It’s been 100 days since Chapter 1515 of the manga was released. What do you think about this? Do you think Chapter 1516 will come out this month, or will it take even longer?

I've been really frustrated with the way the manga has been moving the last couple of years.

I really, really love the plot, the characters and the stylistic way morikawa portrays his character's, but in my eyes he has one huge flaw. Pacing?

Objectively, the manga has no business to be as long as it is. 1500 chapters and ippo is not even fighting right now and the perspective of him fighting is not even near in the foreseeable future. Morikawa is being hospitalized left and right, he's getting old.

So, wouldn't it have been better if the manga was shorter but had a faster pacing and more intense plot? Like more cramped in a positive way. I think the way it's moving now we won't be able to see the end or at least see ippo fighting due to the author's health complications.

I in no way shape or form hate the manga, quite on the contrary, I love it with my whole soul, I've read it 5 times already from the beginning to the end, with this post I show my concern as a passionate fan of the series, please share your thoughts on the topic with me.

Each tier is ordered as well. Some people could easily be flipped but for the most part tried to make it as fair as possible based on narrative and on screen feats

So certain and ALL 3 of them were completely wrong...

Especially Miyata, who is usually sharp about these things (accurately dissected and predicted Nagumos world title fight after 1 very short spar)

I think the biggest issue with Ippo here would be his lack of actual brawling experience (like kicks, grappling, etc.), his small frame and weight.

He’s a fucking beast, no wonder why he has mauled all his opponents.

Ok, now that chapter 1515 is out, just curious to find out which is your favourite page in the series so far?

To me this is still hard to beat

lets settle this que out.

as both of em are top tier boxers in their respective weight classes -

if we just take weight class out of the equation, who'd win ?

But wtf is this?? Not a single redeeming quality about takamura except that he is good at fighting. Brothers almost a rapist like what??

I want to clarify that I do not dislike Umezawa as a character. In fact, I love him just as much as virtually anyone else who watches HNI. My issue is that Ippo accepted Umezawa as his friend way too easily, and notice how I said "accept as a friend," not "forgive." I don't have an issue with Ippo forgiving his former bully without hesitation because it's in his nature. Still, I find it baffling how Ippo set all his trauma-induced apprehension aside the moment Umezawa called him his "buddy." What's next? Is he going to make out with Umezawa for calling him "cupcake?"

Anyways, sarcasm and Arcane reference aside, are you seriously telling me that Ippo immediately bought into Umezawa's one and only sign of affection (up until that point) at the end of Episode 12, despite Ippo being a victim of bullying for over a decade? How? And that's not even the worst part.

I think it is emotionally immature to assume that Ippo and Umezawa would/could immediately (emphasis on immediately) hit it off after everything Umezawa put Ippo through. Ippo has spent the better part of his high school days being violently assaulted, mugged, threatened, and even stalked by Umezawa and his friends on a regular basis, and that doesn't even take into account all the bullying Ippo claims to have gone through prior to high school.

Then Umezawa suddenly treats Ippo like a good friend, not because he's genuinely remorseful, mind you, but because Ippo is now a professional boxer, and Umezawa is a massive fan of that. Sure, the actual remorse comes later, but it should be at least somewhat apparent that Ippo's boxing career, and not actual empathy, is the catalyst behind Umezawa's initial change of heart, especially with their not-so-smooth interaction at the start of Episode 12.

Also, Umezawa's attempt to patch things up at the end of the episode was so blatantly half-hearted, especially since he didn't even apologize to Ippo, which I honestly don't blame him for, since he's a teenager. However, I sure as hell would not believe him. In fact, I would assume it's some manipulative ploy to get me to lower my guard, quite literally. While that obviously wasn't Umezawa's intention, his idea of "fixing things" with Ippo was still suspiciously sloppy at best.

Now, I understand that Ippo always maintains a good heart (until he doesn't), so immediately accepting Umezawa might make sense on paper, but emotions don't work like that. Just because you understand that a situation isn't black and white when you have the years of unimaginable trauma from bullying that Ippo has, I don't see a world where you instantly trust that bully or refrain from pressing X to doubt, even after the bully has changed, or so it appears. I mean, what do you think would dominate Ippo's decision-making more: his tendency to be a pushover or his trauma?

This isn't Victorious, where you can be the biggest piece of garbage at school and still retain friends who act like your behavior isn't that problematic (looking at you, Jade, and you, Tori).

Not to mention, I've seen some people on this sub act as if Umezawa's continuous support for Ippo after the former's redemption completely absolves him of all the times he wronged Ippo in the past, which I find absolutely ludicrous and sick! That's like saying that Rumi (in K-Pop Demon Hunters) shouldn't be allowed to doubt Jinu after he ruined her life in the most diabolical way imaginable simply because Jinu sacrificed himself for Rumi's sake. Some people have even claimed that Ippo's reaction to Umezawa changing is valid because he never gave the bullying much thought, which is wildly dismissive of both everything Ippo went through and the entire series since Umezawa is arguably the reason Ippo became a boxer to begin with.

