I love this series. Sure I'll admit the story is not as good as some other sports series like Ashita no Joe but the fights are done so amazingly well. I've only seen the anime and haven't read the manga but I'm going to pick it up to see Gero-Michi's return and also VORG. I love how pretty much every character has some back story instead of being just some random guy who gets plowed through by ippo. Also the fact that other characters get some awesome fights makes the series great since you're not always watching ippo. As for a favorite character well despite my sig I think it's Vorg. Any other fans of this excellent show?

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Yeah it's pretty cool.

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I'm quite a fan of it, I like a lot of sport manga. I first got into it when I read the first few chapters of the manga, years ago, and was amused at the whole, "I wanna' be like Tyson!" attitude of Ippo. To be honest, I prefer the manga over the television series. But the television series does have some manly moments. The video-games for the PS2, I have a hold of. I've been informed there's also an Ippo game coming for the Nintendo Wii, too?

I also like that ugly son of a bitch, Mashiba. Nice signature.

I-IS THIS "HITMAN"!?!

His sister is truly beautiful.

But, I must say my favourite characters are Takamura Mamoru, Eiji Date, Ichiro Miyata and definitely Alexander Vorg Zangief.



I'm happy to see someone mention a series like this. It brings a smile to my face, actually.

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Manly tears were shed when Vorg said that. Also yes the game is coming out on the wii on the 16th of this month you should check it out. Well um that is if you live in America I'll remember there are more countries in the world. As for miyata I don't like him that much I just don't like those characters in sports manga who think they're so hot and are some kind "slick" for lack of a better term. I just call them Rukawa characters after Rukawa in Slam Dunk. I really do wish I could read the manga but I read most of my manga at work which is licensed titles I can actually hold. I do read some scans though like Ashita no Joe, Slam Dunk and Jojo's bizarre adventure. I can't wait for the game to come out so I can white fang my brother while he's sendo. Oh wow did you read the manga of Ashita no Joe? is there a website with scans of it all the way through translated? I have the hong kong dvds of the first series and the movies. Oh and the reason mashiba is my sig is I love how he almost becomes a comedic character later in the series spying on ippo.

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To be honest, I absolutely hated Miyata at first. But I think I grew to like him, somehow. While Rukawa from Slam Dunk and Miyata from Hajime no Ippo are quite similar, they have a few vital differences. Also, those 'slick' characters keep the protagonist character on their toes. For instance, I found Sakuragi from Slam Dunk quite irritating early on because all he did was obsess over Rukawa, the 'slick' character, and shame himself with his blatant hatred of him.

However, he matured, over time.

Ippo never had that problem with Miyata, because he's so pure and innocent in his ways that he simply accepted him as a mutual rival/friend. As did Miyata, eventually, in return. Rather than try to rub everything in Miyata's face and embarrass himself before his peers, Ippo simply wished to face him in a pro-match, and vice-versa. It's like an unbreakable bond of admiration, between two men, from a very early stage in the series.



There's a site for Hajime no Ippo scans here, actually:
http://ippo-online2.confusticated.com/nav.html

I've also influenced my little brother to buy the game, as he has a Nintendo Wii console.

I don't know when the European release date is, but, HAATOBRAKU SHOTTU is happening, when it comes out.

I guarantee it.

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Yea I didn't actually think of the amazingly huge amount of differences between Ippo and Hanamichi there. Well I just have to read the manga now for Gero-Michi and Vorg thank you very much for the link!

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omg i love this anime i love this series. (notices brockens sig) i hope those come with different boxers. I'll search teh net later. But my favs are takamura and mashiba. But ippo's cute

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