Hajime no Ippo Episode 6 “The Distance Between Me and Glory” Teaser Images

And to think, this will eventually turn into the boxing equivalent of a nerd slap fight.

Well, not entirely.

I’m too much of a sucker for cute things, and the way this ends with Imae and Sachiko thanking Aoki for teaching Imae how boxing doesn’t have to consume his whole life is really cute. The way it ends with the Kamogawa gym guys almost walking in on Aoki and Tomiko boning is less so. Maybe could have used a dick joke, but those tend to be focused on Ippo.

Hajime no Ippo Episode 5 “100% Fake” Teaser Images and ED “Buchikome!!” Full Version!

I couldn’t not make this a .gif.

You know, I’d totally forgotten about the boxing chops that Aoki brings to this match. I mostly remember this fight for him busting out his new ultimate secret technique, but he fights pretty well. The animation is up to snuff a lot of the time, too, as you can see from that .gif. Don’t let that fool you, though, Aoki is all over this fight. It’s kinda silly that no one except Takamura is able to recognize a variation on one of the most famous boxing strategies in the history of the sport, but it’s used really well, and I like seeing it come up.

An also, the full version of the ED came out a few days ago, and it totally slipped passed me. It’s too bad, because I’ve been getting into this band, Cyclamen/シクラメン because of this very song. It’s a little odd in some places, but it’s really grown on me.

Now Everyone Can Have a Friend Frog

Everything that is JoJo’s culminates in this product! Well, not really, but of all the things that can become products. And you use it exactly how you expect it to.

Oh yes. No more stress rolling balls or squeezy toys. Just just one fist and one frog. You even get a bonus of Yoku Shioya, voice actor for Will, yelling his frog punching quote, “Power! This is the power of ripple energy!”

It’s going to be released in July for ¥2,415 ($24.95.) You’ll have to pay a decent shipping price, but can you really afford to pass up a product like this?

Edit: Oh, I should probably link you to the product page. That would make sense for me to do.

All Star Battle PV 4 Subbed! “I’ve taken the meaning out of your language.”

I assumed you guys would be interested in knowing what they were saying. It helps me out. I didn’t know what it was JoJolion Josuke was doing during his Grand Heat, but the friction stealing is cool. Okuyasu calling Giorno names makes way more sense than insulting his topknot that he totally has. His classic style “uurrryyy” is also a nice touch.

(Thanks to JoJo Tumblr for being that chain link. You can see the original post here.)

All Star Battle PV 4! Father vs. Daughter, Gun vs. Gun, Vampire vs. Pompadour, RERO vs. RELA

Yeah, that’s the way to do it. Can we agree that we’re coming into ASB with a little “who’d win in a fight” mentality? The moment Mista and Hol Horse were both set to be in the game, I was thinking about who has the better gun stand. But the stand out rivalry is obviously the all out cage match of Cherries vs. Cheese.

The gameplay that we got to see with the main showcase characters, Johnny, Johnathan, Will, and JoJolion Josuke are pretty interesting. I was wrong about what move I thought would be the On Fire Fist, but we knew it would be there. Zoom punch got my attention because it looks like it sticks for a second instead of retracting immediately. If it does, it could be really awesome for anti-air because an opponent could misjudge the time and still jump into it. Will also has it, so I await my match where we sit across the ring just doing that at each other.

Johnny looks like he’s either going to be the character that’s really hard to use because of his very limited movement when not on Slow Dancer but very rewarding if you can handle him or the character that caters to spamming because he’s going to be projectile heavy. That does follow; his power was shooting his fingernails, but I don’t want that to mean he’ll be the back-up-and-shoot-you character.

JoJolion Josuke I think is going to be the trap/counter character with that all based around the soap bubble. I’ve got to give CC2 some credit for what they used for his moves because you see him using a bunch of soap bubbles as a barrier around his body like the shaving scene. He also does that at a distance, but I’m mostly interested in when the screen goes black. That specific bubble will steal the players’ “eyes” by blacking the screen so whoever’s JoJolion Josuke can get a free hit. That’s going to be really hard to use for human player because it blanks the screen, but there may be more to it than what’s in the PV.

Oh, and Kira. He has Sheer Heart Attack, but that’s all they’re telling us. I figured he would also be a counter/trap character because of the way Another One Bites the Dust works and all the bombs, but it’s not in the PV. At this point, I think we can be clear that Kira is DLC only. The way he’s rolled in with the Hayato Memo Book and the specific mention of PSN in the text on the still intro page (edit: and that he’s listed as such on the official character page.) You gotta buy him extra. If you don’t want to mess with getting foreign DLC, you might want to import fast.

All-Star Battle Gameplay Shots 3! My Guts are Not a Frog!

There’s that Famitsu article.

I must have just never payed attention when Tusk Act 1 was around because I didn’t remember half the details on it like the frosting nozzle it has for a nose.

We also have much easier to see shots of the moves previewed in the V-Jump spread.

“Zoom Punch”

I think this is the opening of the” On Fire Fist,” but it might just be the move where Johnathan fucks you up.

The “Frog Punch,” except the frog is your intestines.

The “Psyche, Stronza!” where Zeppeli pretends he’ll give you the Ripple, but he’s actually just hitting you.

Tusk Act 2’s standard ultra move.

Tusk Act 3, the power up ultra move.

Tusk Act 4, the Ultra Tour with backup dancing by Slow Dancer

Finally, we’ve got a couple new environments.

Dio’s Throne Room and Balcony. Please refrain from lighting any body parts with the balcony torches.

The Funny Valentine Final Battle Site in New Jersey. Danger: Bear.

These are some beautifully crafted environments. With the Jersey one, I might forgive the stage hazards if the bears are the stage hazards. Just imaging Josuke launching an Kira backwards into a bear, then bear launches Kira back into one of Josuke’s ultras. Then the bear shapeshifts back into Mikitaka Hazekura and they bro-fist. I think you can see why I might be on board with that.

You can see even more images at the original Famitsu article.