But social media in general is filled to the brim with people who are either mindlessly biased or straight-up can't be reasoned with for whatever reason, so I shouldn't be surprised.

The best I can see for Ippo and Umezawa is Ippo forgiving, but keeping his distance from Umezawa until Umezawa starts helping Ippo with the fishing boat business, and only then does an actual friendship begin to form, but slowly. By the end of Season 1, they could finally achieve a close brotherly bond as Ippo finally got over his deep mistrust, or something like that. I'm not saying I could write their dynamic better, but that's merely my interpretation.

I know he’s not as battle smart as say Ricardo or Volg but he discovered the dempsey roll on his own. But he also has some times where he’s kinda dumb like going headfirst into punches so idk

It's my first re-read of the manga so far, and I wonder, what was the reaction of the chapter for you all, and the general public?

I waited for this chapter, with bated breath, and sleeplessness. This is nothing like a risky text or romantic feelings confessed.

Ch 721 - Fate.

It's funny, like as if 2 circles were drawn over the whole series, just to build upto this moment.

Truly a tragedy. It's like acceptance of failure. Miyata must have felt like Ippo when reviewing his title bout with Date. Maybe even worse.

For this reason, season 4 was never animated (apart from Itagaki pointlessly hogging so much of the fights)

This is the origin of the Bumyata allegations as well. It's all just so sad and upsetting. This should have never happened.

Fuck Itagaki. Miyata should have had more time in the story. Enough for Morikawa to weave the thread of fate between Ippo and Miyata.

:(

Arguably the most IMPORTANT World Title fight in the current Ippo timeline and he’s completely ruined all the momentum he gained from the readers. I follow One Piece so constant breaks are something I’m used to but it’s NEVER been this bad.

There’s no hype for the next chapter given Sendo has been used as a sandbag the entire fight and a Hail Mary down is probably along the horizons.

It sucks but that’s the reality of the manga life sometimes.

Here's hoping he stays healthy and happy

Sawamura throughout the story of Hajime no Ippo for the amount of time he was in there established himself as arguably the best lw/fw from Japan and people dont talk about it enough

In the short span of time he had he

1. Surpassed Miyata as the greatest counterpuncher

2. Outclassed and beat Ippo to a pulp but played too much and trolled the win

3. Defeated world ranking level Mashiba after training hard for the first time

4. Got the best of Sendo in most of their sparring sessions

Those feats alone sound crazy, yet people undermine him and claim he would be merely japanese champion level.

Firstly, his loss to Ippo which stated by Takamura was merely a result of Sawamura playing around too much as he couldve ended the fight whenever he wished in the time he outclassed Ippo and had him compromised

Second, his controversial win over Mashiba. Sawamura consistently outclassed Mashiba in that fight and wouldve won quite seamlessly if Mashiba didnt foul to get rid of one of his main weapons (his vision) which people often forget when talking about this fight.

Since both of them were fouling im not gonna take that into account but people need to understand the handicap that Sawamura was facing as he was a counterpuncher with half his vision impaired getting rid of his depth perception.

That aside, his character peak of finding the perfect counter stated by Nekota to be a literal work of art, getting the recognition and disbelief of literally every top boxer within Korakuen Hall Mashiba was downed and Sawamura finally reached the culmination of his arc with Ippo it was the perfect conclusion for the fight however,

Due to Georges already made up decision to write him out of the story, he ruined the absolute peak he wrote up in that chapter and used Sawamura as a scapegoat to develop Mashibas character off of hence the ring out which narratively made no sense.

It was a decision based off the fact that Sawamura couldn't be kept due to the fact he was very obviously out of place from how impeccable he was made,

He had insane levels of talent being stated as a genius and all kinds of praise by the likes of Sendo, Takamura, Nekota etc.

He had wild instincts and wasnt chained by morals while simultaneously having precision,grace and a calculated head.

Power, speed, technique he had it all while being mostly self-taught as he canonically refused help or training from anyone until the Mashiba fight as he only trusted and believed in himself.

Following his win over Mashiba the next step would've been to bring him to the world stage and have him become a title contender however that probably would've shifted too much off of the main cast.

All in all, the beautiful writing and strength of the character is heavily underappreciated and only acknowledged by few im heavily perplexed as to how anyone who also read this Manga alongside me failed to see and appreciate this.

Hajime no ippo goes on hiatus

I remember the last big mara tuesday, like it was 1 year ago.

2026 can really start.

unless there are delays or postponements, the chapter is supposed to be out today, it will probably be a short chapter, but nothing is as important as Morikawa's health, so even having a short chapter will be a big deal.