Hajime no Ippo

Screw it, I like the series enough. I'm just going to read the entire thing from the start.

I didn't dare to suggest doing that, but maybe you heard me thinking.

On chapter 5 now, and I'm already noticing some stuff that was cut out or toned down in the anime, like a bunch of the references to Real Life boxers.

Also, Kamogawa's face is really different early on.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on May 1st 2020 at 6:15:36 AM

The series came out in 1991, so a lot of the references were changed to avoid dating the series.

I mean, I think Mike Tyson's boxing career is pretty timeless.

Another funny thing: Aoki's introduction is getting knocked the fuck out by Miyata off-screen. Considering how important Aoki becomes, that's kind of sad.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on May 1st 2020 at 6:20:40 AM

Keep in mind the first chapter was before Iron Mike’s first jail stint, and the anime premiered after both that and Bite Night. It’s not too big a wonder Mori chose to downplay the direct similarities between Ippo and Tyson.

Ah, that makes sense. Currently at the Ippo/Miyata rematch, and the art is already really good. I understand how this series got popular enough early on to get an anime with such god-tier animation.

Kamogawa still looks weird, though.

Wow, Mashiba looks COMPLETELY different in his first appearance.

Hajime no Ippo drinking game: take a shot every time Ippo comes back to or thinks about catching leaves under that tree.

... you would die. Twice.

Yeah, I'm only at chapter 26 and I think that tree has already been brought up 4 or 5 times.

To my recollection the anime also tones down more the mildly racist undercurrents of characters talking about "Mexican jabs" and "black rhythm" as if those were genetic aspects (though the Mexican Jab thing is still there).

That comes off to me more as “way jab is taught in Mexico” vs how it’s taught elsewhere.

Oh yeah, there's way more talk of "genetic racial advantages" in the manga. Another major thing that was cut (for good reason) was Aoki wearing blackface to help Ippo train for the fight against Jason.

I'm currently at the Kobashi fight, and it always bothered me how lame that fight's ending was. Ippo didn't deserve that win, Kobashi was destroying him with that hit-and-run strategy until suddenly Kobashi turned into an greedy idiot and tried to go for a KO. He shamed the name of Maxie Rosenbloom, the Real Life boxer who was mentioned in the arc as one of Kobashi's coach's inspirations for the strategy.

I always wanted to see another fighter show up to do that strategy justice, it's not for nothing that Maxie Rosenbloom was the World Light Heavyweight champion for two years straight.

The fact everybody in the manga is so driven towards knockouts and that every fight seems to end at a knockout is actually one of my problems with Hajime no Ippo from the perspective of a boxing fan. It's why I kinda like seeing Aoki and Kimura fight because they're the ones most likely to win fights on points.

Hajime No Ippo needs more "spoilers", the guys whose style rely on minimizing and taking away their opponents advantages in a mudfight that they can steal for themselves. Imagine freakshow Takamura fighting someone like Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins who just defuses his entire gameplan by being a wily coyote and stealing low-activity rounds. Would be a interesting puzzle.

Edited by Gaon on May 1st 2020 at 12:09:39 PM

Well it’s a shonen, ya gotta end it on a manly knockout finisher to give a feeling of “climax” I guess.

I still remember that one fight that literally ended with a single exchange of blows. I saw readers complain that it was lame and anticlimactic at the time, but I actually found the whole buildup and execution pretty intense.

It's really bizarre to see Kamogawa's character design change over time. When he was indroduced, his lips were huge and his jaw went way far out on both sides. Now I'm at chapter 77, and his character design almost lines up with the Kamogawa I know, his lips are smaller and his jaw is almost right, he's just missing the mustache stubble and lines on the sides of his eyes.

One thing I've noticed a lot more in the manga (I'm around chapters 110-120) is Takamura accusing Ippo of being gay, first for Miyata, then Naomichi, then accusing him of having a crush on Date and cheating on Miyata and Naomichi.

Like, I know this was written in the 80s, and Takamura is just being a mean-spirited bully (with the written assumption that being gay is a bad thing to be ashamed of), but reading it now makes the whole thing come across very differently.

Especially when Sendo's introduction explicitly states that his feeling towards fighting Ippo are like a "crush". I know that this series has a sizable LGBT Fanbase (because of all the Ho Yay), and it makes one wonder, you know?

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on May 2nd 2020 at 2:13:59 AM

It's been a recurring observation that Ippo behaves towards Miyata moreso like a love interest than even Kumi.

Takamura's whole character honestly aged like milk for me. His tendency to be a huge asshole who bullies all his companions on a regular basis is pretty bad these days when bullying is such a issue (and as someone who suffered bullying throughout my whole school education, it's bothersome). It's particularly cruel when he does it to Aoki and Kimura, who unlike the other main characters, just had the rotten luck of not winning the genetic boxing lottery like Takamura.

Prolly doesn't help that Takamura is practically unbeatable which justifies his own ego & feelings of superiority right?

The thing that makes Takamura tolerable to me is how big of a failure he is in every aspect of life aside from boxing. If he was even remotely successful in any other pursuit, I wouldn't find his antics nearly as funny. That mini-arc of him just getting bodied in fishing by Yagi is one of the funniest things in the series.

The fact Takamura is a massive failure at everything that's not boxing is what pretty much saves me from hating his character, but this is still a boxing show after all. Every Takamura fight I end up wishing someone just beats some humility into him. When he fought David Eagle I was straight up Rooting for the Empire.

Oooooh thats the fight he wins despite being blinded.

Something I just noticed in chapter 220: Aoki and Kimura's debut matches were the undercard for the Japanese Bantemweight Title Match. Damn, I almost feel bad for the Bantemweight Champion and Challenger, having a title match preceded by a couple of newbie clowns. That's also probably why the house was as packed as it was.

Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on May 4th 2020 at 6:09:16 AM