Hajime no Ippo
Rating: Average 8.74 / 10
Alternative: The Fighting!, Fighting Spirit, The Fighting! Ippo, Hajime no Ippo Gaiden: Naniwa Tiger (はじめの一歩)
Author(s): George Morikawa
Artist(s): George Morikawa
Genre(s): Award Winning, Sports
Type: Manga
Release: Sep 27, 1989
Status: Ongoing
Plot Summary:
Makunouchi Ippo is a 16-year-old high school student who helps his mother run the family business. His hefty workload impedes his social life, making him an easy target for bullies. One day, while being beaten up by a group of high school students, Ippo is saved by a boxer named Mamoru Takamura, and is brought to the Kamogawa Boxing Gym. This afterschool bullying session turns his life around for the better, as Ippo discovers his latent talent for boxing and decides to practice the sport professionally. However, Mamoru doubts Ippo's determination and assigns him a task deemed impossible to complete; but the resolute Ippo trains tirelessly to fulfill his mission. Along the way, he finds out what it means to attain true strength while making new friends and fighting formidable foes.
Reviews
Rating: ★★★★☆
"What can I say about Hajime No Ippo other then it's a great story that gives otaku everywhere some self confidence to be strong. The story consists of one Makanouchi Ippo, a social outcast who is picked on because he is passive, poor and smells bad because of his family fishing shop. One day Ippo is being bullied out in the open and a man jogging by scares off the kids. Ippo asks the man to teach him how to be strong and thus begins Ippo's run of determination. The theme of this manga is "What is it like to be strong?" and pure determination and hard work. It has very good character development showing every last spec of emotion that all the characters feel at every moment, as well as epic fights (although I do admit the fights wouldn't be like that if they were real) There is a good bulk of training in this series and it takes up a good chunk of the series but is more then made up for when the fights roll around. And you know what? I don't mind all mind that much because that's what boxers do. Train, fight, train, fight. Very good insight on what a boxers day to day life is like. The comedy in this manga is great. Usually in manga when there is filler people dread, but Hajime no Ippo delivers the most hilarious filler I have ever seen in my days. All in all Hajime no Ippo is a great long running story with a mangaka that has as much stamina as his protagonist when it comes to writing. (And I'm not sure about all of you but Hajime no Ippo has motivated me to start working out more and become more active) "
Rating: ★★★☆☆
"Since the author realized that he's going to make this run as long as he lives (or as long as there's interest) it has become a formulaic, and repetitive story. It basically runs like this: -Training -Fights -End fight filler -Rinse and repeat... FOREVER! Of course there are good fights with the occasional serious Takamura title match. However, there are too many filler fights (Ippo title defense and Kamogawa gym underling matches) to keep things interesting during volume 50+. With how things are going, this manga will stretch forever. It is likable though since I have lasted up to v60 and still going but I have found myself scanning the post and pre-fight fillers as well as the filler matches in hopes to get to the more important matches. This basically sums up how HNI is going. Unless the author keeps things interesting, I will simply skim through the repetitive and formulaic discussions/fights and go through the important matches. "