Hajime No Ippo: The Fighting! - Rising -

Rising is the third Hajime no Ippo TV season, and it arrived in October 2013, four years after New Challenger. This time, the anime was made by two studios together, Madhouse and MAPPA. It aired on Nippon TV from October 5, 2013, to March 29, 2014, with 25 episodes. Like the earlier seasons, it is based on George Morikawa's long-running boxing manga. The website IGN later named Rising one of the best anime of the 2010s.

The story picks up with Ippo Makunouchi still holding his belt as the Japanese featherweight champion. Ippo is kind and humble outside the ring, but inside it he is a fierce fighter. His most famous move is the Dempsey Roll. It is a weaving, side-to-side motion of his upper body that lets him throw powerful hooks one after another. By now, everyone in the sport knows about it. So the boxers who want his title come ready with plans to stop it. Each new opponent is harder to beat than the last, and Ippo must keep growing to stay on top.

One of the season's big fights is against Ryuhei Sawamura, a dangerous and cruel boxer who says he can break the Dempsey Roll. Ippo is the one who chooses to face him. The match is one of the darkest and most tense in the series, and fans often rank it among Ippo's best fights.

Ippo's friends from the Kamogawa Gym also have big moments. Masaru Aoki, the funny guy with odd fighting tricks, gets a shot at the Japanese lightweight title against a boxer named Imae. Tatsuya Kimura, Manabu Itagaki, and Coach Genji Kamogawa are all part of the action. And Mamoru Takamura, the strongest boxer in the gym, steps up again. He has already won one world title, and now he goes after a second one in the middleweight class. His opponent is David Eagle, an American champion who is calm, smart, and much loved by fans. Their match near the end of the season is a highlight.

There are also gentle and funny moments between fights. Ippo spends time with his mother and the family fishing boat business. He also has a shy, slow romance with Kumi, a nurse he cares about. These quiet scenes help balance the hard training and the painful matches. The show also takes time to look back at Coach Kamogawa's own past, which adds new depth to the old man.

Like all of Hajime no Ippo, Rising mixes big laughs with real sports drama. It explains boxing in a way that is easy to follow, so even people who know nothing about the sport can enjoy it. Some viewers thought the art looked less detailed than older seasons, and some found the first episode slow. Even so, many fans say this season holds some of the best stories in the whole series. It is a strong, emotional chapter for anyone who has followed Ippo's journey.