Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger
Fighting Spirit: New Challenger
ANIMATION EXPLORER
GLOBAL RATING
8.80 / 10
8.66 / 10
PLOT
Ippo Makunouchi, a bashful high school student who was often assisting his mother in managing their family's fishing charter business, struggled to establish friends. Because he was reclusive, a gang of bullies lead by Umezawa developed a habit of tormenting him. One day, after receiving a rather severe beating from these bullies, a passing middleweight professional boxer stopped them and helped Ippo get medical attention at the Kamogawa Gym, which is run by retired boxer Genji Kamogawa. The boxer who saved him, Mamoru Takamura, tried to cheer up Ippo after he awoke to the sounds of boxers practicing by letting him unleash his resentment on a sandbag. They got their first look at Ippo's boxing skills at that point. Ippo carefully considered the situation in the wake of the occurrence before deciding he wanted to start a professional boxing career. He receives a verbal rebuke from Mamoru Takamura after delivering this message: Takamura believed Ippo was treating professional boxing too casually. Takamura, however, believed that he couldn't simply reject Ippo, especially after his achievement of hitting the sandbag harder than anybody else in the gym (except for Takamura). After a week of practice, Takamura challenges Ippo to catch ten falling leaves from a tree simultaneously. Completely certain that Ippo will fail, Takamura jogs off while he resumes his roadwork.
