Why You Should Watch: Hajime No Ippo

I've never been particularly interested in the sport of boxing not that I have anything against the pugilistic endeavor it's just that I'm about as likely to watch 12 rounds of boxing as I am to say rewatch the cafe episode of sword art online now this being the case you'd be forgiven for thinking that maybe a 100 plus episode show entirely about boxing might not necessarily be up my alley and it's here my friends that you'd be wrong hajime no ippo is in a lot of ways the most exemplary and pure example of Shonen anime within the entire genre there's no superpowers no laser blasts no screaming so loud that your hair changes color instead what we have is a story about underdog boxer Makino GE Poe and his journey to the top of Japan's boxing league the manga is shown on jumps second most long-running series of all time clocking in at a staggering one thousand one hundred and thirty three chapters and still ongoing to this day and is written and illustrated by George Morikawa who at an early age was infamous for brawling with other high school students even somehow managing to get into a fistfight during his high school entrance exam he'd eventually challenged this um enthusiasm into boxing and would later in life be the co-owner of the JB sports boxing gym as well as acting as a coach and seconds too many young boxers and you only really need to read a few chapters Hajime no Ippo to see just how deep his understanding of boxing read is every page of the manga is infused a deep love and respect to the sport and it's through this that we experience Evos journey but in this modern era where chrome headed superheroes defeat supervillains in a surprising a minimal amount of punches where a disproportionate number of kids named Jojo go on increasingly bizarre adventures Ken a series conceived in the 80s simply about boys who like punching each other really hold up well my friends it's that time again so let's put on our gloves step into the ring and talk about why you should watch Hajime no Ippo though it may not seem like it due to the relatively recent resurgence of sports style anime that I like to do beautiful boys doing things well sports anime were actually a fairly tough pitch for Western audiences right up until relatively recently companies were notoriously hesitant to localize sports anime in the West and the reason was right there in the name Sports anime invariably focused upon sports and that was enough to put off many cat-eared Pocky eating western fans most likely due to preconceptions about sports and the people who enjoy them but the thing is a good sports anime is just that it's a good anime series like eyeshield 21 IQ and slam dunk are just as enjoyable and dramatic as other a-class shown in series but getting past the initial what I hate sports barrier can be a tough sell for a lot of people yes Hajime no Ippo is about boxing but really that's just a framework for a beautifully nuanced and exceptionally well executed hero's journey to take place and on that journey you'll witness some of the most tremendously eruptive victories and losses this side of anime as well as meeting some of the most likeable and endearing characters within the genre as a whole the first of which is our main protagonist makunoichi ippo ebo is the walking punching embodiment of the traditional japanese hero he's quiet he's polite and he never challenges the status quo even when facing his opponent he never has any kind of negative thing to say about them nor does he ever try and present himself in a way that could be conceived as cool or aggressive the most threatening he ever gets is giving his opponent this ever so slightly menacing glare and even then I think I find the Blue Eagle from Muppets more intimidating at first glance he's not exactly ideal material for a story where major themes involve beating your opponent into unconsciousness but where a pose character starts to become interesting as when you see just how genuinely good and decent a person he is Pipo is not trying to be nice he just is he bows to the audience after winning fights he works doubly hard to help out his mom with her fishing business and rather than hate or begrudge his opponents he nearly always tries to see the good in them and often idealizes them even after defeating them that doesn't seem to be a single hateful or negative bone in a pose entire and it's a lot of fun watching the innocent good spirited hero go up against a calve acade of boxers who most certainly are not the other big way the show gets us ani both side is one of the oldest and most effective tricks in the book and get something that so many animes still get wrong the slow progression of the hero's abilities over the course of the show when we first joined Ipoh and episode 1 he's as far from a professional fighter as you can imagine he's bullied at school and his quiet nature means that he doesn't have any friends upon being saved by tacca mora and don't worry we'll get to tackle mora he's brought to a boxing gym where we witness Evo's first-ever punch let's take a look hey good stuff Evo what's important about this scene is its letting us know that Ipoh is starting from absolute zero he doesn't possess any kind of innate talents apart from the above-average upper-body strength he naturally acquired from working on his mom's fishing boat from here we ever so slowly' watch people build up his repertoire of moves and techniques he's so unskilled at the beginning that his first few wins really genuinely come across flukes but slowly we watch him expand outwards mastering the jab uppercut blocking footwork head movement dodging countering and eventually incorporating it all into his signature peekaboo style and then eventually evolving that into his iconic Dempsey role one of the most stunningly devastating attacks in all anime trust me it will happen and you will lose your mind allowing Ipoh to slowly develop his abilities like this not only makes every victory seem all the more rewarding but also gives us a window into Ipoh as a character he's not really the brightest or most quick-witted but he's passionate about what he loves and does his best to see the good in people and it's this positive innocence that is beautifully contrasted against some of eCos opponents many of whom are deeply dark and