Template:Side Story Box Hajime no Ippo: Gaiden - The Naniwa Tiger Side Story is a one shot spin-off of Morikawa Jouji's Hajime no Ippo manga series about Sendō Takeshi's entry into boxing.
It is sometimes referred to as Round 806.5 since it appears at the end of Volume 84.
Details
- Characters Introduced: Takeshi's Teacher
- Locations Introduced: None
- Mentioned Boxers: None
- Title Page Character(s): Sendō Takeshi
The Naniwa Tiger Side Story Summary
The Day "The Tomcat" Became "The Naniwa Tiger"
Sendō is in a fight with 12 people where he wins it with just 12 punches. He fought with them because they were causing problems for his friends. When Sendō returns home from the fight, he tries to hide the fact that he was in another brawl from his Grandma since she really don't want him getting into fights all the time and he doesn't worry her, but she already knows. Sendō think that needs to prove that he is strong like his father was, and he tells his granny that he hasn't lost to anyone yet.
Sendō's Granny
His grandma tells Sendou that hurting others doesn't mean he is strong, that Sendō's father was saving people (as a Fireman.) She thinks Sendō is a long ways from really knowing what True Strength is. Sendou tries to tell his grandma that he was protecting his friends too, but his middle school teacher, who was visiting his Grandma to discuss Sendou's school work, enters the conversation. She tells Sendō that he shouldn't make his grandma worry like that. His grandma tries to thank her by giving her candy, but Sendou tells her not to eat any of them since they been there before his grandma was married.
His teacher wants to discuss the fact that Sendō is going to be a third year middle school student (in 8th grade) this spring, and a lot of the other kids have already started getting ready for it. Sendō mentions to her that he is going to inherit the candy store (where he doesn't need to worry about his future.) She believes that his grandmother isn't going to force the candy store on him, but if he is planning to inherit the store, it is still important to get into high school and to look at other career options. Sendō says he is not good at studying. As his teacher, she knows how hard it is for him, but mention that he only shows up at school once in a while. She believes he can manage it if he actually tried, where she has put together a list of schools that she think he can make it into.
Sendou's Teacher Praising him
His teacher mentions that she doesn't think fighting is good, but in Sendō case it might be okay since he never picks any fights himself and only ever fights when someone is being picked on or needs his help. It might make her sound like a bad teacher, but she think Sendō is a wonderful young man. His Grandma doesn't want her encouraging him like that, so she hits Sendō with a can. The teacher apologizes and starts to leave. His grandma wants Sendō to say good bye to her since she feels that his school would have kicked him out if it wasn't for her so he should show her some appreciation.
So Sendou starts going to school every day for a week, but he still gets into fights. One day, his teacher noticed Sendo didn't make it to class, but later found him on the school's roof drawing in a notebook. She is mad that he was late to class, but happy that his over all attendance has improved. She asked what Sendou is drawing (like a manga.) Sendou tells her that he is working on a new killer punch (The Smash).
Sendou's Notebook
The Naniwa Tiger's Righteous Mark of Prey
Lately, he has been fighting a lot of guys at once to where he is losing his edge toward the end when he starts to get tired. So he want to make a punch that can take someone out with just one punch. He starts to show the punch to her when he accidentally throws his notebook off the roof. His teacher starts to worry when she hears Sendou been fighting a lot of people at once since it is dangerous, and thinks his grandma will also worry about it too.
Sendou tells her that it is fine if it is dangerous since he got to be strong, and he wants to be stronger. His teacher thinks that he is childish, and believes that even if Sendou is good at fighting, it not going to matter when he is an adult. She tells him that adults fight everyday in their own way too, where they work hard to make their salary. They pile into packed trains to go to work, or open up their business very early in the morning. She add that he can't be a little boy forever, and he needs to be ready to grow up someday.
Since it seems like she knows everything, Sendou decided to ask her , "What it means to be strong?" She pauses and thinks about it. Sendou tells her that knocking guys around and getting knocked around too, he hasn't met anyone that he would call strong, and that no one has show him what true strength is. The teacher comments that was the first time that Sendou's looked into her eyes where she is happy about it, and she think he has honest eyes.
Somewhat embarrassed, Sendou start to leave, when his teacher mentions that she can't answer that for him. Different people out there have different ideas about what it means to be strong because there is a lot of different perspective on it. But she believes if Sendou keeps on looking, he will be able to find his answer somewhere out there, some day.
Sendou tells her that he has been thinking about going to high school but he probably won't get in. His teacher hugs his back telling him, he can do it. Not running from a difficult task is part of being strong too. She will cheer him on. Sendou mention it will make his grandma happy. He starts thinking maybe it would make her happy too, while she is leaving.
Sendou Fighting on a Bridge
Sometime later, Sendou is seen fighting on a bridge with a lot of people, where he knocks some people into the water. Police come and stop the fight. He end up getting arresting. His teacher end up coming to the police station to talk to Sendou with his Grandma. She starts yelling at Sendou wondering why he is doing that when he mentioned that he wants to get into high school and wanted to make his grandma happy. If he keeps that up, he won't be able to get into high school at all.
