Fighting Spirit Vol-3: Test of Endurance (2000)
Animation Production: Madhouse
Released by: Geneon Entertainment
Running Time: 115 Minutes
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

Side by side with R.O.D the TV Series Fighting Spirit has become one of my top, must-see anime shows currently being released in the U.S. market. For someone who doesn’t particularly care for sports this is quite a contradiction!

On the last volume we left the story as Ippo stepped into the ring for his debut match against Oda! This was to say the least a cruel cliffhanger, but it left the door wide open for an explosive first episode come volume 3 and that it did as attested to by “Obsession for Victory”. Let’s step up into the boxing ring alongside Ippo and join him on his road towards victory!

Story

"The debut match with Oda proceeds with an incessant barrage of power punches. Ippo's destructive force overwhelms Oda, but the unforeseen "accident" puts Ippo in danger of losing the match by TKO. Then, Ippo remembers what Takamura taught him when they first met... Following the debut match, the Eastern Japan Rookie Championship Tournament starts. Ippo's first opponent is Jason Ozuma, an American KO artist with powerful hook. As the brutal match progresses, the fierce exchange of punches wear out both fighters. Can Ippo survive this match and advance to the final with his eternal rival Miyata? " DVD Box

Review

The third volume in Geneon’s release of Fighting Spirit features episodes eleven through fifteen in the series, which include:

Episode 11: Obsession for Victory
This is it, Ippo's debut match against Oda! With both men having so much on the line they will give it their all, but when an unexpected accident creates a bleeding cut right above Ippo's eye will it turn the tables on our hero!?

Episode 12: Becoming a Bully's Buddy
After earning a hard fought victory against Oda Ippo goes back to school and his classmates find out about his secret life as a professional boxer, but surpringly no one seems too interested in it, that is, except for the school bullies who happen to be big fans of professional boxers and have decided to attend Ippo’s next match as a way to support him. With one bout won Ippo is ready to move on to his second opponent, but this time his rival may rely on more than honest and straightforward boxing! Watch out for his dirty tricks Ippo!

Episode 13: The Eastern Japan Championship Tournament Begins
The time has come for Ippo’s first tournament, The Eastern Japan Rookie Championship Tournament! Ippo’s first opponent? Jason Ozuma, an American with an extremely powerful hook! If Ippo is to survive his first fight in the tournament he has to train hard to beat that hook and counterattack Jason with a powerful uppercut! Let the training begin Ippo!

Episode 14: Powerful Arms! Hook vs. Uppercut!
After several days of specialized training Ippo is finally ready to confront Jason Ozuma, but is he truly ready for this fight!? As the bell rings both boxers explode into the ring with a gigantic armament of uppercuts and hooks at hands! Who will be the first to get the upper hand and turn the match his way?

Episode 15: Test of Endurance
Both boxers seem evenly matched and they are both driven by a strong desire to win. Who will wbe victorious? Who’s stamina will last the longest!? This is a race of endurance! Go Ippo! Don’t give up on your dreams!

Talk about action-packed! This DVD literally blew me away and had me cheering loudly as Ippo made his way through his first set of professional matches. This is what I had been waiting for and the time spent working up to it was definitely worth it as small details and secondary characters that previously were glanced over are now starting to come to the forefront and joining Ippo on his journey to the top of the boxing world. The comradery between Ippo and his fellow boxers also begins maturing in these episodes and coming to fruition as a powerful atmospheric and comedic element within the world of Fighting Spirit.

In a way you could say these episodes represent a turning point in the show’s set up as we switch from Ippo’s basic training and introduction to the world of boxing and immerse ourselves into the sport via his first bouts and entry into the Rookie tournament. Now the focus becomes how Ippo hones his skills and comes up with ways to negate each of his opponent’s attacks and specialties, with each fight becoming its own mini-drama within a bigger play that’s unfolding for us the audience members.

In addition to our protagonist I was surprised to see how much plot and development time are dedicated to each of Ippo’s opponents. Sometimes these type of sports show’s tend to be very one-sided in that we only get to see the events unfold from the perspective of the main character/s, however with the probable exception of Ippo’s opponent in the twelfth episode both Jason and Oda get ample time to develop as characters and for us to see their stories and reasons for fighting. This makes each fight more meaningful as we know both opponents have something important to gain or to lose. It also give the characters more humanity and make them more relatable to us as people, which is something any good program should strive for and achieve.

To be honest though I did have some reservations on whether some of the matches in this disc would be somewhat lackluster due to their suffering from outcome predictability (come on we know Ippo will win all these initial matches, especially in the tournament since if he loses one fight there he won’t be able to fight Miyata in the final bout, something that is already expected and highly anticipated), but thankfully the writers figured out many ways to make the fights exciting, tense and nail biting. This bodes well for the rest of the series!

The other big development with these episodes and something that came as somewhat of a surprise twist to me is that Ippo’s former bullies not only become his allies, but his first real supporters in the ring. These three characters who in the beginning were very two-dimensional and seemed to only serve as the catalyst for Ippo taking up boxing are now quickly on their way to becoming his friends along with all the other bullies in school as they happen to idolize boxers! Not an extremely large development, but one that adds another positive layer to the overall experience and that will surely add to the story as they watch Ippo work his way up through the ranks.

Now that we've shifted into a more action oriented stage of the series, the production values up the energy levels and movement flow to produce some of the most exciting scenes yet to be appear in the program. The animation continues to impress and thanks to the many boxing sequences this time it adds a nice layer of realism atop of the on-screen happenings. It’ amazing to see how the animators are able to capture and visually convey the power of these boxers and the emotions that they feel during their matches, it really adds to the entire experience of watching Fighting Spirit.

The soundtrack continues to impress and energize the senses with fast moving pieces and dramatic music that hits at the right times. The voice acting is as perfect as could be expected in each of the three separate soundtracks with special points going out the Spanish voice actors.

On the product front this is an overall nice is basic package from the great folks at Geneon. Featuring five full episodes, plus three different soundtracks, and two different subtitle streams the disc is nicely loaded so extras are really non-existent this time out, aside from three different previews for other Geneon products. Inside the box there is a small art insert that features the artwork from the cover. The quality of the video and audio transfers are as solid as they have been up to this point so I have no complains in those areas.

Final Thoughts

The more I see this show the more I love it! I am very eagerly looking forward to the next volume in the series!

I know it’s early in the year, but I think I can safely say this is one of our top 5 picks of the 05 for all anime fans. With shows like this one, Princess Nine and the upcoming Slam Dunk it looks like sports anime is finally getting the attention it deserves and earns with programs like these.

Jeffrey Couto