I remember seeing Hajime no Ippo on someone's "top anime" list,and decided to look it up.
I was really hesitant to watch it,considering I was never into any sports anime and the fact that I get bored easily,considering it has 76 episodes sounded like a pain in the ass.
but one faithful day I decided to watch the damn thing to see what the fuzz was all about.
And what I got was 3 things:
1.The best underdog story,ever
2.Awesome variety of likable characters
3.One of the most inspiring anime of alll time.
See the story is pretty straightforward,With the Main Character,Ippo Makunouchi being bullied and guess what?He's saved by a Boxer(Takamura.also a badass)
Being inspired,Ippo begins his long and strenuous road by joining the Kamogawa Gym to become stronger,to grow stronger Physically and Mentally.
And now for the art,The series seriously peaks whenever there's a boxing match in the art category,Everything becomes much more brighter and fluid and it really pumps you up,making the fight scenes very good.
Outside the ring,the arts pretty decent,maybe bordering on a bit outdated,but it suits the series just fine I believe.
The voice actors do their job quite well,being able to make their characters stand out and inspired,which I very much like.But I'm not fond of the english dub.The soundtrack fits both outside and inside the ring too.
Now for the best part of the series,The characters.Ippo goes from a weak shy nerd to...A really strong shy lovable nerd,but there's a lot more to it,His Stubbornness and will to fight back never change,though he falter's and gets beaten and bruised he always manages to get up before the ten count,Ippo works his ass of to get where's he's at,and his journey is by far something that needs to be watched by any anime fan.
The supporting cast is very varied and amazing,Ippo's allies,which are Takamura,a Talented boxer who inspires Ippo and aims to be the world champ and is also a stupid pervert,Aoki,the buttmonkey,Kimura,Aoki's best friend also hilarious,and the Head coach himself Kamogawa,an amazing coach who aspires for one of his boxers to become world champion.
Even Ippo's rivals are very worth mentioning,Miyata,Ippo's Friendly cool rival who is inspired to prove to his father that their style of boxing is very efficient.
Every one of Ippo have a bit of backstory to them,each having their own reason to fight,Helping you get attached to them and sometimes you wish they would win.
I think the only real drawback is mangalure,because as soon as you finish the series you'll be craving for more,watching the various sequels and OVA's.The manga has over a thousand chapters,and is also very worth reading
As an anime fan,I think Hajime no ippo is one of the best of the 2000-2009,(personally I think it's better than Rocky)Ippo's struggles to become stronger and the variety of characters and their stories in the series Is what really sets this anime on your "must watch" list.
