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" Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts "
Does this quote describes what this manga is about? Probably not, but I felt that it would be cool writing it before I start review. This is already 24 years old, it started back in 1990 and was publishing to 1996 (six years)
Back then, basketball wasn't that popular in Japan, very few really talked about it, but mangaka Takehiko Inoue liked basketball, and even though he was told by his editor that basketball is almost a taboo in Japan, he decided to write manga about it, ... mostly because of his love for the same sport. Takehiko Inoue understands what sport is about, he understands the value of friends and basketball, and he puts that in this amazing art work
Hanamichi Sakuragi is teenager that just started high school, and he doesn't have any luck with girls. He was rejected 50 times in middle school, and his friends always make fun of him because of that, telling him that he is "breaking records" . He stumbles upon a beautiful girl named Haruko Akagi that asked him if he does like basketball - because he was tall, standing 6''2' . He immediately says yes, altough he doesn't know anything about it, and there is the the so called "plot" . The guy picks up basket to get attention from the girl she likes, and that's the simple story, but simple can sometimes turn out to be best.


Many sport, shonen manga tend to have great characters, the case is same with SD. Maybe the best thing about this work are characters. They are vivid, have their own personalities and you can relate to many of them. It's not just that they are vivid, but after reading few chapters you imagine them as real persons, like they truly exist, they're alive and are making a story by themselves. They are filled with joy and freshness, comedic touch and great sense of humour. For example, Sakuragi, the main character is stating himself as a "genius" all the time, he believes to be the best even though he is (at the begininng) the worst in Shohoku basketball team. That personality of his is what makes this manga so funny and enjoyable, with that attitude he sometimes get in trouble with captain of the team, Akagi Takenori ( brother of Haruko). Because of his dark skin and extremely tall height, Sakuragi calls Akagi "Gorilla" or "Gori" , and that sometimes pisses of Akagi, but to readers, in many situations, that is hillarious. Akagi is the captain, best man on the team, leader and he appreciates dedicated person and likes cleanliness, everything that Sakuragi in the beginning isn't. Haruko, crush of Sakuragi on the other hand, likes someone else - Rukawa Kaede. first year student like Sakuargi, talented basketball player who is often silent and favorited by all the girls. And that makes both of them rivals - Sakuragi doesn't like Rukawa because he sees him as an obstacle to Haruko's heart. When Sakuragi makes a mistake in a game, Rukawa always comments on him with his favourite word "Moron" comically, which pisses of Sakuragi even more. The chemistry between those two is always funny and interesting to read, with Gorilla Akagi and two other players, Ryota Miyagi and Mitsui Hisashi, the team Shohoku is full of troublemakers, laughter, and great potential to win the National Championship - which is Akagi's dream, and the center of the story. The greatness of the main character Sakuragi is not just his humour and attitude, but in development he experiences through the story. It is how he becomes more mature-like person, a realy sportsman and basketball player. From short tempered and arrogant self calling genius, which started basket just to get attention from the girl he likes, he begins to realise the importance of practicing, and starts appreciating other people, their hardwork and of course, basketball. That doesn't happen at just one moment in manga, but through the whole story.


There are many other basketball schools, like Ryonan and Kainan, and they also have their stars (some of them are Akira Sendoh, Uozumi Jun, Shinichi Maki), with explained background stories and great personallities.
I have to mention one of my favourite characters from Slam Dunk - Mito Yohei, one of Sakuragi's best friends from school. He isn't the main character, he doesn't appears to often, but whenever he said something, I liked him more. He is usually silent and cool, but when it comes to making fun of Sakuragi's bad luck with girls, he acts like a kid, he is a good fighter, and understands Sakuragi the best. He is also very happy because of his friend, finding and focusing on something he likes(basketball).


Yep, starting this manga, prepare for many great, inspirational characters and a lot of laughter, heartwarming moments and great way to get more fond of basketball, or any sport.



I don't want to talk much about art, it fits sport manga, good character design, Inoue knows how to express character's feelings through their facial expressions, from panel to panel, they can be drawn pretty funny, like caricatures (when the scene is comic), and they can be drawn pretty serious (when panel is serious). Inoue knows how to tell story with drawings, and none panel doesn't feel unnecessary or out of the place, he is a genius when it comes to telling a story with only pictures - no text.


Ultimate sport manga, the best in its own genre, and even further. It has everything in it, from comedy to sadness, from love story to inspiring sport story, everthing stored in one work.




