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Fantastic, Excellent, Superb! - Do not judge by its cover or genre. 10/10!

My review will be kept spoiler free.

Okay, so I know what most of you are probably thinking, "an Anime about Boxing/Sports?! Ugh! Not for me". This would be an extremely bad judgement and you'd miss out on one of the greater Anime's of our time. Whether you are or are not a sports fan, this shouldn't be missed.

I myself am definitely NOT a sports fan, I am however a fight fan, in the respect of video games. For me, Boxing has always been a questionable sport. Its a sport where we as ... people have allowed each other, to beat each other to an inch of our lives, its almost hilarious that as people we are happy with this, for me... This serves as a borderline between Sport and straight up violence, albeit very technical violence. So I was able to allow this to slide into my Anime viewings and have not looked back!

Hajime no Ippo, a story about a young male Makanouchi Ippo who turns a bad scenario into an un-imaginable dream. The story of Hajime no Ippo is simple, its not the kind of story that needs a lot of thought, it's not hiding the fact that it is predictable or isn't completely unique, it definitely has elements of the shounen genre, BUT! For me it differed greatly from some of the more "childish" shounen out there... This isn't a flaw in the least, then you've got your classic love stories, drama and comedy. For the most part, the story is very, very relatable to the movie Rocky and its sequels, If you are a fan of said movie then this is a no brainer to watch this series. If however you haven't seen Rocky or perhaps didn't like it that much, this is still going to be a great watch. Its the kind of story that will have you on the edge of your seat, it will leave you amped up and treating it as a real life event, you might even find yourself cheering out loudly (as was the case for myself). You will find yourself rooting for our protagonist but at the same time isn't going to make his opponents feel like useless side cast who all deserve to be defeated, in fact the show has an amazing way of actually making you feel like the opponents have equal rights to reap glory and you might even feel sympathy towards them, this serves to create a love-hate relationship with them which is rather spectacular.

The Art for Hajime no Ippo could be a draw back for many as it is very 90's and perhaps even a little earlier, its very "shouneny", however after a short while the art style becomes something that you'll appreciate and serves to highlight the ruggedness that comes with Boxing.

The Music/Sound of Hajime no Ippo is actually rather excellent, particularly the first two Openings/Titles of the show. Victory themes play out perfectly and help raise the mood, punches, blocks, impacts are all well recreated and leave a lasting impression. Towards the end of the Anime, the music was a PERFECT accompaniment to the given outcome. All voice actors are perfectly matched for their roles and are totally believable.

Characters are definitely the shows major attribute. All the characters are well developed and are unique from one another, whether they are friends or foes. Ippo the star of the show has now earned a spot in my favourite characters ever. The side cast are definitely not in the shadows, Takamura Mamoru is a deuteragonist, he certainly had me in stitches with all his antics, however his insights in the art of boxing are second to none and he KNOWS THIS VERY WELL! This is exactly what drives his ego through the roof and its hilarious to watch. Ippo and the members of Kamogawa Boxing Gym's coach (Kamogawa Genji) is a definite homage to the coach of Rocky Balboa from the movies, however in my eyes is way more well structured and thought out. I could talk forever about the cast, but take it from me, this is the highlight of the show.

Overall the enjoyment of the show is extremely high, I found myself watching this show is large chunks not wanting to stop watching, but due to fatigue and having to go to say... I dunno, Sleep? Would be the only times I stopped. Fights are action packed, you may even shed a tear of joy! Emotions run wild in ways that I never thought imaginable from a genre that I may have missed, from Insights to the boxers feelings during fights to arduous training régimes everything is great! Needless to say, Hajime no Ippo deserves its top spot... Highly recommended.

You know sometimes being the fans that we are of all sorts of media, you think to yourself, there's no way "this" could be better than "that", well this is one of those times you'd be wrong. I'll just start literally by saying "Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki" is amazing 10/10 and must be watched by all.

Now for the rest of my spoiler free review,

The story of Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki can be described as very heart-warming and extremely cute, however with that being said, there are moments where the darker side of the story can be heart wrenching, if you're ... a fan of any of Studio Ghibli's works you'll be able to relate to the story/themes/emotions immediately. Honestly, if someone were to make you watch this movie without any prior knowledge of it, you'd probably come away thinking it was made by Ghibli, however the director Mamoru Hosada has done enough to make this his own masterpiece and that's especially good as Mamoru Hosada could be one anime director who could rival the international reputation of his former employers; Studio Ghibli. With prior works such as "The Girl Who Leaped Through Time" and "Summer Wars" this should come as no surprise to you that what you were delivered is nothing short of stellar.

