The lights are spinning in all directions do you have the tenacity to get back up? · Waifora

- Hajime no Ippo Analysis -

Name: The lights are spinning in all directions do you have the tenacity to get back up?
Item: Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting!
Rating: 90
Author: Zedlin

This analysis contains spoilers

___ What does it mean to be strong? ___ It's a question Ippo's been thinking since the very beginning but there he is standing in the ring beyond groggy wondering why he's there. The lights are spinning in all directions, everything's not registering for Ippo. He's about to lose the championship for a second time, this isn't time for questioning. Nevertheless, the only way to figure out something so vague, like trying to grab at a cloud, is to march forward and fight the person in front of him. This singular moment epitomizes the grand series that is Hajime no Ippo, it's this moment in episode 72 that brings it home. Why are we starting here, let's take a step back and enjoy the journey of how we got here anyway. ___ Hajime no Ippo is akin to a multitude of other sports anime with everything you'd expect in one. Whether it be amazing rivalries, training arcs, tournament arcs, superb character development, it's all here. Hajime no Ippo doesn't lack in any category. What makes Hajime no Ippo stand out from other sports anime is the level of execution. Each key area is done to a level of mastery. ___ Let's start with our protagonist Makunouchi Ippo, he didn't start off as a boxing prodigy but as a target for bullies because of his family business. As he's getting his ass kicked by some bullies, pro boxer Takamura comes in for the rescue! After being rescued by Takamura, it lights a small flame in Ippos heart and lets him take a step forward and wonder what it means to be strong like Takamura. Overall as an introduction to the series it's nothing revolutionary it could even be labeled as stereotypical, but it's not bad by any means either. ___ Ippo's main rival is introduced early in the series with two sparring sessions. Miyata is almost like a natural counter to him early on in Ippo's career as Miyata is a technical out-boxer prodigy. Compared to Ippo who's a heavy hitting in-boxer amateur. Nevertheless, Ippo's innate tenacity leads to Ippo taking out Miyata in the second spar session via K.O. All anyone can feel is happiness seeing Ippo succeed against such a confident boxer like Miyata. This helps give Ippo confidence and humbles Miyata and forces Miyata to see just how talented Ippo is, I really love Miyata's later development too. Even though Miyata is Ippo's natural rival they haven't fought a real match against each other yet, I expect the tension and build up will exceed even the Sendo vs Ippo Lollapalooza which is insane to think about, though time will tell. ___ Hajime no Ippo's tournament arc is full of great moments that lead to Ippo becoming a pro boxer! Not only that but it introduces plenty of very important rivals of Ippo for example, Mashiba Ryo and Sendo Takeshi. Both characters are simply full of personality, Ryo is a dark almost evil seeming character who specializes with his hitman style and flicker jab. His absolute desire to not lose no matter what it takes leads to him using dirty tactics that injure Ippo in their fight, but he needs to win to provide funds for his little sister for school. I love how complicated of a character he is, Ryo isn't great at communicating which made him get fired all the time when boxing was the only job he didn't get fired from for being unsociable. He's hard to love but in his own way he's charming. ___ On the other hand you have my personal favorite character in the Hajime no Ippo, Sendo Takeshi. Sendo is a natural born fighter, who's always looking for a challenge. The best character I can compare him to is the legendary boxer in my favorite anime, Yabuki Joe. Sendo's fighting style is similar to Ippo's, however his brawling nature, his supernatural arm strength, and indomitable tenacity makes him a monster in the ring. I adore the backstory bits during the Sendo vs Ippo Lollapalooza and how after the fight he comes how to his grandmother, and she smiles and knows that he's stronger because of that loss. Sendo knows that he can't achieve his goal quite yet of being like his father either, overall a nice story. ___ Volg presents the dark side of boxing when you're not the winner. Volg, the World Amateur Champion is a boxer from Russia who excels at outboxing and taking points, but adopts a vicious infighting style when he moves to Japan. He moved to Japan with a purpose in mind though as he's fighting for his sick mother back in Russia he needs to win help cure her sickness. Even as he wins fights in Japan Ippo notices how depressed he looks, never smiling despite crushing his opponents ruthlessly. Sadly after two consecutive losses in Japan he was cut from his gym and in essence forced to end his professional boxing career early. This presents two sides of boxing excellently, one side is for those who win and keep bringing in the money for the gym, and those who lose and aren't financially worth keeping in the gym. It might be gloomy to see boxing in that light but that's the gritty truth. Volg had a large impact on Ippo and it was really depressing seeing Volg leave Japan. ___ To those who keep winning they are allowed to continue pushing forward, to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and eventually challenge the champion. The featherweight champion, the hard-nosed veteran Date Eiji. Despite his age nearing thirty, he's aged gracefully and is still able to compete at a very high level. After being destroyed years ago in a World Title Match he retired and gave up boxing to be there for his family. As the years past Date became a different person, but he couldn't contain his combative nature anymore and picks up his career for a comeback. It's hard to not root for such a likable boxer like Date, this is his last chance to make a title push, it's all or nothing. One of the top three boxing matches in Hajime no Ippo is Ippo vs Date, the hype and build up is very well done and leads to Ippos first painful loss for a championship. I'm really looking forward to seeing in later seasons Date's World Title push and if he makes it or not! ___ After the Ippo vs Date match I believe the quality of animation drops considerably till the Sendo vs Ippo Lollapalooza. It felt like Madhouse was trying to save up budget for the final fight, haha. Regardless despite the quality drop midway through the series it didn't take away from the story or any of the fights either, something just felt off during that quarter of Hajime no Ippo. One of the highlights during that part of the series was the Aoki and Tatsuya backstory, I didn't expect a mini arc on them! ___ Sendo vs Ippo Lollapalooza is the pinnacle of boxing, perfect build up with hype! As a rematch between two behemoths both got considerably more monstrous. Like Sendo said this wasn't a match for the championship this was a match with their honor on the line where Sendo could go all out. From the very get-go Ippo using a Dempsey Roll made me nearly lose my mind, overall a fight for the ages, loved every second of it. I loved how the fight went full circle mentioning Ippo's pursuit of what it means to be strong, everything clicked in this brawl. The only word I can use to describe Sendo's punches are murderous, match that with his improvement to his lower body and you have a punch with no equal. Ippo had to use every technique he'd learned up to that point to perfection all in a row after six rounds of surviving Sendo's onslaught of punches just to win. All to be the very best in Japan, outstanding. ___ As of writing this review I haven't seen the rest of the series, I'm really excited to see what's next for Ippo and the rest of the boxers!