HAJIME NO IPPO

DESCRIPTION

CAST

CHAPTERS

SPECIAL ComedyHajime no Ippo: Champion Road
OVA ComedyHajime no Ippo: Mashiba vs Kimura - Shikei Shikkou
SPECIAL ComedyHajime no Ippo: THE FIGHTING! Boxer no Kobushi
ANIME ComedyHajime no Ippo: New Challenger
ANIME ComedyHajime no Ippo: THE FIGHTING!
ANIME ComedyHajime no Ippo: Rising
ONE SHOT ComedyMagazine Ohanami!!

REVIEWS

• 

  KaylAguas

  100/100
  Hajime no Ippo, the best Sports manga of all time

  Review will be broken down like so :

  • Art
  • Story
  • Characters
  • Overall Enjoyment

  #__Story 10/10__

  The story is rather straightforward, it starts off with Makunouchi Ippo getting bullied and is saved by Takamura Mamoru, a pro boxer. This is how he gets introduced to boxing. Ippo is deeply inspired by Mike Tyson after Takamura let him watch some of his fights. Ippo then wants to take up boxing to become stronger as a person. This is the start of his journey as a boxer.

  We see Ippo meet his rival or more accurately his “idol” and is inspired by Miyata’s near flawless technique and wants to work harder to be as strong as him and fight him in a pro match. We also meet Coach Kamogawa who takes an interest in Ippo, and trains him personally which other boxers do not get the opportunity of.

  So thats my rough summary on the plot, what i love about ippo is how deeply nuanced it is mixed in with a wonderful cast of characters and a well executed journey of boxing. What separates Ippo from most sports anime is : school.

  I believe that High School sports are great, it brings relatability to the viewers and allows us to experience school sports that we may never have. But there lies the problem, it is centered around schools, so fixed tournament bracket types, studying and grades are prevalent in most of these shows. It becomes a problem when you watch a bunch of these sports anime, as their tournament style, risks and consequences are inherently similar. But with Ippo, boxing takes place outside of school, so we don’t have to go through that obligatory “studying cause i'm failing in school cause i care more about my co-curricular activities even though i'm a genius” episode. It becomes tiring and underwhelming.

  With Ippo we see him grow in boxing prowess without being hindered by school responsibilities. The stakes in Ippo are also higher, as not only does he get beaten physically, he fights with opponents internationally and is much tougher than him. Bringing me to my next point.

  I love how international Ippo goes, it feels much more real as we see WBC, WBA, IBC, IBF get featured heavily in Ippo which genuinely enhances the immersion of the manga. It also ups the stakes as being a world champion vs a high school national champion are two completely different realms of existence.

  Morikawa-sensei also expertly brings the realism of boxing into the manga while making it entertaining by taking artistic liberties and hyperboles. We learn with Ippo how boxing is done. What i feel is overlooked about Ippo is the fact that many will think “it’s just two guys just throwing fists, there’s nothing different about boxers” This is where they are wrong. Morika-sensei expertly displays to us different kinds of boxers. The two main categories being an In-Fighter and Out-Boxer and many subcategories between the two. This brings out a lot of different fighters and possibilities in the ring. Every fight brings a different atmosphere and stakes in a fight, due to stylistic differences.

  After 1299 chapters of Hajime no Ippo, you would expect me to already be sick of reading fights over and over again. But this is not the case. Morikawa-sensei is able to reel in real world boxing problems like getting punch-drunk, severe head-trauma, fist problems and superficial problems of never being able to have a match against someone. It feels so real, it’s the same as watching boxing in real life. I watch a lot of boxing and I can confirm that what ippo brings to the table is very real and genuine. Hajime no Ippo embodies what Coach Kamogawa once told him “Anything can happen in boxing”

  #__Art 10/10__

  The art in Hajime no Ippo is severely under appreciated. It’s not popular in how pretty it looks because it’s not standard anime/manga art style. It’s uniquely Morikawa’s style and it separates itself apart from most typical anime/manga. It also suit’s the sport it represents, rough and gritty. It definitely gets the job done and is a stand out in art style. If you were to see a panel of Hajime no Ippo, beside other mangas, it would stick out like a sore thumb from how different it looks and pleasing to see something special.

