Hajime no Ippo

Hajime no Ippo
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Ippo Makunouchi
はじめの一歩
Genre	Action[1] Comedy[1] Sports[1]
Manga
Written by	George Morikawa
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	US: Kodansha (digital)
Imprint	Shōnen Magazine Comics
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Magazine
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	October 11, 1989 – present
Volumes	141 (List of volumes)
Further information Anime television series Directed by Satoshi Nishimura Produced by Hiroshi Yamashita Mitsuru Ohshima Manabu Tamura Masao Maruyama Written by Tatsuhiko Urahata Music by Tsuneo Imahori Studio Madhouse Licensed by NA: Geneon (former) Discotek Media (current) Original network Nippon TV Original run October 4, 2000 – March 27, 2002 Episodes 76 (List of episodes) Anime television film Hajime no Ippo: Champion Road Directed by Satoshi Nishimura Produced by Hiroshi Yamashita Manabu Tamura Masao Maruyama Written by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu Music by Tsuneo Imahori Studio Madhouse Licensed by NA: Geneon (former) Discotek Media (current) Original network Nippon TV Released April 18, 2003 Runtime 90 minutes Original video animation Hajime no Ippo: Mashiba vs. Kimura Directed by Hitoshi Nanba Produced by Hiroshi Yamashita Manabu Tamura Masao Maruyama Written by Tatsuhiko Urahata Music by Tsuneo Imahori Studio Madhouse Licensed by NA: Discotek Media Released September 5, 2003 Runtime 60 minutes Anime television series Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger Directed by Jun Shishido Produced by Toshio Nakatani Manabu Tamura Written by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu Music by Yoshihisa Hirano Studio Madhouse Original network Nippon TV Original run January 6, 2009 – June 30, 2009 Episodes 26 (List of episodes) Anime television series Hajime no Ippo: Rising Directed by Jun Shishido Produced by Toshio Nakatani Manabu Tamura Tomohiro Shindo Written by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu Music by Yoshihisa Hirano Tsuneo Imahori Studio Madhouse MAPPA Licensed by Crunchyroll Original network Nippon TV Original run October 5, 2013 – March 29, 2014 Episodes 25 (List of episodes) Related media Hajime no Ippo video games
Anime and manga portal

Hajime no Ippo (はじめの一歩, lit. 'The First Step') is a Japanese boxing-themed manga series written and illustrated by George Morikawa. It has been serialized by Kodansha in the shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine since October 1989, with its chapters collected into 141 tankōbon volumes as of July 2024. It follows the story of high school student Ippo Makunouchi, as he begins his career in boxing and over time obtains many titles and defeats various opponents.

A 76-episode anime adaptation produced by Madhouse aired on Nippon TV from October 2000 to March 2002. A television film and an original video animation (OVA) were released in 2003. A second series titled Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger aired from January to June 2009. A third series Hajime no Ippo: Rising aired from October 2013 to March 2014.

In North America, the first series, including the television film, was licensed by Geneon in 2003, which released it under the name Fighting Spirit. It was re-licensed by Discotek Media in 2020, including the television film and the OVA.

By July 2023, the manga had over 100 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. In 1991, Hajime no Ippo won the 15th Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category.