The story is about a High Schooler named Ippo who was bullied by a few thugs, lucky for him a pro-boxer (who turns out to be one of the protagonists throughout the story) discovers this and decides to train Ippo if he qualified in his eyes. Surely enough, he does, and through a coach, his friends from the Boxing School, and his mother's acceptance, Ippo journeys into the Pro-Boxing world as his love for Boxing begins. It seems generic, but throughout the story the clichéness quickly fades away and the story turns into something unique, very endearing.
The art style is actually very graphic once the fights get serious, blood gets spat out, noses get crushed, ribs get broken, etc. The art and animation comes from Madhouse which always brings something spectacular in that regard, so expect fascinating art that captures the Boxing ring and atmosphere. One thing I find that people don't appreciate as much is the lighting during the matches, the lighting in these matches is a key part to the atmosphere of the fights, and I found it absolutely phenomenal.
The characters are the highlight of the show. Ippo is by far the most loveable protagonist I have ever seen in Otaku history, he's comedic in an unintentional fashion, but he's also cunning, observant, generous, and most of all very selfless. Takamaru is also very comedic but can be very shallow and intolerant at times, which what makes him my favourite character of the show personally. Every "villain" or opponent that Ippo has fought in the show has their own backstory and go through character development faster than a few Shonen protagonists and antagonists as well. The character development overall in this show is fantastic, and very well thought-out and brought to life.
The soundtrack however is a bit lacking, there is a main theme in battle that happens once the fight happens to turnover to one-side's favour, and it seems as if the same few tracks are the overall soundtrack, however I never took a listen to the full soundtrack myself so I cannot speak much for this regard.
Overall, out of my whole anime list, Hajime No Ippo is the main anime that I have enjoyed the most and has reached the Magna Opus in terms of enjoyment in my own personal anime list. It is very comedic at times, but can also turn dark, twisted, and at some moments even frightful. The overall drive of the show itself is the unpredictability of a few outcomes of matches, especially around the mid twenties, and late fifties/early sixties of this show, you may almost never know what comes next in these tournaments.
9/10