The art of Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki is excellent, I mean there were literally moments where I was blown away by just how detailed and gorgeous everything looked, the animation for the most part has a hand-drawn feel to it, however the use of 3D animation was present too although isn't used for spectacular effects, but in day-to-day scenes instead, such as water ripples created by raindrops, or how wind blows.

With the art there comes the amazing sound/voice overs... From the sounds of little critters out in the wild, to the thunderous rumbles in the skies, each will leave you fully immersed in the world presented to you. Most of you have probably seen "Hotaru no haka" aka Gave of the Fireflies, if you have seen it, you'll remember that Setsuko's voice actress (Ayano Shiraishi) delivered an incredibly realistic (which is almost a rarity these days) young girls portrayal, well this is true for the Wolf Children too, both Ame and Yuki were just awesome to hear, Yuki in particular - I just loved that little gruffness in her voice. It was about a third of the way through the movie where I literally said out loud, "these voice actor's are incredible" even the supporting cast were excellent!

This goes hand in hand with the characters, from young to old the development of the characters were incredibly well done. Hana (the wolf children's mother) manages to raise the children and deal with their gift, habits, situations and to teach them the morals they need to fit in with the rest of the world. Albeit she herself has a thing to learn about her tough situation, whether that be from textbooks, passing neighbours or seasoned veterans.

Its very enjoyable to watch and with the running time at around 2 hours I was secretly hoping there would be more coming, so needless to say the pacing was great and didn't bore what so ever, and now it's about that time in the review where you hope you've said enough to convince others to give the subject matter a shot, hoping you haven't missed anything... I really cannot find any faults and therefore would have to rate Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki with a perfect 10/10. Seriously though, nothing but praise. If Mamoru Hosoda isn't in your list of favourites, now's the time!

I found this series very hard to enjoy. I was watching the show with a good friend of mine who recommended it due to his own personal love of the show. Unfortunately it wasn't the case for myself, the story of the show follows a pattern which soon you'll come to see after the third "aberration" which for me boiled down to a mundane repetitiveness that I couldn't grasp. Essentially, A problem arises, they talk evasively about it for a good long while, until the "issue" clicks, they then consult someone who helps them with said issue and then finally, moral learnt?

But whilst this is ... all happening certain other things repeat themselves too, such as with environments. Take for example, you'll be in a playground, you'll see that same environment for the whole episode, they'll pan the camera statically about the same point for a good long while followed by making use of the environment in some way, example a swing set, then back to the scrolling background, certain sounds are then also repeated, all the while flashing text will pop up on the screen which serves to highlight "key emotions" or plot say like "anger". These flashes whilst seem cool to begin with, for me became rather irritating, its not like you can even read the messages sometimes as they flash for a second containing a paragraph, you wouldn't want to pause the show as to ruin immersion, so what purpose do they ultimately serve? Art. Well see that's the thing, the show's artistic side is one of merit, its gorgeous, nothing short of what Studio Shaft is known for. But, whilst its beautiful its also rather "artsy fartsy", for lack of better vernacular. A little TOO excessive? Maybe a little too try-hard? The show does have other highlights, which for me came in the form of breaks between large chunks of conversation. I make it sound like the dialogue is bad, but that's not the case, it is well written and genuinely engaging at times, I just wish there were less random rambles and playing around the subject at hand and more focus on A to B (If that makes sense) as a pose to A C D E F then B.

And this brings me to my overall verdict, the show aimed to be different, it aimed in some sense to set itself apart from the crowd by engaging you in cleverly written conversation. It may have also created a genre, but the question is, is this genre for you? For me, no, because whilst intelligent conversation sounds good, the shows creators know that this alone cannot carry the show, so in an attempt to keep you entertained we are served distractions, one of said distractions is the age old "fan service" which although I didn't see a LOT of, I have also read many a review about this series as a whole and to my understanding this will become a thing throughout the series, not to mention that the show's follow the patterns highlighted above. I have no MAJOR issues with mild fan-service but if it serves no point then I'm opposed. There is no action, so don't expect that. There is a lot of creative conversations, but are you willing to listen to random ramblings too? Then this might be for you.

For the above reasons, my enjoyment levels were low, I have now since dropped the show at episode 7. In a sense, I an disappointed I didn't like the show more. I consider myself rather artistic, I am a graphic designer of sorts, I totally dig the art but art alone cannot carry a concept. Get ready for conversation! 6/10.