If you haven't read the manga, the rest of the review will be something like a spoiler and my personal disliking , so if you don't want some minor spoilers, stop reading

- - - - - - - -

Okay so, the way that manga came to a close. Not the ending, but the way it came to an end. Was it rushed? The last game was perfect - it had everything, but I wanted manga to go on. Inoue introduced many characters for national championship tournament, and were they all used to max potential? No. I can't remember the name but the tall guy with an older serious guy, they were watching game between Shohoku and Sannoh and left saying that Sannoh is winning. Hiroshi Morishige, the arrogant genius who was seen playing by Sakuragi? Maybe after match with Sannoh I wanted to see more of Sendoh apperiance, Sakuragi's bothering past (the thing with his father which he wanted to forget), Kainan match, and than maybe more of Sakuragi's gang, Aota judo guy. There was a big thing for national championship, many characters introduced, and it felt like few of them were forgoten.
That's why I'm giving it a 9, I still sometimes when I'm bored start thinking about Shohoku team, and what they did after.

I think I just wrote review for this season in a panel made for Hajime No Ippo: new Challenger
Don't know how that happend but I will just copy the review here, my bad :/


Finally, we get to see Hajime no Ippo third season, titled "Rising"

The story continues, and that infinite grow of our hero Ippo is also following the epic story that this anime is offering.
I wouldn't call this an "normal" review, because I might be comparing this season to others and I will point out some most important notes that this season had to offer.

Events in this season:
- Ippo is still a champion ... of Japan in featherweight category, and he is ready to defend it untill the end, and in this season we have two fights.One of them is much more bigger and most of the first half of the season is dedicated to that one fight.
- Takamura fighting for WBC middleweight champion of the world
- Nekota's and Kamogawa's arc - their past

It's just a quick look to "most important" events in Ippo this season, but this events put together, with Ippo's style of doing thing is just pure awesomeness.
If I had to compare, this season may be the weakest one of all three, but in some aspects this season did the best job, amazing job. That job would be the presentation and development in certain characters. The way they brought some characters to some new level of depth is clear evidence of how Hajime no Ippo have amazing characterisation. Mostly I'm talking about Aoki, Umezawa and even Volg, Sendou, Kamogawa.
If I had to put one flaw(even if it's not flaw), that would be Takamura vs Eagle fight. There wasn't enough build up to it and introduction to Eagle, the way that Takamura was preparing is not shown well enough and it didn't awakened emotions I felt during his fight with Hawk in "Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger" . And most of you watchers know on what scale of epic was that fight. This fight didn't felt so big and important, comparing it to Takamura vs Hawk, It might be just 60% of excitement, emotions and goosebumps

In terms of humour and comedy, Ippo never disappoints. Aoki and Takamura mainted that bright and funny, refreshing atmosphere that only anime where big focus is cast on friendship and humour can make. Bond these characters from Kamogawa gym share never ceases to amuse and make me laugh or even cry.

Animation is great and even differs from the previous season. Body movements are better and expressions on character faces are much more realistic than they were.
Fights are amazing, but I think they got a little bit darker, if I could put it like that. There is no motivational and epic soundtrack in the climax, conclusion of the fight that makes you want to start jumping and exercising all over the house, instead of that, there is some more serious and "creepier" music that wakes uncertainity in you on who might be the winner of the fight. Anyways, fights are still outstanding and sound, music is great too. Voice actors did amazing job.

The whole season is filled with that old, comic and amusing atmosphere,a good dose of harsh reality and even stronger dose of motivation to try harder, keep believing in yourself and your dreams.

I can't wait for season four

"You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if did it my way.”


Hajime no Ippo did it his own way, and he didin't have many limitations, or did he have any?

A boy named Makunouchi Ippo, student, is always being bullied at school. His entire life, boys at his school used to bully him, mock him, and he never stood up againts them. He dreamed of being stonger, of being able to protect his self and his mother, but he never knew ... how to do it.That is, untill he met boxing, untill he met Takamura Mamoru. While boys were bullying him, Takamura, who happens to be a boxer saved Ippo, with his amazing movements and boxing techniques.
Ippo was amazed by Takamura's skill, so he asks him if he could start boxing, if he could do it.

This is a journey of Ippo, journey to become a great boxer. No, journey to become strong.

