Makunouchi Ippo has been bullied his entire life, but dreams of changing himself. One day, he is saved by Takamura Mamoru, who happens to be a boxer.
After Ippo faints from his injuries, Mamoru takes him to his gym where Ippo asks to be trained in the sport of boxing.
Only anime can transform a series you start watching because of boxing into an anime you keep watching because of the personal growth and the occasional bear-punching hype. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Hajime no Ippo, head on down below.
Anime Like Hajime no Ippo
For Fans of Boxing / Brawling
Ashita no Joe
Teen orphan Joe lives in the slums where he meets Danpei, an alcoholic homeless ex-boxing coach. After seeing Joe defend himself, Danpei takes an interest and decides to train him.
However, Joe only becomes serious about it after he meets a worthy rival fighter in a juvenile home.
Similarities Between Hajime no Ippo and Ashita no Joe
- Both series are fully about boxing
- The main characters are not boxers, but attract the attention of seasoned boxing veterans who take them back to their gym and train them up.
- Both main characters aim to become professionals
- Inspiring stories with a lot of heart
Differences Between Hajime no Ippo and Ashita no Joe
- Joe is a bit more of a street tough than the cheerful, good-hearted Ippo.
- As Ashita no Joe is about a scrappy street kid being taught by a drunk, it is definitely the grittier story filled with more struggle and strife compared to Hajime no Ippo.
Megalo Box
Megalo Box is an underground sport in which fighters utilize mechanical limbs that augment the power of the fighters. Junk Dog, despite big potential, needs money and makes it by throwing matches.
However, after he is defeated by a champion in disguise, he is presented with a challenge to fight his way up to fighting him again.
Similarities Between Hajime no Ippo and Megalo Box
- Both series are about boxing, and make it pretty hype-inducing
- Scrappy, smaller main characters aiming to be the best
- Excellent fight choreography
Differences Between Hajime no Ippo and Megalo Box
- Megalo Box is set in a sci-fi dystopia-type setting where it depicts a technologically augmented form of boxing. Thus, it lacks the same realism as Hajime no Ippo.
- Megalo Box features a main character that already knows how to box, so it is not as educational.
- Hajime no Ippo injects more inspiring heart into the fights. Megalo Box features very flashy interesting fights, but lack the same heart that Ippo brings.
Baki
As the son of Hanma Yuujiro, Hanma Baki trains intensely every day in order to finally beat and surpass his father. However, at this very moment, five of the world’s most dangerous and deadly criminals are breaking out of jail.
They all seek out one thing – Baki.
They all crave the taste of defeat and hope Baki can grant it to them. However, in this dangerous fight, Baki is not alone.
Similarities Between Hajime no Ippo and Baki
- Both series are about brawling
- The main character is never without a new challenger to fight
- Fiery, manly fights that induce hype
Differences Between Hajime no Ippo and Baki
- Baki is the gorier, more brutal anime
- The characters in Baki, as it goes on, are best described a “muscle monsters” due to the liberties the art style takes with the human physique.
- Baki is about more mixed martial arts fighting with no rules unlike the more professional boxing in Hajime no Ippo.
- Baki, the character, is not quite as sweet and good-hearted as Ippo, the character.
- Baki has a more clear goal for the series – to beat his dad. This is unlike Hajime no Ippo, which sports a more vague “aim for the top” standard sports anime goal.
Rowdy Sumo Wrestler Matsutaro
Matsutarou Sakaguchi is a giant man with strength far beyond ordinary people. While he is stronger than other people, he has never been the type to hone that strength through things like “working hard” or “striving for a dream,” which puts him at odds with his peers in the sumo wrestling ring.
With peerless strength and his only major weakness being his carefree attitude, Matsutarou constantly shakes up the sumo world.
Similarities Between Hajime no Ippo and Rowdy Sumo Wrestler Matsutaro
- Both series are about fighting on a professional level
- Both series are just as likable for their comedy as they are for their fights
Differences Between Hajime no Ippo and Rowdy Sumo Wrestler Matsutaro
- Rowdy Sumo Wrestler Matsutaro is about, obviously, sumo wrestling and not boxing like Hajime no Ippo.
