Hajime no Ippo

I’m genuinely surprised this work hasn’t had a talkback thread, as it’s probably one of the longest running manga ever (dating all the way back to 1989!) with over 1200 chapters and three animated series’ of Ippo’s journey through the boxing ranks.

Of course, like all things, it seems to be coming to an end, and not exactly in a satisfying way either.

The most recent arc ended violently with Ippo losing his big comeback fight, followed by a trip to the doctor to discuss CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). He eventually concludes on the advice of his doctor to retire from boxing. The magazine editor has also seemed to be implying this isn’t a swerve either, meaning the manga is probably wrapping up.

This was something of a gut punch for me. I’ve been following this story since early college, and to see it end this way, if it sticks, would probably be the biggest case of Torch the Franchise and Run I’ve seen in a while.

edited 30th Jan '18 12:30:35 PM by Beatman1

Huh… That's the last way I expected this series to end. I haven't been following it in 2 or 300 chapters though. Maybe another protagonist is gonna take over?

edit: By the way.

edited 30th Jan '18 12:47:01 PM by Lyendith

Surprised that didn’t show in my search.

And yeah, it feels like most of the audience for this series has dried up but still...

Going out on Ippo losing and retiring would be like ending One Piece without actually finding One Piece. You’ve built to this for decades. What gives?

Maybe he's gonna fight one last big match before retiring?

Well, it's sad, but it is what happens in boxing.

]the flip side of this is...well, with Ippo's fucking fight history, he would have "realistically" retired at fight number 7.

I'm of two minds of this. As someone who jumped onto this boat real late, I think it's a fascinating direction for the series to go if they commit to it. Like, if Ippo stays retired and helps his friends/mentors some new generation boxer as a coach, that would breathe a bit of new life to a series that kinda settled into a routine. Also, it's incredibly easy to cope with the sadness by just imagining that the series ended at the second Sendo match, and everything else was a neat bonus. Putting myself in the shoes of someone who has followed the series for their whole lives, and just wanted to see Ippo at least fight Martinez and Miyata properly, this must have made all that feel like a waste of goddamn time. People wouldn't have kicked up a stink if Ippo put up a good effort but lost, then retired if it was against those two; it's both the fact that Ippo lost against some putz, and that that was the pay-off to two years of build-up, and at least half a year of "Evolved Dempsey Roll" hype.

Then there's the latest chapters. They make me suspicious as to whether or not this will stick. Ippo's mom alludes to Ippo "continuing on another adventure, as men do" or something.like that. Here's to hoping it sticks, because otherwise his recent loss against Guevarra would have been a massive waste of everyone's time.

edited 31st Jan '18 5:24:04 AM by mrsunshinesprinkles

There’s nowhere left to go which is why I feel like it’s a case of Torch the Franchise and Run ...if it sticks.

At least when Ashita no Joe ended, it had Joe confess his love to his romantic interest and get his title fight. He died, but he died on his own terms. Ippo...just quit. Realistic, but fucking unsatisfying.

Hi, I decided to binge the anime a couple years ago and I'm done with waiting to see if they'll ever confirm a new anime season. I want to start reading the manga. I've seen all of the anime so far, any suggestions on at what point I should start?

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Aug 25th 2019 at 5:32:36 AM

Is anyone keeping up with the manga?

Gonzales is really going to town on Sendo. I hope Sendo losing provides Ippo some motivation to come back.

Still planning on starting?

So this is still going even after Ippo retired?

It is?

It became more of a ensemble piece these days, with the nominally secondary cast taking turns having A Day in the Limelight. The most recent arc focuses on Sendo, and the short arc before focused on Kimura ( with Ippo taking his hand at being a trainer), e.t.c. It's a pretty interesting manga, though obviously I miss Ippo.

Yeah, since I never got an answer, I never starting reading it (in the meantime, though, I caught up on One Piece). I'm still open. I've heard some things in the manga were skipped or re-arranged for the later seasons, so what would be a good place to start reading?

On another subject, I really want them to make season 4. There's still so much manga left to adapt.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Apr 29th 2020 at 7:38:25 AM

I've never watched the anime, so I'm afraid I can't answer that. =[

So it's become a bit of an Artifact Title, eh?

Speaking of which… have Ippo and Kumi gotten anywhere past mutual blushing in their relationship?

I recall hearing that Kumi's gotten rather unpopular due to being considered a major ball & chain on Ippo.

From what I've heard, season 1 of the anime didn't cut much out and it went until Ippo beat Sendo and became the champion of Japan. Seasons 2 and 3 were much shorter and cut some content out, and season 3 ended with Takamura vs David Eagle and spliced in Kamogawa's backstory after that.

Kumi has become Adrian times 10. She’s actively seeking to keep Ippo from returning to the ring, and it’s being implied Ippo will need to choose between her and boxing.

Well, literally, you could start at around chapter 558. That'd leave you with...750 chapters to catch up on. I can try to organize a more abridged run to try to bring that number down to only a hundred or so, if you want. Just let me know.

It's not quite an artifact title because Ippo is still somewhat clearly the lead of the ensemble, but yeah, it's much more of an ensemble now. As for your question: well...no.

Edited by Gaon on Apr 29th 2020 at 8:36:34 AM

I'm more asking if I should start at the end of season 1 or the end of season 3. Is the cut content from seasons 2 and 3 worth going back to see, or can I just start at where season 3 left off? Or should I just start from the very beginning, because season 1 isn't as accurate as I've heard it is?

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Apr 30th 2020 at 12:36:06 PM

(I don't know, I did read everything but I don't remember the small details).

I agree the manga is still interesting even though is is no longer about Ippo taking the world.

I'd say you can pretty safely start from where season 3 leaves you off. If anything you can come back later if you want, but none of the skipped material is anything I'd call crucial, to my recollection.

You'll already have over four hundred chapters to read one way or another.

I'm fine with reading a lot, I just don't want to miss anything important (and my definition of "important" does cover at least one thing I already know they skipped in the anime: Ippo's little big Ippo being made public to the world).

Well, if ya find important, go for it, but personally I wouldn't really go through the trouble.

Also, you can skip the Woli fight (it's like 30 chapters long). Was that one animated?

Specifically, I'm asking what chapter I should start at. I think I'm going to start from Ippo beating Sendo and becoming champion, the end of season 1, which chapter is that?