Episode 19 (Season 2)

Critical Situation
Episode Information
Previous	Extreme Weight Loss
Episode	Season 2 #19
Next	World J. Middleweight Title Match
Japanese Title	一触即発
Romanized Title	Isshoku Sokuhatsu
Arc	Battle of Hawk Arc
Manga	Round 374 (p.1-19) Round 375 (p.1-19) Round 376 (p.1-13, 16-19) Round 377 (p.1-9)
Air dates
Japanese	May 12, 2009
Music
Opening	Hekireki
Ending	8AM

Critical Situation is Round 19 of the Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger anime, which is the adaptation of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo series.

Details

• Characters Introduced: Miguel Zale, Yi Yon-su

Summary

At the Kinoshita gym, Hawk is doing a public sparring session. Kamogawa, Yagi, and a large group of reporters watch the spar, however, Hawk is not taking the spar serious as he gets hit and complains about his sparring partner not holding back. When Kamogawa and Yagi walk out of the gym as they didn't see a point in watching, they hear some commotion in the gym. Kamogawa and Yagi rush back into the gym and are shocked to see Hawk has violently downed his sparring partner and has a group of women around him. Hawk tells the women that they will go with him to Roppongi afterwards so he can work up a real sweat. Fujii informs Kamogawa and Yagi that the spar was over in less than ten seconds when those women came in, making Kamogawa irritated. Fujii asks about Takamura's condition since his public spar is in an hour, and Kamogawa tells him that he is in terrible condition. An hour later, at the Kamogawa gym, Takamura gets hit multiple times in his public spar, with reporters thinking Takamura could fall at any moment. Ippo, Aoki, Kimura, and Itagaki watch the spar while worried about Takamura, however, they feel that Takamura will deliver on the day of the match.

Later, while watching Takamura train by running, Kamogawa reads an article covering both public spars, noticing that they have the odds 7 to 3 against Takamura. Kamogawa thinks of how Takamura is unable to drop the last two kilograms, so he has to continue training even though he would usually wrap up the training to prevent Takamura from being overworked. When Takamura takes a break, Kamogawa expresses his frustration about Hawk to him, not liking how Hawk is repeatedly insulting them and is playing around with women instead of training. Takamura encourages Kamogawa by giving a thumbs up, as he is unable to talk due to his mouth being so dry. Takamura continues his weight control until the day of the weigh-in arrives. At the Ryōgoku Kokugikan, as the weigh-in between Takamura and Hawk begins, Takamura passes at the full limit (69.9 kg/154 ib), which makes him, Kamogawa, and Yagi celebrate. Hawk walks over to Takamura and insults his body, calling him a mummy and asking if he is going to fight him with such a pitiful looking body and pokes Takamura's chest. The reporters are shocked by Hawk's mockery and Kamogawa stops Takamura as he started raising his fist. Takamura walks away as Hawk grins at him.

At a separate building, with Takamura and Hawk's press conference about to begin, Fujii tells Ippo, Aoki, Kimura, and Itagaki that if something happens between Takamura and Hawk, he is counting on them to step in. When the press conference begins, a reporter asks Takamura how he sees the match going. Takamura answers that it won't end in a decision, and that it will end in a KO with a new champion. Hiding near the stage, Aoki thought that Takamura was going to do some trash talking. Ippo notices that Takamura can talk properly now and that the cracks on his face are gone. Kimura thinks Takamura rehydrated himself after the weigh-in, as he was like a human version of a dried shittake, so he absorbed the liquid very quickly. Irritated that Hawk didn't react to Takamura's answer, Fujii asks Hawk that since his first title defence is in enemy territory, is there a reason he persists on provoking his challenger, thinking that it is because he is worried or afraid. Hawk has no intention to answer, so his manager answers for him, stating that Hawk is not nervous at all about his first title defence, the provocation is a natural result of his personality, and they are confident that they will bring back their belt to America.

Mari asks Hawk and his manager if that is what the world champion really thinks, noting how Takamura has had sixteen consecutive knockouts since his debut, with comparable destructive power to Hawk, and since Hawk is fighting in enemy turf, it wouldn't be surprising for him to be a little nervous. Hawk tells her that that isn't what she really wanted to know, informing her that his hotel room number is 1003, inviting her to knock on his door whenever she wants to so that he can show her everything. Flustered, Mari sits back down. As the press conference is about to end, Takamura and Hawk are asked to have a picture taken together with a fighting pose. As they display a fighting pose, the reporters ask for them to get closer to each other and have their fists under each other's chins. As they begin to do so, Hawk slams his left fist up Takamura's chin, shocking everyone. As Takamura gets angry, Ippo, Aoki, Kimura, and Itagaki rush to hold him back. However, Takamura tells them that the one they need to stop is Kamogawa, who is grabbing Hawk by his shirt collar and yelling at him. Hawk gets him off by smacking his face. Takamura glares at Hawk, while Ippo, Aoki, Kimura, and Itagaki are unable to move due to the pressure. Hawk starts laughing and insulting Takamura to everyone, as well as telling everyone to bring all of their women so he can give them his genes and spread his seed throughout Japan, resulting in world champions all over the country. As Hawk leaves, the reporters get angry and wishes for Takamura to defeat Hawk. Takamura tells Kamogawa that he won't have to put up with this anymore once he is in the ring.

