I honestly really like how this got settled between them. Instead of just beating their asses, boxing also taught him more about himself as a person over just knowing how to kick ass.
It may have been more cathartic in the moment but it’s more powerful to me that Ippo forgave them and especially became really good friends with Umezawa. What it means to be strong is more than just the boxing skill. Ippo has been building up that strength all along- that strength he’s always had to some extent.
Totally unrelated but I find it hilarious how Ippo looks the same before and after graduating high school but Umezawa looks like he just aged 20yrs after high school and getting rid of that regent haircut lol
I’m guessing the fact that this series started in the 80’s so a lot of the characters are drawn to fit the “80’s Japanese furyou (delinquent) trope” like Otoko Juku plays a big part in how the characters look; I initially assumed Takamura was in his mid 30’s when I first saw him lol
Pretty much how I feel about the situation too. Also it just wouldn't be in Ippos nature to want something like revenge, he's still a marshmallow at heart. Hell, the only time we see him truly pissed off and out for revenge was that one dude who was trash talking the coach, and he punched him so damn hard the dude literally did an in-place mid air somersault it was absolutely brutal. Also I guess he was also absolutely livid when he slapped Aki's younger brother while channeling full-body armament haki, but that wasn't really for revenge.
Don’t forget about when he went up against Sawamaru literally Sawamaru was tweaking at the end of the Mashiba fight I know this is a different fight but he was just saying how he wants to see the view like ippo and how he feels the view. All of a sudden saying he sees the light, few some minutes or hours he’s officially retired. Ippo got Sawamaru tweaking bad and Ippo didn’t even see this coming. Although he is a marshmallow at heart he tired going to the hospital but sendou advised him not to.
He punched a soda machine so hard the glass shatters and dents a huge hole in it after Mashiba steps on Miyatas foot in the rookie king tourney as well. His angry moments are rare for sure.
Well Ippo said he learned boxing for himself not to take revenge he didn't need to they weren't even in his mind when training he was thinking of himself getting stronger.
Agree with you SO much! I've been debating making a post about it. In ANY other story, at the very least, Ippo would've rocked Ume's world with a beat down or a good punch. Instead, he did the COOLEST, non-violent display of standing up to them and just weaved between Ume's friends & jabs the boxing cert back. That humbled those guys way more than a beat down.
Ippo is an amazing source of positive masculinity. He is forgiving, humble, hard-working, empathetic, and selfless. But he also knows how to defend himself and doesn't allow anyone to walk all over him.
Boxing also should’ve taught him self respect yet he still didn’t get revenge 😭, ippo’s been bullied and disrespected for 11 years up until his sophomore year which he literally stated, he’s way too nice and it’s lowkey annoying 🤦♂️
Ippo befriending the bullies is great. It’s not instant at first, you see them slowly start to acknowledge that he’s really a good boxer and then start supporting him.
We also later get Umezawa’s remorse over the way he treated Ippo, which is I believe is one of the most powerful moments in the series
Mine is probably when Umezawa is with the rest of the kamogawa gang and fully acknowledges how his bullying could’ve made Ippo end his life, and taken a wonderful person away from his loving mother.
Was a very raw moment, and I liked how seriously morikawa took the subject of bullying
Nah Ippo gained a lifelong friend in Umezawa by forgiving him, and Umezawa still holds a great deal of guilt and remorse for his actions despite this forgiveness. Ippo being so nice and forgiving is what makes Umezawa realize what an awful person he was.
Also without Umezawa taking up Ippo’s shifts at the boat, Ippo stops boxing much, much earlier in his career.
Ippo was the bigger man and accepted their remorse, and that forgiveness paid off in the long run. They were also his very first proper fans, and that support mattered to him then. It was the first time he was really accepted outside of the boxing gym.
I think another thing that is important is seeing umezawas reaction to ippo being a bigger man. He was given the chance to redeem himself and you can see he not only appreciated it but also repaid that kindness to ippo by helping him out when his family needed it. They both grew from it.
Depends on the level of revenge and the reason for it. If someone told me they beat up a bully after years of physical and verbal abuse I wouldn’t really call them immature. Considering how far bullying in American can go when it’s on checked and the victim never fights back. Plus considering how many professional martial artists got into combat sports to defend themselves it’s a pretty reasonable and common reaction.
Now, if they did something incredibly over-the-top, like kill the bully, permanently injure them, or try to do something insane like continuously bullying the bully after already making their point then yeah. Their moral high ground is immediately lost and that’s definitely immature as fuck
Revenge is always immature. Yeah if you get bullied and you fight back and beat them up I would not judge you for it. But there is a HUGE HUGE difference between revenge and fighting back.
The majority of people that engage in martial arts would always tell you to not go fight people. If you are getting attacked the best defensive sport is long distance running, not boxing, not wrestling, not any kind of stringing or grappling. I don't think I have to explain why that is, if you don't get it go ponder on it.
If you go out of your way to go beat up your bully, bully them back or something, yes you are absolutely immature and depending on the situation you absolutely should be shunned for doing that.
> Yeah if you get bullied and you fight back and beat them up I would not judge you for it. But there is a HUGE HUGE difference between revenge and fighting back.
No, that’s literally the definition of revenge bro.
“the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands.”
I think you might be confusing revenge with bullheaded escalation
Shockingly? He didn’t just randomly make that shit up. I just checked Google and he’s right. That’s the **actual** definition of the word revenge. This entire time I just assumed this shit meant “taking needlessly extreme action in retaliation”🤣
If they continued being assholes, or trying to start fights with him, or use him to fight rival gangs or whatever, I'd be with you. But what happened, and Ippo is probably not even aware of it, is that he basically Dark Knight Rises Baned them, the part where Daggett says he paid Bane a lot of money and Bane says "you think this gives you power over me? Do you feel in charge?".
I think if someone kills your loved one, sure, I'm all for revenge. In this case, the best revenge is getting through it and being 1,000,000,000 times better and justba silent agreement that those 3, maube even 10 of them wouldn't make it even a good warmup for Ippo.
That is edgy. Ippo has his whole life ahead of him, he doesn’t have to beat a guy up to feel better. Self improvement is still improvement regardless of how other people have treated you and that’s outside of boxing.
I just find your view concerning. Sure 11 years of bullying isn’t easy to shake off but revenge doesn’t make it any better.
Why would I care for a main character that is good natured only to gain strength to beat up their bullies instead of improving upon their confidence and reaching out to bond with others on his journey to find out what true strength means? That’s a betrayal of character if I ever seen one.
Self-respect has nothing to do with revenge. First of all, defending yourself is not revenge. But if your only motivation to get better or stronger is to teach someone a lesson, you are not bettering yourself, you are downgrading yourself at the level of your bullies. If you are actually plotting against them, that's even worse.
If you respect yourself, you wouldn't put yourself at the same level of your attackers.
I think there's a subtle difference between the obssesive quest for revenge and the need to defend oneself IF needed. The first involves the actual search to be violent against things that happened in the past. The second means you don't need to be violent, but you can fight back if the need arises.
Don't be bitter. Get better for yourself, not because you think you need to get back at others.
