Episode 51 (Season 1)

The Group Date
Episode Information
Previous	Something to Convey
Episode	Season 1 #51 (Watch Online)
Next	The Challenger
Japanese Title	合コン
Romanized Title	Gōkon
Arc	Challenge for the Throne Arc
Manga	Round 170 (p.12-19) Round 171 (p.1-19) Round 172 (p.1-19) Round 173 (p.5-19)
Air dates
Japanese	October 2, 2001
English	April 25, 2006
Music
Opening	Inner Light
Ending	360°

The Group Date is Round 51 of the Hajime no Ippo anime, which is the adaptation of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo series.

Details

• Characters Introduced: Tomiko, Megumi, Reiko
• Locations Introduced: Great Tokyo Era Izakaya

Summary

Some time after Volg's visit, Ippo regains consciousness and his gym mates pay him a visit and reveal that for the past days they had been taking his urine samples. Disturbed by this, Ippo goes to the bathroom to do it himself, while the trio sets up a group date with Ippo's nurse, Reiko. When he gets out of the bathroom, Ippo fells dizzy and loses his balance, causing one of the nurses to remind him of his condition. Ippo turns around to notice the nurse is Kumi, who asks if he remembers her. Ippo tells the nurse that he does know who she is, and she lets him know that she is not angry at his match with her brother. She also informs him that Mashiba won the Class A Tournament as well. She expresses her relief at seeing him healthy before leaving, which causes him to briefly wonder in what way and how worried she actually was. Two days after that, Ippo is released, and once he gets home, he gets a call from his gym mates inviting him to celebrate. When he arrives at the meeting, Ippo realises they plan to use his money to pay for a group date with the nurses. He initially refuses to be part of it, but when Kumi shows up, Kimura uses her to force Ippo to go with them. In order to stop Takamura from getting the girls's attention, Aoki suggests they go bowling, and the winner gets to chooses the woman he likes first. Aoki, being the most skilled at the game, achieves the highest score, and so do Takamura and Kimura. Ippo tries his best as well, but ends up with zero points. Takamura and Kimura, who are competing for second place after the invincible Aoki, begin to get worried as Ippo's score keeps getting closer to theirs. In the end, Ippo misses his last shot and the game ends with Aoki as the winner but, despite winning the game, Aoki chooses the least attractive of the nurses, Tomiko. The group is divided in pairs, and Ippo escorts Kumi to her house. Once they arrive, she invites him in and they have a cup of tea as they wait for Mashiba to return. Ippo's behaviour makes Kumi wonder if he is afraid of her brother, to which he replies that he is not. Her suspicions however are confirmed when Mashiba arrives and Ippo runs away. As he is out wondering where to take a cab to go home, Mashiba approaches Ippo and implies that he must win his match against Date so that he can be crushed by Mashiba himself. Motivated by Mashiba's way of encouragement, Ippo gets excited about the fight. Arriving at the Kamogawa gym, Ippo notices an energetic Kimura training with enthusiasm. Kimura explains that Reiko told him that she was going to cheer for him in his next match. Kimura then asks Ippo how it went with Kumi, and Ippo tells him that they were interrupted by Mashiba's arrival. When Takamura arrives, the duo is surprised to hear he went home early. Takamura explains that as the champion, he will soon fight the winner of the Class A Tournament. Kamogawa arrives and lets them know the dates for their title bouts. After hearing an inspirational speech from Takamura, Kamogawa handles them a magazine where they can see the former forcing himself upon Megumi, proving that him going home early was not due to training, but rejection. In order to make fun of Aoki, they call him assuming he is depressed about being rejected as well. To their surprise, it is Tomiko who picks up the phone, leaving the trio at the gym in shock.

Anime-Manga Differences

See also: Anime-Manga Differences

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 Epcar
Masaru Aoki	Wataru Takagi	高木 渉	Takagi Wataru	Jim Taggert
Tatsuya Kimura	Keiji Fujiwara	藤原 啓治	Fujiwara Keiji	Grant George
Kumi Mashiba	Sanae Kobayashi	小林 沙苗	Kobayashi Sanae	Jennifer Sekiguchi
Reiko	Yuka Komatsu	小松 由佳	Komatsu Yuka	Midge Mayes
Tomiko	Shōko Tsuda	津田 匠子	Tsuda Shōko	Helen Storm
Megumi	Mayuko Arai	新井 繭子	Arai Mayuko	Jennifer Sekiguchi
Ippo's Mother	Yorie Terauchi	寺内 よりえ	Terauchi Yorie	Joan Carol O'Connell
Ryō Mashiba	Masahiko Tanaka	田中 正彦	Tanaka Masahiko	Terry Roberts

Episode Credits

Role	English Name	Japanese	Rōmaji
Screenplay	Yasuko Kamo	加茂 靖子	Kamo Yasuko
Storyboard	Mitsuyuki Masuhara	増原 光幸	Masuhara Mitsuyuki
Director	Mitsuyuki Masuhara	増原 光幸	Masuhara Mitsuyuki
Animation Director	Hiroshi Kōjina	神志那 弘志	Kōjina Hiroshi