History Manga / HajimeNoIppo

* GracefulLoser: [[spoiler:Takeshi Sendo in his second loss to Ippo Makunouchi, Arnie Gregory in his loss to Ichiro Miyata, and David Eagle in his loss to Mamoru all gracefully conceded with no ill will or bad blood.]]

The manga '''''Hajime no Ippo''''' (English title: "The First Step/Fighting Spirit" and Filipino title: "Knockout"), written by Jyoji Morikawa, has been running since 1989, spans more than 130 volumes and is currently one of the longest manga series ever. The series has reached its ''1,300th'' chapter as of 2021, an extremely impressive feat in the manga industry. From October 2000 to March 2002, a 76-episode anime adaptation, titled ''Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting Spirit'' ran on the Nippon TV Network. One TV movie, ''Champion Road'', and an OVA, ''Kimura v. Mashiba'', were aired soon after.

!!This show provides examples of:

** As the protagonist, Ipp's weaknesses are targeted throughout his title defenses. Opponent strategies centred on his signature Dempsey Roll. Initially, the Dempsey Roll only worked if the opponent was forced back, with both Sendou and Sanada stepping in to stop it. Strategies then focused on countering its predictable rhythm, notably Ricardo Martinez surgically jabbing Ippo out of it and Sawamura (and other boxers) stepping back to remove blind spots. Ippo continually evolves the technique to cover its weaknesses.

** As the protagonist, Makunouchi's weaknesses are targeted throughout his title defenses. Opponent strategies centred on his signature Dempsey Roll. Initially, the Dempsey Roll only worked if the opponent was forced back, with both Sendou and Sanada stepping in to stop it. Strategies then focused on countering its predictable rhythm, notably Ricardo Martinez surgically jabbing Makunouchi out of it and Sawamura (and other boxers) stepping back to remove blind spots. Makunouchi continually evolves the technique to cover its weaknesses.

** Takeshi Sendo has a violent reputation, but when you meet him he's one of the goofiest yet nicest guys around. Until you piss him off or competing with him in the ring. Or both, as in the case of Akira Shigeta mouthing off against him in their match, resulting in a traumatizing NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from Sendo that ultimately retired him from boxing competition.
* BigBrotherMentor: Takamura, to Ippo. In a very, uhm, [[JerkAss special]] [[TricksterMentor way]]. Date is one of these towards Okita Keigo.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Translators don't all agree over Volg/Vorg Zangief/Zanghief's name looking at his shorts on the ring, it seems to be Volg though.

* ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld: Sendo believes in this. He believes that there are the strong and the weak as though he's a [[TheSocialDarwinist Social Darwinist]].

** One of the anime's intermission cards shows Ippo desperately trying to catch up to Takamura, Aoki and Kimura during the running workout. After the aforementioned BeachEpisode (the one that shows [[spoiler: Ippo being finally able to outrun Aoki]]), it's ''Aoki'' who's trying to catch up to everybody.

* AcheyScars: The one Date has on his nose bridge, [[spoiler: which comes from his disastrous fight against Ricardo Martínez]]

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Umezawa stopped slicking his hair back after he graduated from highschool.

** Shinobu Iga. He used various techniques from Mashiba's defeated opponents in an attempt to exploit Mashiba's [[spoiler: former]] weakness: his tendency to commit fouls when he loses his cool.

* ParentalAbandonment: A lot of boxers have missing parents. Ippo's [[DisappearedDad fisherman dad]] Kazuo drowned at sea while rescuing others, and nothing is said about Volg's and Yamada's fathers. Miyata's [[MissingMom mother]] abandoned him when he was a child. Sendo's parents are both dead (his mother ''may'' have [[DeathByChildbirth died when he was born]] or very soon afterwards), and he lives with his paternal grandmother. Takamura is from a wealthy family, but his parents disowned him when he was in high school, due to his violent nature. The loss of ''both'' of his parents when he was in highschool was [[spoiler: Ryo Mashiba's]] FreudianExcuse, too. Sawamura is distanced from his mother after [[spoiler: he attempted to ''[[AxCrazy kill]]'' her abusive boyfriend with a knife.]]

* UnconsciousObjector: Frequently a fighter -- most notably Ippo and Sendo -- will continue to box through muscle memory even after he's been knocked unconscious.

* ChekhovsGunman: The referee in Volg Zangiev vs. Mike Elliot. [[spoiler:The ref acted almost as biased as the Japanese ref in Volg's match against Sendo who ruled a slip from him as a knockdown. This spurred Volg to become extra aggressive in the middle parts of the otherwise tactical match, with him combining his White Fang with the Tsubame Gaeshi to bypass Elliot's defense, leading to a TKO victory on the fifth round.]]

* ChekhovsGunman: The referee in Volg Zangiev vs. Mike Elliot. [[spoiler:The ref acted almost as biased as the Japanese ref in Volg's match against Sendo who ruled a slip from him as a knockdown. This spurred Volg to become extra aggressive in the middle parts of the otherwise tactical match, with him combining his White Fang with the Tsubame Gaeshi to bypass Elliot's defense, leading to a TKO victory on the 5[[superscript:th]] round.]]