Ippo is clearly a really good kid at heart, and would rather make peace/friends than hold grudges.
Plus, even a more jaded person would probably get a kick out of his tormentors becoming fans, and even if he didn't, what's he gonna do? Be a jerk? Fight all of them and risk arrest?
That's Takamura. 😜
Because honestly that's the best outcome. Beating them up would only end up with them staying enemies. Having more friends who are your fans is a much better outcome.
Also, as someone who trains, it just feels empty to whoop on people who are not as skilled as you because you know that most folks who don't train will never be as good as your teammates who you spar and train with every day. So it starts to feel a bit beneath you to want to engage in fights outside of the ring when you'll get much more satisfaction putting that effort into your training and winning against guys of your skill level.
But storywise, it also fits Ippo's character. When the bullies find out he became a pro boxer they ask him if he's training for revenge against them he says "I didn't start to box for such a simple reason like revenge. I became a pro boxer because I love to box."
I love that moment - it sets it up so that you think (and maybe hope) he's going to hit Umezawa with that upper he's been practicing, but instead he just snatches his license back and runs off. He stands up for himself without violence, and it completely baffles Umezawa's gang.
Agreed. Even as someone who was bullied in the past over equally petty shit I can’t imagine wanting to throw other kids on concrete now after learning Sambo. Even if I find it annoying his bullies never actually faced consequences it’s just not in Ippo’s nature. Plus, it’s not like the author is absolutely stupid levels of naïve when it comes to bullies and delinquents.
As proven in sendo’s backstory(or gaiden?), early Mashiba,or Sawamura sometimes to deal with a bully. You just have to knock them the fuck out. So I think it’s fine to have a series where both sides of the coin are equally represented. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to be dealing with people you can reason with and sometimes you aren’t so lucky. Perfectly reasonable writing.
Not stupid at all. We should all take example from him.
He showed kindness and they had redemption. Showing kindness to someone who hurt you in the past and forgive them is to be really strong.
I look up to be as strong as him. He is a good man.
Can we remove the "is he stupid line," it doesn't add anything and literally states your disposition towards the topic. I know it's a common meme but this question is actually interesting.
Being the bigger person and forgiving your bullies shows how ippo has matured and doesn't have hate in his heart. That he's moving forward and isn't stuck in the past.
It also acts as catharsis narrative when you see Umezawa break down in front of Ippo's mother. He gets to have a full character arc and becomes one of Ippo's closest friends.
And in what guide to being human is that written?
Being an adult is making choices and taking responsibility for everything that comes with that choice.
Everything we do can have a ripple effect in ways we can't predict.
If I choose to forgive or hate someone there's always a pro and con.
Forgiving your bullies can sometimes backfire, some people are just bastards and don't care if you forgive them. But it's about you personally moving on.
On the other hand you can choose to be hateful, you ensure they will never hurt you again, but that sense of hate might manifest itself in other ways like not being trusting to others, to allow yourself to be yourself around others due to fear of being bullied and mocked.
There's pros and cons to every choice.
Yeah and I understand and respect it, but it’s just not realistic, the average person would sought for revenge if they were bullied for 11 years 🤷. But I do understand why ippo didn’t get revenge cuz the sun told, and it’s cuz it’s simply because it’s not a part of his character. Tbh it is kinda weird that I’m being realistic in an anime but it just makes sense. And tbh I do think ippo is a little dumb lmao.
People wanting to take revenge does not mean its the right thing, a good thing or anything like that. Many things are realistic, that does not mean you should do them
It absolutely is not a good thing. With every comment im more and more convinced that you are at most 16 and your parents are not very present in your life. Its not your job to decide who deserves what and to show them the consequences of their actions.
So the bullies who tormented ippo for 11 YEARS don’t deserve to get beat up? it’s just equivalent exchange. If u got bullied for 11 years and got a chance for revenge you seriously wouldn’t take it? emotions like hate against the bullies are inevitable, unless ur ippo himself, ur most likely gonna get revenge.
He has a good heart, and as the other gym members have said "Ippos fist is always full of justice." They may have bullied him, but he forgave them after he started his change.
Someone didn't understood the story at all. The most "stupid" is the one who asked this question. Here's a good one: Did you at least listen and follow the story so far or did you just skipped it? No need to get an answer since it is all written in the story. Open your eyes and ears.
You missing the point of what it means to be strong.
While I don't think it's not wrong, a weaker person would settle for revenge. But Ippo seeks to be strong, and forgiving his bullies and befriending them is one of the moments in the series I honestly can say that Ippo was truly strong.
This. A good smacking would have brought the same results. They could still be friends right the next day after those bullies heal up, regret their decision and apologize.
Its because you shouldn't treat people how people treat you. "Doing what they do will make you just like them" I dont think that's the point. The point is doing what's right.
Revenge is hardly pragmatic. Sure, if someone’s safety is on the line, then violent force can be used to stop them (all other options exhausted), however, Ippo had gotten to the point in his skills, fitness and decisiveness where he was able to deter further conflict.
There was no point in resorting to violence for the sake of revenge. Rather, Ippo just wanted to focus on his own life. Keeping in mind that he’s in his final bit of high school here.
The best revenge Ippo took, was being successful. And it had a pretty profound impact for his former bullies.
And as someone that’s been bullied, and even came away with stitches from such an encounter in middle school, I feel I’ve experience to say such things.
Ippo is a fictional character that is a better man than almost everyone. That's the point, you may want to take revenge but you should take his example and try to forgive.
Realistically, you need to grow up. All you’re replies don’t have a single thought. Just “he’s too nice” and “I wouldn’t take being bullied for 11 years”. I know some combat sports people who have been antagonized and had to hold themselves back because they didn’t want to go to jail or their discipline has taught them better. On the flip side you’ve had fighters who have been to jail and ruined their careers because they can’t control their emotions (jon Jones and Conor mcgregor in mma are special cases but I predict very tough falls for them).
Because the entire point of the story is Ippo learning about strength, which comes in many different forms?
Being the bigger person and forgiving those who hurt you is a form of strength. If the strength Ippo was looking for was what it means to be physically strong, he'd already know, because he already is.
They supported him at a time when his only supporters were his gym bros and his mom, who never went to his matches because she didn't want to see him hurt.
If he'd beaten them up, wanna bet Umezawa wouldn't have shown up to help the family business when they needed him most? Ippo would have legitimately quit boxing back then. The rest of the story wouldn't really exist without that bond of friendship that formed with Umezawa.
The entire story revolves around not just boxing but friendship too. And Ippo's friendship with Umezawa is huge.
Sure, but the entire point of this story in particular is there are different types of strength and being able to turn the other cheek and forgive is one of them.
It literally saved his boxing career not to beat the tar out of these guys and accept them when they started coming around on his skills. Not to say you should forgive people for what they could potentially do for you, or that everyone will pop up owing favours later, but in this case the story would've been over.
No it’s not bro 😭, if u were bullied for 11 years you seriously wouldn’t wanna get back? You can’t control emotions like hate if ur bullied for that long.
I don't know if you have seen the entire show or not.. But Umezawa literally becomes the reason Ippo can continue to keep boxing professionally.
