Anime and Manga

(青木 勝, Aoki Masaru?) is Ippo's senpai and Kimura's best friend. Aoki provides much of the gym's comic relief and exercises one of the world's most unusual fighting styles. A few of his signature techniques include the fan-favorite Frog Punch, double punch, an untorqued (ineffective) corkscrew punch, and the utterly ridiculous Lookaway (which has also been adopted by Takamura). In the past, he and Kimura were the toughest high-school thugs around, but now Aoki's real job is at a ramen restaurant. Due to the numerous times being dumped by the pretty girls in high school, he's developed a taste for women with unattractive faces. He has fought for the Japanese lightweight championship and shares an apartment with his girlfriend, Tomiko, a friend of Kumi Mashiba whose nice personality and good body more than compensate for her less-than-stellar face. Aoki seems to be based on either former world champion Jorge Paez, or hardcore fight fan hero Emanuel Augustus for the...

(鷹村 守, Takamura Mamoru?), voiced by Rikiya Koyama (Japanese) and Eddie Frierson (English), is a strong boxer that has never lost a match. He has an incredible athletic ability that manifests through his strength, speed, stamina, and reflexes. Takamura also has an insatiable appetite for women, which is only overshadowed by his obsession for victory. At one point, he single-handedly knocks out an adult bear while sustaining gashes on his arm, and more notably on his chest. The weakened bear is eventually killed, and he is dubbed "The Bear Slayer". He honors the moniker by wearing the Bear pelt, bear-ing (PUN intended) his scars proudly. He originally was a delinquent that often got into fights. Because of his strength, he often left his victims with serious injuries. He was disowned by his family due to a brawl initiated by himself which happened during a rugby match where his older brother was competing and fans booed. By the time the brawl was over, at least 20 people were i...

(幕之内 一歩, Makunouchi Ippo?), voiced by Kōhei Kiyasu (Japanese) and Steve Staley (English), is the main protagonist of the series. He lives with his mother, Hiroko Makunouchi, and helps with the family charter boat fishing business. When he was young, Ippo use to get bullied and picked on by others in his school. As fate would have it, Takamura came upon Ippo as he was getting a beating from a couple of bullies and decided to help him. Takamura saw something in Ippo and introduced him to the world of boxing. After seeing a video of Mike Tyson, Ippo becomes inspired to take up boxing to feel reborn with strength, as a sort of therapy and asks Takamura to get him into Kamogawa Gym. Immediately after arriving at Kamogawa Gym he impresses Takamura and Kamogawa with his explosive punching power and guts in the ring. Like he has with Takamura, Kamogawa personally takes on Ippo as his pupil and starts him on the path to being a pro boxer. Since then, Takamura has treated Ippo like a younger bro...

(はじめの一歩, "The First Step" in Japan) is a boxing manga and anime series created by Jyoji "George" Morikawa which is serialized by Kodansha in Weekly Shōnen Magazine. The manga has been running since 1989, spans 84 tankōbon. A 76-episode anime adaption, titled Hajime No Ippo: The Fighting! was produced by Madhouse, the Nippon TV Network and VAP, directed by Satoshi Nishimura and ran on the Nippon TV Network from October 2000 to March 2002. One OVA and a movie were also produced. It was announced that the anime would be licensed in North America by Geneon at the end of 2003. Geneon released it as Fighting Spirit. It was called Knockout in the Philippines. 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 is currently ongoing. Story Ippo Makunouchi is a very shy high school student who never had the time to make fri...