After Hoshi vs Imai, now Woli vs Ricardo?!! and to mention we have Mashiba match. CRAZY!! Morikawa-sensei really have plotted this way before🤯🤯🤯 (btw,just passing by again cuz i cant contain this excitement) and READ HAJIME NO IPPO
This allows Morikawa to provide interesting fights for characters we’ve been dying to see more of while simultaneously letting Ippo watch and learn from his former rivals, further strengthening his boxing knowledge.
Ever since, Ippo has stayed committed to the path of a second but has gradually been absorbing boxing through this outside perspective. This new perspective opens Ippo up to a side of boxing he’s never truly experienced, meaning that he only continues to grow while being inactive
Ippo’s biggest concern when deciding to retire after his next loss came from accumulated damage being interpreted as potential brain damage. Ippo feared that if he kept boxing and damaged himself, he would be unable to live regularly after as well as be unable to assist his mom.
While others thought Ippo had punch drunk symptoms, it was Ippo in the end who concluded that it might be the case, meaning that Ippo chose to end his career out of his own volition. However, even though he retired, he still wears the weighted gear and trains with his disciples.
Obviously a majority of the matches in the series are Ippo’s, which means that not enough time is given to fights between other notable characters. This saga puts Ippo on the sideline to develop, while letting other characters continue their own arcs.
This leads me to why I made this thread, Hajime no Ippo is 1350+ chapters long, so please, PLEASE, SHUT UP WITH ALL THE “WHEN IS IPPO COMING BACK?” AND “MORIKAWA IS DRAGGING IT OUT” BULLSHIT.
Just be patient, you’re literally reading the legacy of a man 30+ years in the making.