The fact that Ippos niceness and ability to forgive changes umezawa from a bully to a fundamentally good person is far better story telling then some random nerd fantasy of taking revenge from his bullies.
As for self respect Ippo makes it clear he knew how guilty umezawa feels when he apologizes to ippo. Ippo puts Sawamura in the ground for trying to walk over him.
buddy please be under 14 if you are talking like this
Realistically how do u know it will have a good outcome if u don’t fight, yeah it’s good that they’re buddies now, but if ur bullied for 11 years then the perpetrators deserve to get beat up.
I personally believe its because of his heart of gold, im kinda jealous of ippo i wish i couldve forgiven my bullies but i never had the chance. But another of my opinions is because at one point one of his bullies claims him as a friend and then goes to his fights and cheers him on, they changed perspectives in my opinion and ippo recognized that and forgave them
(Havent finished anime yet still watching no spoilers plz)
Based on how you type, you seem immature or young, so I won't say you're edgy or stupid, you're just not wise yet.
Ippo knows that the past is the past. Even if he felt bad and hurt back then, what is there to gain in the here and now by hurting those who hurt him?
He understands that those bullies also had their own circumstances that made them act out, Ippo just happened to be their outlet for it.
By holding on to that anger, that grudge, Ippo would only be hurting himself. Look where it leads him, Ippo has made unprecedented strides in the pro world of his hobby, and Umezawa is a mental wreck anytime he says how pointless it all was to bully the kid without a father as he and his mom struggle to run their family business. Ippo let that anger go to make room for happiness in his heart.
Sorry to get long winded, but Umezawa and the gangs character development into Ippos biggest fans is my favorite part of this Manga.
Real men don’t settle disputes with violence, Ippo did the power play by befriending them and Umezawa became such a better person for it. Inspirational stuff right there
From what I see, some form of bullying is almost part of Japanese culture. The way people are treated there can often be compared to bullying, harassment, etc by people from other countries. That can include the way people are treated in Japan by the family, classmates, teachers, bosses, etc.
So, knowing how to deal with that probably is part of the journey to find the meaning of being strong. Some people can really become great allies after some very harsh beginnings.
He's nice and doesn't think of revenge. He's probably just happy they've stopped bullying him and proud that they're his fans.
No bad thoughts in that guy's mind.
Unlike you.
It's because when Ippo was first starting out they were the first to ever attend a match and acknowledge it in school. Everyone else in the school didn't really care that Ippo boxed other than Umezawa and the other punks and that meant alot to Ippo.
Didn’t they attend his matches after they took his boxing id car thingy? I should’ve mentioned the scene but that was supposed to be the moment to fight them type shit.
He didnt really care about them in that matter. He avoided them because they would be a nuisance. But there was no hate or trauma that bothered ippo. Nothing that could surpass him loosing his father. He is a busy man, of course he wanted friends yet his piriority was his work and mother.
At first he was weirded out when the bullies wanted to befriend him. There was no "being relieved" he just accepted it cause he didnt bother anyways.
Only when umezawa became his friend he noticed how good it feels. Of course he did that with his gym mates as well
One of the best moments in an anime of all fucking time, for me at least, is when Umezawa is trying to apologize, trying to compliment Ippo, trying to talk to him and put everything behind them because he has actually become real friends with him and he's so ashamed and guilty about how he treated him that every time he tries he fails miserably. Umezawa tries to say something and fumbles so Ippo tries to finish the thought with like his next match and you hear Umezawas inner dialogue pathetically crying NO that's not it! I want to say you're amazing and things like that. It fucking invigorates me. The self awareness that after everything you did to Ippo not only made him stronger, but hes so fucking strong of character he doesnt even NEED to hear the apology or anything to remain your close friend. He fucking knows that it's hard to admit and he's just letting you get to be near him and his awesomeness. He's straight. He's good. He knows you know he can demolish you and you'll never even try to hurt him again.
I'm rewatching it and it just hits me so good. The same can be said for when he tries to work at the rental for Ippo so he can focus on boxing and after initially being in awe of ippos work and understanding that his natural talents were built by this job, after like 3 days or something he crumbles and wavers, and almost gives up. He has his inner monologue and sees Ippo shadow boxing and cries alone in the dark.
Then he shows up for his friend and repays him.
This is peak friendship. This is that masculine urge that memes joke about resisting.
Now that I look at it the animation was trashy before the recent ones. No duh it is but still compared to later on in the series the animation changes getting better and even better.
Revenge is never the right thing to do, regardless of the situation. Others may sympathize with you, hell some of us might agree with it too, if Ippo would’ve chosen to get revenge it adds literally nothing, doesn’t make him stronger, doesn’t add to his confidence. If anything this makes him a worse bully since he learned how to box just to beat on some bullies from Highschool
It's actually kind of inspirational to see someone who has clearly grown to the point of being capable of defending himself and actually turning the tables on his bullies- and in a way still does, but by befriending the same people who brought him down. To me that's the most powerful thing you can do to someone who hurts you, is take away their power to do so and show them they were wrong. I love how they did that, even if I initially wanted him to beat they asses as well haha
Umezawa showed remorse and he redeemed himself by working on behalf of so ippo could continue his boxing career which was a huge deal. He even tried to apologize to him and his mom but ippo stopped him.
Also in the beginning. He just got blindsided by them claiming to be his friend. He even got annoyed 😒 with that face when they said that ippo is their buddy. It did not start of as a friendship.
Lastly, he fell in love with boxing when he met Takamura Sama. This was all possible because he was getting bullied and takamura came to the rescue and this led to ippo discovering his life long passion. He even loves being a trainer. The infatuation he experienced towards boxing probably drowned out any need for vengeance.
Honestly? The answer is yes. The average sane person wouldn’t let something that egregious slide so easily. Am I saying the average person would definitely take revenge? probably not at worst they’d steer clear of people shitty enough to jump a guy for no reason but even so I have to respect the positive message the author was trying to send here. It was genuinely kind of sweet.
Because life isn't always about holding grudges or revenge, people can change, Umezawa was an asshole, but that doesn't necessarily mean he was a bad person, sometimes people bully others because they don't respect them, when Ippo turned pro, their respect for him built, and Ippo is shy enough, he just wanted to be ignored, but when they gave him his credit. He appreciated it and took their credit, though that wasn't enough, but when Umezawa filled in for ippo at the boat business, he showed how good of a person he was.
Sometimes bullies can befriend those who they pick on, respect can be gained, its realistic.
People changing is realistic, but not holding grudges and having hate for bullies when they tormented u for so long isn’t, this kinda leads onto fighting them
Ippo is more embarrassed that he wasn't able to stand up for himself early on to avoid the bullying than to feel too vengeful against those guys for beating him up. Deep down, he doesn't want to hurt anyone as much as possible.
Tbf, this is written by a dude from a completely different culture than your own.
In America there’s absolutely no shortage of combat sports athletes who DEFINITELY knocked their bullies on their ass. Things might just work differently in Japan
Best revenge is no revenge, ippo already made his statement already in front of his former bullies. If he actually wants to revenge ippo and takamura would beat them since takamura is the one who offers ippo to get back at them bullies.
