Hajime no Ippo

Boxing anime of boxing, well there’s an anime about boxing and here’s one of them: the title is Hajime no Ippo or Fighting Spirit in English. Hajime no Ippo is one of the sport genre anime series that becomes popular because of the energy the anime has. Hajime no Ippo has a total of 75 episodes and runs around 24 minutes per episode. The opening song “Under Star” and “Inner Light” performed by Shocking Lemons and “Tumbling Ice” performed by Tsuneo Imahori. The ending song “Yuuzora no Kamihikouki” and “360” performed by Naoya Mori and “Eternal Loop” by Saber Tiger. Hajime no Ippo is directed by Satohsi Nishimura. Madhouse behind the production of the anime series of Hajime no Ippo. Here’s some popular titles under Madhouse production Death Note, One Punch Man, No Game No Life and Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. 

 Ippo Makunouchi was a student and bullied his entire life and always ran an errand and was beaten by his classmates most of the time. One day in the middle of bullying Ippo is saved by Mamoru Takamura, a professional boxer. Ippo fainted after saving him from the bully and Mamoru brought him at Kamogawa Boxing Gym to recover. Ippo regained his consciousness and felt amazed at his surroundings in the gym. 

Mamoru asks Ippo to try to punch the punching bag with a photo of one of the bullies of Ippo to relieve his anger inside. Ippo feels something inside a relief of stir after the punch and asks Mamoru to train him to become a boxer, Mamoru feels something that Ippo is not suited for boxing because of lack of confidence to himself, but he gave an impossible task for one week to see if Ippo has what it takes to become a boxer. With a big desire to change inside and to get stronger for her hard-working mother, Ippo trains harder to accomplish the task within the time limit. The start of Ippo journey in the world of boxing starts.

Hajime no Ippo is one of the sports anime that I follow because of the flow of good story it has and great anime adaptation from Madhouse. It’s a job well done for a sport anime and the fight scene in boxing is done smoothly and follows the whole manga story of Hajime no Ippo. A story of a fighting spirit of Ippo Makunouchi not just for a change inside but to be a strong person not just because of his mother but for himself and his lack of resolution a big change for Ippo happened an encounter of Ippo and Mamoru Takamura change a lot especially when Ippo steps inside the boxing ring his aura change a lot from a quiet and weak person to a brave and strong fighting spirit against a more strong opponents.

Animation of Hajime no Ippo is a cool one to enjoy if you are into boxing or a fan of the sports itself. The sound effects feel real that you are inside of the boxing gym or watching live boxing at the stadium. The opening songs of Hajime no Ippo it's good on ears the rhythm and music choice they made suits a lot for the anime itself and for the ending songs is like a flashback of what Ippo’s life before he entered the sport of boxing and the evolution of Ippo past to present journey. It really stands out for a sport to recreate some moves that exist from the past and what you see in the manga is what you will also see in the anime. Hajime no Ippo is not your regular boxing that you will see because of some massive and great moves they display or use inside the ring; it's one that really stands out.

Hajime no Ippo deserves a good recommendation for a sports anime and a great story it has. For the boxing lovers who want something different to see Hajime no Ippo is for you the great techniques of the boxer and usage of the old signature moves that gave a new life in this anime series. Is the manga series as good as the anime? In terms of adaptation of the story Madhouse did a great job for following the whole story in the manga series and you will appreciate both anime for seeing the action move and manga for the story both win for anything you want to follow. As a manga reader this series has a long wait for them even its old series as of now, I always saw it a small trend seeing again and again online because of the boxing action it has. Hajime no Ippo anime is for everyone to watch not just the love of anime sports but also for a different type of genre to watch.

Information:

Title:

• Hajime no Ippo
• Fighting Spirit
• はじめの一歩 THE FIGHTING!

Type: Series (75 episodes)

Aired: Oct 4, 2000 to Mar 27, 2002

Studio: Madhouse

Source Story: Manga

Genre: Comedy, Sports, Drama, Shounen

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Song:

Opening:

• "Under Star" by Shocking Lemons (eps 1-25)

• "Inner Light" by Shocking Lemons (eps 26-52)

• "Tumbling Dice" by Tsuneo Imahori (eps 53-75)

Ending:

• "Yuuzora no Kamihikouki" by Naoya Mori (eps 1-25)

• "360°" by Naoya Mori (eps 26-52, 75)

• "Eternal Loop" by Saber Tiger (eps 53-74)

Director: Satoshi Nishimura

Character and Voice Actor:

• Makunouchi, Ippo (Kiyasu, Kohei)

• Takamura, Mamoru (Koyama, Rikiya)

• Aoki, Masaru (Takagi, Wataru)

• Kamogawa, Genji (Utsumi, Kenji)

• Kimura, Tatsuya (Fujiwara, Keiji)