On the day of Takamura's match against Hawk, the tense audience at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan call for Takamura to take down Hawk. Aoki believes Hawk's comment about giving him all the women in Japan to him is the cause of the upset, and vows to protect Tomiko. Kimura and Itagaki think that Aoki doesn't have to worry since Tomiko would be handed right back, making Aoki angry. Ippo is nervous about fighting in a venue with the atmosphere being so tense, but Aoki and Kimura thinks that no one cares about any matches but the world title match right now. The group goes to see Umezawa, who is in charge of selling Takamura and Kamogawa gym merchandise with Yagi, which turns out to be a success as they are almost sold out. Yagi is excited by how successful the merchandise is, but Aoki and Kimura tells him that Takamura winning is more important.

Ippo goes to the waiting room to change his clothes and get ready for his match. He notices Takamura, who was resting, is already there. Takamura is confident that he will become the world champion, but he asks Ippo who he think will win. Takamura expresses his anger about what Hawk did at the press conference to Ippo, however, he reveals that when he went home and watched Hawk's videos, he realised that Hawk is strong and understood why he got the world title. Ippo is shocked to see Takamura looking like he is under pressure. Ippo tells Takamura that if he promises to win by a one round KO, he has to promise to win. Takamura wonders if Ippo should make the promise since he heard Ippo's opponent is strong, causing Ippo to change his promise to if he wins by any round KO or even a decision. Takamura yells at Ippo to just win his match and warm up the audience.

As the match between Ippo and Yi Yon-su is about to begin, Ippo and Yi enter the ring. Ippo notices how the audience is already tense and that Yi looks strong by his shadowboxing. Kamogawa tells Ippo that they don't know what kind of fighter Yi is, but he's got a good reputation, advising him to use his own style to win. Ippo's body starts to feel tense, but he plans to start out with what he is good at. Kamogawa yells at Ippo as the gong has already rang and Yi is rushing towards him. Ippo puts up his block, but Yi's left jab knocks Ippo's right hand away from his face. Ippo weaves his body to dodge Yi's flurry of left jabs. Ippo's weaving begins to move in a sideways figure eight style of the Dempsey Roll. Kamogawa is shocked by Ippo using the Dempsey Roll at the start of a match, shouting for him to be compact and precise. The starting left hook of the Dempsey Roll grazes Yi's jaw. As Ippo is swinging back for the right hook, Yi is getting his right ready to counter the Dempsey Roll. Yi looks his footing as he launches his right, causing him to miss. At the same time, Ippo lands his right hook on Yi's face. Ippo repeatedly hits Yi's face with left and right hooks with his Dempsey Roll until Yi falls down.

Anime-Manga Differences

See also: Anime-Manga Differences

• In the manga, Aoki's eyebrows did not grow back by the time of the "BATTLE OF HAWK" event began. In the anime, they have fully grown back by the end of last episode while Takamura was still training for the match.
• In the manga, Kamogawa talked to Ippo in the waiting room before his match against Yi began. In the anime, he talks to Ippo in the ring before the match began.

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
Bryan Hawk	Akio Ōtsuka	大塚 明夫	Ōtsuka Akio
Miguel Zale	Shōzō Īzuka	飯塚 昭三	Īzuka Shōzō
Coach Kamogawa	Kenji Utsumi	内海 賢二	Utsumi Kenji
Yagi	Toshihiko Nakajima	中嶋 聡彦	Nakajima Toshihiko
Minoru Fujii	Ken'ichi Ono	小野 健一	Ono Ken'ichi
Mari Īmura	Emi Shinohara	篠原 恵美	Shinohara Emi
Masahiko Umezawa	Mitsuaki Madono	真殿 光昭	Madono Mitsuaki
Live Announcer	Jin Horikawa	堀川 仁	Horikawa Jin
Unknown	Fuminori Komatsu Kunio Ida Shin Mori Kunpei Sakamoto	小松 史法 井田 国男 森 伸 坂本 くんぺい	Komatsu Fuminori Ida Kunio Mori Shin Sakamoto Kunpei

Episode Credits

Role	English Name	Japanese	Rōmaji
Screenplay	Mina Tsuchiya	土谷 三奈	Tsuchiya Mina
Storyboard	Masato Tamagawa	玉川 真人	Tamagawa Masato
Director	Yoshifumi Sueda	末田 宜史	Sueda Yoshifumi
Animation Director	Takafumi Hori Han Sung-hui Ken'ichi Shimizu (Action)	堀 剛史 清水 健一	Hori Takafumi Shimizu Ken'ichi