Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen-hen

Synopsis:

Characters:

• Kenzaki, Jun (Main) - Voice Actors: Okiayu, Ryoutarou
• Takane, Kiku (Main) - Voice Actors: Tanaka, Rie
• Takane, Ryuuji (Main) - Voice Actors: Morita, Masakazu
• Baroa, Napoleon (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Morikawa, Toshiyuki
• Catherine (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Aizawa, Mai
• Führer Scorpion (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Midorikawa, Hikaru
• Giuliano, Don (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Kuroda, Takaya
• Helga (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Yuuki, Hiro
• Katori, Ishimatsu (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Kusao, Takeshi
• Kawai, Takeshi (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Kamiya, Hiroshi
• Kawai, Takako (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Kingetsu, Mami
• Mick (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Nishi, Rintarou
• Mickey (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Masutani, Yasunori
• Miss. Channel (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Komatsu, Yuka
• Monster Jail (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Imamura, Naoki
• Mr. Whitey (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Endo, Moriya
• Nene (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Komatsu, Yuka
• Nobi (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Yasumoto, Hiroki
• Oomura, Zouroku (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Kawazu, Yasuhiko
• Referee (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Hirai, Keiji
• Shadow, Jun (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Sakurai, Takahiro
• Shaft, Black (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Koyasu, Takehito
• Shinatora, Kazuki (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Ishikawa, Hideo
• Shinatora, Futaba (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Inoue, Fumiko
• Shinatora's Father (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Saka, Osamu

Staff:

• Kaizawa, Yukio (Director, Episode Director)
• Igusa, Kahoru (Episode Director, Storyboard)
• Yokota, Kazuyoshi (Episode Director)
• Yoshikawa, Kouji (Episode Director)
• Kuroda, Yousuke (Script, Series Composition)
• Komura, Toshiaki (Storyboard)
• Araki, Shingo (Character Design)
• Kamei, Daisuke (Animation Director)
• Kataoka, Yoshirou (Planning)
• Kurumada, Masami (Original Creator)
• Matsumoto, Yoshiaki (Planning)
• Morishita, Kouzou (Planning)
• Murakami, Naoki (Animation Director)
• Sakurai, Konomi (Animation Director)
• Tsujita, Kunio (Color Design)
• Ueda, Susumu (Music)
• Wada, Shinichi (Animation Director)

Reviews:

• User jmoriarty84 (Score: 7/10):
  Ryuji conquers the Jr. Japan circuits. But before he can go on the world stage, Black Shaft of the US challenges the Japenese to a tune up fight. It will be 5 on 5 between team Japan, consisting of Ryuji, and his rivals in the tournament such as Takeshi, Katori, Kazuki, and Jun against Shaft and fighters of his own choosing. Since the Japanese barely finished their tournament, they of course need time to recover and train. Jun’s arm has recovered but Ryuji is starting to have injury problems of his own from the tournament from repeatedly using his boomerang. Despite that, he enduresit and takes the challenge.nnBlack Shaft on the other hand, does not even recruit boxers. He recruits adults and all types of weirdos telling team Japan he wants a street fight and thinks of them as a joke. Black Shaft, recruits Monster Jail, a death row inmate for multiple murders; the mysterious and charming Miss Charnel from Chicago; Mick, the leader of the New York branch of the infamous Hell’s Angels; and NB Forrest a leader of the Ku Klux Klan, who was renamed Mr. Whitey in the anime and portrayed as just an unserious womanizer. So now Team Japan must fight these thugs in the ring and will do all they can to maintain the honor of their country and their people and put down the motley crue of an American team.nnOK, as if the fights themselves were weird enough, they got a weirder cast of characters in this season. I’m so glad that Kurumada recognizes America’s diversity here and uses it very creatively. To paraphrase Don King, “Only in Japan, can we have a manga, where a KKK Grand Wizard and a black man on the locker room.” I say it’s either stupid, or funny. I find it to be funny personally. I can’t believe Japan’s Jr. boxing commission or whoever sanctions the fights allowed these fights to happen. nnBut other things that really bothered me were changes from the manga. Such as Katori and Kazuki easily beat their opponents in a matter of seconds. Probably not a page or 2. While in the anime, it went to DBZ anime street where they make the fights longer and Katori and Kazuki have a much harder time with their opponents to the point they may actually lose. Also, when Kazuki was fighting Mick in the anime, they added this filler story where the Hells Angels were raiding Kazuki’s family’s house which I thought was a waste when they could have easily gotten to the shadow story arc (which should be next season if they do make one). The shadow organization is briefly present in the anime, but it ends where the USA and Japan fights ends and I hope a new season is made soon.nnGranted this season aired 2 years after the first one, there is really no distinctive improvement with the quality. Still the same. The character designs are still faithful to the manga and…

Forum Topics:

• Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen Hen Episode 10 Discussion
• Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen Hen Episode 12 Discussion
• Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen Hen Episode 11 Discussion
• Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen Hen Episode 9 Discussion
• Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen Hen Episode 8 Discussion
• Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen Hen Episode 7 Discussion
• Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen Hen Episode 6 Discussion
• Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen Hen Episode 5 Discussion
• Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen Hen Episode 4 Discussion
• Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen Hen Episode 3 Discussion
• Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen Hen Episode 2 Discussion
• Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen Hen Episode 1 Discussion
• THE NEW SEASON - Ring ni Kakero 1 - Chapter III: Ankoku ~Shadow~ Hen

External Links:

• Official Site
• AniDB
• ANN
• Wikipedia

Related Anime/Manga:

• Ring ni Kakero 1 (anime - Prequel)
• Ring ni Kakero 1: Shadow-hen (anime - Sequel)
• Ring ni Kakero (manga - Adaptation)