  I adore how Morikawa panels action sequences. It is simple, clean and you see the motion without getting too confused with flashy panels or crazy cuts in angles which can be disorienting in most action manga. A good example is the two panels below (read right to left for the panels) [character faces blurred out so no spoilers]

  

  The simple horizontal panelling that goes for two pages and rarely changes in size, keeps the reader focused on the action and not get distracted by unnecessary things. The white backdrop is also a beautiful addition in keeping the reader focused to the two fighters. No exposition throughout this exchange between fighters and it really shows how actual boxing matches feel like, no voices, all action until the last second. Morikawa excels at getting his art to speak for themselves.

  Another thing he excels at is in showing the speed, motion and strength of every fighter which can be seen below :

  

  You can really feel the weight of every action the characters in Ippo does.The rough look of the characters and punches make them feel so strong and powerful. A small note on Ippo’s comedic art style, it never fails to get me to chuckle and the troll faces are the best i’ve seen thus far, with Slam Dunk coming in at a close second.Just look at this! :

  

  Overall the art for Ippo is exceptional.

  #__Characters 10/10__

  Characters in Ippo are well written and are endearing to us the readers.

  The protagonist, Makunouchi Ippo, is a kind, respectful kid who embodies what a Japanese hero is like. He’s not the brightest but you appreciate how passionate he is for the sport of boxing and training for it. Like i mentioned earlier fighters all have different styles in boxing with some even overlapping one another and/or mixing with other styles.

  Take my favourite fighter, Takeshi “Tiger of Naniwa” Sendo, he's loud, straightforward, brash and values strength. He displays these 4 skills exceptionally well in fights, loud and brash being how explosive and erratic his style of boxing is. Straightforward in a sense that he’s an in-fighter and goes mano-a-mano, up close and personal with his opponents. He values strength to put this as simply as possible, he punches like a truck, 1 got smash and they’re out.

  Not only does it bring new styles of characters and personality. We see how past experiences of Ippo’s opponents translate into their style. Take for example, Ryuhei “The Dragon” Sawamura, he grew up abused and did some pretty messed up things as a child. He grew up bitter and hungry for violence and when he got introduced to boxing, he fought his opponents not to win but to mercilessly destroy them, to the point of disqualifications. See how his childhood, his messed up upbringing affected his style. Not only him, but many others.

  Some other examples are Malcolm “The Magician” Gedo, a boxer who fixes fights for money, Alexander “Red Wolf” Volg Zangief a Russian boxer who supports his mother all by himself in japan, hence the Red Wolf = Lone Wolf.

  Every reader can find themselves in most characters, not as a fighter but as a person. Everyone is able to relate to the ensemble of characters Hajime no Ippo has. This brings a lot of depth to all the characters and you get emotionally invested and feel happy when they win and upset when they lose.

  #__Overall Thoughts 10/10 and Miscellaneous Things__

  I’ve never enjoyed a manga as much as Hajime no Ippo, one of the best sports manga to date. I have yet to finish Ashita no Joe, another boxing manga i’m looking forward to.

  Hajime no Ippo is definitely a must read sports manga and is the One Piece of sports manga scene.

  __Art: 10/10 __ __Story: 10/10__ __Characters: 10/10__ __Overall Enjoyment: 10/10 __
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• 

  Terajima

  93/100
  If you are looking for the best approach to boxing as a sport there is nothing close to Hajime no Ippo.

  Even if it's usually labeled as that, Ashita no Joe it's not the best option for boxing fans, but for people who appreciate a great storytelling, characters and drama. If you are looking for the best approach to boxing as a sport there is nothing close to Hajime no Ippo.

  Some people say it gets boring or is too long, but in fact there is not a single moment when you think you are reading filler chapters, Hajime no Ippo is like following boxing in real life for a decade or so, new fighters arise, others decline, etc. With Hajime no Ippo even if there is a main character (Ippo) this is not just his story, but the story of boxing during the years of his career. There you have many weight classes, different boxing styles and the personal life of each one of those boxers.

