You started rooting for the underdog. Then you idolized the champion. Eventually, you started to simply admire the bigger world around the entire setting. Wait, are we talking about sports anime? Yes, yes of course! Though Ippo’s adventures may no longer be considered a purely linear watch order progression nowadays.
Anyway, a Hajime no Ippo watch order doesn’t require any heavy analysis. It doesn’t even require the long hours of reading compared to when poring over decades of its source material. All you need to do, is to widen your perspective a little bit at each achievement reached. Maybe you can feel inspired as well.
Ironically, this type of setup reminds us very closely of our KonoSuba watch order (yup), Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure watch order, and Evangelion watch order combined. Arrangement-wise, it is short, straightforward, and comfy enough to check and plan (your time) with.
Recommended watch order
Hajime no Ippo’s anime adaptation is as linear as it gets. There is technically one short OVA but, even that is still linked directly to a proper release timeline. Do take note though, that there is a significant time gap between the very first series (first season + two specials) with the following ones up until 2013.
1. Chronological order
Data is arranged by episodes, with a few titles here and there for clarification. Otherwise, it’s no different from the release date order.
- Hajime no Ippo (All 75 episodes)
- Hajime no Ippo: Boxer no Kobushi (special)
- Hajime no Ippo: Champion Road (special)
- Hajime no Ippo: Mashiba vs Kimura (OVA)
- Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger (All 26 episodes)
- Hajime no Ippo: Rising (All 25 episodes)
2. Release date order
For this one, data is a bit simplified, with only the release year as the primary differentiating factor. Again, it is technically not different from the previous chronological order.
- Hajime no Ippo (2000)
- Hajime no Ippo: Boxer no Kobushi (2003)
- Hajime no Ippo: Champion Road (2003)
- Hajime no Ippo: Mashiba vs Kimura (2003)
- Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger (2009)
- Hajime no Ippo: Rising (2013)
Plot of Hajime no Ippo
Ippo Makunouchi is your less than typical, timid teenager, who is generally very wimpy and is unable to fight for himself. This is made even worse by the fact that his social interactions are physically limited, due to his self-imposed duties of helping out his mother run their fishing business.
And what happens to timid protagonists in anime? That’s right, they get bullied. In fact, Umezawa and his cronies have gotten used to kicking him around that Ippo doesn’t even resist anymore. That is, until Takamura, a professional boxer happened to witness him being bullied, and saved him. The way he gracefully used boxing techniques already made Ippo’s eyes sparkle. But, his eventual inspiration developed even better with a healthy dose of sandbag punching from the very gym Takamura trains at.
After that, it took a bit more development and interactions from the people at the gym for Ippo to develop his decision. Eventually, Ippo finally took the first steps (pun intended) to become a professional boxer. His path to becoming a stronger person, both physically and mentally, has just begun…
It’s all in that first step
Think One Piece has gone for so long already? Try thirty-two (32) years of continuous publication. That’s how long the manga of Hajime no Ippo has been continuing to this day. One hundred episodes neatly cover a vast amount of the material, and for the most part, we’ve already seen Ippo be far away from his former defenseless self (though still quite timid) within just half the amount of air time. But we would be remiss if we don’t say that you’re quite missing out on the important interactions of other characters in the story beyond what was adapted.
So if you do really like the series, we still recommend continuing your material digest with the original source manga. For however length of time, it may require.
Thirsty for might fighting action? We recommend looking up our best martial arts anime list for other juicy titles to check out!
