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Category:    Home > Reviews > Animé TV > Fighting Spirit 1 (Animé TV)

Fighting Spirit – The First Step (Animé TV)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: C     Episodes: B-

 

 

A new trend in stories on boxing is the one about the least likely to box pretty boy who lands up becoming an unexpected champion or at least championship material.  The underrated TV series Resurrection Blvd. (reviewed elsewhere on this site) has the same premise and with some of the same bullying.  That show is far better, more groundbreaking and gritty, but Fighting Spirit is an Animé that is yet another nice change of pace in the field.  The first five shows are as follows, dubbed “rounds”:

 

1)     The First Step

2)     Fruits Of Labor

3)     Tears Of Joy

4)     Shadow Boxing

5)     3 Months To Counter

 

 

The teleplays could drift into Melodrama easily, especially without Fantasy genre

distractions, but the sometimes predictable storyline is tempered with interesting twists, turns and amendments that do not hurt ones suspension of disbelief.  It plays like one of the late-1960s DC Comics that moved away form the Super Hero genre and went on into the 1970s.  This is a series with more than the usual Animé conventions to appeal to an audience.

 

The full frame, color image has a bit of softness and is still one of the better 1.33 X 1 Animé titles we’ve seen from any company to date, but I wish it were a tad sharper.  It is very colorful, ands it is not a stretch to say that some of the color schemes when the boxing and sports show up are a little more than reminiscent of Mattel’s Big Jim (in speaking of underrated Pop Culture) action figures of the early 1970s.  The sound is available in Dolby Digital 2.0 English, Japanese, and even Spanish, which may be an acknowledgement of Resurrection Blvd. itself.  All have Pro Logic-type surrounds.  Extras include a Spanish end credits sequence, previews for three other Geneon Animé titles with a male action accent, and a bloopers & outtakes section that is odd.  Its humor is not for everyone.

 

With that said, this is one of the most straight-forward narration in an Animé shows we’ve seen yet.  There is no magic or mystification, just hard work and humor that does not try too hard.  Fighting Spirit is a rare, pleasant Animé surprise.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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