  That's why this series is so long (1311 chapters as I write this review), because usually any pro boxer will have around 30 to 60 fights in his career. You can't rush things, this is not a narrative created by Morikawa, but a translation of a reality to a manga, the perfect portray of that reality (as luckily happens with HnI) needs to be this long, each one of these characters needs to evolve, to train, to change in their weight classes, be the best in their countries to go for the world fights; it's not about repetitive storytelling, it's just about how this reality works.
  That's why for me right now this manga it's probably at the best moment of the entire series, because many of the characters are approaching or are already in the elite fights, if you think it's dragging too much maybe the problem is that you really don't appreciate this sport, and you are looking for just another story where this is only about a main character who gets bullied and the story ends when he gets his Japan belt and marries the girl he likes.

  George Morikawa makes clear his love for boxing and knowledge about it (he is involved with it in real life as the owner of JB Sports Gym in Japan and is the manager of the boxer Manabu Fukushima), many of the fighters and situations come from real life and boxing history. This manga introduces boxing techniques, styles and develops fights with a much greater depth than any other manga related to this sport. That doesn't mean that there aren't things that could be better, as an example to be more mature from a narrative point of view with its typical shonen approach to romance, etc. As drawing you couldn't ask for much more, it's really good as it is thinking this is a weekly series and one of the longest ever.

  If you share that passion for this sport Hajime no Ippo is the way to go, if you are looking for a great and moving story maybe Ashita no Joe is a better option.

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• 

  Metz

  100/100
  Here's why I love Hajime no Ippo:

  In the middle of 2016, I started Hajime no Ippo. I didn't know anything about it, just that it was about boxing. Few friends were insisting for me to start it, which I did. I quickly fell in love with it and became my favorite manga ever. Here I will explain why I love Hajime no Ippo.

  The story sets in the 90s, in Japan. Ippo Makounchi is a shy 16 years old boy who's being bullied. He meets Takamura, his new mentor, and a boxing prodigy. We follow Ippo in his journey to become, hopefully, a great boxer. Ippo trains and compete for the Kamogawa boxing club, the same club as Takamura. We see Ippo and other boxers compete for various objectives like in real-world boxing.

  Each individual has their problems, dreams, and challenges. There are no "classic shonen character types". The characters do not follow a pattern that would make the manga simplistic in its structure and potential. Every character is unique and interesting. Their lives turn around boxing and we sometimes witness their everyday struggle, routine, and/or fun moments. The everyday moments are as great and interesting as the boxing moments. They are tightly tied together. Their life influences the boxers, which influences their training, which influences their boxing capacities, which influences their lives and so on. Although, there is no magic recipe for anyone in this world to win a fight.

  Each fighter is dependent on what happens on a ring and everyone can lose. The tension, wish for victory, and challenge makes the fights find greatness in quality as the boxers surpass themselves for a common objective driven by a different dream. Already early on, the fights are filled with explosions of challenging situations accompanied by spectacular boxing. Each punches matter and the hard work of a boxer will directly influence the ring. There are no superpowers, it follows real boxing while expressing the action with great creative art.

  The art in Hajime no Ippo is consistently evolving, original, and explains by itself in an exemplary manner the action displayed in the ring. The art style is very expressive. It expresses in a cinematic way the impact of punches, the struggle, the tempo of the boxers, the speed, and the overall situation in which a or both of the boxers find themselves in. It uses exaggeration for visual enjoyment without being complicated or having over the top simplistic fairy-esque Shonen-type art. Even though Hajime no Ippo is Shonen and displays classic Shonen attributes, it does not fall into exaggeration as it follows real-life possible situations and stories.

  As the manga evolves, the stakes are higher and reach exciting situations with tightly gripping writing. The past of our characters is really interesting. They show situations that are potential to happen in real life. We can easily feel engaged with them. All the characters feel real but yet interesting and inspiring as they sometimes lived difficult things, sometimes follow difficult paths, and sometimes are in difficult situations.

  I fell in love with the manga at its very beginning and even though it currently has more than 1300 chapters, it does not fall into slow pacing or uninteresting stakes. It accompanied me and many others with tears, tension, hype, and laughter. The more you read it, the more you enjoy it. After a great fight, you think it was the best the author could do but it is not. The next fights are even greater. The boxing itself is perfect as the author has been passionate about boxing for his entire life and owns a boxing gym who he coaches at. You will find countless amount of boxing references and direct influences. Most of the characters have their IRL boxing figure counterpart which makes it interesting to research the boxers and techniques quoted. The story, characters, and art are constantly evolving to make you feel involved with Hajime no Ippo's over 30 years of a great journey. I would recommend it to anyone.

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