What makes this anime so incredible, interesting are characters and their development. Change in Ippo's heart, his world - status in school, boxing gym, that's the thing that is without a doubt, best represented on the screen.At the begging, he is a guy we would call a loser, failure, a weakling, but after taking boxing, he becomes something far greater, better than that. Constantly changing, becoming stronger, not losing his sight, that's Ippo's, and as well as anime's strenght. While watching him getting stronger, you wish to do it like him too, take a chance, opportunity.Try harder. Either it be at studying, school, confesing love or at training, you aspire to become greater version of yourself.You wake up that "Fighting Spirit" inside of you. I myself, each day, started trying harder, I've even found myself doing some straight forward jabs, making sounds like Ippo or Takamura - "Hu-huh" - finding yourself doing jabs is probably first sign of falling in love with this anime.
I find great pleasure in seeing a main character, especially if he is a good main character, that used to be a weakling at the begining, becoming stronger.
"Badass" would be the right word for Ippo, even thought he still is shy and kind boy as he was at the begging.
Beside Ippo, there are alot of other great characters in the show, great boxers. Takamura Mamoru, Aoki Masaru, Kimura Tatsuya, both friends of Ippo that are training at the same gym as he is - Kamogawa boxing gym(KBG).Kamogawa Genji, owner of the gym is a person that sees potential and determination in Ippo, person who start training him, pushing him beyond his limits, helping him achieve his "dream". Fantastic trio, which I've mentioned before, Takamura, Aoki, Kimura are show's source of laughter and comedy. Most of the times, that source is Takamura, his bad jokes and bad sense of humour will be hillarious for viewers.However, Takamura is not just a joke-maker, he is one of the best boxers in Japan, idol to many people, leading boxer of the Kamogawa gym. Everyone, including Ippo, find great inspiration in his boxing and they all aspire to some day be like him.
Aside from great humour, Hajime no Ippo portraits a lot of reallity too.
"Reallity kicks in" is strong here - showing that even when you work hard, even when you devote your life to something, you still might fail, not suceed. But as the quote from Kamogawa Genji goes(this is not listed as a spoiler, so you can read it if you want):"Not everyone who works hard is rewarded, however all those who succeed have worked hard"

Animation is good, always getting better, some may say that its a little to old, but it's enjoyable and fitting for boxing, shonen anime. And believe me, animation is the last thing that will make you fall in love with this anime. Character design is probably the weakest link in animation, but hey, this is boxing anime, there aren't many pretty faces and cuties in it. The only problem that I had with character design is probably their built. Ippo is Featherweight category in boxing, but he has really strong muscles and he looks more middleweight or even heavyweight than featherweight. If you are reading manga, you won't see that, let's call it "mistake".

Fights are great. In every aspect - animation, sound, maintaning or retaining the atmosphere, they are fantastic. Depending on situation, they will either make you cry from enjoyment or laughter, quivering of excitement, imitate moves of the boxers, throwing fist together with them, shouting:"That's the way! Kick him! Wuhaaa!" or they will just make you cry, because fight is over, and someone lost. But we all know that in boxing there is only one winner and one loser, and sometimes, even when Ippo is fighting, you may cheer for his opponet. Or both of them. And that just shows how terrifyingly great charasterisation in this anime is.
Sound is doing a great job, from voice acting to soundtrack, oppenings and endings. Soundtrackst always make the match much more interesting and they are always perfectly matched with situation. Soundtracks simply take epic fights on a whole new level of epic, epic level you never seen before.


Unforgettable story of growing up - becoming a man, becoming a boxer. It's not an easy task, but it's achievable, and Hajime no Ippo is doing it in a such great, inspirational and emotional way, that I'm not afraid to say that this anime can really change you. In a positive way of course, on every possible way - be that your view on the world, approach to problems, be it your new motivation for daily basis, achieving dreams - Hajime no Ippo is anime capable of doing great things, on screen and in viewer's heart.

I decided that I should write review for one manga I really liked, and I chosed Gamaran.

My english grammar is not the best, but I will write everything about this manga that I liked, hopefuly this will help


Story
Good - 6/10
I would put this shonen in category of those I like to call, "darker" shonens. Just with the saying that this manga is set in "Middle Edo Period" you know that there are cruel things happening in it.
The ruler of the state Unabara(Also know as "Haunt of Demons" ) called Washitzu Naosata is looking for his succcessor. He calls his 31 sons and ... tell them to find a worthy martial art school, they believe is superior to any other school. Son with the strongest martial artist by his side, will become the next ruler of the land - And there is the plot of the series, the whole manga is circling about this one "tournament"

Far in the mountains, there lives a boy called Kurogane Gama, the son of a legendary swordsman, Kurogane Jinsuke that formed "Ogame" school. Kurogane Jinsuke is believed to be a demon, man that was able to kill 1000 martial artist in Unabara.
One of the sons, Washitzu Naoshi in a search of Kurogane Jinsuke, comes to the doujo only to find that Jinsuke is gone missing.After seeing the skill of a young swordsman Kurogane Gama, Naoshi choses to ask Gama to join him, in order to beat his brothers and become the next . Driven by the will to get stronger than his dad, to become the greatest swordman of all the time, Gama agrees to his offer. That is the start of this journey, journey to become the best swordsman.