damaged people a lot of shows nowadays and particularly the ones based off light novels seem to skip this part of the characters developments when that happens I always feel like we've missed a fundamental part of their growth as a character establishing a character's limitations and having them steadily rise past them can do wonders to save an otherwise average show take for example one of my guilty pleasures mm six is Kenichi history strongest disciple it's not a fantastic show by any measure but the one thing it absolutely nails is the progression of power it's like ten episodes before we even see the protagonist win a proper fight and when we do it's like holy did he just win this kind of patience and investment gives a real tangible feeling to your protagonist it makes each victory actually matter and every defeat all the more devastating in fact one of my favorite arcs in all of EPO is after ebo suffers his first major loss I was really surprised with how the show dealt with his disappointment over fire and we watched the young boxer sink into depression and really doubt himself for the first time Shirin series always seemed terrified of letting their heroes take a good hard genuine loss it's like the industry is trying to create a generation of John Cena's button lettering our heroes to lose on occasion we get to see a more vulnerable side of them and in a pose case it just makes us root for the little guy all harder now don't get me wrong he's still the hero and he still wins a lot but the few losses he does take ground his character and inject real and tangible tension into both the story and the show's exquisitely brutal boxing matches the boxing matches are of course the main attraction here it's inside the ring that all the major moments of characters lives happen and you could quite cynically mind you'd boil the show down into just a ongoing series of boxing matches which might not sound like the most interesting or revolutionary plot structure but what really matters is the way that people execute on the idea each boxing match is in a sense its own narrative arc taking anywhere from say two to eight episodes to conclude and these arcs are divided into two distinct sections be build up to a match and match itself what you might be surprised about upon first viewing Hajime no Ippo is just how long we spend in the first of these two sections the build up which takes place entirely outside the ring it's here where we really get to know the characters in fact there's nearly a slice-of-life element to these sections as we watch the characters go about their daily lives including training jobs and socialising it can be a lot of fun but it's also the time in the show where the stakes are really set let's take a look at one of my favorite build ups from season 3 Ipoh versus the sinister and vile so warmer at first so warm it doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary but upon viewing the tapes of his previous fight we see not only that he's an exceptionally skilled fighter but also that he's a violent and brutal person on top of that swarmer also announces that he has the perfect counter to e posed MC role and at that point the show has done all it really needs to to establish a reasonable amount of tension for the place but where things get truly compelling is when we start to dig into sawara as a character and were painted the picture of a deeply damaged individual one who's unfortunate upbringing has left him completely incapable of relating or empathizing with people around him boxing is the only part of his life that makes sense and even in that he regards himself an outsider only by defeating evil and proving that he's the best kin swarmer really find acceptance the character is given further nuance by the presence of his old grade school teacher who initially introduced sir warm into boxing but now fears that the sport has only nourished his natural desire to hurt people and through this character we really see what's warm is someone who never really had a chance to become anything other than the violent monster he now is and we both despise and pity him for it and thus a tense dynamic is formed within the audience making things even more compelling again is the contrast between swarmin Nebo at this point of the show the audience is well familiar with a pose good nature and gentle heart and watching him go up against the deeply broken swarmer creates an atmosphere that cuts like a razor which brings us to what is essentially the centerpiece of the entire show and it's universe the boxing matches themselves I think one thing that's interesting to note here is that while a lot of Hajime no Ippo build up sections involve a lot of dialogue between characters there's very little in the way of animation or visual design but within the matches themselves the show switches gears and begins telling its story largely through the visuals as opposed to dialogue and to some absolutely stunning effects the weighty brutal and visceral fights of the manga have been translated perfectly each movement of the boxes is communicated with real weight and purpose each potential attack carries with it a Tangier feeling of force and when one lands there's a real lasting sense of physical consequence to it one of the biggest ways the show does this is by slowing down time to a crawl and letting the tension build to a peak and just when things become unbearable the action explodes in a visceral burst force not only does this infinite help out with the pacing and timing of each fight but Maddox has used these sections of slow time to focus on all these subtle little angles of the boxers body motion it really emphasizes just how much forces behind each attack and it's an attention to detail like this that lets the punches of Hajime no Ippo back a harder punch through these super-powered laser blasts of shows like Dragon Ball Z the show also uses these moments of slow time to convey to us exactly what a boxer is thinking in that moment and watching them try to figure it out each other's next move and act accordingly adds a crucial layer of strategy and mind games to the matches as even very my new chips in weight and timing can lead to a dramatic and often explosive change in the direction of the match the show also makes good use of these little visual motifs that