A musician thrown in prison and forged into a boxer in the dark. Ryou emerges with something most sports anime never touch: a legitimate reason to fight that has nothing to do with winning. The animation moves like someone who actually studied boxing, the soundtrack sits heavy, and by episode two you understand this isn't about tournaments or glory. Three episodes is criminal, but what's here is clean and purposeful. A man with blood to settle, and the skill to do it.

Ryou Takagi plays trumpet in a band that is close to making it, but he is also a born fighter whose blood seems to burn whenever he fights for real, which earns him the nickname B.B. One night, after a gig at a club, a motorcycle gang jumps him. The brawl spills into the streets and causes a traffic accident, and Ryou ends up arrested and serving time. By the time he gets out he has become a skilled boxer, yet trouble keeps finding him. He also suffers a crushing defeat against a young man named Jin Moriyama, which leads him to give up the trumpet for boxing and seek a rematch in the ring, the way Moriyama wants it. The story runs as a three-episode action and sports OVA from 1990.