Hajime no Ippo

Description

From K Manga:
What does it feel like to be strong? That's the question on the mind of Ippo Makunouchi, a clumsy high-school kid who gets bullied a lot. But when he runs into pro boxer Mamoru Takamura, it isn't long before the dynamite in his fists is unleashed! Dreaming of joining Takamura in the pro ranks, Ippo joins him at the Kamogawa Boxing Gym and there his quest for true strength begins, in and out of the ring!

The oneshot Hajime no Ippo: Gaiden - The Naniwa Tiger was published as chapter 806.5 in Vol 84.

Note: Won the 15th Kodansha Manga Award for Best Shounen Manga in 1991.

Type

Manga

Related Series

N/A

Associated Names

Fight!! Ippo

Fighting Spirit

Hajime no Ippo Gaiden

Hajime no Ippo Gaiden: Naniwa no Tora

Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting!

Naniwa Tiger: Hajime no Ippo Gaiden

The First Step

Первый шаг

هاجيمي نو ايبو

هاجيمي نو ايبو : قصه سيندو

पहिलो इप्पो

ก้าวแรกสู่สังเวียน

はじめの一歩

はじめの一歩 The Fighting!

はじめの一歩外伝浪速の虎

第一神拳

Groups Scanlating

N/A

Latest Release(s)

N/A

Status in Country of Origin

144 Volumes (Ongoing)
15 Bunko Volumes (Ongoing)

Completely Scanlated?

Anime Start/End Chapter

Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1 (S1) / Vol 31, Chap 270 (Film + OVA) / Vol 35, Chap 315 (S2) / Vol 45, Chap 399 (S3)

Ends at Vol 30, Chap 269 (S1) / Vol 35, Chap 314 (Film + OVA) / Vol 44, Chap 398 (S2) / Vol 61, Chap 558 (pages 11,14) (S3)

User Reviews

Hajime no Ippo by Kaioh

Forum

21 topics, 113 posts

Click here to view the forum

User Rating

Average: 8.5 / 10.0 (1003 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.44 / 10.0

36%

22%

21%

11%

Last Updated

October 8th, 2025 8:59pm PDT - 1 week ago

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Genre

Action Comedy Drama Martial Arts Shounen Slice of Life Sports
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Samejima, Saigo no Juugonichi

Recommendations

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Kodansha

Serialized In (magazine)

Shuukan Shounen Magazine (Kodansha)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

K MANGA (192 Chapters; Digital - Ongoing)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #548

(-59)

Monthly Pos #863

(-103)

3 Month Pos #983

(-67)

6 Month Pos #1062

(+386)

Year Pos #644

(+113)

List Stats

On 4263 reading lists

On 732 wish lists

On 100 completed lists

On 161 unfinished lists

On 428 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

Hajime no Ippo exceeds 100 million copies and is "halfway through" the story

1 year ago

Does Ippo from Hajime No ippo ever get some confidence?

7 years ago

Have we really been reading a thousand chapters?

11 years ago

Jumping the Shark-Hajime no Ippo

11 years ago

Dropped from scanlations?

12 years ago

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

Timeless classic

by wansmor
2 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

Ippo brought heart into otherwise seemingly brutal world of boxing. I have never though I could see boxing in such a light-hearted way that Ippo made me, I saw some comment and see people complaining about this and that, but in reality, I feel author is nicely doing the job of presenting hype of fights with light-hearted slice of life stuffs like training, match preparation, personal life, etc. The switch between Ippo the fighter and Ippo the second has been fascinating and while there is chance for him comeback, honestly I'm totally fine having Ippo a second for the rest of it.

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Classic in Decline

by Gerkjaab
4 years ago

Rating: 5.0 / 10.0

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 4 years ago

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1000 episodes in: lack of insight reduces appeal

by grebeci
5 years ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

I grew up with ippo, enjoyed his growth, the slapstick and surprises. This isn't really a spoiler, but a heads up: somewhere between chapter 1200 and 1350 was a very dull arc full of repeating tropes, irrelevant cliffhangers, & standstill story deprived of insight into character & plot motivations. At around chapter 1350, the content started to be more thoughtful, but I hope they move the character development along a as we're nearing almost 200 chapters at a standstill.

... Last updated 4 years ago

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Lost the good feelings.

by VaizardPlayer
6 years ago

Rating: 1.0 / 10.0

A great series about boxing, but lost the meaning and nostalgia later.
Some spoilers about the recents chapters:

Resume:
Ippo is now a ugly bald coach and the others look better than him.

I am really sad for writing this comment. However...

Why do this with a good MC?
Ippo was so cool before the fall, is like waiting the return of our hero and get the worst possible version of a bad end of him.

Another deception in the list.

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I finally caught up to it

by kitt33
10 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

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.

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Recommended

by TundraDweller
12 years ago

Rating: 8.5 / 10.0

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.

The fact that Ippo, despite being the MC, shows no true awe-inspiring strength in comparison to his opponent, 85% of the time, is kinda frustrating. Almost all his matches end with him winning (which is good and all) but the winner ends up in worse shape than the loser. It's hard to be Ippo's fan when that happens.

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.

Other than the MC's fights (which can be excused), Miyata's fight with Randy made me wanna punch the author. That one sucked. As if I needed one more reason to hate the Sasuke of this manga anymore. Ippo's homo crush on Miyata really irks me. It's always Miyata-san this, Miyata-san that. Won't you shaddap about that annoying guy already!?!

Itakagi's title fight was a surprise but satisfying cuz I wasn't gonna excuse the author for shoving that unlimited natural talent (over 9000!) BS down my throat for much longer. It had to be put a stop to at some point. Glad it happened when it did.

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 12 years ago

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i absolutely love ippo

by Bignana92
13 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

but itagaki just reeeeeallly annoys me those last couple of chapters in which he starred kinda pissed me off.
I am now a full fledged un repentant otaku. I like all types of manga not just sports or even shounen but i admit without hesitation that hajime no ippo is the absolute best. I have read dozens of manga and i'm sure to name this one in the top five for sure!!!!
P.S. this manga is older than i am!!!!!

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ippo is gay

by ntah
13 years ago

Rating: N/A

interesting boxing manga
ippo is the strongest infighter with explosive punch but he's still far away from being a world champion ( might take another 1000 chapters for him to become one)
he likes kumi but he is definitely loves miyata more (miyata being on the top of course)
takamura is the main character in this manga
and my biggest fear is the mangaka end first before the manga itself.

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Seems to be picking up steam again....

by Pakuen
13 years ago

Rating: N/A

Well, I don't know about others but while the recent two fights for Ippo have been not up to par and not keeping the excitement up, it feels like the mangaka has regained some of the creative, expressive juice of old. the manga once more seems focused with

//Spoiler//
Miyata saying essentially that he doesn't care about "fastest in Japan" but only interested in the "fastest in the world"
//Spoiler End//

among other things. I think its quite worth reading, 100 volumes or 200 volumes as long as the author is able to keep his creative/expressive juices flowing because a certain kind of stamina is necessary on a work this long about a single subject. I've fully enjoyed the ride even when it was at its lowest (Gedo). I'm glad to have read this best of all sports manga and glad to have come to terms with a sport that I'd never have encountered by choice otherwise. Please read this and do not worry about the length. I won't say its uniformly good by any choice of words but its still damn good even on the verge of the 100th volume

-Pakuen

... Last updated 13 years ago

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Too much damage to the boxers, Ippo especially

by alphaGulp
14 years ago

Rating: 8.5 / 10.0

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...

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