Danpei Tange

Danpei Tange was once a boxer himself, but after losing one of his eyes he was forced to give up fighting and became a coach instead. His training methods were so harsh, strict, and demanding that one boxer after another abandoned him for easier gyms, and he eventually lost his job entirely, sinking into homelessness and heavy drinking.

Everything changes when Danpei meets Joe Yabuki drifting through the San'ya slums and recognizes real talent in the way Joe fights. Convinced that Joe could become the best boxer in Japan, or even the world, Danpei gives up drinking almost entirely and devotes himself to training him, finally finding the purpose he lost after his own career ended.

Danpei is serious, cautious, and surprisingly polite toward people of higher social standing, a habit that quietly annoys Joe, who has no patience for that kind of formality. When he does drink, usually on special occasions, Danpei turns unusually cheerful, a sharp contrast to his normally strict, no-nonsense personality. Through every hardship Joe faces in the ring, including the painful aftermath of Tooru Rikiishi's death, Danpei stays in his corner, both as a trainer pushing him forward and as the closest thing Joe has to family.