01x01 - The New Step

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I've been fighting to get it all for awhile

Running towards my dream at mach 50

Whirling winds tear through the sky

and I promise to become better than I was yesterday

The blue sky got twisted up with dark clouds

The wind that I waited for pressed onto my shoulder

and in my hand I grasped onto

The flash from a thunderbolt out of the blue

When I stopped running after so long

and opened these fists that have been thrown so often

Inside of them were traces

of the first step I'd taken to make it here

Tomorrow will take care of itself

Tears will come as the winds continue until morning

And to us as we grew it was like

A thunderbolt out of the blue

It's the Japanese Featherweight Title Match.

The challenger, Sanada Kazuki, rushes
towards the champion, Makunouchi Ippo!

The champion uses a cross-arm block!

The challenger cuts loose with the Hien!

And this...

Is it the Champion's finishing blow, the Dempsey Roll??

Sanada stops it by charging into him!

But he's struck with a liver blow!

The challenger is buckling over in pain!

And launched from that position...

is the Gazelle Punch!

expl*sive!

Now, here comes the Dempsey Roll!

The champion launches into a fearsome
rush, intent on his first title defense!

He keeps going!

Whoa!

The Dempsey Roll has stopped!

The champion's knees buckle!

Has he run out of strength!?

With the champion stopped, Sanada takes aim!

Whoa!

The challenger falls!

An unexpected ending!

An unexpected ending!
Round 1: A New First Step

Makunouchi Ippo wins; it is a miraculous win in
his first title defense! Round 1: A New First Step

Makunouchi Ippo wins; it is a
miraculous win in his first title defense!

Mom, I'll carry that one.

Really?

Okay, take care of it.

Good morning!

Okay, I'll take you to the boat,


Worms.

Check!

Tackle box.

Check!

All right, you carry that.

Okay.

Thanks, Champion.

U-Umezawa-kun, cut out that "Champion" stuff.

It's nothing to be embarrassed about.

You did win your first title defense.

Ippo-kun, you're a fine Japanese
Featherweight Champion.

Show some pride!

That's right!



All right, we're heading out, Champion!

Have a safe trip!

Kimura, Aoki, three sets left!

Keep it up!

Right!

Things have been heating up at
the Kamogawa Boxing Gym lately.

Takamura-kun is still undefeated heading into the match
that will be a stepping stone to his world title fight.

And...

What's wrong, kid? Put some weight into it!

Right!

Ippo-kun succeeded in his first title defense
as the Japanese Featherweight Champion.

There's no sign of the boy who used to get
picked on when he first came to this gym.

All right, kid! Finish it!

Right!

Good work out there today!

I'm heading home!

Ippo-kun has the prestige of being the champion now.

And Takamura has that match before his
world title fight coming up soon too.

Aoki and Kimura are both motivated to
work harder because of their influence.

What a bunch of naive nonsense.

The kid, prestigious?

Not yet, he's not.

He's a far cry from acting like a real champion.

The kid, Aoki, Kimura...

They all need to aim higher.

They all have the potential of reaching much
greater glory than they could ever imagine.

Coach...

Yagi-chan, Shinoda-kun,

we need to keep whipping them into shape!

I'm counting on you!

Right!

That's right.

Aim higher,

and reach that goal.

If possible, while there's still
some light left in these old eyes.

Boom! Boom!

My punches are dynamite!

My punches are dynamite!
Hey, Ippo!

How have things been with Kumi-chan lately?

Makunouchi-san!

N-Nothing special...

Tomiko was asking about you two!

Tomiko-san?

Masaru!

Tomiko...

Anyway, you won your title defense,
so don't you think it's about time!?

T-Time?

Yeah, man!

Kumi-san...

Yes?

I...

want to be your champion belt,

Makunouchi-san...

I want to feel you wrapped around me!

Tighter!

Here, right here!?

Harder!

Here, like this?

What are you doing?

But... the right time, huh?

Maybeit's a good time, like
Aoki-san says, to share my feelings.

You sure about that?

If you make a move on Kumi-chan, her sweet
older brother will have something to say about it.

Makunouchi...

'I k*ll you!

Die!

Fool, I'm just kidding!

And even if her sweet older brother shows up,

just KO him with your megaton punch!

I don't have a megaton punch.

Oh yeah you do...

You got it right here!

