As an ex-competitive boxer / Thai boxer, I had to stop reading this after seeing the protagonist suffer so much head trauma, with the never-ending focus on simple 'toughness'. The fact of the matter is that you suffer permanent damage when you receive continual trauma like that, and that you will basically end up like Mohamed Ali if you don't wise up - what good is it to celebrate watching someone destroy themselves like that?

A real pro with a smart management team will do their best to avoid having too many brutal matches, as sooner or later you come back a changed man. (FWIW, I think Ali got his brain damage mostly from his training, which involved daily doses of massive head trauma to condition himself and thus be able to succeed with 'rope a dope' - it was insane training that required huge guts, but when you consider how it silenced a great thinker and social commentator, it is a terrible shame).

Anyhow, as a boxer once more, I think there is plenty to love and learn from in this manga. I really appreciated the research and references to the training that old-time greats used, as well as the many insights into different types of boxers (some of which are very pertinent). You can actually learn some useful stuff from reading this manga, if you happen to be a boxer.

The story, characters, comedy and such are all quite good, although I am not surprised to learn that it has become repetitive (based on the reviews below). I quit reading it before that, as I simply couldn't bear to watch the hero progressively destroy himself to such an extent. I have seen too many men destroyed by such a process to be able to ignore it in the manga...

No words for this! Suberb! This is the best Sports manga I've ever seen! Loads of characters and the plot is not only centered on 1 char. Amazing fights and comebacks. Loads of technical stuff and very high on realism.

The characters are very depth and its one of the funniest I've ever seen.
Has true moments of joy where I just can't stop laughing!

best manga ever, for me at least

... Last updated on June 19th, 2011, 10:02am

*spoilers*

As someone who's been reading and enjoying this series for 10 years now I can say definitively that the recent arc within this series relating to Ippos character has been a genuine downturn and steady decline of a series I really loved. I stood by the Wolly fight, the point that I know a lot of fans started to feel the series go downhill, for me the fight was weak but I stayed with it, the subsequent arcs were fine and the buildup to Ippos Punch Drunk arc was brilliant, the back to back losses floored me. The chance to dive into Ippos character more while he stepped away from boxing felt like a legitimate chance for a great revival of the series. It felt like the promise of this character arc would be to give Ippo the motivation he needed to finally step to the world stage.

Unfortunately we are now currently nearing 200 chapters and 4 years in and to say this has now worn its welcome would be an understatement. The constant hints that Ippo is secretly still a monster and that he could easily still fight now are getting redundant. We know where this is going, Ippos going to return eventually, why does the author feel the need to extend this for so long. What started as a promising arc has now meandered and bloated into a an overly long arc that feels like its lost all meaning.
The side effect of this lengthy arc is that there has been a constant need to fill in this timeframe with side fights and mini arcs, normally this is great for a series like Ippo but unfortunately many of the fights within this arc have been completely subpar, quick side character fights and the ones with more build up are still lacking the true buildup that Ippo fights are known for. Every side character fight that feels rushed or incomplete reflect extra poorly on the series considering we're forced into this situation by the authors desire to completely sideline the main character.

I think what broke me with new Ippo was Takamura's latest Championship fight. These normally are some of the best fights in the series but the latest one was rushed, gimmicky, and incredibly disappointing. Takamura having a Luck based opponent whos development and strength revolve around the idea that they are simply very lucky, makes this the weakest champ fight by far. The characters backstory was treated like a complete joke and the fight itself was ruined thanks to his luck gimmick making it feel completely ridiculous. When Takamura finally united his 3 belts after this fight I just felt empty, such a monumental goal that had been hyped up by the series for so long to be accomplished in one of the worst fights in the series.

Thanks for reading my ramblings, for me I'll still keep up with it but the series is definitely not a complete package to me anymore. I guess it was inevitable for a series going on this long to start to falter but its still a shame to see.

... Last updated on March 27th, 2022, 2:43pm

I learned 99% of what I know about boxing from this manga, so there's that. You wouldn't imagine a manga about boxing could run for 1000+ chapters and still be interesting after all this time. The author has uncanny skills. Once I started reading, I couldn't stop.

I've read up to 1035 and I think everyone should read this, that's how good I think this manga is. But it's not without its flaws, in my opinion. So I'm gonna focus on those since it's good points need not be repeated.



So many matches end in ways that make me wanna meh. For instance, the guy who dominates the match and beats his opponent senseless somehow loses because the plot demands the half-dead guy be the eventual winner, regardless of who was on the brink of victory and obviously the more skilled boxer.





Takamura rulez. And you just gotta love Aoki. I've faced plenty of gags in plenty of manga, but Takamura's antics, which involve Aoki as the victim most of the time, nearly always make me lose control of myself. I end up LOLing, which is really rare for me.

... Last updated on November 1st, 2013, 4:04pm

Seriously, this is seriously the best manga ever made in the world. IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YOU'RE SERIOUSLY DEPRIVED! However, I completly agree that it is really long, 74+ Volumes, and if it wasn't for the FABULOUS plot, GREAT CHARACTERS AND CHARACTER BUILDING, and of course, SOME OF THE BEST ACTION EVER, i might have possibly gotten bored.
On a side note: I read about 50+ Volumes in about a week. This seriously gets addicting....

Are you new to the series? Good for you, this is a great sports manga. It's all about the typical "hard work beats talent" but it's fun nowadays.

Problem is that the author has no sense of pacing, the last fights drag on FOREVER and it's a real pain to follow it weekly. Main character is not evolving and the sense of humor is missing in action.

In the end, you are going to get addicted to it if you start from fresh, but when you'll get to the weekly episodes it would turn in a nightmare.

After 70 IPPOs quest to be world champion finally started. whew! I'm just 3 years older than this manga. I hope the author would be able to finish this.

Even though I'm not much of a sports/boxing fan, I've really enjoyed Hajime no Ippo. If the story gets repetitive some of the time, it always seems to be going somewhere and it's always entertaining. Plus, the relationship between the men in the boxing gym absolutely cracks me up. It's full of crude, idiotic, "guy" humor.

My favorite thing about this manga has been watching the art develop. After a few volumes, the artist really finds his style, and the panels become incredibly dynamic and visually striking. Though there are a lot of differences, the way the artist depicts motion reminds me of American Silver Age comics. Even with panel after panel of two boxers slugging it out in a ring, your eye always stays fed.

... Last updated on May 1st, 2009, 5:47pm

Now this is a manga u can't put down. I could read the whole 74 volumes in one piece. Fighting shonen manga at it's best. And last but not least, ZOMG I LOVE TAKAMURA, THE LORD OF PERVERTS!!! U RULE MAN!!!

when i started reading it, only 1000 chapters were released, and i thought i would never catch up to. Its now 1131 and ive read 1131 chapters so far. the fights are memorial and takamura is one of a kind. I do feel like Ippo is getting beaten up a little too much in some of his matches. I really wanna see just how far Ippo and Takamura will go.Recommended to everyone.