Hajime no Ippo - The Fighting

[Merc]

Translation: "Hajime no Ippo" can be translated to "The First Step". It's somewhat of a pun on the main character's name.

Genre: Shounen Sports (Boxing), Action, Comedy

Anime: TV series (75 episodes), One Special (considered ep 76), and Two OVAs (Champion Road and Mashiba vs Kimura)

Manga: 65+ volumes. O_O

Quick Synopsis: Makunochi Ippo is a shy and quiet student in high school with a somewhat difficult life. His dad died a long time ago and he's been helping his mother for a long time now in their fishing business. Because of this, he has almost no social life as he's always busy...and he's also suffering from a bad case of bullying due to his 'fish smell'.

An encounter with pro boxer Takamura Mamoru, who saves him from bullies, deeply affects Ippo though. Interested in the meaning of being strong, Ippo undertakes the path of boxing, in search of both answers and more of that feeling that he learns that only boxing gives him. Happiness.

Main Characters:
Makunochi Ippo - The main character. He has two weapons going for him in the world of boxing. His indomitable determination and courage to keep going, and a devastating punch which the pro boxing world soon comes to recognize as the most powerful in his weight class. Throughout the series, his shy and kind personality remains the same, but nonetheless, everything that he encounters forces him to mature and pushes him closer to what it means to be strong. Class: Featherweight. Special Moves: Liver Blow, Gazelle Punch, Dempsey Roll.

Takamura Mamoru - Ippo's discoverer. Though at first dismissing Ippo as a weak idiot, he changes his opinion of him to a determined idiot after Ippo completes what he thought was an impossible task for Ippo. He's the one who reveales Ippo's potential as a boxer to coach Kamogawa. He's aggressive, loud-mouthed, and incredibly perverted. He's always making jokes about Ippo's huge manhood. Despite this, he is incredibly strong and someone who Ippo admires deeply. Class: Middleweight.

Kimura Tatsuya - Another of Ippo's "Sempais". A quick out-boxer, he's usually very relaxed and good natured. Though its sometimes hard to see, he's also very determined and someone that Ippo has no trouble asking for advice. Class: Junior Lightweight. Special Move: Dragon Fish Blow

Masaru Aoi - The last of Ippo's three stooges of sempais. He's very hard to take seriously, and is the butt of many jokes through the series, but he means well. He's been with Kimura since high school, and both strive to be strong enough to take on Takamura someday. Class: Lighweight. Special Move: Leapfrog Punch.

Gengi Kamogawa - The owner and head coach of the gym where all four study boxing. After Takamura reveals Ippo's determination, he becomes very interested in his growth and pays special attention to Ippo as a boxer. It is because of him that Ippo becomes the weapon that he is in the boxing ring. A harsh old man, he's always struggling to keep Takamura and the others under control. He cares deeply about his boxers, all of them.

Thoughts/Review: Out of a possible max 10, I'd give it a 9. I have to strongly thank Kwok for introducing me to this series.

The series has great and well developed characters (even the "bad" guys are decently developed), and you're always well aware of what motivates anyone. It also has a good blend of the action, comedy and drama and has barely any filler.

It is never slow paced, and the fights are very high tensed. The atmosphere is just great in fights and the artistic effects like aftershadows, smoke, and the like all work well in the series. You'll have little difficulty suspending your disbelief sometimes, the moves just aren't silly like the ones in Prince of Tennis.

The plot progresses smoothly, and stays fairly true to the manga as well. While some might say that's bad, even if you've read the manga you'll find yourself tied to your seat in anticipation as each fight occurs. There's just some things that just works better in fluid movement, and with the excellent animation, you'll have no trouble in that regard.

While I liked almost everything of this series, the thing I would most stress as it's strong point remains the characterization, so I'll say it again. You just can't help but love everyone, even most of the 'bad guys'.

Even someone who has no liking for the sport will find themselves interested in this series. Heck, I was and I think boxing is stupid as hell. ^_^;

My only two complaints are that I never understood why the second opening had to be a collection of Ippo getting the crap beat out of him, and that the series just isn't long enough. I can only hope that we continue to receive more ovas along the lines of Champion Road and Mashiba vs Kimura.

[Kwokinator]

If the first two specials are popular enough, there'll probably be one more ^_^

The only one big fight left is the Takamura/Hawk fight for the WBA World Jr. Middleweight championship.  Takamura fought Eagle for the Middleweight championship later, but that's not really as good as the Takamura/Hawk fight, even though it's still good.

That's the only championship fight besides Ippo.  Aoki had one too, but it wasn't that good (hence I don't remember what it's about or who he went up against) ^_^;

And Aoki has his serious moments (in fights, not outside of fights.  Outside of the ring he's a joke), and he gets a cool but weird move in the manga called "Look Aside" or something to that effect.  Basically he looks to the side towards the crowd during a fight, and his opponent somehow always inevitably follow and look to the side, only to get smacked by his Leapfrog later ^_^;

It's supposed to be the expression of shock he always has on his face or the concentration he has while doing the move or something, but I've never managed to figure out what it's about ^_^;;

And yeah, the "bad guys" are cool.  Stalker-Over-Protective-Brother-Mashiba is hilarious ^_^

And how can you forget to put Miyata as a main character! O_O

He may not come up that much, but he's like THE driving force behind Ippo's motivation ^_^

[Merc]

Heh, I would have, but then I would have felt like I'd have to do one for Date, Sendo, Mashiba and possibly the ruskie too. As for Miyata, he's only his motivation until the end of the rookie tournament in the anime really. After that, his goals are either fighting Sendo, or getting the championship from Date. Whether he becomes a motivating factor again later on in the manga is something I wouldn't know though >_>