Hajime no Ippo

Stuff like this makes me wonder how long are Mashiba's arms supposed to be.

Canonically? Because we actually do know that. Mashiba's reach (his arm wingspan from fingertip to fingertip) is 188 cm (8cm more than his height of 180 cm). To compare, Ippo's reach is 165.1 cm, Miyata's reach is 175.3 cm (3.8 cm more than his height of 171.5 cm), and Takamura's reach is 185 cm. Mashiba has LONG arms.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Feb 22nd 2022 at 11:02:49 AM

After thinking on it a bit, I'm fine with Takamura vs Keith Dragon being a little shorter than his fights with Hawk, Eagle, or Bison -and it wasn't THAT much shorter- because it just had SO MUCH build-up, between Takamura's string of bad luck, him getting hit by a car, and especially the whole Keith vs Yami-Sama game. The manga had already dedicated so much time to Keith, I'm okay with the fight being a little shorter than average, with the twist being "holy shit, Takamura is even greater than we thought he was".

Chapter 1,373: I love this chapter. Mashiba falling into the water and punching up to break free, only to his Garcia in the face with his own counter was so incredibly awesome and beautiful. That shot of Garcia coming in with the hook with himself imposed in the air above himself was also a really neat well to sell the impending impact of that punch. I really liked that Garcia wasn't able to do the same counter again because pushing his body to do the first counter did so much internal damage to him, that was well set-up in the previous chapter.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Mar 8th 2022 at 2:55:14 AM

Chapter 1,374: Garcia manages to stay standing even after that insane failed counter, though he's probably unconscious on his feet given what happens next. Mashiba, in pure desperation, attacks him with a few flickers, an uppercut, and a straight, and Garcia goes down for good, Mashiba wins the match. Mashiba realizes that Ippo fought this hard in every fight he had, and gives him mental props. He's also got a cracked jaw, so he's probably going to take a long break after this.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Mar 15th 2022 at 4:00:31 AM

Chapter 1,375: Mashiba doesn't accept being the best until he actually fights the world champion, then he sees Ippo and Kumi hugging and rants incomprehensible obscenities before passing out. Afterwards, Iga gets the most characterization we've ever seen out of him when he rants at Miyata about Mashiba, who doesn't even recognize him. Ippo and the gang talk about Mashiba, and then there's a timeskip and Sendo calls Ippo to invite him back to Mexico to watch Volg and Wally's title matches (by the way, that's an STACKED card, two world title matches in the same card, one world title match as the semi-final for ANOTHER world title match). Ippo accepts and talks to his students about it, they contemplate that all of these people Ippo crossed paths with are moving on to the world stage, and that Ippo beat all of them at one point.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Mar 22nd 2022 at 11:59:47 AM

1376 out

9 pages of awesome.

Very awesome.

Chapter 1377: A chapter that is equal parts hilarious and heartwrenching, combining the melancholy of wasted potential with poop jokes. Only in Ippo.

1378 and 1379: some interesting discussion of Wally's fighting style, his potential, and his future. Wally wanting to become a zoologist and fight climate change for the animals is adorable, and also a huge red flag that he's gonna lose the match against Ricardo.

Chapter 1380: Kumi thinks about how Ippo is the sun to her, and it may be inevitable for the sun to rise again. Hot take: I like Kumi as a heel. I think Morikawa is deliberately setting her up as the final obstacle in Ippo's way before he can return to the ring.

Chapter 1381: When Shinoda does mitt training with Taihei and Kintaro, he realizes that Ippo's style with the mitts has given them some really firm wrists and fast combinations. Ippo's ability to slap their punches down also makes Shinoda realize that Ippo basically knows how to do counters now, they're really building up post-retirement Ippo as a MONSTER. Ippo arrives in Mexico and reunites with Sendo and the Marakas Brothers. The chapter ends with Ippo and Sendo lined up to spar against Volg and Wally, respectively, when they almost hit someone in their car! (obviously Wally)

So, in essence, ever since retiring, Ippo has been training non-stop, even harder than when he was a boxer. I wonder if Volg is going to point that out to him.

Chapter 1382: To absolutely no-one's surprise, the person they hit with the car is Wally and he's completely fine. One wholesome reunion later, and Sendo is already in the ring with Wally. All of Sendo's attacks are whiffing for now, but he needs to cool it with the power punches, or at least let Wally get some headgear on first. This spar is for Wally's benefit, he's the one with the big fight coming up and his defense was always low, he can't take one of Sendo's tiger Smashes and not suffer lasting damage.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on May 24th 2022 at 10:19:35 AM

On one hand, it's a good point. On the other, can one expect Sendo to hold back, or do you need to wait for the pigs to fly first?

Chapter 1383: Wally's learned the Head-Twist and Hien, and he's improved his speed even more. Next chapter, Ippo and Volg spar.

Chapter 1384: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Payback is still a bitch, just not in the way you expected.

Chapter 1385: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jesus, Morikawa! Man is clearly just as hyped to draw Ippo fighting again as we are to watch it, and with Sendo jumping in to stop Ippo, we're back to edging, and I can barely take any more!

Chapter 1386.

Time for a chat. But with the wrong person!?

All caught up. Volg and Ippo being complete idiots in sparring having an actual consequence (as Volg notes he injured his torso as an result) surprised me.

Always nice to see Volg, acts as a sweetener before we're back to Wally's absolute bullshit.

I like the detail of Wally's coat having a tail on it, it adds a flair to his acrobatics.

Now for the featherweight version of Takamura vs Hawk.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Aug 23rd 2022 at 11:01:38 AM

Except the champion has been reversed.

I kind of hope Wally wins. I don't think he will, but I think it would be a super interesting direction to go.

Well, Wally seems to be doing well so far. His style is so bizarre that it's even throwing Ricardo off, and his typical strategy of observing and adapting during Round 1 to pick the opponent apart in Round 2 isn't working, he hasn't gotten a handle on Wally's fighting style by Round 2.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Oct 4th 2022 at 2:10:36 AM

From the looks of that last panel, Wally got clocked in there somewhere.

Chapter 1398 and 1399: Nope, he was just coming back for another pass. The 2nd round passes without Ricardo making a move, Wally's Confusion Fu is too strong, Ricardo just can't use his regular strategy of observing and adapting, and admits that he's overwhelmed. Round 3 starts and Ricardo deduces that Wally's punches, even with their wacky angles and bizarre form, have been aimed directly at one target since the start of the match began: Ricardo's eyes. Wally looks like he's switching up with another body blow and Ricardo tries to counter, but Wally dodges and counters in turn, which Ricardo only barely blocks. Round 3 ends with the situation remaining the same, but Dankichi thinks there's more to Miguel's strategy than we've seen.

1400: Wally starts using the ropes, and Ricardo is taken aback again. Wally's fighting style is compared to entering a jungle, attacking from every direction before disappearing. Ricardo needs to press in, since he's lost the first 3 rounds, he's on track to lose by Decision. Then a short flashback explaining that Ricardo's trainer chose Wally because he was looking for a wild opponent to prepare for fighting Sendo. The chapter ends with Ricardo moving into the jungle.

Interesting that this fight has been mostly from Ricardo's point of view so far.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Oct 25th 2022 at 4:53:44 AM