Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting – Rising Episode #01 Anime Review

Makunouchi Ippo reenters the boxing ring to defend his title, but his opponent has a few tricks up his sleeve.

What they Say:
Hajime No Ippo is a Japanese boxing manga written and illustrated by George Morikawa and has appeared in Weekly Shonen Magazine since 1989. After being frequently bullied as a child, Ippo’s encounter with the sport of boxing inspired him to think about what true strength really is. Ippo has endured the kind, yet rigorous, instruction of Coach Kamogawa and defeated one powerful opponent after another. He mastered his signature punch, the Dempsey roll, and even became the champion of all Japan. But even as champion, he still hasn’t found the meaning of “true strength”

The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers).
Makunouchi Ippo, Japan’s current featherweight boxing champion, has defended his hard-earned title several times. In the aftermath of his father’s death at sea, Ippo grew up with his mother setting an example of hard work and dedication, something which still influences him as he begins to train for his fourth title defense match. And this next match promises to be a doozy.

The challenger is Shimabukuro Iwao, a “man of the sea” like Ippo who plans to break through Ippo’s trademark weapon of choice – the Dempsey Roll – head-on. Ippo for his part doesn’t take the situation lightly, and steps up the intensity of his training. When the match begins, Shimabukuro, who’s a more compact fighter, throws around some of Ippo’s trademark moves and uses his bulky muscle and diminutive stature to full effect. Suddenly Ippo finds himself out of breath and begins to exhibit signs of cyanosis as Shimabukuro, who’s also a free-diver, drags him to the depths of the “sea.”

Taking place immediately following 2009’s Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger, Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting! – Rising doesn’t miss a beat story-wise. After a quick detour to focus on protagonist Makunouchi Ippo’s fatherless childhood, the plot races onward straight into the first boxing match of the season. This format certainly introduces the excitement of the series’ boxing matches quickly, and for viewers who prefer that action component this will seem like a welcome change. Missing, though, are the aspects of the series that I consider indispensible – the pre-match strategizing, the methodical, purposeful training, and even the juvenile humor that, take it or leave it, helps set the tone for the show. This first episode moves so quickly that it feels almost as if there was another introductory episode that was skipped. Sure, by this point we’re more than familiar with Ippo’s own motivations, and it was nice to finally learn more about his past, but I missed the time usually spent in fleshing-out his opponent’s talents and motivations. In a series that often spends a great deal of time making its adversaries seem sympathetic, this seems like a large oversight.

The animation during previous seasons of Ippo has always been spotty at best, but the scenes that take place during the boxing matches have always shone, and this is one thing which doesn’t appear to have changed. The movements of the fighters as they exchange blows and the strain of their musculature as their bodies twist and contort is often painstakingly rendered, giving a real sense of weight and power to the characters. The opening montage, during which some of Ippo’s previous fights are recapped, demonstrates some good examples of this, and I anticipate that the quality of the animation will really ramp-up as the series progresses and the stakes are raised more and more. The only thing I miss, and this could be said about New Challenger as well, is that I miss the grittier look of the earlier seasons; the image quality nowadays almost seems to sharp, clean and vibrant for a show that ought to at times feel more stained with blood and sweat.

Despite its whiplash pacing, it’s great to see more of this story being animated. Hearing the familiar voices again and seeing Ippo, probably one of the most deserving (and least irritating) shounen sports anime protagonists, progress even further towards his goals is satisfying. That said, I hope that, much like in New Challenger where Takamura’s story took up much of the second half, some of the other characters will also have storylines devoted to their progress. Having no familiarity with the manga, I’m stuck with only my own speculations on that front, but if history has anything to tell, I’m sure this season will have plenty to offer along those lines.

Of course, I’d really love to see Ippo and Miyata finally face-off, but that may be just a pipe dream at this point.

In Summary:
It’s nice to be back with the members of the Kamogawa Boxing Gym, and without a doubt this season will probably end up being just as intense as previous ones. However, it’s really to the benefit of the audience to be familiar with the previous seasons of the show, and with 26 episodes of it unavailable (officially) in the US as of this writing, it may be difficult for many viewers to pick up on all the plot lines. There’s also the matter of the first episode’s pacing, which lessens the impact of what should be a more interesting boxing match. I hope that subsequent episodes help to mitigate this issue.

Episode Grade: C+

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Jessi Silver

See author's posts