Hajime no Ippo

In his father's absence, teenager Ippo Makunouchi works hard to help his mother run her fishing boat rental business. Ippo's timid nature, his lack of sleep, and the sea smell make him an easy target for relentless bullies who leave him bruised and beaten on a daily basis. Mamoru Takamura, an up-and-coming boxer, rescues Ippo from a violent after-school incident and takes him back to the Kamogawa Boxing Gym for recovery. Takamura and his fellow boxers, Masaru Aoki and Tatsuya Kimura, are stunned by Ippo's powerful punches—a result of strong muscles developed through years serving his physically taxing family business.

Following brief training under Takamura, Ippo impresses the other boxers in a practice match against prodigy Ichirou Miyata. He gains a rival in Miyata and a coach in Genji Kamogawa, the gym owner and a former boxer himself. As Ippo takes the first steps in his official boxing career, he faces off against a series of challenging opponents, each more powerful than the last. Victory, loss, and a cycle of dedicated training await Ippo on his journey to achieve greatness. With his tough body and unstoppable fighting spirit, the kind young man seeks to take on the world.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Makunouchi, Ippo Main

Kiyasu, Kouhei Japanese

Takamura, Mamoru Main

Koyama, Rikiya Japanese

Aoki, Masaru Main

Takagi, Wataru Japanese

Kamogawa, Genji Main

Utsumi, Kenji Japanese

Kimura, Tatsuya Main

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Sendo, Takeshi Supporting

Onosaka, Masaya Japanese

Zangief, Alexander Volg Supporting

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Miyata, Ichirou Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Mashiba, Ryo Supporting

Tanaka, Masahiko Japanese

Date, Eiji Supporting

Aizawa, Masaki Japanese

Maruyama, Masao Producer

Tamura, Manabu Producer

Ooshima, Mitsuru Producer

Nishimura, Satoshi Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Aug 25, 2024

CarsonWentz14

Recommended

What a great little show that completely took me by surprise. Although it was widely regarded as one of the best sports animes of all time, I still didn't have my expectations sky high, mostly because other experiences I had with fighting and/or sports animes tend to falter due to overly drawn out and repetitive fighting sequences. Hajime no Ippo excels in doing the exact opposite: the fighting sequences are exciting and unique, if somewhat unrealistic.

Every fight has real odds, every fight tells a different story that is able to deliver in progressing the overarching journey of the characters. And speaking of characters, this is ... where the show shines, with a charming cast of supporting characters that, while mostly serving as comedy relief early on, truly has a remarkable evolution in their dynamic and turns into a gem that ties the show together.

A point is knocked down in my overall score due to the fact that one specific story thread, heavily teased throughout the show, one that has a giant impact in the first half of the show, doesn't end up having a resolution in the series. I am aware that there are further OVA's, but still...

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Aug 20, 2013

NavyCherub

Mixed Feelings

There are plenty of stories about a young man finding some sort of passion and following it to some sort of logical conclusion, and Hajime no Ippo chooses not to stray from that basic idea very far. Luckily for original creator Morikawa George, not straying far from this premise seems to be the recipe for a successful comic that has lasted more than 1000 chapters week after week since its original Shounen Magazine publishing in 1989. This adaptation by Madhouse and director Nishimura Satoshi is longer than your usual TV anime run, at 75 episodes, but it doesn't quite cover the incredible length of Nishimura's ... original comic. Instead, it opts for a sort complete story in itself, covering protagonist Makunouchi Ippo's career from its inception until his eventual championship.

This works in the show's favor since, despite its length, not much time is wasted. The story progresses in a rather linear fashion from one fight to another, introducing Ippo's opponents one at a time and moving Ippo himself steadily up the ranks of a young boxer. However, since very little of the show is not about Ippo himself, the routine does become a bit stale quickly. By the second or third fight, it is already apparent what the formula Morikawa George is using consists of. Ippo's next enemy is stronger than his last, and he must somehow adapt to this, typically by learning some new technique. And when the fight itself comes, it all boils down to Ippo winning through his sheer tenacity - no matter what his opponents throw at him, he just doesn't give up, and you just know the spectators will feel the need to comment on his never ending stamina between every single round. In all truth, while simple, this is both tiring and unsatisfying, especially since Ippo's opponents are almost always significantly more interesting and endearing than Ippo himself.

