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In a world where sports-themed manga have their own successful category, Hajime no Ippo stands at the crux of it all. Mangaka put in their very best when their works are put in the forefront, leaving no stone unturned to make sure the readers are pleased both storywise and visually. When the same works are later picked up for anime adaptations, they are considered to be lucky.
Hajime No Ippo | Credit: MadhouseSome like Naruto, One Piece, and Demon Slayer hit the jackpot, while others like Seven Deadly Sins, Berserk, and Tokyo Ghoul, proved disastrous. When an anime is announced, there is hope and there is anticipation. The target audience becomes the readers who have followed the series for so long and only then do the anime watchers come into the picture.
Hajime no Ippo Almost Didn’t Get an Anime
Hajime no Ippo stands as one of the classic sports manga works that paved the way for others like Haikyuu!!! and Blue Lock. Amongst the classics like Slam Dunk and Baki Hanma, it was George Morikawa’s work that also held a strong footing. Nowadays, most of these works would get anime adaptations as soon as their popularity rises. In other cases, there would be the unfortunate fate of Yuri!!! on Ice.
Hajime no Ippo | Credit: MadhouseWhen I first started serializing Hajime no Ippo, I was approached by a number of companies about an anime or movie rather soon after the series started. I wasn’t interested in those things at all, so I kept turning them down.
Morikawa addressed the situation of anime adaptations on X (via Comic Book), being harsh but true to his words about how difficult it is to get a promising anime. There exist anime original sequences and then there is the part where studios completely divert from the original manga to create something of their own.
As soon as his manga picked up fame, studios started approaching him one after the other in hopes of a movie or an anime series. However, he wasn’t one to blindly say yes to the idea for a very simple reason. George Morikawa had his priorities set straight, the readers came first.
Ten Years and a Dream
George Morikawa deflected any ideas of a possible anime adaptation for Hajime no Ippo for a decade until he finally caved. His resolve was strong about not wanting to disappoint the fans who had been helping his manga grow to unthinkable milestones.
Hajime no Ippo | Credit: MadhouseAbout 10 years later, a company came to see me with a large group of people, and I nodded to their enthusiasm and offered them a condition: ‘Please don’t disappoint the readers who have bought 40 volumes of the manga.’
He wanted to make sure no reader was left disappointed when the anime started airing and that his manga wasn’t pushed to the side as an attempt to adapt something original. He only put forward this condition because of how enthusiastic the studio had been about adapting his manga.
While the first few episodes of the manga became an unfortunate addition, the mangaka put his foot down and didn’t let it derail either. His dream was to create a faithful adaptation and that would happen without any room for failure. The readers were supposed to be proud of the series and not look at it with a pitiful sight.
Hajime no Ippo is available to watch on Netflix.
Bengali (BD) · 
English (US) ·