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Mamoru Miyano Plays Young Kamogawa in Hajime no Ippo Rising Specials
posted on by Egan Loo
The Hajime no Ippo Rising television anime series will end with a four-episode "Sengo-hen" (After the War Arc) spinoff in March, and for this spinoff, Mamoru Miyano will play Genji Kamogawa during his younger years.
These episodes will follow Kamogawa, the head of protagonist Ippo Makunouchi's boxing gym, in his past. Kamogawa's original voice actor Kenji Utsumi passed away last June before Hajime no Ippo Rising premiered, so Shōzō Iizuka has been playing the character in the series. Hiroyuki Yoshino will play the younger version of Kamogawa's rival Ginpachi Nekota, replacing Ichirô Nagai who just passed away last week. Fumiko Orikasa will play the heroine Yuki. Satoshi Nishimura is returning from the very first Hajime no Ippo (Fighting Spirit) television anime series to direct these four episodes.
The story begins with a photograph of a beautiful woman named Yuki, which triggers a flashback to Kamogawa and Nekota's passionate younger days. In post-war Japan, Tokyo is still recovering from the shock of the wartime defeat. Kamogawa and Nekota fight as boxers, but two encounters alter their destines. One is with an American boxer, and the other is with the beautiful woman Yuki.
These episodes are being produced as a special arc in tribute to Utsumi and his Genji Kamogawa role. The first episode will premiere on March 8.
The Blu-ray and DVD boxes for the main Hajime no Ippo Rising television series will ship on March 19. Hajime no Ippo's original manga creator George Morikawa, Ippo's voice actor Kohei Kiyasu, and Mamoru Takamura's voice actor Rikiya Koyama are contributing audio commentaries.
Source: Comic Natalie
Image © George Morikawa/Kodansha, VAP, NTV
Update: Typo fixed. Thanks, Tony K.
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