Nov 12, 2009

Hajime no Ippo: Season 1 "The Fighting"

Source: AniDB.net/Wikipedia.org

Fighting Spirit is a boxing manga and anime series created by George Morikawa which is serialized by Kodansha in Weekly Shōnen Magazine.

The manga has been running since 1989, spans 84 tankōbon. A 76-episode anime adaption, titled Hajime No Ippo: The Fighting! was produced by Madhouse, the Nippon TV Network and VAP, directed by Satoshi Nishimura and ran on the Nippon TV Network from October 2000 to March 2002. One OVA and a movie were also produced. At the end of 2003 the anime was licensed in North America by Geneon. Geneon released it as Fighting Spirit. It was called Knockout in the Philippines.



Ippo Makunochi is a very shy high school student who never had the time to make friends because he was always busy helping his mother run their family-own fishing business. Because he kept to himself, a group of bullies led by Umezawa got into the habit of picking on him. On one particular day these bullies decided to give him a rather serious beating, but a middle-weight professional boxer who was passing by stopped the bullies and took the injured Ippo to the Kamogawa Gym, owned by retired boxer Genji Kamogawa, to treat his wounds.

After Ippo awoke to the sounds of boxers training, the boxer who saved him, Mamoru Takamura, tried to cheer Ippo up by letting him vent his frustrations on a sandbag. It was then that they had their first glimpse into Ippo's talent for boxing. After that incident, Ippo started his regular training and began his path in Japan's professional boxing, beginning with two spars against the talented Ichiro Miyata who is the same age as Ippo.

The story focuses heavily on character development, even during the matches something is learned about the fighters. Ippo and his friendly rivalry with Miyata is the main draw in the early part of the series. That later changes to Ippo's path towards the Japanese Featherweight Championship and eventually the world championship. Along the way we are given glimpses into the other side character's pasts, motivations, relationships to others and current boxing trials. A colorful cast of support characters and opponents as well as side stories concerning their path in the boxing world rounds out the series.


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Posted by kankuro @ 11/12/2009
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