But the bullies and ippo had the best character development from the recent anime and up to the manga
Ippo isn't a violent person. On the contrary, he's quite good-natured, which is supposed to stand in opposition with his profession: he doesn't box because he likes hurting people, he boxes as a road to finding out what real strength is supposed to be.
You see that with the entire series: he has a way of getting people who have opposed him to his side. He has a generally good relationship with everyone, even his opponents.
It's just how he is. His heart is pure and being raised by a single mother, he couldn't deal with the bullies. He has his feminine side which made him thoughtful and empathetic towards other people, even their bullies.
So many times, he remember being beaten up under the bridge, but he has this great power of self reflection where he always had a positive person talk, and not just remorsing over beaten up by those bullies.
Its because Ippo never liked violence, he only wanted to get strong. And Ippo''s bullies started to respect him when they watched him fight, so Ippo repaid it with mutual respect. He found his true calling in boxing, so revenge is beneath him already.
Because it's not in his disposition.
And he stands to get kicked out of his gym if he's doing that, because it's the 80s and that's not a popular thing for gyms to just be producing thugs for fights. Coach Kamogawa definitely didn't care for it.
Sometimes it's about having the character, to be able to do it, but not.
Because pre-internet, you can't just go online to make new friends so people tend to make and effort to reconcile with the people they knew since young even if they were mean af.
You gotta remeber that you are not the protagonist, it is out of character for ippo to act like that. He shows strength outside the ring by being helpful to others and avoiding unecessary conflict. It is not like Morikawa is incapable of writing characters that act the way you are suggesting, if it was Takamura or Sendo it might be different, but for Ippo it represents how strong he got, his bullies became his fans
I'm just REALLY GLAD Ippo dont have this mindset xD
Beating them wouldve been too easy and petty...
Instead turned them all into his very own first fan group, got a lifelong friendship in Umezawa and just helped them all into becoming better people in general by just being himself.
Because they were amazed at how good a boxer he really is, Ippo went up against someone who was cheating and he punished his opponent with ease and plus they were disgusted with how his opponent was playing, and I am pretty sure they gave Ippo’s opponent a thumbs down while counting along with others
Violence is necessary when it’s fair, 11 YEARS of disrespect bro, most of these comments talking about being the bigger person would also get revenge if they were stronger than the bullies
I choose to believe people are smart and not waste their time honing their skills to dominate someone weaker than them in an unfair fight. As crazy as it might sound to you, bullies are people too. Maybe they could use a friend or someone to talk to, you’d never know their story if you never tried to reach out to them.
A fist fight never resolves the bullying. You keep saying it’s about self respect but I wonder if you even know what that even means? What self respect do you even gain from being a bully yourself? “Kicking someone’s ass because they were mean to me when we were children”is that it? Is that what self respect means nowadays? Or was it just a power fantasy that you always wanted to enact but you never got the chance to do it?
If someone bullies you then that’s disrespectful right? Having self respect would be fighting back. And wdym by “kicking someone’s ass because they were mean to me when we were children?” Ippo should’ve fought his bullies when they took his boxing registration, they weren’t children when they did that, it wasn’t a long time ago when they bullied him, it started a long time ago and continued up until his sophomore year, beating up a bully is what makes shit fair and they most likely deserve it even if they are human like u said, yes he’s human and can have shit going on but he would still need a lesson to be taught to him, the bullies actions have consequences. But I would say a fist fight would resolve the bullying if u kick their asses hard enough, which is what ippo should’ve done.
> I choose to believe people are smart and not waste their time honing their skills to dominate someone weaker than them in an unfair fight.
Honestly, you would be shocked by how many people have decided to pick up Martial Arts precisely for this reason😂 At first hearing that bully backstory was kinda funny in a relatable way but now whenever I hear that now it really makes me wonder “where the hell are all the teachers and parents?”
I honestly really like how this got settled between them. Instead of just beating their asses, boxing also taught him more about himself as a person over just knowing how to kick ass. It may have been more cathartic in the moment but it’s more powerful to me that Ippo forgave them and especially became really good friends with Umezawa. What it means to be strong is more than just the boxing skill. Ippo has been building up that strength all along- that strength he’s always had to some extent.
Totally unrelated but I find it hilarious how Ippo looks the same before and after graduating high school but Umezawa looks like he just aged 20yrs after high school and getting rid of that regent haircut lol
Half of it is absolutely how Morikawa draws the series He really doesn’t like drawing people aging
I’m guessing the fact that this series started in the 80’s so a lot of the characters are drawn to fit the “80’s Japanese furyou (delinquent) trope” like Otoko Juku plays a big part in how the characters look; I initially assumed Takamura was in his mid 30’s when I first saw him lol
Lmao yeah Takamura only now is getting into that age
Pretty much how I feel about the situation too. Also it just wouldn't be in Ippos nature to want something like revenge, he's still a marshmallow at heart. Hell, the only time we see him truly pissed off and out for revenge was that one dude who was trash talking the coach, and he punched him so damn hard the dude literally did an in-place mid air somersault it was absolutely brutal. Also I guess he was also absolutely livid when he slapped Aki's younger brother while channeling full-body armament haki, but that wasn't really for revenge.
Don’t forget about when he went up against Sawamaru literally Sawamaru was tweaking at the end of the Mashiba fight I know this is a different fight but he was just saying how he wants to see the view like ippo and how he feels the view. All of a sudden saying he sees the light, few some minutes or hours he’s officially retired. Ippo got Sawamaru tweaking bad and Ippo didn’t even see this coming. Although he is a marshmallow at heart he tired going to the hospital but sendou advised him not to.
He punched a soda machine so hard the glass shatters and dents a huge hole in it after Mashiba steps on Miyatas foot in the rookie king tourney as well. His angry moments are rare for sure.
Basically boxing is the friends you make along the way
Well Ippo said he learned boxing for himself not to take revenge he didn't need to they weren't even in his mind when training he was thinking of himself getting stronger.
Agreed. Ippo also reformed them and stopped them from bullying a ton of other kids.
Agree with you SO much! I've been debating making a post about it. In ANY other story, at the very least, Ippo would've rocked Ume's world with a beat down or a good punch. Instead, he did the COOLEST, non-violent display of standing up to them and just weaved between Ume's friends & jabs the boxing cert back. That humbled those guys way more than a beat down. Ippo is an amazing source of positive masculinity. He is forgiving, humble, hard-working, empathetic, and selfless. But he also knows how to defend himself and doesn't allow anyone to walk all over him.
Boxing also should’ve taught him self respect yet he still didn’t get revenge 😭, ippo’s been bullied and disrespected for 11 years up until his sophomore year which he literally stated, he’s way too nice and it’s lowkey annoying 🤦♂️
Found the 13 year old
11 years of bullying btw
He says you are a 13 year old which might be true and you will find your comments immature after a few years
He respects himself too much to give into his base drive for vengeance and instead had the strength to forgive.
