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i'll write a bit about hajime no ippo b/c i've done a billion words of it in the actual thread and its probably my favorite anime/manga ever. spoilers so i'll jsut tag it all w/e gently caress it first thing you will notice is that the series is LONG. if someone were to pick it up now, they'd have about 1200 chapters to read in full probably by the time they caught up. going roughly by where you can expect some character arcs to end, if the manga does indeed finish at some point, you are probably looking at anyhwere between 1500-1800 chapters. i have no faith it'll ever fully end though, and it's difficult to guess how the pacing will go. pacing is a big part of the HnI experience. because the series has been around for decades, it's got highs and lows. i'll doa quick breakdown of the arcs and my general thoughts on them: early arcs: ippos start - ippo is a bullied kid who eventually joins a boxing gym and puts up a good fight against a prodigy at the gym in a spar. the two become rivals. this is decently well paced but looks really dated, arts not bad but not really great, it's generic stuff but fairly good. the characters dont REALLY act like they will for the majority of the story, at this time. rookie king - ippo and his rival miyata vow to meet at the end of a new-pro boxing tournament. some big new characters are introduced through this storyline and we see the earnest beginnig of ippos career. the fights at this point are actually paced really really well, they're quick but still impactful. two major rivals introduced here, and one of the better fights in the series caps this off class A tournament - ippo enters a tournament where, if he wins, he will become the #1 seed in japan and has the right to challenge for the japanese belt. theres 3 major fights in this tournament and the first 2 are so-so, with the last being an exceptional one. around this time, the manga sticks really well to what actual boxing is like even if it takes a few liberties with the toughness of the fighters. the supporting cast starts to come into its own which leads to good comedy in the surrounding chapters, because jokes start to work when you can expect certain things from characters. championship - probably the first real "high" point of the series. ippo begins his road toward challenging for the championship, a major character is introduced, now is when we really start to see the emotional side of the story come into fruition. mind you were 100+ chapters in by this point, so it's been a whle, but i would definitely give this chunk of chapters like a 9/10. the fights are still....generally realistic, but they're really good emotional climaxes which is what makes this part really good. mid arcs: defending the belt - you start getting a little repetitive here, but nothing too bad. the story is in a good rhythm and while, for some time, there's no huge emotional payoff, it's certainly not a chore to read. world champioship - this is probably the absolute pinnacle of the series. takamura, a supporting / secondary character, goes straight to the forefront around this time. takamura vs bryan hawk (and all the build up to this fight) is probably my favorite manga arc ever written, it's really well paced and plotted, the art is outrageously good and the emotional payoff is outrageous. wwII arc - a flashback story arc that ties with many people for their favorite with the previous one. tells the story of the coach of the gym. not too much to say, pretty strong stuff and definitely can't be missed. later arc: MORE belt defenses - it's starting to get tedious now. at this point the manga starts having some alternating lows and highs. there's payoff for other characters (both aoki and kimura have really good arcs through this period, but more often than not they're surrounded by garbage). comedy chapters start becoming noticably better than anything serious. 2nd belt - great arc, you'll love it, etc. takamura vs david eagle randy boy jr - at the time i read it, i hated this arc. looking back, it's not terrible, the fight itself and emotional surrounding is actually really good (tho the ending of the fight left some ppl pissed). the thing is, once you are this far into the story you will feel very similar to a main character about all of this happening.. makes it easy to be disappointed. pacific champions - utter jokes and nto even fun. the manga's a literal chore to read at this point. current arcs: world challenge - i think thing's are picking up in a good way lately. there's been a noticeable increase in quality for some time now, where the "late" period arcs were all pretty.. awful. i'm excited to see a lot of where it goes as ippo moves onto the world stage, but it's kinda ludicrous it has taken this long. as usualy, whenever takamura takes the main character slot he steals the show and is the best thing for a hundred chapters on either side of his fights (the ones that are "real"). the PROBLEM though is that it's taking SOOOO long for any of this to happen. realistically, takamura should be like 2 more belts ahead. Ippo should've been challenging the world ages ago. aoki and kimura shouldve won the japanese championship or retired by now. the pacing is wacky, and it's pretty bizarre that the first like... 450 chapters are paced incredibly well, the next like 300 are decent, and then it just goes off a cliff after that. i have faith that morikawa can bring it back to its heights.. he does really well when he has a long-term emotional setup ready to be cashed in, and HORRIBLY when hes "filling time" inbetween. i feel like he's ready now for some payoff, and we'll see some good poo poo coming, but it's been a slog for years now.
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Aug 14, 2016 12:30
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 21:57 |
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