[Hajime no Ippo] Episode 36 - 38 Reaction & Thoughts (Patreon)

DISCLAIMER: You are obviously here to watch my reaction/listen to my review and have already seen the original episodes on legal streaming sites like Netflix.

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Watch my reaction on Google Drive or Rumble (File too big for Dailymotion)

My favorite episode was 37. I'm not sure if the reaction to 38 is even worth it - so watch at your own risk.

At the END of 38, Date said "some fight to reach, others fight to surpass". I DO NOT see how I was shown in these 3 episodes that ippo wants to surpass Date, we didn't get to see much training or characterization for ippo. Even okita had more characterization than ippo in these eps but the most went to building up Date.

I'm just frustrated, because (imo) the everything felt so well written up to a point. Now the show spends a little time characterizing each new opponent and minimal (if any) time on ippo other than him asking something like “what is strength?” once every 6 or so episodes.

It’s like a mild interest that could be capitalized on but then they don’t really go anywhere with it 😭

The best part of the show for me was up to the Mashiba fight and after that I just don’t believe in Ippo as a boxer (altho he's a really sweet kid). I don’t want to be told why he wins after he wins, I want the writing before and during the fight to show me what his conviction and tenacity is based on.

They were even able to do that for Okita these episodes so why are they spending so little time on Ippos motivation? He is the mc. Show me what drives him.

So far it’s like “ichiro was nice to me and HE made a promise to meet me so I’ll chase him up to that point” . Ok I won, now what? Sendo challenged me so I will do what I can and then use anaesthesia to fight him!

Okay. I beat him oh no, now what? I have no goal

Date took an interest in me! Yay!

Ippo started boxing for very well established reasons, but you can't leave it there and just work on building up each next opponent. If there is not going to be more story than that I'd rather just watch real boxing 😅 (in other words, I'm not watching Hajime no Ippo merely for boxing matches, the characterization is what makes the boxing meaningful)

In these 3 episodes, Ippo jumped from rank 10 to 5 in one match, and when asked how he feels about it he's like "uuuh idk". Fine fine... Chalk it up to being shy around reporters, since there were many (he's a professional boxer now, though, he should have a better response than that but okay). Then the story could at least skip over the interview and show me what's going on in his head after that. Answer the question at ippo's own pace, it's a story, you can write the answer in a situation that makes sense for ippo.

but I don't know, we were just rushed through this huge rank boost to build up Date and even though we were shown no training or strategy or what was ippo's plan, he still beat Okita and now Date is even putting THE WORLD on hold to wait for ippo 🤔 it feels like it happened a bit fast. That's all. These 3 episodes covered something like 13 chapters after all... So take note: I'm not denying that ippo has improved as a boxer, I'm just saying for me the story didn't spend enough time showing his process (physically, mentally) during these episodes and maybe even before now.

TLDR (I guess??); In conclusion, I feel somewhat let down because I DID resonate with the character writing up to a certain point, it was excellent, but I've personally noticed a shift, which I haven't been able to enjoy as much. I was told that the focus shifts eventually to other boxers and since I still think the opponents and the world itself is very intriguing, I'd love to continue. I just wanted to be honest about everything - that's what I'm here for 💗 sorry if some of you are disappointed.

(below is from someone I was chatting to)

"Date as a goal is reasonable, or Japan's belt in general, but you can sell it better than having that goal just because you just met him. Date putting the world on hold is a lot more unrealistic, the chances for a title fight are low, you can't put it on hold without a very good reason."

IMPORTANT: it's not that I feel these things shouldn't or can't happen/be in the story, I just wish the story "sold it" to me better. That's JUST ME though, majority of people feel different I'm sure. I don't need anyone to "convince me" - that's the job of the story and I'm just giving my first impressions.