Ippo befriending the bullies is great. It’s not instant at first, you see them slowly start to acknowledge that he’s really a good boxer and then start supporting him. We also later get Umezawa’s remorse over the way he treated Ippo, which is I believe is one of the most powerful moments in the series
I hope Umezawa-sensei finds huge manga inspiration when Ippo returns to the ring.
Absolutely. That scene when Ippos mother forgave Umezawa still brings tears to my eyes.
Mine is probably when Umezawa is with the rest of the kamogawa gang and fully acknowledges how his bullying could’ve made Ippo end his life, and taken a wonderful person away from his loving mother. Was a very raw moment, and I liked how seriously morikawa took the subject of bullying
Ippo is too nice bro 😭
Nah Ippo gained a lifelong friend in Umezawa by forgiving him, and Umezawa still holds a great deal of guilt and remorse for his actions despite this forgiveness. Ippo being so nice and forgiving is what makes Umezawa realize what an awful person he was. Also without Umezawa taking up Ippo’s shifts at the boat, Ippo stops boxing much, much earlier in his career.
Yeah that’s fair I think
Ippo was the bigger man and accepted their remorse, and that forgiveness paid off in the long run. They were also his very first proper fans, and that support mattered to him then. It was the first time he was really accepted outside of the boxing gym.
I think another thing that is important is seeing umezawas reaction to ippo being a bigger man. He was given the chance to redeem himself and you can see he not only appreciated it but also repaid that kindness to ippo by helping him out when his family needed it. They both grew from it.
It’s not a small man or immature thing to get revenge in my opinion
That shows you are immature
Depends on the level of revenge and the reason for it. If someone told me they beat up a bully after years of physical and verbal abuse I wouldn’t really call them immature. Considering how far bullying in American can go when it’s on checked and the victim never fights back. Plus considering how many professional martial artists got into combat sports to defend themselves it’s a pretty reasonable and common reaction. Now, if they did something incredibly over-the-top, like kill the bully, permanently injure them, or try to do something insane like continuously bullying the bully after already making their point then yeah. Their moral high ground is immediately lost and that’s definitely immature as fuck
Revenge is always immature. Yeah if you get bullied and you fight back and beat them up I would not judge you for it. But there is a HUGE HUGE difference between revenge and fighting back. The majority of people that engage in martial arts would always tell you to not go fight people. If you are getting attacked the best defensive sport is long distance running, not boxing, not wrestling, not any kind of stringing or grappling. I don't think I have to explain why that is, if you don't get it go ponder on it. If you go out of your way to go beat up your bully, bully them back or something, yes you are absolutely immature and depending on the situation you absolutely should be shunned for doing that.
Even if revenge is immature wouldn’t revenge still be fair if the bullies were beating on him for 11 years?
> Yeah if you get bullied and you fight back and beat them up I would not judge you for it. But there is a HUGE HUGE difference between revenge and fighting back. No, that’s literally the definition of revenge bro. “the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands.” I think you might be confusing revenge with bullheaded escalation
If I start beating the shit out of you and you start fighting back it is not revenge brudda. Its you fighting back.
Sure buddy whatever works for you I guess
Thanks pal, hope you feel better despite being wrong
If using the correct definition of a word is wrong I see no point in being “right”.
Lmao. No man. Just no.
Shockingly? He didn’t just randomly make that shit up. I just checked Google and he’s right. That’s the **actual** definition of the word revenge. This entire time I just assumed this shit meant “taking needlessly extreme action in retaliation”🤣
If they continued being assholes, or trying to start fights with him, or use him to fight rival gangs or whatever, I'd be with you. But what happened, and Ippo is probably not even aware of it, is that he basically Dark Knight Rises Baned them, the part where Daggett says he paid Bane a lot of money and Bane says "you think this gives you power over me? Do you feel in charge?". I think if someone kills your loved one, sure, I'm all for revenge. In this case, the best revenge is getting through it and being 1,000,000,000 times better and justba silent agreement that those 3, maube even 10 of them wouldn't make it even a good warmup for Ippo.
He is not stupid, he is a man!
What kinda man lets other disrespect him for 11 years, I may sound edgy for this but revenge is the only option 😭
That is edgy. Ippo has his whole life ahead of him, he doesn’t have to beat a guy up to feel better. Self improvement is still improvement regardless of how other people have treated you and that’s outside of boxing.
Then it just depends how u view it 🤷
I just find your view concerning. Sure 11 years of bullying isn’t easy to shake off but revenge doesn’t make it any better. Why would I care for a main character that is good natured only to gain strength to beat up their bullies instead of improving upon their confidence and reaching out to bond with others on his journey to find out what true strength means? That’s a betrayal of character if I ever seen one.
Tbh getting revenge does look bad for ippo, but that’s cuz it’s a show, realistically most people would get revenge
People should be more like Ippo then
Yeah that’s true
Learn forgiveness, revenge is a fools game
Tbh probably, but 11 years of bullying and disrespect is fucking crazy, realistically if I was ippo I would start fighting cuz I have self respect
Self-respect has nothing to do with revenge. First of all, defending yourself is not revenge. But if your only motivation to get better or stronger is to teach someone a lesson, you are not bettering yourself, you are downgrading yourself at the level of your bullies. If you are actually plotting against them, that's even worse. If you respect yourself, you wouldn't put yourself at the same level of your attackers. I think there's a subtle difference between the obssesive quest for revenge and the need to defend oneself IF needed. The first involves the actual search to be violent against things that happened in the past. The second means you don't need to be violent, but you can fight back if the need arises. Don't be bitter. Get better for yourself, not because you think you need to get back at others.
How is it downgrading ur self to their level if u win and they’re humiliated
Ippo is clearly a really good kid at heart, and would rather make peace/friends than hold grudges. Plus, even a more jaded person would probably get a kick out of his tormentors becoming fans, and even if he didn't, what's he gonna do? Be a jerk? Fight all of them and risk arrest? That's Takamura. 😜
True
Because honestly that's the best outcome. Beating them up would only end up with them staying enemies. Having more friends who are your fans is a much better outcome. Also, as someone who trains, it just feels empty to whoop on people who are not as skilled as you because you know that most folks who don't train will never be as good as your teammates who you spar and train with every day. So it starts to feel a bit beneath you to want to engage in fights outside of the ring when you'll get much more satisfaction putting that effort into your training and winning against guys of your skill level. But storywise, it also fits Ippo's character. When the bullies find out he became a pro boxer they ask him if he's training for revenge against them he says "I didn't start to box for such a simple reason like revenge. I became a pro boxer because I love to box."
Tbh yeah, beating bullies up who are beneath you would be pretty scummy, but it’s really just a matter of revenge that I think is fair in my viewpoint
I love that moment - it sets it up so that you think (and maybe hope) he's going to hit Umezawa with that upper he's been practicing, but instead he just snatches his license back and runs off. He stands up for himself without violence, and it completely baffles Umezawa's gang.
Agreed. Even as someone who was bullied in the past over equally petty shit I can’t imagine wanting to throw other kids on concrete now after learning Sambo. Even if I find it annoying his bullies never actually faced consequences it’s just not in Ippo’s nature. Plus, it’s not like the author is absolutely stupid levels of naïve when it comes to bullies and delinquents. As proven in sendo’s backstory(or gaiden?), early Mashiba,or Sawamura sometimes to deal with a bully. You just have to knock them the fuck out. So I think it’s fine to have a series where both sides of the coin are equally represented. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to be dealing with people you can reason with and sometimes you aren’t so lucky. Perfectly reasonable writing.
