Episode 15 (Season 2)

Itagaki, Debut Match
Episode Information
Previous	Two Sparring
Episode	Season 2 #15
Next	The Two Hawks
Japanese Title	板垣、デビュー戦
Romanized Title	Itagaki, Debyū-sen
Arc	Battle of Hawk Arc
Manga	Round 362 (p.1-19) Round 363 (p.1-19) Round 364 (p.1-19) Round 365 (p.1-6)
Air dates
Japanese	April 14, 2009
Music
Opening	Hekireki
Ending	8AM

Itagaki, Debut Match is Round 15 of the Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger anime, which is the adaptation of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo series.

Details

• Characters Introduced: Fumito Makino, Sayama Coach, Arman Alegria, Morris West
• Locations Introduced: Sayama Boxing Gym

Summary

At the Kamogawa gym, Aoki and Kimura informs Itagaki of the news that Takamura's world title match has been finalised for December. As the boxers get excited about Takamura's possibility of becoming the world champion, Kamogawa reminds them they still have the matches in October to do. Kamogawa then reveals that in addition to Takamura's preliminary match before the world title match, it will be Itagaki's pro debut and Kimura's comeback match that month. Yagi announces that Ippo will be the semi-final for Takamura's world title match in December, fighting at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan, which Takamura picked because of Date's match against Ricardo. As Aoki gets excited and plans to do his best in his match, Yagi informs him that he is the only one in the Kamogawa gym without a match scheduled, making him feel down.

Fujii then arrives to the gym, wanting to talk to Takamura, however, he is in the bathroom. In the bathroom, Takamura examines his stool and finds nothing suspicious in it. When he gets out, Fujii mentions that he must be nervous since he took a while getting out. Takamura claims that he isn't nervous, as Hawk is the one chickening out due to him cancelling their match and then suddenly agreeing to it again. Fujii states that it was his manager's strategy in order to make sure they have the advantage. Fujii explains that Hawk is a hard fighter to manage as he has a wild personality, no one has ever seen him train, and it is nearly impossible to get a hold of him unless it is the week before a match. Kimura mentions that Hawk is famous for being a world champion who hates to train and has won by using nothing but his natural born talent. He adds that after Hawk won the world title, he bragged that he only trained for nine days and prefers to spend the time leading up to a match in bed with women. Fujii notes that Hawk has a record of twenty matches, twenty wins, and seventeen KO's, taking the world title without a scratch in America where the competition in the junior middleweights is fierce. When Takamura expresses how Hawk must be desperately training and crying to himself because of him, Fujii reveals that Hawk's manager can't get a hold of Hawk, and while they were able to tell him about his upcoming match against Takamura, when Hawk heard that his challenger was Japanese, he hung up without even asking who his challenger was. The reveal angers Takamura, Aoki, and Kimura, but Kamogawa tries to calm down Takamura, advising him to focus on his next match first. Takamura claims that it doesn't matter if Hawk trains or not, he will take the title his way and kill him.

The Kamogawa boxers train until October 14th arrives for Itagaki, Kimura, and Takamura's matches. At the Kōrakuen Hall, the "APOCALYPSE NOW" event is about to begin. In Itagaki and Kimura's waiting room, Itagaki is excited for his debut match, while Kimura is nervous since it is his first match in a while and his first match he fights with "Tatsuya" written in katakana, making it feel like a debut match. As Itagaki is about to leave for his match, Kimura wishes him good luck, wanting to set the stage for Takamura's match. Itagaki claims that he intends to, but he has his own goal to chase after, planning to get into the ring for himself this time. As Itagaki is in the ring and the announcer introduces him, Aoki and Ippo attempt to cheer, but are silenced as a cheering squad of college girls cheer for him. The announcer then introduces Fumito Makino from the Sayama gym as Itagaki's opponent for his pro debut match. Ippo mentions to Aoki that Makino has two matches and two losses on record. Aoki is surprised Makino's side accepted the match and asks Ippo of his thoughts. Ippo sees that Itagaki is tense, but not stiff and is concentrated, thinking he looks good overall. Aoki notes how Makino looks worried. Shinoda tells Itagaki that it looks like Makino will do whatever it takes to win and that he knows about his reputation, so he will try and rush in to take the pace. Itagaki is lost in thought with his eyes closed, as the pro's ring feels like as if he is being locked in a cage. He thinks that once he dodges a punch he will know what kind of condition he is in.

Once Itagaki opens his eyes, he sees Makino rushing towards him as the match already began. As Makino starts throwing punches with wide swings, Itagaki easily dodges them and uses quick footwork to move around. Itagaki hits Makino's face multiple times with quick left jabs. Itagaki dodges Makino's huge swings again as Aoki notes how Makino has to bet it all on a do-or-die punch or somehow draw Itagaki into a slugfest. After dodging another full swing, Itagaki throws a right hook counter. Makino steps back and remembers the Sayama coach telling him that if he loses this match, he will have to give up on boxing. Makino desperately rushes towards Itagaki with a right that misses. However, Makino purposely headbutts Itagaki right after. Itagaki shouts to the referee about Makino's headbutting. As Itagaki's focus is away from Makino, he gets hit with a left straight to his face, causing him to go down. As the referee starts counting, Itagaki argues about him counting since he thinks it isn't a proper down due to Makino headbutting him. Aoki mentions to Ippo how that down will cost Itagaki since there's a lot of cases where amateur boxers who fight clean end up getting wiped out in rough fights. Itagaki puts up a fighting pose and the match continues. Makino rushes towards Itagaki and throws a right hook. The elbow hits Itagaki's face during the swing, which knocks Itagaki for the second time. Since it was the second down, the referee signals the end of the match and the match ends in Makino's victory. Itagaki tries to protest the referee's decision by arguing that he was downed from the elbow, however, he is unable to change his mind and the audience starts jeering at Itagaki.

