Hajime no Ippo
Hajime no Ippo: Fighting Spirit!

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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)

Overall Rating
10/10

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.

Hajime no Ippo was great until the series decided to repeat everything, no changes, barely any plot, and became worse over time.
Story: 6/10
the story is fine, the typical shonen manga with the protagonist wanting to be "the strongest"
Plot: 3/10
I know this series is supposed to be a sports manga, but for fuck's sake, make some changes, literally almost nothing that happens, matters.
The typical formula in the manga is like this: Ippo trains > we get to see the new opponent > Ippo nearly loses but wins in the last second > the cast doing "side quests" > rinse and repeat.
It was like that for ... the first 40 volumes, and it was good for a 40 volumes manga, just not a series that has been running for over 30 years now.
Characters: 10/10
possibly the best part of the manga, the dynamics are great, I don't really have any negative points here.
Art: 10/10
The art is fantastic, Detailed, and polished, Again no negative points here.
Overall: HNI should've been gone sooner, and ran way Longer than it should have. The "story" kept repeating itself and got old too quickly.