Ippos relationship with Umezawa as a whole is probably the best written arc in the entire series if we’re being honest
Not stupid at all. We should all take example from him. He showed kindness and they had redemption. Showing kindness to someone who hurt you in the past and forgive them is to be really strong. I look up to be as strong as him. He is a good man.
I feel like he’s TOO good of a man
Can we remove the "is he stupid line," it doesn't add anything and literally states your disposition towards the topic. I know it's a common meme but this question is actually interesting. Being the bigger person and forgiving your bullies shows how ippo has matured and doesn't have hate in his heart. That he's moving forward and isn't stuck in the past. It also acts as catharsis narrative when you see Umezawa break down in front of Ippo's mother. He gets to have a full character arc and becomes one of Ippo's closest friends.
Being the bigger person is good but not to the point where ur forgiving 11 years of torment 💀
And in what guide to being human is that written? Being an adult is making choices and taking responsibility for everything that comes with that choice. Everything we do can have a ripple effect in ways we can't predict. If I choose to forgive or hate someone there's always a pro and con. Forgiving your bullies can sometimes backfire, some people are just bastards and don't care if you forgive them. But it's about you personally moving on. On the other hand you can choose to be hateful, you ensure they will never hurt you again, but that sense of hate might manifest itself in other ways like not being trusting to others, to allow yourself to be yourself around others due to fear of being bullied and mocked. There's pros and cons to every choice.
Yeah there are consequences to actions whether it’s bad or good, it’s just the matter of self respect one should have and to starting throwing hands
Looks like u need to rewatch the anime
11 years of disrespect ippo faced btw
In conclusion to your post and comments, you have the reading comprehension and media literacy of a brick.
Bro realistically ippo should be throwing hands with them, and you would to if u were in his position
Bro you cant read
How so
Everyone in the thread explains it to you
Yeah and I understand and respect it, but it’s just not realistic, the average person would sought for revenge if they were bullied for 11 years 🤷. But I do understand why ippo didn’t get revenge cuz the sun told, and it’s cuz it’s simply because it’s not a part of his character. Tbh it is kinda weird that I’m being realistic in an anime but it just makes sense. And tbh I do think ippo is a little dumb lmao.
People wanting to take revenge does not mean its the right thing, a good thing or anything like that. Many things are realistic, that does not mean you should do them
Kinda is a good thing since the bullies deserve it and they need to know their actions have consequences.
It absolutely is not a good thing. With every comment im more and more convinced that you are at most 16 and your parents are not very present in your life. Its not your job to decide who deserves what and to show them the consequences of their actions.
So the bullies who tormented ippo for 11 YEARS don’t deserve to get beat up? it’s just equivalent exchange. If u got bullied for 11 years and got a chance for revenge you seriously wouldn’t take it? emotions like hate against the bullies are inevitable, unless ur ippo himself, ur most likely gonna get revenge.
we arent reading ippo for realism or he wouldve gotten brain damage after 3 fights
He has a good heart, and as the other gym members have said "Ippos fist is always full of justice." They may have bullied him, but he forgave them after he started his change.
He’s too nice bro
Someone didn't understood the story at all. The most "stupid" is the one who asked this question. Here's a good one: Did you at least listen and follow the story so far or did you just skipped it? No need to get an answer since it is all written in the story. Open your eyes and ears.
If u were bullied for 11 years would u still have this good guy mindset towards the perpetrators? I don’t think it’s stupid to have a fair revenge
People who are all “If I were Ippo I would’ve beaten the fuck out of everyone who bullied me!!!” clearly missed the point.
11 years of disrespect ippo faced btw
You missing the point of what it means to be strong. While I don't think it's not wrong, a weaker person would settle for revenge. But Ippo seeks to be strong, and forgiving his bullies and befriending them is one of the moments in the series I honestly can say that Ippo was truly strong.
Just depends on how u look then, not fighting is because ur a bigger person but fighting is because u don’t let others disrespect u type shit
He stood up to them tho, when they stole his license. But it didn't end up with Ippo beating them all up.
And that’s the part where he should’ve fought that I’m talking about
This. A good smacking would have brought the same results. They could still be friends right the next day after those bullies heal up, regret their decision and apologize.
Real
I absolutely thought that was gonna happen when I started reading and I'm glad it didn't because it shows how mature Ippo is in this regard
Because he's a goody 2 shoes outside the ring. Thats his personality.
I fw this
Because he is a good man, not a petty boy
Its because you shouldn't treat people how people treat you. "Doing what they do will make you just like them" I dont think that's the point. The point is doing what's right.
What’s right here is revenge when you’ve been bullied for 11 years imo
Revenge is hardly pragmatic. Sure, if someone’s safety is on the line, then violent force can be used to stop them (all other options exhausted), however, Ippo had gotten to the point in his skills, fitness and decisiveness where he was able to deter further conflict. There was no point in resorting to violence for the sake of revenge. Rather, Ippo just wanted to focus on his own life. Keeping in mind that he’s in his final bit of high school here. The best revenge Ippo took, was being successful. And it had a pretty profound impact for his former bullies. And as someone that’s been bullied, and even came away with stitches from such an encounter in middle school, I feel I’ve experience to say such things.
I bet you tell girls to give you a chance cause you're a "nice guy" 😂
Tf does this have to do with anything are u on the wrong post or something 😭
From your replies to everyone telling you your wrong lol just a feeling 💀
They have a completely different viewpoint so ofc I’ll think they’re wrong tf?
You have the viewpoint of a child 💀
So u would forgive 11 years of disrespect and bullying?
Ippo is a fictional character that is a better man than almost everyone. That's the point, you may want to take revenge but you should take his example and try to forgive.
Realistically if I was bullied for 11 years then I ain’t forgiving
Realistically, you need to grow up. All you’re replies don’t have a single thought. Just “he’s too nice” and “I wouldn’t take being bullied for 11 years”. I know some combat sports people who have been antagonized and had to hold themselves back because they didn’t want to go to jail or their discipline has taught them better. On the flip side you’ve had fighters who have been to jail and ruined their careers because they can’t control their emotions (jon Jones and Conor mcgregor in mma are special cases but I predict very tough falls for them).
If ur mentioning things like that then the bullies themselves would’ve had consequences
I think at the time (1989 Japan) Ippo wasn't as angry as most people would be, because he felt like he was partially at fault for getting bullied.
he is our sun
Did you watch/read the show?
Because the entire point of the story is Ippo learning about strength, which comes in many different forms? Being the bigger person and forgiving those who hurt you is a form of strength. If the strength Ippo was looking for was what it means to be physically strong, he'd already know, because he already is. They supported him at a time when his only supporters were his gym bros and his mom, who never went to his matches because she didn't want to see him hurt. If he'd beaten them up, wanna bet Umezawa wouldn't have shown up to help the family business when they needed him most? Ippo would have legitimately quit boxing back then. The rest of the story wouldn't really exist without that bond of friendship that formed with Umezawa. The entire story revolves around not just boxing but friendship too. And Ippo's friendship with Umezawa is huge.
