That’s the shortest review I’ve ever done.
The Short Version:
(+)The show doesn’t feel like its 75 episodes long.
(+)The fight are AWESOME!
(+)(Almost)Everything happens for a reason.
(-)The soundtrack gets repeated a lot.
(-)The art is a little bit dated.
The Story (8/10): The story starts out as a classic coming-of-age journey of a young man who is bullied at school, and upon being saved by a boxer decides that he too wants to become a boxer. This is where the story threw me off a bit, because instead of taking revenge out on the people who bullied him, the main character whole heartedly focuses his being on becoming an absolute beast of a boxer. After this we follow the MC throughout his professional career and all of the quite frankly awesome boxing matches that come with it, and the fights that happen in the last third are on an entirely different level of awesome. As someone who has seen and fought in a couple of boxing matches, if actual matches were this intense I’d watch it a lot more, and I would’ve also never stepped into the ring.
The Characters (7/10): The characters of this show I feel are the base standard for a sports anime, you have the really experience character who inspires the protagonist, the protagonist who is willing to work his arse off to get to the top, the old-timer trainer whose experience comes in handy on multiple occasions, and the comedy relief character(s).
Ippo Makunouchi: One hell of a natural fighter and apparently has a massive dong.
Takamura Mamoru: The one who saved/inspired Ippo and apparently has a devastating punch. As in all of them.
Aoki Masaru & Tatsuya Kimura: These guys are the comedy relief and I only remember one of their fights.
Genji Kamogawa: The old-timer who teaches Ippo ‘how-to-box-like-a-badass’ and can hit Takamura like it’s nothing.
Another thing about Ippo as a character that I can link back into the story section, instead of taking up boxing for revenge he takes it up to figure out what ‘strength’ is. I think that speaks to how unique his being is within the action sports genre or even bullied protagonists in general.
The Art & Sound (7/10) & (6/10): Considering this show first aired in 2000 the art looks a bit dated, but then again I’m talking about an anime that’s 15 years old. That fact doesn’t take away from the point that the art is all there when it counts, and when it counts would be the fight scene and HOLY SHIT the art just amplifies the fights vibe to the same vibe that you probably felt with One Punch Man, just a lot of screaming and losing your shit.
The sound, in terms of OST, its nothing remarkable but it definitely sounds very different however no one part of the soundtrack jumped out at me. A couple of the OP’s on the other hand were very good in my opinion and the voice acting by everyone was at their best, when the characters are throwing their entire being behind one punch, it really sounds like they are. The ED’s however slipped entirely under my radar.
What do you think of this anime?
Buying it, if I can find it.
Would you recommend this show?
Yes. As long as your cool with maybe losing your voice because it’s so intense.
