Fighting Spirit, known in Japan as Hajime no Ippo (はじめの一歩) is a sportsanime and manga series created by Jyoji "George" Morikawa (森川ジョージ) which was serialized by Kodansha in Shonen Weekly (週刊少年マガジン).
Ippo Makunouchi (幕之内一歩 Makunouchi Ippo) is a very shy high school student who never had the time to make friends because he was always busy helping his mother with the family fishingboat business. Because he kept to himself a group of bullies got into the habit of picking on him. On one particular day these bullies decided to give him a rather serious beating. A middle-weight professional boxer who was passing by stopped the bullies and took Ippo to the Kamegawa Gym (鴨川ボクシングジム) owned by a retired boxer Genni Kamegawa (鴨川源二 Kamegawa Genni) to treat his injuries. After Ippo awoke to the sounds of boxers trianing, 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 started his regular training and began on the path of Japan's professional boxing.
The series has two spin-off movies - Kimura Vs. Mashiba, which pits one of Ippo's senpai against the Japanese lightweight champion (who happens to be Ippo's girlfriend's brother) and Champion Road which provides further development for the characters as Ippo reaches ever higher.
HajimenoIppo is, without a doubt, the cream of the crop in the genre.
Ippo, for example, was a boy who was unhappy with the way his life was going, as he was bullied in school and always felt weak and helpless.
HajimenoIppo is very male oriented in both content and humor, and if you are not hooked by the first few episodes, you probably will not be hooked at all.
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