Fighting Spirit (manga)

Hajime no Ippo
Cover of Hajime no Ippo volume 1 as published by Kodansha
はじめの一歩
Genre	Sports (Boxing), Comedy
Manga
Written by	George Morikawa
Published by	Kodansha
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Magazine
Original run	October 1989 – present
Volumes	116 (List of volumes)
Anime television series
The Fighting!
Directed by	Satoshi Nishimura
Written by	Tatsuhiko Urahata
Music by	Yoshihisa Hirano Hideki Taniuchi
Studio	Madhouse
Licensed by	NA Geneon
Original network	NTV
Original run	October 3, 2000 – March 26, 2002
Episodes	76 (List of episodes)
Anime television film
Champion Road
Directed by	Ken'ichi Kawamura
Written by	Tatsuhiko Urahata
Music by	Tsuneo Imahori
Studio	Madhouse
Licensed by	NA Geneon
Original network	NTV
Released	April 18, 2003
Runtime	90 minutes
Original video animation
Mashiba vs. Kimura
Directed by	Hitoshi Nanba
Written by	Tatsuhiko Urahata
Music by	Tsuneo Imahori
Studio	Madhouse
Licensed by	NA Geneon
Released	September 5, 2003
Runtime	60 minutes
Anime television series
New Challenger
Directed by	Jun Shishido
Written by	Kazuyuki Fudeyasu
Music by	Yoshihisa Hirano Hideki Taniuchi
Studio	Madhouse
Original network	NTV
Original run	January 6, 2009 – June 30, 2009
Episodes	26 (List of episodes)
Anime television series
Rising
Directed by	Jun Shishido
Written by	Kazuyuki Fudeyasu
Music by	Yoshihisa Hirano Tsuneo Imahori
Studio	Madhouse, MAPPA
Original network	NTV
Original run	October 5, 2013 – March 29, 2014
Episodes	25 (List of episodes)

Hajime no Ippo (はじめの一歩^?, lit. "The First Step") is a Japanese boxing manga series written and illustrated by George Morikawa. It has been serialized by Kodansha in Weekly Shōnen Magazine since 1989 and collected in over 116 tankōbon to date. It follows the story of high school student Makunouchi Ippo, as he begins his career in boxing and over time obtains many titles and defeats various opponents.

A 76-episode anime adaptation titled Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting! was produced by Madhouse, Nippon Television and VAP, directed by Satoshi Nishimura and ran on the Nippon Television Network from October 2000 to March 2002. A TV film and an OVA were also produced. On September 15, 2008 it was announced in Weekly Shōnen Magazine that a second season of Hajime no Ippo would begin airing on January 6, 2009. The second season is called Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger and concluded on June 30, 2009. At the end of 2003, the first season of anime was licensed in North America by Geneon, which released it under the name Fighting Spirit.

Ippo Makunouchi was an extremely shy high school student who never had the time to make friends because he was always busy helping his mother run their family fishing charter business. Because he kept to himself, a group of bullies led by Umezawa got into the habit of picking on him. One day, these bullies gave him a rather serious beating. A middleweight professional boxer who was passing by stopped the bullies and took the injured Ippo to the Kamogawa Gym (鴨川ボクシングジム, Kamogawa Bokushingu Jimu^?), owned by retired boxer Genji Kamogawa, to treat his wounds. After Ippo awoke to the sounds of boxers training, the boxer who saved him, Mamoru Takamura, tried to cheer Ippo up by letting him vent his frustrations on a sandbag. It was then that they had their first glimpse into Ippo's talent for boxing. After that incident, Ippo gave the situation a lot of thought and decided that he would like to begin a career as a professional boxer. When he conveys this message to Mamoru Takamura, he gets verbally reprimanded: Takamura thought Ippo was taking professional boxing too lightly. However, Takamura felt that he couldn't outright refuse Ippo, especially since his feat of punching the sandbag much harder than anybody else in the gym (except for Takamura). Therefore, he challenges Ippo to catch 10 falling leaves from a tree simultaneously after a week of training, fully convinced that Ippo would fail, Takamura jogs away as he continues his roadwork.