Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting! New Challenger

After the first Hajime no Ippo anime ended in 2002, fans had to wait about seven years for more. In January 2009, the studio Madhouse brought the boxing classic back with New Challenger. It aired on Nippon TV from January to June 2009 and has 26 episodes. Since the first series had 76 episodes, this season is often counted as episodes 77 to 102. It is based on George Morikawa's manga, which has been running in Weekly Shonen Magazine since 1989 and has sold more than 100 million copies.

If you are new, here is the basic idea. Ippo Makunouchi was once a shy boy who was picked on at school. He helped his mother run a small fishing boat business and had few friends. One day, a powerful boxer named Mamoru Takamura saved him and took him to the Kamogawa Boxing Gym. There, Ippo found a new goal in life. He trained very hard and became a professional boxer. By the start of this season, he is the Japanese featherweight champion. Even so, he still asks himself what it truly means to be strong.

This season grows the story beyond Ippo. The whole Kamogawa Gym gets time to shine. Old Coach Genji Kamogawa is strict, tough, and wise, and he pushes his boxers to their limits. Takamura is huge, loud, rude, and very funny, but in the ring he is a monster. Masaru Aoki and Tatsuya Kimura are Ippo's older gym mates. They are often silly, but they want success as much as anyone. Manabu Itagaki is a fast, cheerful young boxer who looks up to Ippo, and this season includes his first pro fight. Ippo also faces new opponents, including a boxer called Hammer Nao, while he still dreams of a rematch with his rival, Ichiro Miyata.

A big part of the season follows Takamura's fight for a world title. He takes on Bryan Hawk, a cocky and wild American champion in the junior middleweight class. To get ready, Takamura must cut his weight to a very low level. The show does not hide how painful and hard this is. These episodes are some of the most intense in the whole series, and they show just how much a boxer gives up to step into the ring.

Hajime no Ippo mixes two very different moods. Outside the ring, it is a goofy comedy full of jokes, pranks, and silly fights between friends. Inside the ring, it becomes a serious sports drama. The matches are long and detailed. You learn real boxing ideas, like footwork, counters, and how a punch is thrown. Each boxer has a reason to fight, and the show makes you care about all of them.

Some reviewers felt this season spent less time on Ippo himself than they wanted. Still, many fans love it for its strong side stories and its famous world title match. For anyone who enjoyed the first series, it is a must-watch, and it leads straight into the next season, Rising.