Hajime no Ippo:Rising continues the story presented in the previous 2 seasons. This 3rd season was just a distant shadow of what Hajime no Ippo once was.
After the first season ended the series went downhill, not in animation quallity but in the material.
Story: 6/10
I wish I could rate this a 9/10 as I did for the first season, unfortunately that will not happen and here is why.
– Why the heck is this show named “Hajime no Ippo” and not “Hajime no Everyone Else”? Ippo did not get any attention in this season, with just one single fight animated I was dissapointed to say the least. Like in the season 2 of the series, the story is not focused on Ippo’s character. Out of 26 episodes, there are around 2 showing Ippo’s only fight and about 1 more showing his training and state of mind.
– There was not one fight that I enjoyed this season, not even Takamura’s world title match against Eagle, since his opponent was a classic boxer and there was no real tension, like in the Takamura-Hawk fight.
– The story brings nothing new to the table, the same routine, Takamura getting another world champion belt, Ippo defending his title as the Featherweight Champion of Japan, Aoki and Kimura just goofing around with their fights and so on.
– The comedy and humour are as good as always but the story itself is repetitive.
– What is the greatest power/ability in Hajime no Ippo? The answer to that question is: Being a main character. After being facefucked rapidly Ippo is still fighting like nothing ever happened, the only explanation being either “he has the Japanese fighting spirit” or “those eyes are glowing green”.
– The show has gotten extremly unrealistic. A boxer can get hit by a truck 40 times and still get up if he is japanese and has “the japanese fighting spirit”. Give me a fucking break!
– Wasn’t Kumi supposed to become Ippo’s girlfriend? They spend the night in the same room, they went on multiple dates, they went to the beach togheteher, etc. It has been 3-4 years since Ippo met Kumi, did they forget about how much Ippo likes Kumi and umi likes Ippo? Well, I guess the answer is “fuck that, who remembers it”
– During the previous 2 season it was made clear that Ippo had the most destructive punches in all Japan. That creates the question: Why does a fighter that has such great power but lacks the skill or defense to become a great champion and a World Title challenger need and focuses on a predictable and risky tehnique such as the “demsey role” that aims to put even more power in his punches at the cost of possibly getting KO’d? Why does a strong fighter that constantly gets beaten up focuses on increasing his ofense and not on his dodging/defense skills? Why does it take 20 of Ippo’s strongest punches to take down his opponent? This has gotten to the point that it is annoingly stupid… I do know that the “dempsey roll” is a technique Ippo came up with after his only deafeat and that may be a reason for his passion and obsesion with it but those are not the actions of a professional boxer therefore proving Ippo does not have the mind of a professional boxer.
– The way Ippo fights, constantly getting severly injured in every fight would lead to his early retirement due to severe brain damage, fact that is stated in the anime as well, but no countermeasures are taken against it nor any side effects take form. No matter how hard Ippo get punched, the next day he will be good as new.
– After Sawamura fought dirty and commited many fouls (hitting Ippo while he was down, elbowing, etc.) and the spectators constantly booed him, when the predictable win of Ippo happened, the crowd started cheering for Sawamura, yelling “you did great Sawamura”; “come to the Hall anytime”; “we’ll have your back”; “great fight”. The writer needs to take a breath and sort his shit out before writing anything, in what world would that happen?
– In season 2, Ippo’s coach said “from now on, it’s time to challenge modern boxing itself” but nothing of that sort happened in season 3.
– Ippo dosen’t have a clear gole anymore. Ippo’s original goal was to find “what it means to be strong” then Ippo’s goal was to become the Champion and then he received from Date the duty and challenge of defeating the Featherweight World Champion, Ricardo Martinez, the superchampion with no losses and more than 64 wins by KO. Did Ippo forget about all that?
– I enjoyed the background story of Ippo’s coach, but it was not the right time for it to pe showed.
Characters: 6/10
The characters do not get any development, they still have various diffrent personalities but nothing new about them has been shown after the first/second season ended.
I am truly disappointed by Ippo’s character. Ippo has zero character development, he is the same old, easily intimidated school boy, he is the same guy as in the first season.
In the gym Ippo is all fired up but as soon as he gets in the ring he is scared of everything. Can’t he fight like a real Champion where he only gets grazed, where he performs impressive dodges and does shocking things that make his opponent back the fuck up and carefully think about his next move? No, after 3 seasons I guess it will never happen.
At one point, the bad and “evil” Sawamura punches Kumi (Ippo’s future girfriend) and Ippo does nothing but prevents Kumi’s brother form taking revenge. Yeah, a real main character Ippo has become, cowering before just about anyone.
Ippo is not a good boxer skill wise, he is just a caveman with boxing gloves, his fights and skills are not improving much, he gets hit by any no-name boxer, Ex: he gets injured by a fisherman boxer, he gets beat up by his former apprentice that has only boxed for 2 years and the list goes on. The point is that no matter who Ippo’s opponent is, Ippo is going to get badly beaten up and then he will win by a KO. Repetitive much?
Sawamura’s character, the bad guy Ippo predictably defeated seems to be taken from a cartoon. Sawamura is one-dimensional, cliched, a Japanese copycat of Brian Hawk.
The main character of the series should have been either Takamura or Myata, they are much better main character material.
Animation: 8/10
The animation has not improved much compared to the 2nd season, that being said, the animation is still great and the fight are well coreographed.
Sound: 5/10
The opening theme is horrible, I always skipped it. The ending theme is decent, the OST is average, some of the actor’s voices are irritating.
Enjoyment: 6/10
I did not enjoy this season except for part of the jokes and the animation. For the little screen time Ippo received, I have had enough of seeing Ippo struggle with every nobody boxer. His matches are getting annoingly repetitive.
Overall: 6.4/10
This show did not start out unrealistic but has gotten progressively extremly unrealistic as it has gone to the point of being stupid. I would recommend this series just for the first season.
Comments