Handmade Trunks is Round 18 of Jōji Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo manga series.

Details

• Title Page Character(s): Yūsuke Oda, Ippo Makunouchi

Summary

Oda reenters the Nishikawa gym, to Mikami's surprise and demands he immediately teach him how to defeat Ippo by any means. Five days later, Reiko discusses with her father about how Oda might actually be serious enough to win the fight. Meanwhile, Ippo has a sparring match with Aoki, who at the end, calmly congratulates Ippo on a great body blow as he heads to the bathroom to throw up with Kimura, who has also been sparring with Ippo.

The morning of Ippo's debut match, both fighters pass the weigh-in. Ippo is afraid to approach Oda, who has been glaring at him the whole time with the idea of being made fun of. Ippo nervously tries to introduce himself, but Oda angrily walks away. That night, at the Kōrakuen Hall, Ippo tries on the handmade trunks his mother made for him and feels pumped until Yagi points out that Hiroko incorrectly romanised his name as IPO on the trunks. When Ippo is informed that his match is about to begin, he and Kamogawa prepare to head for the ring.

Trivia

• In pages 5-9 and 15, Ippo is wearing a shirt with "NORI-P" on the front. "NORI-P" is a reference to singer Noriko Sakai (酒井 法子) who has a nickname called "Nori-P" (のりピー). There is picture of Morikawa with her on volume 9's author note. Morikawa seemingly was a fan of the singer, and early female character appearances may also be based on her in the past.
• The shirt Takamura wears to Ippo's weigh-in with Oda has the brand name "COCCO CROCO" on the front. "Cocco Croco" is a real life clothing brand from Italy.

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