The megaton punch of the
World Heavyweight Champion!

This thing could take care of Mashiba
and Kumi-chan with one blow!

Stop it!

Takamura-san, Aoki-san!

Geez, could you please cut it out?

If you're a real man, you gotta
show her what you've got!

Huh?

Kimura-san, are you going somewhere?

Yeah,

I thought I'd do a little sparring with Miyata.

With Miyata-kun!?

That's right!

Miyata-kun's OPBF, Oriental Pacific
Boxing Federation, title match is soon!

I'm looking forward to it!

You think you can worry about that sort of thing when you're
still being challenged for your belt at the national level?

At least show some guts and say something
about how you're gonna take the OPBF belt!

N-No,

there's no way I could do that.

Wimp,

do you wanna beat Miyata or not!?

I-I'd like to someday, but...

Miyata-kun is really strong...

and cool.

Hey, are you after both Kumi-chan and Miyata?

That's not it!



All right, I'm taking off!

Okay! Good luck!

Say hi to Miyata-kun for me!

Wanpo, did you come to get me?

This is where it all started...

meeting Takamura-san, starting boxing...

and then suddenly sparring with Miyata-kun.

I was KO'd by a counter...

I could barely touch him.

But...

in our second spar...

Ippo wins!

As of now, it's tied 1-1.

We'll settle this in the pro ring.

The Eastern Japan Rookie Tournament Finals.

I'll be waiting for you there!

But Miyata-kun was...

I won the Rookie King Tournament,

but I never got to fight Miyata-kun.

I'll be leaving Japan for a while.

I plan on traveling to Korea and Thailand to train.

Amazing! How long will you be overseas?

The All-Japan Rookie King, huh?

It seems that the gap between us has
grown quite a bit in such a short time.

I'll be back... when that gap is filled.

And Miyata-kun came back!

He got really, really strong and came back!

I'm sure he can become the OPBF Champion!

Miyata-kun can do it! Right, Wanpo!?

What the hell, that's the third down!

Quit holding back!

Holding back?

Is that what it seems like?

W-Well, I mean...

That's enough sparring!

Dad...

There's only a week until the match.

We'll be switching to light practice
for the remainder of the time!

I can still-

Do you want to get injured and ruin your title match?

I'll go get changed.

I guess I have gotten stronger after all.

I came to help Miyata build his confidence, but
it ended up working the other way around.

I-I'm just joking!

I mean, he's at the peak of his
exhaustion from training, right!?

If he was fighting seriously, I'd have been beaten!

He was quite serious.

That was Ichiro's full featherweight power.

His weight management!?

In our time overseas, we had
eleven matches in one year.

He fought matches at a remarkably high pace.

Do you know why?

We couldn't have spaced them any further apart.

While a greater interval between matches would
help recover from exhaustion and damage,

it would have made it impossible to get his
weight back down to 126 pounds for a match.

It's not a simple matter of gaining
or losing weight anymore.

His physique cannot be allowed to leave
the limits of the featherweight class.

Come to think of it, Miyata's taller than me now.

But Miyata could easily make it as a lightweight!

Hell, he might make it all the way to the world title!

He should stop worrying about the featherweights
and go for a class where he can really...

I can't tell you how many times I've said the same thing.

He won't lose the title match, will he?

The OPBF Champion, Arnie "Crocodile" Gregory,

is known for powerful left and
right hooks that can shatter bones.

He earned his nickname because they
strike with the strength of a crocodile's jaw.

He's undoubtedly a dangerous opponent.

What's with that name "Crocodile!?"

Damn it, if Miyata wasn't struggling with
his weight management he could easily-

Sorry to have worried you so much.

Miyata...

In that spar,

Dad said that was my full featherweight power, right?

Let me elaborate on that.

Yes, I was serious.

But it was still just sparring.

To me, weight control is like sharpening a pencil.



I chip away at my body and that sharpens
my concentration to a finer and finer point.

The concentration that lets me
see through every punch...

It's preparation so that I can
pull that off in the main event.

Counters, huh?

When [ think of how much he risks with each punch...

it's like wagering your own soul.

How long do you intend to fight like that?

Stop, Arnie!

He knocked another one down.

The nickname "Crocodile" isn't just for show.

Yeah.

He's definitely the type of boxer that
pins people down using brute strength.

