I’ve recently started watching some anime shows and the latest show I’ve watched is Hajime No Ippo. Hajime No Ippo is the first sports anime I’ve seen and I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I ended up enjoying it way more than I thought. Hajime No Ippo is a show about boxing, but saying it’s just a boxing show seems to do a disservice to the stories that were told. Think of Rocky in anime form, except 10x better. Every episode is full of heart and you can really feel the trials and triumphs that the characters go through. You won’t be able to stop yourself from becoming emotionally invested.
I really like all the attention that gets put into training and preparing for the matches. We get to see how hard the characters train and it makes us want to see them fight and win. It also makes us feel more invested in their matches. All of the characters just train so hard and fight so hard, it’s very inspiring and cool to watch. The characters on the show have their own unique fighting style which makes every matchup feel fresh. The training that’s done serves to prepare the character for his upcoming match which introduces new styles and techniques, so it’s like every match is another stage in the evolution of the character. The training also helps build anticipation for each match, so we can see how effective the new techniques are.
Another aspect of the show that I really enjoyed were the matches themselves. More specifically, how the writers set up the matches, and the framing of the matches. Ippo is the main character so you would think that most of his fights would have pretty obvious conclusions, but that’s not the case. Rather than writing his opponents as one note antagonists, the opponents are written as competent and credible boxers with their own motivations. The backstories of a lot of his opponents make it so you simply can’t see them losing. Not only that, but in some cases you won’t want to see them lose. However you also can’t see Ippo losing, and don’t want to see him lose either. So you’re left with matches that are hard to predict and keep you on the edge of your seat throughout. This also results in the matches always feeling like there’s something important at stake, and the victories feel more meaningful. The matches, especially Ippo’s matches and the world title matches, feel extremely intense and you’ll feel like you’re there in person watching someone you know personally in their match.
The show also does a great job of making the moves in the matches feel impactful. Even the slightest movement is exaggerated and dramatized, but it leads to everything feeling significant and impressive. Every punch that connects seems like a devastating blow that you can almost feel through the screen as the viewer. Another thing that enhances the experience of the matches is the commentary from the characters (and the actual commentators) during the matches. This aspect helps the viewer understand the strategy of each boxer and create excitement for what’s happening in the match. All of this comes together to create some absolutely thrilling matches that will keep you glued to the screen. Some of the standouts are the Takamura vs Hawk match, both of the Ippo vs Sendo matches (the second Ippo vs Sendo match might just be the best anime fight I’ve seen so far), the Ippo vs Volg match, and the Volg vs Sendo match among others. These matches usually last 3-4 episodes and by the end you will feel mentally and emotionally drained, but immensely satisfied.
Usually whenever I watch a show, there’s one or two characters that stand out to me that I can get behind and the rest of the cast I either feel apathetic towards or I actively dislike them. This is the first show where I just really like almost every character that gets introduced. I really enjoyed the dynamic between the main characters, they’re like a family with Takamura, Aoki, Kimura, and Ippo as 4 brothers and Kamogawa as the father figure. Seeing them interacting with each other during their training camp trips, and at each other’s fights was one of the highlights of the show for me. But even outside of the core cast, I really liked basically all of the side characters and their relationships with the main cast (specifically Ippo). It was cool to see Ippo’s admiration for his opponents. He couldn’t help but make friends with a lot of the people he faced in spite of the fact that they became obsessed with beating him. It was also cool to see the relationship between Umezawa and Ippo evolve over time, the way their friendship developed was nice to see. And of course I can’t talk about relationship dynamics without mentioning Kumi. As a softhearted lover of romance the budding relationship between Ippo and Kumi was another one of my favorite things to see in the show. You can’t help but root for them to be together.
While it’s nice to have a whole bunch of characters you like on a show, it’s still important that the main character is likeable, and Ippo is definitely likeable. Ippo is the heart of the show, and if his character wasn’t as likeable, the show wouldn’t have worked as well. He’s annoying at times but he’s also extremely endearing and even admirable. I really appreciate that someone as meek and mild mannered as Ippo can also be such a ferocious and tenacious fighter once he’s in the ring. You see the stark contrast between Ippo and the rest of the boxing world in the main rivalries he develops during the show. Miyata represents his ideal self, the person he wants to become, someone who’s cool and confident. Sendo is like the evil version of Ippo, someone who’s supremely confident in his own ability and extremely forceful in his approach to life. While Volg is a lot like Ippo, Volg also has a significantly higher sense of self confidence. In a way the main purpose of Ippo’s journey is developing his self confidence and recognizing the inner strength that we as the viewer can see anytime he has a match. Other anime shows I’ve seen, the main character is trying to be strong, or prove that he’s strong, and others around him see that character’s potential to be strong. In this show it’s more like others already see Ippo as being strong and the real journey is for Ippo to see it for himself. It’s kind of a unique take on this genre.
All that being said, there were a few things that bothered me. One thing was the weight classes of the boxers. I get that Japanese boxers are typically smaller and they wanted it to make it more realistic, they even mentioned on the show how Americans dominate the heavier weight classes (no heavyweight Japanese boxer is even mentioned throughout the show) but still it’s hard for me to believe the characters look the way they do at the weight they were at. I’m supposed to believe Ippo is 124 pounds??? Takamura is supposed to be like 145, Sendo is supposed to be 125, I simply can’t believe it. I appreciate weight management becoming a part of the story for Takamura and Miyata, it was a unique addition to the story, but still I feel like the show definitely would have benefitted from the characters being positioned like 2 weight classes higher than they were. It’s hard to suspend your disbelief when it’s such a recurring part of the show. Another thing that somewhat bothered me are the foreigners in the show, specifically the fact that they all spoke fluent japanese even in situations where they didn’t need to (like mid fight to their own cornermen who weren’t Japanese). I feel like it would’ve been better if the foreign characters spoke their native language. These issues were all pretty minor though and didn’t really impact my enjoyment of the show overall.
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed this show and can’t wait to rewatch it in the future. I was entertained throughout and there are some genuinely heartwarming, heartbreaking, and inspiring moments in the show. I was emotionally moved on multiple occasions watching this show. I was invested and engaged throughout and I just really liked it. I wish this show had more acclaim and I hope the 4th season gets made. I’m giving this show a 9/10 it was fantastic and I’d recommend it to anyone even if they’re not into boxing or sports.
Just some guy on the internet 