The comedic portions of the story are also far above the comedy in the first series and actually left me laughing out loud more than a few times. The story also gets a plus for smoothly continuing from where Hajime no Ippo and the two OVAs left off and drawing connections and references to the previous installments. The other characters are also given more prominence in terms of back story and series focus. I also whined about the romance and rival arcs being tossed to the curb in the first Hajime no Ippo, but New Challenger fixes that as well with Miyata actually gaining a role in events again and Kumi being given a few episodes focused on her. The fights themselves are thrilling and, while not completely unpredictable, are at least far more individualized than in the first series. In fact they get about as far away from that story system that Ippo is actually in the ring in less than half of the fights in this series. Well I am very pleased to say that this system is done away with in New Challenger. Story: I complained that the original series was a copy paste-job for each new opponent with Ippo being an underdog, Ippo trains, Ippo starts to lose the fight early, he gets knocked down, he discovers his fighting spirit/guts, gets up and has a comeback KO. Nearly all of the major criticisms that I had of the first Hajime no Ippo don't exist in New Challenger. Well despite being completely underwhelmed by the first Hajime no Ippo series, I decided to give New Challenger a shot largely for the sake of completism and I must admit that I was impressed.
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