In the middle of 2016, I started Hajime no Ippo. I didn't know anything about it, just that it was about boxing. Few friends were insisting for me to start it, which I did. I quickly fell in love with it and became my favorite manga ever. Here I will explain why I love Hajime no Ippo.

The story sets in the 90s, in Japan. Ippo Makounchi is a shy 16 years old boy who's being bullied. He meets Takamura, his new mentor, and a boxing prodigy. We follow Ippo in his journey to become, hopefully, a great boxer. Ippo trains and compete for the Kamogawa boxing club, the same club as Takamura. We see Ippo and other boxers compete for various objectives like in real-world boxing.

Each individual has their problems, dreams, and challenges. There are no "classic shonen character types". The characters do not follow a pattern that would make the manga simplistic in its structure and potential. Every character is unique and interesting. Their lives turn around boxing and we sometimes witness their everyday struggle, routine, and/or fun moments. The everyday moments are as great and interesting as the boxing moments. They are tightly tied together. Their life influences the boxers, which influences their training, which influences their boxing capacities, which influences their lives and so on. Although, there is no magic recipe for anyone in this world to win a fight.

Each fighter is dependent on what happens on a ring and everyone can lose. The tension, wish for victory, and challenge makes the fights find greatness in quality as the boxers surpass themselves for a common objective driven by a different dream. Already early on, the fights are filled with explosions of challenging situations accompanied by spectacular boxing. Each punches matter and the hard work of a boxer will directly influence the ring. There are no superpowers, it follows real boxing while expressing the action with great creative art.

The art in Hajime no Ippo is consistently evolving, original, and explains by itself in an exemplary manner the action displayed in the ring. The art style is very expressive. It expresses in a cinematic way the impact of punches, the struggle, the tempo of the boxers, the speed, and the overall situation in which a or both of the boxers find themselves in. It uses exaggeration for visual enjoyment without being complicated or having over the top simplistic fairy-esque Shonen-type art. Even though Hajime no Ippo is Shonen and displays classic Shonen attributes, it does not fall into exaggeration as it follows real-life possible situations and stories.

As the manga evolves, the stakes are higher and reach exciting situations with tightly gripping writing. The past of our characters is really interesting. They show situations that are potential to happen in real life. We can easily feel engaged with them. All the characters feel real but yet interesting and inspiring as they sometimes lived difficult things, sometimes follow difficult paths, and sometimes are in difficult situations.

I fell in love with the manga at its very beginning and even though it currently has more than 1300 chapters, it does not fall into slow pacing or uninteresting stakes. It accompanied me and many others with tears, tension, hype, and laughter. The more you read it, the more you enjoy it. After a great fight, you think it was the best the author could do but it is not. The next fights are even greater. The boxing itself is perfect as the author has been passionate about boxing for his entire life and owns a boxing gym who he coaches at. You will find countless amount of boxing references and direct influences. Most of the characters have their IRL boxing figure counterpart which makes it interesting to research the boxers and techniques quoted. The story, characters, and art are constantly evolving to make you feel involved with Hajime no Ippo's over 30 years of a great journey. I would recommend it to anyone.