Sendou tell her he went to get someone's wallet back, but she tells him that is not his job and to think a little before he acts. He could have told the school or even called up the police to do it. Instead he got arrested and made more trouble for his grandma. Sendou tells her that it isn't his fault that he's not going to turn a blind eye to someone who need his help, and he not going to ignore them if they ask for it either.
His teacher somewhat agrees but mention that Sendou doesn't need to be so violent about it. Sendou tells her stop applying her adult logic to it, and if she can't stand looking after kids then she should leave. His teacher then mentions to Sendou that in 3 days she is leaving because she is getting married. Her fiance's father is very ill, so the wedding has to be before his failing health gets any worse. It's not something that came out of the blue since she already told the rest of the class about it. Sendou only showed up to school every now and then, where he probably didn't know about it. Sendou's grandma realized this is why his teacher was so worried about Sendou.
His teacher mention that Sendou was the only one in class with grades that were questionable, and she wanted to make sure that she wasn't going to leave behind any regrets when she left. Sendou tells her to mind her own business and just take off to wherever already while walking away. His teacher apologized to his grandma that she wasn't able to help him at all.
A bunch of thugs are discussing that Sendou beat up 8 guys from Nanba by himself, before that he clobbered a bunch of guys from Minami. They think Sendou is starting to get out of hand. Some feel they should leave Sendou alone since the punks started a beef with him. However, their leader doesn't since he found out that Sendou is going to be enrolling in high school soon. The only school in Osaka is stupid enough that going to let Sendou in is their school. If they don't want Sendou to look down on them for rest of their high school life, they need to take care of him while they still can. So they start rounding up everyone that they can in order to beat up Sendou.
It's the teacher last day at school, and Sendou's grandma wants to be sure that Sendou will say goodbye to her. So he starting heading to school, but gets distracted by playing with cats along the way. Later on, he finds out that his friends have been beat up in order to get to him. Sendou gets angry when he hears this and asks where they are. His friends tell him not to go since they feel it will be too much for him, since there were at least 30 high school kids there. So Sendou has no reason to go there. However, Sendou is still going since he can't turn a blind eye or deaf ear to it. At school, the teacher is saying good bye and notices Sendou's seat is empty.
Sendou getting ready
Sendou is standing in front of a group of thugs alone and starts counting them, which is making them angry. He mentions that there is 35 guys. At one punch each, he will need 35 shots in all. As Sendou gets ready to fight, he mentions to them that his knuckles of his really hurt. The thugs start fighting him. Sendou knocks a few out before they tackle him to pin him down, but he manages to escape and continue to knock people out. Sendou starts take more and more punches, while fight he starts thinking about what true strength is.
Sendou after fighting over 30 guys
His friends, that were beat up, are trying to find Sendou in order to save him. They can't find him, but they hear something in the distance. The leader wonders, who would call Sendou a tom cat, when there are not cats out there that are this wild. He see Sendou is standing over the 35 guys like a Tiger. Sendou's friends arrived are shocked that he was able to beat all those guys by himself.
The leader congratulates Sendou for what he did as a real man, but tells him he's not backing down. He mentions to Sendou that there is a clear difference in size between them, not to mention Sendou is now tired from fighting over 30 guys and he can't have much left. So he doesn't think it will be much of a fight between them, but since he wants to enjoy his high school days in peace he will destroy Sendou now.
The Killer Punch (Smash)
While tired and shaky, Sendou asks the leader what it means to be strong. The leader doesn't know while charging at Sendou to finish him off. He throws a punch but Sendou ducks it and throws the killer punch at him instead. The Leader is flipped and knocked out. Sendou then lets out a loud roar (like a tiger.) His friends are now happy that Sendou is okay and he won. Even though he won, Sendou still doesn't know what it means to be strong.
Sendou's Roar
Instead of going home, he head to school even though it is late a night by now. It happens that his teacher hasn't left yet. She doesn't ask what he was doing since she is no longer his teacher, and won't scold him. Sendou doesn't know how to say good bye, but she just tells it is okay and to just be himself. His teacher starts thinking about Sendou's eye being nice, and realizes that she been avoiding Sendou, not wanting to look into his eyes. She tells Sendou that she is sure Sendo will find what he is looking for some day. She ends up kissing Sendou on the cheek.
Sendou goes home, and his grandma notices he got in another brawl. Sendou looks pretty rough, so she asks if he finally got taken down. Sendou says yes, he got hit with a doozy in the end (referring to the kiss.) His grandma thinks that he doesn't look like he lost. It ends clenching his fist think about "some day" in the future.
Trivia
Author's Note
- Sendou's nickname as a middle school student is "The Naniwa Tomcat" and he is known for having a lot of cats and quick reflexes.
- Sendou is listed in the 8th grade during this time, which makes his age about 14 or 15. So this Gaiden story takes place in 1986 or 1987.
- Sendou's notebook has a bunch of cat doodles in it along with drawings of the Smash. The same cat doodles can be seen in Sendou's beat down list in Round 807.