really drive home the physical storytelling for instance I love the use of these dense bursts of white mist that are used to convey momentum velocity and impacts much to my delight the matches will often dive into ludicrous visual metaphor territory such as suggesting swarm as fists is actually a pistol or that fighting Borg is like fighting a pair of wolves obviously this is more than a little ridiculous but it makes for a fun watch and does help convey the situational storytelling of each fight as well as doing a lot to explain the unique narrative to each and every match backing up the unique visuals is some absolutely stellar sound design sound design is something I don't see called out a whole lot and I may review circles but it's something that when handled right can add an incredible amount to a scene all the most dramatic moments of Ipoh are elevated with some really creative and impactful audio punches explode with the sound of jet engines and boxers shift their way to the sound of screeching tires and it's all scored with some of the most beautifully dramatic music industry like seriously listen to this ship got it done he can detainee chuckles and coma creditor furthermore the show also knows exactly how to use near silence to build tension to an unbearable level only then to let the action resume with an intense cacophony of dramatic noise this is bold and confident sound design and something I'd really like to see more of in other shows the major other thing that you need to know about the fights of Hajime no Ippo and I cannot stress this enough it is how each fight is essentially its own narrative we have two characters both of whom are going to be in very different places in their lives by the timeless last bell rings and it's the journey there that the real heart of the series lies the narrative variety between each individual boxing match is exceptional no two fights ever feel the same and each new opponent is a puzzle for Eagle to solve some fights particularly those featuring elqui can be hilarious displays of physical comedy while others like a pose title fight against sendo can be near existential battles against this seemingly impossible each fight has a constantly shifting momentum and every time a new hit lands in that moment it shifts and recontextualizes that fighters chance of winning what can seem like a shore victory one moment can quickly turn into a disastrous battle to stay conscious such as it goes right from season one where a far less talented boxer fights dirty in order to drain Evo stamina causing what should be an easy fight to become a desperate struggle against the odds once if I concludes we go straight into the build-up for the next fight and this is essentially how the show works you have your setup through slice-of-life slash training sections as well as your payoff in the matches themselves this might sound formulaic but trust me that doesn't need to be a bad thing especially when it's executed as well as this not only that it's a formula the show is constantly tinkering with and even subverting and in fact one of the major ways it does this is it takes the focus away from Ipoh entirely and focuses instead on members of what in my opinion is one of the strongest supporting cast of any large shown in series some of these will be from a pose constant cycle of unique and interesting opponents many of whom who have their own fully fleshed-out backstories and own reasons for fighting such as the aggressive and overly confident sendou who actually feels like he could be the main character of an entirely different boxing anime but it just so happens that he exists in a pose world his fan base are rabid in a way that I pose simply are not and the subplot about him buying kids a Sega Megadrive is endearing as hell the show also isn't afraid to switch track and make a pose opponent the underdog such as the sympathetic now from season two who if he can't defeat Ipoh may have to face retirements the show does a good job of changing up the formula and keeping a pose opponents interesting but where the supporting cast really shine is an e pose lovable hooligan punk gym mates while they start off as merely background characters each one slowly starts to develop their own narrative arc and for long each one is getting their own multi-episode matches and it's here that the show is really able to have fun with our expectations Ollie Poe's gym mates are in a different weight class to him so they never really crossed the barrier into being actual rivals nothing Evo does directly affects their own personal journey nor do anything they do really affect II pose and I really think this helps to find them as their own characters on their own journey LG and Kimura for example have been boxing for far along with an ebow but on top of dealing with the fact that they both may be in the twilight of their boxing career they also must deal with that they both take far more losses than eport a Kimura this brings an entirely different dynamic to their story arcs their matches aren't so much rooted in Para fantasy but more just the journey of these characters when either one does achieve victory there's an actual feeling of surprise we know on an intellectual level that ebo is probably going to win most of his fights purely by virtue that his name is in the title both LG and Kimura we have no such guarantee and the threat of defeat is always real and looming watching these two struggle creates an entirely different dynamic to evo story and gives a pacing and texture to the show as a whole and their backstory as Yankee hooligans is one of the most hilarious and enjoyable arcs of the entire show head trainer of the KBG boxing gym is the iron fisted Liege coach Kamogawa watching him mercilessly beat the boxes into shape is constantly entertained a great degree of comedy is derived from his exchanges with taka Mora but the way the to care for and respect each other is really heartwarming if there talk down by the riverside before taka Moroz title fight doesn't have you well up even a little then you my friend are a unfeeling monster who needs to be ostracized from society as quickly as humanly possible the coach is also the focus of one of my favourite and most unique arcs of the entire show which is a flashback to post-world War two America occupied Japan