Now, the whole manga is really fast, it doesn't get much slower in any parts, and I personally don't like that, but Gamaran is just "jackpot".
Story gets more complicated and interesting - as characters evolve, the story evolves too. Since its shonen, story is not the top priority, the story of Gamaran leans on characters, theirs ambitions, past and motives.


Art:
Outstanding - 10/10
Characters, weapons/swords, fights, background, I found everything perfectly drawn. Serious style, with serious and similliar faces of characters, their movements, everything is really original and enjoyable. Art really does suit the cruel Edo period.
I believe that people that are new to this manga will really like this magnificent style and will be overflowed with it.


Characters
Great - 9/10
There are many things about Gamaran characters
Many shonen have really boring, all-same characters, expecially main characters. Gamaran is diffrent, in many ways.
Main character, Kurogane Gama is still a kid, teenager, but he really went through alot. He has that dose of "mainstreamnes" but on the other hand, he really is likeable, mature, smart and great main character. Other Ogame martial artist, Gama's best friends are really great and "badass" too. They all have their, well-presented and really tough past, all of them have something they want to achieve, and the tournament is the way to come step closer to that ambition.The bond between main characters is realy strong, they all believe in each other and are ready to put their lives on the line for their friends.
Like I said, as the characters evolve, story evolves too, they are really connected.
Main antagonists are really likeable too, they too have something they want to achieve, someone they want to protect - somebody that is important to them.


Enjoyment
Great - 8/10
I believe that this manga is really special, it can easily become one of your favourites. Some parts of it are maybe boring and hard to read, but ones you get dragged in Gamaran's world, characters, you will love it.

Overall
Great - 8/10
It's a good manga that brings you great sword action scenes, good and interesting characters and on top of that, might teach you few new things about friendship and loyality
Hope this was helpful

This is my first time doing review, my english is not that good, but I will give my best


Story
I give 5/10 for many reasons. This is shonen, shonen doesn't lean on story that much, there are some that really have great stories, but Soul Eater is really bad to read if you like complicated, well-explained stories with a lot of intersting and unexpected things that can happen. Soul Eater is predictable, boring and even stupid at some point, where you can tell what will happen next. It folllows the life of few teenagers, special teenagers with super-soul powers that study at "Shibusen" - ... Training facility for human wielders of soul weapons, the Meisters.Meisters have Demon weapon companion which has both a Weapon and human form. In this school they are trained to fight bad spirits and prevent the rebirth of Kishin - Evil demon god that in the past, almost destroyed the world.
Those teenagers evolve as the story goes on, they get stronger, weaker at some point(just like in every shonen), their ups and downs are really well represented.
First few chapters are more like comedy, without some serious things and they are just for fun and good laugh, but as the story goes on, the atmosphere in the whole manga changes into something more darker, mysterious and it gets more interesting. However, that "interesting" doesn't last long because you get used to it and it gets predictable, boring(that's the case for me).

Art
I give 9/10 for art. It is unique, it has that childish-style that suits the story.That childish-style can turn out to be really creepy at some moments. I personally like this kind of art, it has that funny touch to it that makes you want to read more and it magnifies the whole world of Soul Eater.

Characters
Very good, 8/10. If you neglect the story, characters alone are pretty well-made and they have strong personalities, that depth in them that makes them really likeable. As I said, they have their ups and downs in manga, downs where they like ask themselves:" Am I strong enough, am I good enough for this?" - that can get boring, but its shonen so you get used to it.


Enjoyment.
Fair enough, 6/10. If you are new to manga, you probbably won't like this at the begining and you may drop it, the same thing goes for those called pro-manga readers that are used to high-level quality manga. I personally enjoyed manga the most at the begining

Overall
6/10 , it is good, but not that good. I recomend you to watch the anime first, so you can get that vibe of manga afterwards(or first 25-26 episodes)