After episode 25, the opening song is changed to the hard rocking Inner Light by Shocking Lemon, which together with the more badass images of Ippo and the darker color palette in the opening shows that the show has become more serious and badass, now that Ippo isn't just a rookie but a rising star in Japan's boxing world with a goal of becoming national champion. Also Ippo has other rivals introduced, most notably Sendo and Volg.
So recap of this story arc.
Ippo is trying to get his fist to heal so he can fight Sendo over the title of All Japan Rookie Champion (Sendo is the rookie champion of the west, Ippo is of the east).
Sendo is a hotblooded young man who loves fighting strong oponents. Sendo, like Ippo, is a in-fighter with amazingly strong punches, altough their range is a bit different compared to the more close range of Ippo.
Sendo's special punch is the Smash, which is a very strong, curving, low-angle uppercut.
Oh yeah also Ippo's special punch at this point, altough I'm not sure if this is named yet, is a liver blow which is so strong it can make you throw up.
Also at the same time, many admirers of Ippo try to join the Kamogawa boxing gym, but the only one to pass is the very unlikely Naomichi Yamada, a fat, clumsy weakling who is kind of like a more miserable version of Ippo at the beginning of the series. Yamada throws up after every workout session so Takamura, in his infinite wisdom and politeness against his kohai, dubs him Gero-michi (barf-michi, but Gero-michi sounds less awkward).
Yamada admires Ippo for his strength.
Also a sub plot is that Umezawa, the bully that used to bully Ippo becomes one of Ippo's fans since he admires boxers. Remember this.
Also Ippo has a sexy bone doctor that all the horny, sweaty knuckleheads at Ippo's gym secretly lust after.
Also Ippo makes friends with Kumi Mashiba, Ryo Mashiba's younger sister. This becomes Ippo's romance subplot throughout the series. Mashiba himself sort of has a grudge against Ippo, altough this is kind of go-nowhere since Mashiba has moved up a weight class and can no longer face Ippo, but he semi-accepts Ippo and Kumi's friendship, altough he behaves sort of like a mix of over-protective brother and person who strangles you in the toilet if you're not careful.
So anyway, the fated day comes and Ippo faces Sendo. To face Sendo, Ippo must go to Okinawa. In Okinawa, Sendo is like a local hero so his fandom entirely overshadow's Ippo's. Umezawa and his lackeys go to cheer on Ippo, but they kind of don't want to get their asses kicked by tanned Okinawans so they stay kind of silent.
Ippo and Sendo face off, and what a match it is. They fight, and they fight, and they fight. They both trade blows, face shattering blows. The match ends with
*spoilers*
Sendo being punched in the temple, which knocks him out, but while unconcious he still beats the fuck out of Ippo. The round ends. Ippo sits down in his corner and thinks ''next round I'm going to lose''. But then the ref finds out that Sendo is unconcious and ends the match. Ippo is declared winner.
Both Ippo and Sendo consider this fight unfinished
*end spoilers*
So Ippo is crowned All Japan Rookie Champion. This moves him up to 10th in Japan's boxer ranking.
Ippo catches the eye of the Japan Featherweight Champion, Eiji Date. Oh yeah I suppose I should mention Ippo and all of his opponents are from the featherweight weight class.
Date emts the same kind of manlyness as a character from the Yakuza series, except without criminal origins.
So Date invites Ippo for a sparring match. Ippo accepts but loses to Date, who's speciality is the Heartbreak Shot, a type of corkscrew blow which hits you in the heart and momentarily disables your body.
So Ippo decides that he wants to become stronger and face Date for the title of Champion. To do this, he must beat the people above him in the ranking to get the privilige to fight the champion.
Meanwhile, in Thailand.
Miyata is training in Thailand. He's not doing so well since he continues to end up in draws against his oponents, mostly due to xenophobia and shit.
Miyata has to face Jimmy Sispher, a boxer with 8 wins, 8 KOs and no loses, but also 38 wins at Muay Thai. It is predicted that Miyata will lose spectacularly, for his counters might not be enough to put Sispher down.
So Miyata has to find a way to defeat Sispher. Miyata is a counter specialist, but otherwise he doesn't have amazing punching power like Ippo or Sendo.
So in the end, Miyata learns a new counter, the Jolt Counter, which is supposedly so powerful it will obliterate the person it hits, but if it fails you're fucked. And quite frankly, the jolt counter to me seems like the biggest case of unrealism at times, as I can't see how Miyata could suddenly generate that much power.
So anyawy, Miyata gets the shit beaten out of him (like every time), but wins with his bullshit counter. He then decides to return to Japan.
Back in Japan.
Ippo graduates high school. So does Umezawa, and Umezawa asks Ippo to forgive him for bullying Ippo. Also after the graduation, groups all of Ippo's school ask to be in the same picture as them. At first it's just scary-ass mofos you'd see in WORST and Shounan Junai Gumi but then it's more normal people. Oh yeah I forgot, the delinquent scene became fans of Ippo after they found out about his boxing history.
So anyway, Ippo climbs up the ranking, fighting some guy who emulates Date's style. Then he faces Takuma Saeki, a really really fast guy who Ippo beats by predicting his pattern and striking before.
Ding ding ding it's new rival time.
Alexander Volg Zangief (no relation to the street fighter Zangief... or is there?) is the former world champion of amateur boxing from Russia who wants to become Japan's boxing champion to earn money to pay for his mom's hospital bills or something.
Volg (which is russian for wolf, altough I'm not sure if Volg or Volk are a more correct spelling translation from Russian) is another pretty boy and is polite and isn't as fighting crazy as Sendo, in fact, he doubts if he even actually likes boxing.
Volg and Ippo do get along kind of well, and Volg kind of laments that they can't really be friends since they are rivals.
Volg and Ippo face off. Volg is much more skilled compared to Ippo. This results in Ippo getting a severe beating, however, amateur boxing is much less stamina taxing than pro boxing, so eventualy Volg starts running out of power. Ippo knocks Volg out. Volg loses, but Ippo is the one taken away from the ring in a stretcher.
Ippo now gets the right to face Date for the title of champion. Here we break off again.
To be honest these episodes kind of blur together since all the important fights just lead to more important fights in the last 26 episodes of HnI The Fighting.
But Ippo doesn't look more badass in any other place than he does in the opening Inner Light. So anyway for a 3 act structure, this is the middle point (obviously) which shows how the characters get to the final act (of this specific anime series, in the larger outlook on the HnI saga this is still pretty early).
Also, Sendo and Volg? I like them as Ippo's rivals more than I like Miyata.
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