** Aoki had a bout with a forgettable character with an unforgettable name- [[http://ippo.wikia.com/wiki/Padawan_Yoda Padawan Yoda.]]

* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: [[spoiler: Ippo is not allowed to use the Stop-and-Go Dempsey Roll because of its effects on his knees and legs. Kamogawa's Tekken Punch is also like this.]]

** Sendo Takeshi is the good guy version of BloodKnight. He can be a downright psycho in the ring, but his motivations mostly root from him looking for strong opponents to fight since it gives meaning to his predisposition for violence. He also uses his BloodKnight tendencies for positive or constructive things, like serving as a regular BullyHunter in Osaka.

* OneSteveLimit: Actually {{Averted}}. Takamura had fought two different Richards, namely Richard Fox and Richard Bison, along with two different Keiths, Lycaon and Dragon.

** Brian Hawk! The lazy man who a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain with some of the outrageous things he says, like claiming he'll impregnate the women of Japan so they can have a generation of champions. He's also a pervert who believes that SexIsViolence or he has to have sex with women or else he might end up killing someone.

%%* ChekhovsGunman: The referee in Vorg vs. Mike Elliot.

%%* {{Jerkass}}: Takamura, who else?
%%** Brian Hawk!
%%** Don't forget Mr. Sawaguchi.

%%* {{Keet}}: Woli

%%* MoralityPet: Kumi, for her brother Ryo Mashiba.

%%* PerpetualFrowner: Mashiba, Manabu's rival Imai Kyousuke

** As of late in 2023-2024, ''Hajime no Ippo'' has started using a Floating Time Line similar to ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. It's either they're set in roughly the early 2000s (200x) but they're using modern [[AnachronismStew anachronistic]] devices like the early 2000s flip phone during the 1990s and the late 2010s smartphone during the early 2000s. Or they're set in publication time.

** This comes to a head when Itagaki posts sparring pictures on [[BlandProductName Pekitter]] when Website/{{Twitter}} only came to existence in July 2006 and only became mainstream around 2009 even though it's supposed to only be set in the early 2000s.

** This comes to a head when Itagaki posts sparring pictures on [[BlandProductName Pekitter]] when Twitter only came to existence in July 2006 and only became mainstream around 2009 even though it's supposed to only be set in the early 2000s.

** When Coach Kamogawa was discussing with Ippo the prospect of fighting Alfredo Gonzales, Ippo confirms it's only been 6 years since he started going to the Kamogawa Gym. This means canonically it's only supposed to be 1995 at the time. In contrast, Chapter 944 was released around 2011 or roughly 16 years later than the supposed current date!

** This comes to a head when Itagaki posts sparring pictures on [[Website/{{Twitter}} Pekitter]] when Twitter only came to existence in July 2006 and only became mainstream around 2009 even though it's supposed to only be set in the early 2000s.

** When Coach Kamogawa was discussing with Ippo the prospect of fighting Alfredo Gonzales, Ippo confirms it's only been 6 years since he started going to the Kamogawa Gym. This means canonically it's only supposed to be 1995 at the time. In contrast, Chapter 981 was released around 2012 or roughly 17 years later than the supposed current date!

* DissonantSerenity: ''Ippo'' pulls this off during his match against Kojima, after Kojima badmouthed his coach and opponents. It's a bit...unsettling. At least when he was enraged by Mashiba cheating to win against Miyata, his rage was plain on his face. Now he went from red to black in pure rage.

* ArtEvolution: Drawing a series for 10 year will naturally make the art change. The largest difference is body types. Before, Ippo, Kimura, Aoki, Miyata, and even Mashiba all had the exact same musculature, body, and facial structure, almost giving the series a case of OnlySixFaces, the only noticeable differences being hair and eyes. Now, Ippo's bigger than all of the others in sheer muscle size(second only to Takamura), Miyata has a much lighter looking frame, and Mashiba's long arms have the muscles spread out more on them than anyone else, making him look all the more elongated. The faces are also different: Ippo has a rounded face and Mashiba has a very narrow, sunken face. Before, he just looked like he had a more prominent forehead and slightly sunken eyes. Takamura is more ovular, his hairstyle making him look more so. Of note is the fact that, if you've seen the anime first and started on the manga afterwards, get ready for a shock. Many characters look ''nothing'' like their final designs.

* ArtifactTitle: As the manga's gone on, it's become less about Ippo (though he still has the most focus, it's become more of an ensemble piece). The translation of the title ("First Step") has also lost some meaning now that Ippo has been champion for a fair amount of time and defended his title repeatedly. Alternately, the title can be seen as gaining significance as the series goes on. There is a strong theme of always moving forward and taking small steps towards large goals, so that Ippo and his friends' journey is actually a collection of many "first steps". At the current time in the manga [[spoiler:Ippo is recovering mentally and physically from a significant loss and has to start all over from the beginning again. The focus is on rediscovering his motivation to continue boxing and remaking the Dempsey Roll so that he can move on and take a new first step.]]