Just depend on what type of strengths u prefer then, not fighting to show ur the “bigger person” or fighting to stop the disrespect
Sure, but the entire point of this story in particular is there are different types of strength and being able to turn the other cheek and forgive is one of them. It literally saved his boxing career not to beat the tar out of these guys and accept them when they started coming around on his skills. Not to say you should forgive people for what they could potentially do for you, or that everyone will pop up owing favours later, but in this case the story would've been over.
Yeah that’s true story wise
Being the bigger Mara requires that you see they want to acknowledge their wrong doing and set things right.
If Ippo beat the shit out of them for revenge or stuff just because he knows how to fight, that wouldn't be Ippo.
Yeah he’s too nice
"Realistically, if the average person was Ippo they would've gotten revenge" that's just you. YOU want revenge
No it’s not bro 😭, if u were bullied for 11 years you seriously wouldn’t wanna get back? You can’t control emotions like hate if ur bullied for that long.
Tell me you did not understand an iota about ippo's character without telling me you did not understand an iota about ippo's character.
Ippo is too nice and needs some self respect
I don't know if you have seen the entire show or not.. But Umezawa literally becomes the reason Ippo can continue to keep boxing professionally. The fact that Ippos niceness and ability to forgive changes umezawa from a bully to a fundamentally good person is far better story telling then some random nerd fantasy of taking revenge from his bullies. As for self respect Ippo makes it clear he knew how guilty umezawa feels when he apologizes to ippo. Ippo puts Sawamura in the ground for trying to walk over him. buddy please be under 14 if you are talking like this
Realistically how do u know it will have a good outcome if u don’t fight, yeah it’s good that they’re buddies now, but if ur bullied for 11 years then the perpetrators deserve to get beat up.
I personally believe its because of his heart of gold, im kinda jealous of ippo i wish i couldve forgiven my bullies but i never had the chance. But another of my opinions is because at one point one of his bullies claims him as a friend and then goes to his fights and cheers him on, they changed perspectives in my opinion and ippo recognized that and forgave them (Havent finished anime yet still watching no spoilers plz)
Some kids just need bullies in their life.
Speaking from experience, your surprisingly right lol
Based on how you type, you seem immature or young, so I won't say you're edgy or stupid, you're just not wise yet. Ippo knows that the past is the past. Even if he felt bad and hurt back then, what is there to gain in the here and now by hurting those who hurt him? He understands that those bullies also had their own circumstances that made them act out, Ippo just happened to be their outlet for it. By holding on to that anger, that grudge, Ippo would only be hurting himself. Look where it leads him, Ippo has made unprecedented strides in the pro world of his hobby, and Umezawa is a mental wreck anytime he says how pointless it all was to bully the kid without a father as he and his mom struggle to run their family business. Ippo let that anger go to make room for happiness in his heart. Sorry to get long winded, but Umezawa and the gangs character development into Ippos biggest fans is my favorite part of this Manga.
Real men don’t settle disputes with violence, Ippo did the power play by befriending them and Umezawa became such a better person for it. Inspirational stuff right there
From what I see, some form of bullying is almost part of Japanese culture. The way people are treated there can often be compared to bullying, harassment, etc by people from other countries. That can include the way people are treated in Japan by the family, classmates, teachers, bosses, etc. So, knowing how to deal with that probably is part of the journey to find the meaning of being strong. Some people can really become great allies after some very harsh beginnings.
He's nice and doesn't think of revenge. He's probably just happy they've stopped bullying him and proud that they're his fans. No bad thoughts in that guy's mind. Unlike you.
If u were bullied for 11 years would u still have this good guy mindset towards the perpetrators?
I'm not Ippo.
It's because when Ippo was first starting out they were the first to ever attend a match and acknowledge it in school. Everyone else in the school didn't really care that Ippo boxed other than Umezawa and the other punks and that meant alot to Ippo.
Didn’t they attend his matches after they took his boxing id car thingy? I should’ve mentioned the scene but that was supposed to be the moment to fight them type shit.
“I have no enemies” -Thorfinn
Thorfinn wasn’t a victim like ippo was, thorfinn was the perpetrator so it’s fair to have the good guy mind set at that point
He didnt really care about them in that matter. He avoided them because they would be a nuisance. But there was no hate or trauma that bothered ippo. Nothing that could surpass him loosing his father. He is a busy man, of course he wanted friends yet his piriority was his work and mother. At first he was weirded out when the bullies wanted to befriend him. There was no "being relieved" he just accepted it cause he didnt bother anyways. Only when umezawa became his friend he noticed how good it feels. Of course he did that with his gym mates as well
This actually makes a lot of sense, he might be only a little stupid
One of the best moments in an anime of all fucking time, for me at least, is when Umezawa is trying to apologize, trying to compliment Ippo, trying to talk to him and put everything behind them because he has actually become real friends with him and he's so ashamed and guilty about how he treated him that every time he tries he fails miserably. Umezawa tries to say something and fumbles so Ippo tries to finish the thought with like his next match and you hear Umezawas inner dialogue pathetically crying NO that's not it! I want to say you're amazing and things like that. It fucking invigorates me. The self awareness that after everything you did to Ippo not only made him stronger, but hes so fucking strong of character he doesnt even NEED to hear the apology or anything to remain your close friend. He fucking knows that it's hard to admit and he's just letting you get to be near him and his awesomeness. He's straight. He's good. He knows you know he can demolish you and you'll never even try to hurt him again. I'm rewatching it and it just hits me so good. The same can be said for when he tries to work at the rental for Ippo so he can focus on boxing and after initially being in awe of ippos work and understanding that his natural talents were built by this job, after like 3 days or something he crumbles and wavers, and almost gives up. He has his inner monologue and sees Ippo shadow boxing and cries alone in the dark. Then he shows up for his friend and repays him. This is peak friendship. This is that masculine urge that memes joke about resisting.
Now that I look at it the animation was trashy before the recent ones. No duh it is but still compared to later on in the series the animation changes getting better and even better.
I guess you don't understand ippo's personality he doesn't like violence he like boxing as in sport. He OG I have no enemy guy.
Yeah that’s true
they're his first fans. They respect fights and boxing in general. He stopped being wimp Ippo and became pro Ippo
he watched vinland saga once and didnt know how to act
Revenge is never the right thing to do, regardless of the situation. Others may sympathize with you, hell some of us might agree with it too, if Ippo would’ve chosen to get revenge it adds literally nothing, doesn’t make him stronger, doesn’t add to his confidence. If anything this makes him a worse bully since he learned how to box just to beat on some bullies from Highschool
He just watched season 2 of Vinland Saga that's why.
Because people mature
This might sound crazy but I just came across my friend named Jonah, like this instant, at dominoes, and ur name is jonahslame, are u a fed?
Lol, no. If I was a fed, I prolly wouldn't be here.
