It has been about a year now since I watched this series. I was never much for the sports based anime, but I really like amrtial arts and thought that I would give this series its fair chance. To say the least, I was impressed witht eh show overall. Every episode kept me wanting to watch more. After the end of 75 episodes, I was pretty happy to find out that there is another series and movies to accompany the ending. One of the strongest points of this series was the fact that you could complete the main series and not feel that the show was left completely unfinished. It did leave the door open for continuation but not in the traditional cliffhanger fashion.
What made this show such a strong contender was the development of the main character as he begins his career in professional boxing. The way that the writers demonstrated the trials and tribulations that he faced as he was on the path to becoming a boxer felt very accurate from the stand point of someone who has gone through similar rigorous training to attain a high level of competition. What was also positive is the fact that you don't have to be into boxing or sports even to really enjoy the story here.
I would really recommend this series to anyone who enjoys stories about overcoming adversity to achieve high goals. This was definitely a series that topped my list of ones worth watching a second time.
I have not watched many sports animes. I did see some baseball stuff, but the graphics were never very good and they tended to be very dramatic. I like the Martial art stuff as well, but they have crappy graphics at times.
ReplyDeleteThis show was a combination of good storyline and nice fight scenes. None of that over the top special moves crap. Just pure out martial arts. I think you will really enjoy this one.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your review. I'm not into boxing but was completely drawn into the series. I find with most anime series I will watch about 5 episodes and stop, but Ippo was actually one of the only series I watched in its entirety (which is an accolade in itself).
ReplyDeleteI found the series to be a good mix of retro and current anime. Ippo's "powering up" of moves was reminiscent of DBZ minus the wait time, while the plot seemed generally current. I also loved how they mixed in comedic parts to lighten up the intensity of the training and matches.
On a side note I went through your blog and it looks pretty good! I'm going to try watching that basketball series you mentioned after reading your review. Keep it up.
-Cai
Hey Cai, Thanks for the positive feedback! I would definitely recommend watching Hoop Days(Dear Boys) even if you aren't into the whole sports anime scene. If you enjoy decent fighting anime I would also recommend Baki the Grappler. I just finished season 1 and will be posting a review very soon.
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