As the semi-final match is about to begin, Kimura stands in the ring for his match against Arman Alegria as the audience cheers for Kimura to fight Mashiba again. As Ippo went to the waiting room, Itagaki comments towards Ippo how Makino was at a lower level than him and didn't intend on losing. He adds that he could even follow the punches and that telegraphed punches like those would never land on him, but his head and elbow did. Itagaki claims that Makino cheated and wonders where the referee was looking, as he let two fouls slide. Ippo tells Itagaki that Makino looked really desperate and must have had some reason why he couldn't afford to lose, which was why he fouled. Itagaki asks if it means it is okay to foul someone if they win. Ippo states that it wasn't a foul since the referee didn't stop him, whether it was because the referee thought they were unintentional or he didn't see them, but ultimately Itagaki got distracted during the match, making it his fault. Ippo adds that if Itagaki was as desperate as Makino was, he would have fought back after the headbutt. Itagaki leaves the Kōrakuen Hall, as he thought Ippo would be on his side, deciding to forget about the pro ring. Ippo wishes he would have told Itagaki sooner, remembering how during their spar, while his speed and technique are perfect, he didn't throw a single punch that felt dangerous. He thinks how pros can recognise ambition and intensity within someone by just looking at them, and Itagaki didn't have enough of either.

Ippo returns to the audience and tells Aoki that Itagaki ran out of the venue. Aoki is sure Itagaki will return to the gym in a few days. As Kimura and Alegria's match is going to the final tenth round, Ippo is shocked by how beat up Kimura looks. Ippo wonders if Alegria is strong, but Aoki claims that he is a genuine underdog and that their points are about even in his count. As the tenth round begins, Kimura rushes towards Alegria and throws a Dragonfish Blow that misses, causing him to get hit with a left straight on the face. Aoki notes that Kimura's only saving grace is that Alegria has bad punches. Aoki believes that since it is Kimura's first match in a long time he has forgotten his original style and is just trying to KO him as he has been going full steam the whole match. Kimura continues throwing big punches that miss while getting hit multiple times until the round ends. The match goes into decision, and Kimura is decided as the winner. The audience questions the decision and wonders if Kimura had the home advantage. Kimura leaves the ring looking down, hoping to do better next time. Kimura joins Ippo and Aoki in the audience as Takamura's match is about to begin.

As the main event is about to begin, Takamura stumbles into the ring with his bearskin costume. When he takes off the costume, the audience is shocked by his frail looking appearance due him to messing up his weight control. Kimura mentions how Takamura was suffering from constipation, causing Aoki and Ippo to remember how Aoki gave him a okonomiyaki with a sea slater inside. The announcer introduces Takamura's opponent: the Filipino middleweight champion Morris West, who intends to make an impact in the world ranking with a victory. Ippo and Kimura thinks West looks strong and is in perfect condition, while Aoki wishes for Takamura to win since it would seem like his fault if he loses. The gong sounds to start the match as Takamura wobbles out of his corner.

Anime-Manga Differences

See also: Anime-Manga Differences

Credits

Characters are named as they appear in the credits.

Role	English Name	Japanese	Rōmaji
Ippo Makunouchi	Kōhei Kiyasu	喜安 浩平	Kiyasu Kōhei
Mamoru Takamura	Rikiya Koyama	小山 力也	Koyama Rikiya
Masaru Aoki	Wataru Takagi	高木 渉	Takagi Wataru
Tatsuya Kimura	Keiji Fujiwara	藤原 啓治	Fujiwara Keiji
Manabu Itagaki	Daisuke Namikawa	浪川 大輔	Namikawa Daisuke
Coach Kamogawa	Kenji Utsumi	内海 賢二	Utsumi Kenji
Yagi	Toshihiko Nakajima	中嶋 聡彦	Nakajima Toshihiko
Shinoda	Seiji Sasaki	佐々木 誠二	Sasaki Seiji
Minoru Fujii	Ken'ichi Ono	小野 健一	Ono Ken'ichi
Live Announcer	Jin Horikawa	堀川 仁	Horikawa Jin
Referee	Hisashi Izumi	いずみ 尚	Izumi Hisashi
Ring Announcer	Akimitsu Takase	高瀬 右光	Takase Akimitsu
Morris West	Tomoyuki Shimura	志村 知幸	Shimura Tomoyuki
Fumito Makino	Takuya Satō	佐藤 拓也	Satō Takuya
Makino's Trainer	Kiyoshi Katsunuma	勝沼 紀義	Katsunuma Kiyoshi
Arman Alegria	Ryūta Morikawa	森川 竜太	Morikawa Ryūta
Audience	Tomoko Nakamura Seiko Ueda Noriko Fujimoto	中村 知子 うえだ 星子 藤本 教子	Nakamura Tomoko Ueda Seiko Fujimoto Noriko
Kyōsuke Imai	Yūichi Nakamura	中村 悠一	Nakamura Yūichi

Episode Credits

Role	English Name	Japanese	Rōmaji
Screenplay	Kotono Watanabe	渡邉 こと乃	Watanabe Kotono
Storyboard	Toshiya Niidome	新留 俊哉	Niidome Toshiya
Director	Takatoshi Suzuki	鈴木 孝聡	Suzuki Takatoshi
Animation Director	Kim Dong-joon Jang Kil-yong Ken'ichi Shimizu (Action)	清水 健一	Shimizu Ken'ichi