Story Review
Story:
The story is all about Ippo Makunouchi, a 16 year old boy studying as a second year student in Shiritsu High School and his life as a boxer. Living without a father, Ippo never has time for social life because he has to help his mother at work, which is a fishing boat business. This also became the reason why fellow students bully him so much and always beat him to a crap. One day, while he was being beaten up by good, a man passing by saved his life by scaring the bullies away. The man happened to be a boxer and taught him how to punch. Ippo liked the feeling he gets by punching and decides that he wanted to become a boxer and become reborn from his crappy life.With this, he experienced the joys and the pains of becoming a boxer and boxed his way to the top.
Comment:
I guess they used the title "hajime no ippo(the first step)" to the anime and manga because it tells Ippo's first step to becoming a boxer, to becoming reborn. It's because it tells how Ippo came to be and how he managed to beat his first enemies. It did not continue Ippo's life after he beat Sendo and got the Japan Featherweight Champion title, when he was about to fulfill his dream in becoming a world champion. We could only guess what happened to him after that. Anyway, I liked the anime because it gave me thrills and laughter. I enjoyed it and even cheered for Ippo (or Miyata) even though I knew it was only a show. It seems tailor -made for sports lovers, and even if you're not, you can still enjoy its action-filled (sometimes laughter-filled) nature. What it differs from the real boxing shows are the fact that the it not only shows punches, but also the thoughts and feelings coming from Ippo (and his opponents) while he drives the punch, which makes it more interesting.But then, it follows the same strict plot on every fight : the underdog always wins. All in all, a great anime which will be worth your while.
Others:
I think that there was a continuation fight in the series only seen on DVD. It deals with the last fight: Ippo Makunouchi versus Ichiro Miyata, the winner of the match will be the ultimate winner. It's because I guess that their fight is not over. They only fighted on sparring matches, the first sparring match was won by Miyata while the second sparring was won by Ippo. Miyata then said that they had a 1 win -1 loss record and said that they should settle it on the pro ring to see who the real winner is. Unfortunately, Miyata lost to Mashiba just when they thought they're going to fight again. After that, Miyata went to Thailand for a comeback. I guess because the last match in the series is Sendo, they thought about adding a DVD about the fight between Ippo and Ichiro. Well, I could only guess because I wasn't able to get a hold of a copy of it. Maybe some other time, I can say that my guess is true. Until that time, keep your eyes open :). Also, Ippo's fight can also be relieved by Video game fans with Play Station's "Victorious Boxers: Ippo's Road to Glory" Developed by ESP and Kodansha. Now you can be just like Ippo (or other characters, whatever). Okay, That's just about it. Thanks.
