Anyway, in comparison to the drama and manga, it is more boxing centric than romance and comedy centric which I find is good for those who like Hajime no Ippo and Ashita no Joe which transitions to what I want to say next about the fights.
If you have watched Ashita no Joe, then I guarantee you’re going to enjoy the fights. A majority of the angles and a fraction of the execution pays major homage to it. Kousaku like Joe is a hard punching brawler but in his fight with Jiro, he shows he does have basic technique against an Olympic gold medallist with his dodging and footwork. And the way he loses sometimes is similar to Joe’s losing streak except under different circumstances of why they’d puke in a middle of a fight. Joe not feeling comfortable fighting after killing Rikiishi, and with Kousaku, he pigs out. And of course we’ll see the use of fouls to win fights. So either the staff of this anime, or Takahashi herself is a fan of Ashita no Joe. But the ending fight ends in an anti-climatic nature which has happened in some other action oriented Takahashi mangas such as Inuyasha vs Bankotsu in the manga version. And the fights in the live action One Pound Gospel have this problem as well.
But for the character design, it’s your typical Rumiko Takahashi art style and if you like Ranma and Inuyasha, you’re going to instantly recognize it. But what’s also fun is that there are no bizarre hair styles and hair colors.
Moving on, I would like to make the notion that this anime never had a dub release. Whether that’s a good thing or bad thing, I’m leaving that up to you. But the Japanese cast does have some of the biggest name. Furuya Tooru, the voice of Tuxedo Mask and Amuro Rei and Saint Seiya plays Kousaku. He portrays the character as serious and has a fun side to him. He brings out the confession of his love in a very sincere way in comparison to the sugar rushed portrayal of KAT-TUN’s Kamenashi Kazuya in the live action, which is another review for another time. And Tsuru Hiromi, the voice of Bulma in DBZ and Ukyo from Ranma and Reiko from Ghost Sweeper plays a very different role from this one where she is more calm and doesn’t really have a fighting intensity, but has a certain anger for Kousaku’s indiscipline and his advances.
And I’m guessing Nagai Ichiro’s portrayal of Mukoda paved way for his role of Nekota Ginpachi in Hajime no Ippo, another boxing anime. If just doesn’t feel the same if he doesn’t end his sentences with “da ni.” OK, enough of the voice acting, time to talk about the music. It’s very uplifting and intense. It goes very well to the mood, and brings a balance to the romantic tensions between Kousaku and Angela.
If you’re looking for your typical Rumiko Takahashi romance anime, this isn’t for you. Then again, in most anime versions of Takahashi’s anime, the main female and male characters that have romantic tensions never officially hook up as a couple except for Maison Ikkoku so expect no different. Surprisingly, after reading the manga and watching a majority of the live action version, I like how this is more boxing oriented than romance as I previously mentioned. So, I think it would be a disappointment if it was romance emphasized instead because you know in the end, Angela and Kousaku won’t hook up in the oav like they do in the manga which ended not too long ago. Hopefully we may get a new anime version which can give a faithful manga adaptation which later introduced other interesting characters.