The destructive power of his left
and right hooks is pretty impressive.

People of the Japanese Press!

That was a sample of Arnie's prowess!

We're looking for brave challengers, so please, please...

What does he mean by that?

Mr. Sakaguchi, the match
with Miyata isn't even over yet.

I came to Japan because I thought
it'd be good for business.

There's other strong boxers like
Date and Makunouchi, right?

He's mocking Japanese boxers.

This manager is full of it.

Miyata Ichiro is genuinely strong!

W-Wait, limura...
Miyata Ichiro is genuinely strong!

Miyata Ichiro is genuinely strong!

Your boxer, who seems so proud of his brute
force, is going to have circles run around him!

Brute force, huh?

The Japanese Sportswriters must be blind.

Arnie has something special for Miyata.

Something special?

It's a shame we can't show you right now, but
I'm sure you'll see it during the actual match.

It's called...

the Bloody Cross.

Bloody Cross?

Yeah.

Even coming from that arrogant manager, it
genuinely sounded like a dangerous move.

Bloody Cross, huh?

Translate it and you get a "Cross of Blood"”

I've got it!

What!?

You'll be wrong, but hell, give it a try!

The cross part means a counter!

A cross-counter gets its name from
when the arms cross over, right!?

Meaning it's gotta be some badass cross-counter
that's so intense that it rains blood!

That's what I thought too, but Arnie doesn't
seem like the type who uses counters.

I don't see him being able to compete
with Miyata when it comes to counters.

Wrong, like I figured.

Still, it's worrisome.

Yeah...

although what bothers me is the fact that his
manager is already asking for more challengers.

I can understand being confident, but it
really seems like he's underestimating him.

Yeah, it's hard to swallow.

If Miyata loses, you get 'im, Ippo!

There'll be no need for that.

Miyata-kun won't lose.

But you know, on the off-chance that-

But you know, on the off-chance that-
There is no chance.

He will win.

Please stop saying things that might jinx it.

'Kay...

What do you think Miyata's chances are, Fujii-san?

Well, we didn't see the full extent of Arnie's ability, but...

his power is on par with Ippo-kun.

Ippo's level?

What!?

Well, that's not a big deal, right?

Don't try and sound happy about
it with that conflicted expression.

But Miyata undoubtedly has the
advantage in speed and boxing sense.

I'd give Miyata 7 to 3 odds for winning.

I don't like the sound of that "3

Well, his manager's carefree attitude concerns me.

That and...

...the Bloody Cross?

I can't get it out of my head.

It's creepy.

After all that running, not a drop of sweat.

My skin feels so strange.

Wa-

Water...

Miyata Ichiro, weighing in...



You're okay.

You seem awfully relieved to have passed the weigh-in.

He's a sharp one.

That just means the fight's already started.

You're his manager, right?

Maybe instead of worrying about his next opponent,
you need to be worried about your next job.

When this match is over, Arnie-san
won't have the belt any more,

and I have a feeling you'll be looking for a job.

What a rude challenger.

We need to teach him a lesson.

Miyata's weight management is severe.

He won't last too long.

He seems good with counters though,


No problem.

If he goes for a counter, the match will be over.

The Bloody Cross, huh?

I guess there's no need to draw
it out into a long match then.

Miyata-kun...

Thailand, Korea, the Philippines...

The reason | went on that journey was to catch up to him...

to make sure that the next time
If ought him, I'd be sure to win.

|learned how to throw a counter with
my entire body weight behind it...

the Jolt Counter.

But...

The winner of the Class A Tournament is Makunouchi Ippo!

A new champion is crowned!

His name is Makunouchi Ippo!

But he just kept getting further ahead...

if I take the OPBF title, I'll be in a comparable position.

That's what this match means to me.

You're up.

Right.

The gap between us, huh?

I may have taken the long way, but...

now it's time to fill that gap!

And now...

the OPBF Title Match...

scheduled for 12 rounds will begin.

Some night

I can't remember why

We stayed up 'til 4 AM ['til 4 AM]

We talked about nothing
important and then made love

The person can't be close her eyes

The person can't be close your eyes

And now while she calls my name inside her dream

Kisses me so I'll fall asleep

Don't I wish that we could stay right there?

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

You shut the alarm to work to sleep that day

I'd do anything if I could make this time rewind forever

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