Meh, if they don’t win in a match it’s not a win. With matches you get preparation (in most cases) and you can prepare a gameplan and practice to fix your weaknesses. Spars in many cases are spur-of-the-moment kinda shit and you go in blind, so ‘losing’ in a spar is meaningless… IMO anyways. Ippo always get’s his ass kicked in spars - but let’s be honest, if it was a match you know he’d be the one standing at the end.
I just read all 841 chapters in the last 2 weeks Geezus christ what a marathon… but at least now I can contribute to the thread
My opinions:
stuff
Spoiler
Miyata is going to win, which kinda sucks. Im sick of his emo ass. He needs to get beat out of this manga. Im also WAAAAAY over him and ippos gaysecks relationship. Im glad over the last couple of chapters they’ve tried to pretty much ‘end’ this running theme. Now they just gotta write his dumbass out of the manga.
Takamura is obviously going to dominate his match. I can’t see them dragging it on for 10+ chapters after Miyata’s has already been so damn long.
Ricardo is going to lose the title to someone soon. Maybe in the next major arc of the manga. Dude has been built up to be waaaaay too GDLK. Someone is going to break him and then Ippo will take them out for the title.
Just my current feelings after catching up to the manga. Im also currently downloading the first season of the Anime. I heard it’s not exactly in the Manga order, but I saw some clips on youtube and it was pretty nice looking. Hoping it doesn’t dissapoint.
the only thing that isn’t in manga order is the movie/ova. in the anime the movie champions road (ippo vs sanada) takes place before the ova. (mashiba vs kimura). keep that in mind. the rest is 1:1 with the manga.
So he’s setting him up for a counter -without even knowing it. And with broken ribs, probably some serious internal bleeding, and a jobbed brain, he’s going to throw it and probably win. Goddamnit, Im so dissapointed. I really want him to lose at this point.
OIC. That’s interesting but damn… I guess I just am particular to Ippo’s CRUSH THAT BITCH style more than Miyata’s finesse shit. Plus he just comes off as a snobby premier emo asshole in the manga. Blah.
All the more reason why he’s not going to lose this fight. Damnit!
yeah the 1st 2 lines confused me… wasn’t saying who’ld win just thought [media=youtube]wDqcD7GYlEM"[/media] might be a good fight. We haven’t seen how strong a proper weighted Mashiba is, and if he did get the title for his weight class, I’ld think there would be a few new tricks to cover the mid range weakness. There’s also just stepping up or stepping back to get in Mashiba’s good ranges; as Sendo would need to do the same for his. I’m not saying the hitman style would win, just that it should be a good fight.
Unlike DBZ and Naruto, 2nd string rivals can improve off screen here.
I could see Myata trying to go up a weight class to prove something (but up 2 classes is probably not going to happen) but Sendo…:wonder: If he did I could see him go like F.Trunks vs P.Cell (too buff to fight) against a Mashiba Prime with his matrix title belt. But then Kimura was only a punch away from victory when he lost to the reaper Mashiba; Sendo likely hits much harder like Ippo.
I suggested it might mean more for Myata because iirc his 1st pro lose was from Mashiba and Ippo beat Mashiba after…
Why isn’t Miyata the main character then? Sure he’s probably based off of a real life friend but Ippo is still the main character and is most likely based off of Morikawas himself. And I’m pretty sure Sendo is Ippo’s true rival because out of everyone no one has as much respect for Ippo as much as Sendo does. After Sendo fucks up Ricardo Martinez, he’s going to want Ippo to be the first challenger because he knows if he can fuck up Martinez, so can Ippo. Not only that, but they have A SHITLOAD IN COMMON. Morikawas was always hinting throughout the entire series that Sendo and Ippo have a special bond. Them both having hard punches and big penises and other similarities are examples of the subtle hints. And then finally after 20 years, we find out that Sendo is boxing for the same EXACT reason that Ippo is boxing. To discover what it means to be strong, because both of their dads died in the process of sacrificing themselves to save others, and they want to know what it feels like to have that strength that their dads had.
i don’t know why miyata isn’t the main character. this you will have to ask morikawa himself. i can just assure you that miyata is his favorite character as he said so once. ippo is based on tyson btw not morikawa.
maybe the sendo ippo relationship has worked out better than the rivalry between ippo and miyata but i am still sure that those two are destined to face each other one day. all the build up would have been a waste of time otherwise.
yes, sendo and ippo do share the reason of wanting to know what it means to be strong alhough i think they approach it in different ways.
while sendo get’s the kick out of it to bang it out with a strong opponent (“hit and getting hit and fighting a strong foe, only than can i truly feel alive.”) ippo is still searching for what it means to be strong. ippo’s rather frail as a person, emotionally and mentally. while he has developed in leaps and bounds as a boxer his personal development has inched along slowly. becoming a champion and entering world competition hasn’t changed his self-depreciating habits.
to me, ippo’s idea of strength isn’t the ability to beat any opponent, but self-confidence in life. being able to stand tall in and out of the ring, whether it be for boxing or real life. he wants the kind of assuredness his father had, along with the boxers he looks up to (miyata, takamura, date, martinez, and so forth).
that’s not something he will automatically get like sendo. sendo just has to fight someone strong. ippo will not simply get his answer by beating martinez, or miyata. it’s going to be a gradual process that stretches for years. after all, it already has.
Well the manga’s name itself is a pun meaning First Step! as shown by some of the engrish jokes Ippo does at the start of the manga when he first introduces himself to one of the fighters (I believe it’s Ozuma or something). Sometimes we follow Miyata’s progress like his trip to thailand and stuff, but so many things are focused on Ippo. Most of the characters that stay in the comic past their fight are all related to Ippo somehow otherwise they disappear into the wind. We have like one guy that isn’t right now (Sawamura), but he’s there because of Miyata. He’s never going to be a mainstay unless we see more Mashiba vs Sawamura stuff.
Has Ippo sexually assaulted Kumi-chan yet? Of course Ippo’s boxing is based off of Tyson. A common theme though for manga authors is to base main characters off of themselves. Which character do you think the author has a better time relating to, Ippo or Miyata? Hajime no Ippo is written in a way where its attracting readers the same way Naruto is. Saying Miyata is Morikawa’s favorite character is like saying Sasuke is Kishimoto’s favorite character, which I shit you not, a lot of illiterate scrubs who don’t understand story-telling would actually propose on scrub forums like Narutofan.
well, i cannot tell you more than what the writer was saying when he was asked.
i don’t think ippo is based on morikawa. the closest to morikawa has to be yagi as both like boxing, fishing and both are cornemans and managers of a boxing gym. the visuals seem to fit as well =P
Sasuke is Kishomoto’s favorite, he’s admitted that in interviews.
And Miyata is Morikawa’s favorite, he is based off a Japanese boxer who just happens to be Morikawa’s best friend. He put Miyata as #3 P4P in the manga.
Geezus christ what a marathon… but at least now I can contribute to the thread 
