Episode 12 (Season 1)

Becoming a Bully's Buddy
Episode Information
Previous	Obsession for Victory
Episode	Season 1 #12 (Watch Online)
Next	The Eastern Japan Rookie Championship Tournament Begins
Japanese Title	手荒なダチ宣言
Romanized Title	Tearana Dachi Sengen
Arc	Rookie King Tournament: First Rounder Arc
Manga	Round 24 (p.2-20) Round 25 (p.2-20) Round 26 (p.2-19)
Air dates
Japanese	December 19, 2000
English	December 14, 2004
Music
Opening	Under Star
Ending	Yūzora no Kami Hikōki

Becoming a Bully's Buddy is Round 12 of the Hajime no Ippo anime, which is the adaptation of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo series.

Details

• Characters Introduced: Yoshio Fujiwara, Yoshio's Coach, Shūmitsuru Abe, Daisuke Haseyama, Ryūhei Inoue, Shin'ya Matsui, Keigo Nakamura, Toshi Saitō, Jin Sakuragi, Shin'ichi Takada, Kenji Takayama, Kazuyuki Watanabe
• Locations Introduced: Maeda Boxing Gym, Hirata Boxing Gym, Kawada Boxing Gym, Maiasa Boxing Gym, Maido Boxing Gym, Ōmori Boxing Gym, Funabashi Boxing Gym
• Styles Introduced: Peek-a-Boo Style
• Real Life People Mentioned: Mike Tyson

Summary

Ippo goes to school the day after his match. His classmates are surprised as he expected, but after lunch, no one talked to him. Ippo goes upstairs to the roof to eat, when he is stopped by Umezawa and his gang. They ask Ippo how he defeated his opponent at the debut match. After Ippo tells them, they ask when his next match is, then runs away, failing to apologise as originally planned. At the Kamogawa gym, Fujii arrives, Takamura walks over, thinking Fujii is here to see him, but Fujii asks Yagi for Ippo. Fujii oversees Ippo and Kamogawa mitt training, he notices Ippo is doing the Peek-a-Boo Style and biting his thumbs like Mike Tyson. After Ippo's training is over, he receives a video of Miyata's previous match from Fujii. That night, Ippo watches Miyata's previous match in his room. The next day, Kamogawa enters the gym and announces Ippo's second match is against Yoshio Fujiwara of the Maeda gym. The day of the match, Umezawa and gang arrives to the Kōrakuen Hall and doubts Ippo will win. Ippo and Fujiwara enters the ring, Umezawa notices Ippo's opponent looks fearsome. The gong sounds and round one begins. Ippo and Fujiwara starts throwing punches at each other. Fujiwara tries to land a counter, but Ippo's strong guard made the counter have no effect. After Ippo lands multiple hits, Fujiwara steps in and intentionally headbutts him, causing Ippo to go down, he gets up at the count of five. The match continues and Ippo throws more punches at Fujiwara, the latter goes for a second headbutt. The referee pauses the match and warns Fujiwara to watch his head, Ippo learns that Fujiwara is headbutting intentionally. The match continues, Ippo and Fujiwara exchange punches once again. Ippo winning the exchange and predicting a headbutt coming, unleashes an uppercut that downs Fujiwara and wins the match. The next day at school, Umezawa forces Ippo to follow him. He is greeted by a group of delinquents, Umezawa explains to the group about Ippo's match, and calls Ippo his friend.

Anime-Manga Differences

See also: Anime-Manga Differences

• The poster for Ippo and Fujiwara's match is seen more clearly, making the kanji visible rather than unreadable dots in the manga.

Credits

Characters are named as they appear in the credits.

Role	English Name	Japanese	Rōmaji	English Voice Actor
Ippo Makunouchi	Kōhei Kiyasu	喜安 浩平	Kiyasu Kōhei	Steve Cannon
Mamoru Takamura	Rikiya Koyama	小山 力也	Koyama Rikiya	Eddie Frierson
Coach Kamogawa	Kenji Utsumi	内海 賢二	Utsumi Kenji	Richard George
Masaru Aoki	Wataru Takagi	高木 渉	Takagi Wataru
Tatsuya Kimura	Keiji Fujiwara	藤原 啓治	Fujiwara Keiji
Manager Yagi	Toshihiko Nakajima	中嶋 聡彦	Nakajima Toshihiko	George Z. Cole
Reporter Fujii	Ken'ichi Ono	小野 健一	Ono Ken'ichi
Ippo's Mother	Yorie Terauchi	寺内 よりえ	Terauchi Yorie
Kumi Mashiba	Sanae Kobayashi	小林 沙苗	Kobayashi Sanae
Masahiko Umezawa	Mitsuaki Madono	真殿 光昭	Madono Mitsuaki	Ron Allen
Takemura	Kōichi Hasebe	長谷部 浩一	Hasebe Kōichi	Edward Zilla
Matsuda	Shin'ichi Namiki	並木 伸一	Namiki Shin'ichi	Terry Roberts
Yoshio Fujiwara	Fumihiko Tachiki	立木 文彦	Tachiki Fumihiko
Referee	Shōji Izumi	泉 尚摯	Izumi Shōji
Male Students	Takeshi Sasaki Makoto Higo	佐々木 健 肥後 誠	Sasaki Takeshi Higo Makoto
Female Students	Shōko Kikuchi Yumiko Kobayashi	菊地 祥子 小林 由美子	Kikuchi Shōko Kobayashi Yumiko
Kumi's Friend	Mayako Nigo	仁後 真耶子	Nigo Mayako

Episode Credits

Role	English Name	Japanese	Rōmaji
Screenplay	Kazuyuki Fudeyasu	筆安 一幸	Fudeyasu Kazuyuki
Storyboard	Yasuhiro Matsumura	松村 やすひろ	Matsumura Yasuhiro
Director	Yasuhiro Matsumura (Jun Shishido)	松村 やすひろ (宍戸 淳)	Matsumura Yasuhiro (Shishido Jun)
Animation Director	Li Hao-shan	李 豪善	Lǐ Háoshàn