and I Mir three episodes it tells the stunning story of how the coach became a boxer a complicated love triangle and culminates in easily one of the greatest and most stunningly clinched matches of the entire show where there are no weight classes and Kamogawa faces off against a massive american-born general this brings us to my absolute favorite character of the entire show Takamura story arcs of focuses upon him a rare we usually only get maybe one or two a season but when we do holy hell do they burn the house down as a character attack amaura is as far from people as you can get he's loud vulgar offensive and insanely overconfidence and still you can't help but love the guy he takes on all life's challenges and head-on and refuses to view the world in any way but his own on top of that he's so naturally gifted that many of his matches are played for laughs as he dismantles Japan's heavyweight division with a comedic bravado but it's later on when he steps onto the world stage that his story really begins for the first time tak amaura faces opponents that are on his level and it's here where you get to see the character really shine unlike Ipoh the show doesn't portray attacker more as an underdog but as a superhero one that you really really want to believe could never lose but it's this fear that gives his fights an edge and tension simply unmatched by any other and no better example of this than the exceptional set up and pay off of his monumental world title bottle with the monstrous champion Brian Hawke there's also some really great comedy to be found in the interaction with Ipoh and his gym mates if it was a nice and pure boy but his gym mates sure as hell are not and it's hilarious watching them do everything they can to mess with the guy I think in the hands of a weaker writer these scenes could quickly grown tiresome but a lot of this stuff had me grinning like idiot helps in no small part by the real and genuine friendship that grows between Ipoh and the others over the course of the show yes they torment each other but there's a real bond here and by the end of it all this group of idiots had named themselves to me in a way that few or their supporting casts do all that said were at that point where I feel it only fair to talk about what I consider some of the show's shortcomings I pose main rival Maya while being a decent character in his own right pales in comparison to many of II pose or the rivals and considering he's essentially the Vegeta of the show that's a more than a little disappointing the pacing of the show can be at times grueling especially in the lead-up to a big fight there's even one instance where the character leaves the locker room to head out at the start of the episode and by the end of the episode he still has not reached the ring to begin to fight now that said I never felt like the show was wasting my time and a degree of that is just how well the show builds tension but yes it can be a little frustrating my regular criticism of Shonen anime applies here too there's very few female characters and what are there are usually either mother figures or love interests but I suppose considering that this is a series set in a men's boxing league in the 80s Japan perhaps that point is a little mute but still given how prominent women's martial arts has become in recent times it would be an interesting Avenue to explore and if you want to check out a sports manga that actually does this then I highly highly recommend the exceptional taboo written by moratta it tells the story of high-school student not so ashido and her journey into women's MMA the arts gorgeous the fights are stunning and the hate-filled and mean-spirited Natsu is a startlingly different kind of protagonist than you might be used to I'll probably talk about this manga more in a future video but for now just know that it's probably one of my favorites within the last 10 years so all that said there's still one other aspect of the show we need to cover for anyone who's been keeping track of my why you should watch it you'll know I put a lot of stock into shows that push the medium forward shows that say something new and different and can potentially recontextualize how we both view shows of that type as well as narrative storytelling in general and so the question becomes how does Ipoh do this how does Zeebo evolve the Shonan genre and the answer is quite simple it doesn't even at the time with conception boxing series like a sheet a kanojo had already taken Japan by storm and even as an ardent fan of Ipoh I'd have no trouble saying that there are very few truly original things about it but in judging it by this standard you can easily miss the best thing about it Hajime no Ippo is not an advancement of the show and genre it was a celebration of it it's a show that intricately understands the core fundamentals of the shown in genre and through mastery of these fundamentals exemplifies the very best of what shown will be all the struggle friendship soaring victories and crushing defeats it's all here and it's all handled with a love and care that can only come through someone with a deep and enduring love of the genre as well as the sport upon which ito is based no I don't love boxing but after experiencing Evo I understand exactly why more endurance but more so than even that this is a show of it slowly surpassing one's limits and reaching for that next major milestone and it's this honest and open communication that is the driving force behind a show that encapsulates the very best of what Shonen has to offer and this my dear viewers is why you should watch Hajime no Ippo friends that's gonna do it for today I just wanted to mention that I recently passed a thousand subscribers and while I know in the grand scheme of things that is a relatively small number it really does mean a whole lot to me so genuinely guys thank you so much to everyone who has liked commented on subscribes and in the meantime guys take care of yourselves and I'll see you next time you do I

Channel: Super Eyepatch Wolf

Views: 1,362,254

Keywords: Hajime no Ippo, Anime, Why you should watch, Why you should watch hajime no ippo, Super Eyepatch Wolf, Analysis, Recomendation, boxing, animation

Id: PgUKUZfihhg

Length: 24min 6sec (1446 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 04 2016