Anticipating a Fierce Fight is Round 16 of the Hajime no Ippo anime, which is the adaptation of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo series.
Details[]
- Characters Introduced: Ryūichi Hayami, Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuo Yoshida, Seike Iwakawa, Teruhiko Takada, Maeda Coach
- Techniques Introduced: Shotgun
- Locations Introduced: Yamanaka Bakery
Summary[]
Ippo joins Takamura at the Kōrakuen Hall to watch Miyata's match against Teruhiko Takada for the East Japan Rookie King Tournament's second round. At the audience seats, Ippo sees the girl he had already spotted during his jogging and gloats, but Takamura tells him to not be distracted as the match is about to begin. Miyata will face Takada as a boxer, just like Ippo. When the match begins, Miyata starts by provoking his opponent, he does not use his footwork. He engages a fight in a exchange and leads despite some blows received. Takada hangs Miyata but it pushes him back, he continues to attack, but Miyata stays standing with a solid guard. Miyata takes advantage of an opportunity against Takada sends him down. He has become even better than before. Back at the Kamogawa gym, Ippo trains with Aoki and Kimura, and Fujii enters. He comes to take stock of the competition, all the favourites are gone, except Mitsuo Yoshida. He was ousted by an unknown boxer: Kenta Kobashi, who will be Ippo's next opponent. Fujii is watching the tape of the game, everyone realises that he is not a very good boxer and yet he will win points. The next match on the tape consists of Ryūichi Hayami and Seike Iwakawa's match. Hayami's presence causes a general hysteria for his fans that consist of mostly women, which annoys Aoki, Kimura, and Takamura. When the match begins, without a guard, Hayami dodges Iwakawa's punches with ease. Suddenly, Hayami unleashes his Sunday punch, the Shotgun, hitting Iwakawa with a flurry of left and right punches to his face until the referee gets between them to stop the match. Afterwards, Ippo goes back to train, thinking about the opponents for the Rookie King Tournament. That same evening, he goes back to the Yamanaka Bakery and sees the girl he saw at the Kōrakuen Hall working there. Aoki, Kimura, and Takamura teases Ippo about girls the next day, however, Takamura and Kimura then shows Ippo what Aoki's vision of "cute girls" is, showing Ippo photos of women in his locker that they deem unattractive. At home, Ippo gets a phone call from Takamura for him to get ready for a training camp in a week, where Ippo, Takamura, Aoki, and Kimura are invited, while Kamogawa will not be coming. At Takamura's house, Takamura, Aoki, and Kimura prepare bags with fun activities for the beach.
Anime-Manga Differences[]
See also: Anime-Manga Differences
- The anime omits a scene where Ippo takes off his bandages from the Ozuma fight.
Credits[]
Characters are named as they appear in the credits.
Episode Credits[]
| Role | English Name | Japanese | Rōmaji |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screenplay | Daisuke Aranishi | 荒西 大介 | Aranishi Daisuke |
| Storyboard | Akio Sakai | さかい あきお | Sakai Akio |
| Director | Mitsuyuki Masuhara | 増原 光幸 | Masuhara Mitsuyuki |
| Animation Director | Hiroshi Kōjina | 神志那 弘志 | Kōjina Hiroshi |
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| Rookie King Tournament: First Rounder Arc | |||||||||||||||||||
| Manga Volumes | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||||||||||||||||
| Manga Rounds | |||||||||||||||||||
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | ||||||||||
| 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | ||||||||||
| 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | ||||||||||||
| Anime Rounds | |||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | |||||||||||