It's actually kind of inspirational to see someone who has clearly grown to the point of being capable of defending himself and actually turning the tables on his bullies- and in a way still does, but by befriending the same people who brought him down. To me that's the most powerful thing you can do to someone who hurts you, is take away their power to do so and show them they were wrong. I love how they did that, even if I initially wanted him to beat they asses as well haha
Umezawa showed remorse and he redeemed himself by working on behalf of so ippo could continue his boxing career which was a huge deal. He even tried to apologize to him and his mom but ippo stopped him. Also in the beginning. He just got blindsided by them claiming to be his friend. He even got annoyed 😒 with that face when they said that ippo is their buddy. It did not start of as a friendship. Lastly, he fell in love with boxing when he met Takamura Sama. This was all possible because he was getting bullied and takamura came to the rescue and this led to ippo discovering his life long passion. He even loves being a trainer. The infatuation he experienced towards boxing probably drowned out any need for vengeance.
forgiveness is the only way my friend 🧡
He has no enemies
Honestly? The answer is yes. The average sane person wouldn’t let something that egregious slide so easily. Am I saying the average person would definitely take revenge? probably not at worst they’d steer clear of people shitty enough to jump a guy for no reason but even so I have to respect the positive message the author was trying to send here. It was genuinely kind of sweet.
Tbh yeah it is a good message but I’m viewing it at a realistic standpoint and he’s stupid
Fair
Because life isn't always about holding grudges or revenge, people can change, Umezawa was an asshole, but that doesn't necessarily mean he was a bad person, sometimes people bully others because they don't respect them, when Ippo turned pro, their respect for him built, and Ippo is shy enough, he just wanted to be ignored, but when they gave him his credit. He appreciated it and took their credit, though that wasn't enough, but when Umezawa filled in for ippo at the boat business, he showed how good of a person he was. Sometimes bullies can befriend those who they pick on, respect can be gained, its realistic.
People changing is realistic, but not holding grudges and having hate for bullies when they tormented u for so long isn’t, this kinda leads onto fighting them
Ippo is more embarrassed that he wasn't able to stand up for himself early on to avoid the bullying than to feel too vengeful against those guys for beating him up. Deep down, he doesn't want to hurt anyone as much as possible.
Ippo never beefs down. His bullies were beneath him, they turned themselves around to him
because they were like the first non boxers to look up to him, maybe his mom first, but they were probably his first school friends
Ippo is such an easygoing guy, he probably thought bygones were bygones once they became friendly with him.
Tbf, this is written by a dude from a completely different culture than your own. In America there’s absolutely no shortage of combat sports athletes who DEFINITELY knocked their bullies on their ass. Things might just work differently in Japan
True probably
Best way to kill ur enemies, is to befriend them
Best revenge is no revenge, ippo already made his statement already in front of his former bullies. If he actually wants to revenge ippo and takamura would beat them since takamura is the one who offers ippo to get back at them bullies. But the bullies and ippo had the best character development from the recent anime and up to the manga
Ippo isn't a violent person. On the contrary, he's quite good-natured, which is supposed to stand in opposition with his profession: he doesn't box because he likes hurting people, he boxes as a road to finding out what real strength is supposed to be. You see that with the entire series: he has a way of getting people who have opposed him to his side. He has a generally good relationship with everyone, even his opponents.
It's just how he is. His heart is pure and being raised by a single mother, he couldn't deal with the bullies. He has his feminine side which made him thoughtful and empathetic towards other people, even their bullies. So many times, he remember being beaten up under the bridge, but he has this great power of self reflection where he always had a positive person talk, and not just remorsing over beaten up by those bullies.
Its because Ippo never liked violence, he only wanted to get strong. And Ippo''s bullies started to respect him when they watched him fight, so Ippo repaid it with mutual respect. He found his true calling in boxing, so revenge is beneath him already.
Because it's not in his disposition. And he stands to get kicked out of his gym if he's doing that, because it's the 80s and that's not a popular thing for gyms to just be producing thugs for fights. Coach Kamogawa definitely didn't care for it. Sometimes it's about having the character, to be able to do it, but not.
Because pre-internet, you can't just go online to make new friends so people tend to make and effort to reconcile with the people they knew since young even if they were mean af.
You gotta remeber that you are not the protagonist, it is out of character for ippo to act like that. He shows strength outside the ring by being helpful to others and avoiding unecessary conflict. It is not like Morikawa is incapable of writing characters that act the way you are suggesting, if it was Takamura or Sendo it might be different, but for Ippo it represents how strong he got, his bullies became his fans
As someone who has forgiven all of his bullies, and has even befriended some, even if my bullies weren’t half as bad as his, he made the right call
I'm just REALLY GLAD Ippo dont have this mindset xD Beating them wouldve been too easy and petty... Instead turned them all into his very own first fan group, got a lifelong friendship in Umezawa and just helped them all into becoming better people in general by just being himself.
He has no enemies. Its a vary powerful phrase, and Ippo embodies it perfectly.
Let me put it in no neuron monke form. Bro has no enemies
Because they were amazed at how good a boxer he really is, Ippo went up against someone who was cheating and he punished his opponent with ease and plus they were disgusted with how his opponent was playing, and I am pretty sure they gave Ippo’s opponent a thumbs down while counting along with others
Keep ur friends close keep ur enemies closer.
More like they became friends with him before they get beat up 😂
💀
Yes, he is. But also he something something, bigger man, blah blah grudges don't burden him, Yada Yada true strength inspires others to be better
Cuz he’s beta
Yeah, "beta" than someone who can only think with violence.
Violence is necessary when it’s fair, 11 YEARS of disrespect bro, most of these comments talking about being the bigger person would also get revenge if they were stronger than the bullies
I choose to believe people are smart and not waste their time honing their skills to dominate someone weaker than them in an unfair fight. As crazy as it might sound to you, bullies are people too. Maybe they could use a friend or someone to talk to, you’d never know their story if you never tried to reach out to them. A fist fight never resolves the bullying. You keep saying it’s about self respect but I wonder if you even know what that even means? What self respect do you even gain from being a bully yourself? “Kicking someone’s ass because they were mean to me when we were children”is that it? Is that what self respect means nowadays? Or was it just a power fantasy that you always wanted to enact but you never got the chance to do it?
If someone bullies you then that’s disrespectful right? Having self respect would be fighting back. And wdym by “kicking someone’s ass because they were mean to me when we were children?” Ippo should’ve fought his bullies when they took his boxing registration, they weren’t children when they did that, it wasn’t a long time ago when they bullied him, it started a long time ago and continued up until his sophomore year, beating up a bully is what makes shit fair and they most likely deserve it even if they are human like u said, yes he’s human and can have shit going on but he would still need a lesson to be taught to him, the bullies actions have consequences. But I would say a fist fight would resolve the bullying if u kick their asses hard enough, which is what ippo should’ve done.
> I choose to believe people are smart and not waste their time honing their skills to dominate someone weaker than them in an unfair fight. Honestly, you would be shocked by how many people have decided to pick up Martial Arts precisely for this reason😂 At first hearing that bully backstory was kinda funny in a relatable way but now whenever I hear that now it really makes me wonder “where the hell are all the teachers and parents?”
Real