The narrative wants me to root for the hard working underdog Ippo, but it usually turns out that I want his opponent to win. This is because Ippo's enemies are fleshed out enough for the viewer to understand how they've trained for this day and what is at stake for them. These are typically much more convincing arguments for their victory than Ippo's, who is new to the boxing world and is on the losing side of the fight until it eventually comes down to, once again, Ippo simply lasting longer than his opponent despite an overwhelming disadvantage. In particular, I found myself rooting for the Russian boxer Alexander Volg Zangief. The emotional weight of his fights and career was more powerful than anything Ippo ever managed to achieve.

Ippo's romantic life is also given some focus, but it seems more like an afterthought. His romantic interest, Kumi Mashiba, is your typical ideal domestic housewife and devoted fan. Her relationship with Ippo begins with a quick meeting at a flower shop very early in the show and, despite their insistent tendency to meet frequently, it never really progresses very far.

Regardless of Ippo's boring fights, there are moments of interesting boxing action. Specifically, the writing and choreography of the fights seem to become levels better when Ippo is not one of the participants. This shows in two places in the show - a short arc about Ichiro Miyata training in Mexico, and the subplot about Takamura Mamoru earning and defending his title. In both of these the viewer finds more complex characters and detailed, well-thought out fights that capitalize on everything their respective subplots have to offer. If only there was more of these sorts of fights and less of Ippo winning not because he deserves it but because he has to win somehow for the plot to progress.

The animation is a real highlight of the show, at least during the fights. The camera feels loose and free, not restrained by the cheap but easy to animate single angles that usually plague TV anime. The boxers' movements are accentuated by wind effects like they are kicking up dust every time they move, but it is used tastefully so that it only adds to the experience, something that can only be done reasonably in animation. Successful hits look painful, damage to the boxers accumulates as the fights go on. However, outside of fights, the animation becomes par for the course, though still not bad for an early 2000s TV anime. Madhouse pulled off a show that looks ahead of its time. The sounds are of similar quality, always tasteful and adding nicely to the experience.

Hajime no Ippo has moments of brilliance, and it is rarely so extreme that it is unbelievable, but it is weighed down a great deal by a shallow and boring protagonist and a formualic progression.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jul 31, 2009

Rampant

Not Recommended

Rather than try to review a ton of aspects of a 76 episode show, I want to give a few specific criticisms.

My biggest criticism is on sound, or specifically the obvious replication of Trigun's drippy, dramatic, and perfectly fitting music in a place that it does not belong at all and is utterly disruptive, leaving any scene with it utterly bereft of its intended impact. The music in this series is fine when it is just bitchin' guitar solos, and at its best when it reinterprets the Rocky theme, but it is at its absolute worse when it mistakenly transplants Trigun's music.

My second criticism iis ... that the way they shoot to the audience at fight climaxes or whatever is supposed to be an especially exciting part is extremely disruptive, especially in early fights. It inflates the time that each fight takes, reduces the tension and excitement, and can serve no possible purpose but to help dumb viewers realize "oh, so now I should be excited again, okay!!" I do not mean when they flash to trainers or the members of the gym for analysis of the matches, since that is genuinely useful, but just the roars of the audience. It gets better in later matches (as in not happening), but then does come back again.

A third criticism on a similar subject is where, in early scenes, they extremely blurred both the top and bottom of parts of fights to show THERE IS SO MUCH ACTION GOING ON! They finally learned their lesson, but it was really disruptive in the early stages of the series.

Finally, a more plot related implement, still for the fighting, is that they repeatedly rely on Ippo being the one specifically shorted by the gong ringing, not the opponent, in an attempt to add tension by making Ippo the comeback kid over and over.

I think it is nice that they do try very much to make you care about and root for all characters, even though it is obvious that Ippo is the one that you are supposed to like most, and I like the time they spend on each character even though I did not like a lot of them (especially not Ippo's oh so shy routine).

Obviously, this series is enjoyable and generally well produced and paced. I think that it is quite overrated, especially because of the flaws I pointed out, so I just wanted to give people something to keep their expectations realistic, since this is not a "best anime ever," not even a great one, merely a good one.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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