The ref being uncharitable towards Takamura and charitable towards Dragon is clear, but sometimes refs just make wrong calls or have biases in fights. You don't need to have a crooked ref to have that work (in fact I'd argue it'd detract). Both calls were very ambiguous after all: in both cases a punch technically connected in the top of their scalp in a ambiguous manner and the fighter went down, so it's not like either case was clear-cut (like with Volg's, which were very blatant corruption/hometown bias).
In general I feel like "crooked ref/judges" is something best used with caution. With Volg I think it worked wonderfully for a variety of reasons, but namely that Volg's entire arc is about him being this incredibly nice guy who just had rotten luck and the whole world against him. So the idea of him having to conquer even the ref fit him like a glove. It was the ultimate babyface narrative, and the fact he had lost this way before (vs Sendo) was a excellent Bookends to him managing to overcome the odds vs Eliott (and it helps the story was almost entirely about Volg, Eliott is pretty barebones in characterization).
With Takamura it's different. From all the boxers featured he's the most privileged by a mile, being a genetic freakshow born in wealth (which he renounces, but it hasn't renounced him, making him basically a rich man cosplaying as a poor man) and also a gigantic bully for others who lack his same god-given talents (with a heart of gold). He works very hard, of course, but let's call a spade a spade here.
Usually Takamura's best opponents are parallels to those aspects. Hawk is Takamura if he was even more of an asshole and had the genetic gifts but not the hard work (although ironically Hawk is implied to come from genuine poverty unlike Takamura). Eagle contrasts Takamura with not being as athletically gifted but far more cerebral.
The parallel of this one by contrast being just "the ref's crooked" rather "Keith and Takamura both have luck in different ways (Takamura by godgiven athleticism and Dragon by the Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane luck happenings) so which will triumph?" would just be boring. It'd be the reverse of Volg's cases, where the biased/crooked ref was crowning Volg's status as a underdog and increased the tension. In this match Keith Dragon is the underdog.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."
It's probably not a new anime season, as much as people want it. If it is, it's not being funded by the West, since odds are good Netflix would have announced it at the virtual convention along with Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash and all the other stuff they announced. Guesses include -
Some sort of collaboration. Some sort of tie-in with the Olympics. A sales milestone being passed. Or Mori changing his mind on the idea of releasing his manga digitally (apparently he's been against it, but temporarily relented during COVID when he put the first 61 volumes up for a limited time).
Considering I used the last two One Piece: Pirate Warriors games as a Cliff's Notes to catch up with the series, an English version of a really good boxing game would be appreciated.
Double post!
Since-deleted Twitter words from a relatively reliable insider have claimed that a new Ippo series is in the works, from MAPPA.
And a new chapter -
The referee surprisingly doesn't penalize Takamura for the threat, but when he gets back up it's clear that he's having difficulty using his right leg. Keith starts to land with abandon, winning several exchanges and backing Takamura to the ropes. Out of room to move, Takamura plans to play his own trump card.
Next week has a full color spread and a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT.
Looks like fortune does favor the bold.
The panel of Takamura's mouthguard flying off with the punch was great, very impactful. The fact Takamura can't see shit of the big swinging left hooks does make one wonder if he's having eyesight problems.
Watch his secret-weapon be the look-away.
Also: the story is that the announcement is the manga being sold online.
Edited by Gaon on Jun 19th 2021 at 11:14:17 AM
"All you Fascists bound to lose."In a real fight, the ref usually stops as soon as possible to get the mouthguard back on. If you keep getting punched without a mouthguard you're liable to bite your own tongue.
As for the eyesight theory, I'm not a fervent supporter of it but the fact Takamura is explictly said to not see these punches that he should very obviously see coming does seem to imply that something is up with his eyesight (unless of course Keith is doing some imperceptible boxing technique to disguise it, but I can't see it). Don't know if you can call people dumb for taking the text at face-value.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."Miyata. Itagaki gives him trouble with his borderline superhuman speed, but at some point (I'd guess late rounds, like 8-9) Miyata lands a counter and Itagaki hits the deck. His chin and defense aren't good enough to keep him safe from Miyata's counters.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."With the manga getting a full digital release in Japanese, I hope that means some competent scanlation team will go back and redo all of the older chapters that are currently only available with terrible scans and/or incoherent translations.
Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Jun 28th 2021 at 2:05:42 AM
New chapter comes with Kamogawa being the worst coach in the history of humanity giving 0 advice to his fighter with a bad leg that has been eating unanswered punches for some 2 minutes.
Excited to learn more about Dragon. I hope he trounces Takamura real good so Kamogawa learns something.
Edited by Gaon on Jun 29th 2021 at 11:01:44 AM
"All you Fascists bound to lose."New chapter with Keith's backstory.
He was suicidal and planned to gamble away his last cent before killing himself. But a string of good luck convinced him that his life was worth living. He believed that the luck that saved his life was divine intervention. Takamura is shelling up meanwhile but is able to block a left hook to set up a right counter. To be continued next week.
And the coach did give Takamura real advice last chapter, I figured there was something people were missing. His last comment of "Just let it slide! Try that!" was in reference to letting Takamura's punches slide along Keith's arms to counter his punches. Though, I was thinking that it was about letting his feet slide so that he doesn't hurt his legs any more, which might also be the case.
Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Jul 4th 2021 at 9:08:20 AM
Nice to see Kamogawa isn't completely useless. Keith Dragon's backstory is pretty good and adds a nice tragedy to his character, though I feel like it would have been better served in a lull of action between rounds rather than in the thick of it. I think placing it in the middle of the action made it lose a lot of impact as it ended up kind of mushed between Takamura's "Kamogawa give me strength" spiel and Takamura's maneuver at the end of the chapter. Morikawa might have given the game away a bit too much with Dragon's "Even now my luck won't fail me!" woe while wailing on Takamura since to me it seems to telegraph pretty strongly Dragon getting beaten but realizing his luck was just skill all along (and driving a parallel between Dragon triumphing over the odds to keep himself alive in the worst day of his life and Takamura triumphing the odds here).
Know something funny? Dragon's sunday punches (Heaven and Ground Cannon) have been largely irrelevant to the fight. It's the lead left hook that's really his money punch here. Dude cannot miss with it.
Takamura is preparing a comeback move. I'm expecting it to clock Dragon but only glancingly (or lack sufficient mustard to put Dragon out due Takamura's fucked up leg) so Dragon has a moment of "Incredible, even at this crippled state Takamura can still manage such incredible counters! If (x) had been (Y) I'd be out on the canvas!". I'm imagining this is gonna last a few more chapters still. Would be odd to finish it right after Dragon revealed his backstory.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."

I've seen that suggested every now and then but if that is the case that'd be incredibly boring to me. Aside from kneecapping what's a pretty good character pitch (the Born Lucky but Nice Guy Dragon with his gambling motifs) it just renders the fight into a boring route of "Takamura's so god-tier not even a crooked ref will save you from him111!". I'd much rather they kept the odd Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane vibe with Dragon just having freakshow luck.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."