- Rowdy Sumo Wrestler Matsutaro is like if Takamura was the main character of Hajime no Ippo.
- The main character in Rowdy Sumo Wrestler Matsutaro is already a skilled sumo wrestler, he is is just a bit of a bum.
For Fans of Rookie-to-Rockstar Journeys
Eyeshield 21
As a shy and frequently bullied kid, Sena is accustomed to running away.
However, after Hiruma, the captain of the American Football team, sees his skill at running, he goes to great lengths to recruit Sena as a running back in order to turn the team’s lackluster record around.
Similarities Between Hajime no Ippo and Eyeshield 21
- Both series follow normal students who start a sport with zero experience
- The main characters are weaklings who are frequently bullied
- Their innate strengths make them excellent in the sport. (Sena is fast from running from bullies, Ippo is strong from working and getting beat up by bullies)
- The main characters have a strong support system.
- Both have a constant string of new rivals who present new challenges to train for and overcome
Differences Between Hajime no Ippo and Eyeshield 21
- Eyeshield 21 is is about American football and not boxing like Hajime no Ippo
- Eyeshield 21 is definitely the more “shounen” sports anime in that it presents football more like a shounen action anime sequence even though Hajime no Ippo is about literal fighting.
- As American football is a team sport, you get more of that team element in Eyeshield 21.
- Eyeshield 21 likes more eccentric characters while Hajime no Ippo roots most boxers firmly in realistic designs.
Baby Steps
In order to work on his health, honor student Eiichirou Marou decides to spend his free time playing tennis. There, he meets Natsu, a girl who is determined to become a professional tennis player due to her love for the sport.
Her passion begins to rub off on him, but as he continues to play, the more fascinated by it he becomes.
Similarities Between Hajime no Ippo and Baby Steps
- Both feature normal students who get into a sport with zero experience
- The main characters are nice, and a bit wimpy until the training starts.
- Both main characters gain a rival they look up to, but seek to beat
- Both main characters develop a crush on a girl
- Inspiring, realistic sports action, but a huge emphasis on training that makes them more educational than your standard sports story
Differences Between Hajime no Ippo and Baby Steps
- Baby Steps is about tennis and not boxing like Hajime no Ippo
- The main character in Baby Steps is good-hearted like Ippo, but more intelligent/academic
- Baby Steps has less comedy, and definitely less dick jokes compared to Hajime no Ippo
Slam Dunk
Hanamichi Sakuragi is known for three things – his height, his fiery red hair, and his fiery-hot temper. Hoping to get a girlfriend, unfortunately his looks and reputation send most girls running.
However, when a girl approaches him one day and asks if he likes basketball, of course he falls in love with her and tries to impress her with a slam dunk. Unfortunately, he overshoots, but when the girl tells the basketball team about his great physical capabilities, he finds himself pulled in deeper not only trying to impress her, but impress his tough teammates as well.
Similarities Between Hajime no Ippo and Slam Dunk
- Both series follow main characters getting into a sport with zero knowledge or experience
- The main characters have an innate potential for their sport
- Both are educational sports anime detailing the specific techniques and styles in the sport it is displaying.
- Intense sports action intermingled with sillier character moments
- The main characters develop a crush on a girl
- Rivalries spur on the desire to get better
Differences Between Hajime no Ippo and Slam Dunk
- Slam Dunk is about basketball rather than boxing like Hajime no Ippo
- The main character in Slam Dunk is a delinquent, and acts like it often. He is definitely not the sweet cinnamon roll that Ippo is.
- Slam Dunk is a bit like having Takamura as the main character and he has to work with Miyata as a teammate.
For Fans of Lightly Comedic, Shounen-style Sports Stories
Kenichi – The Mightiest Disciple
After years of reading self-improvement books, “weak legs” Kenichi finally works up the courage to join the karate club. Unfortunately, his school bully challenges him, intent on literally kicking him out.
While all hope seemed lost, new classmate Miu invites him to her dojo for training. While he was able to defeat the bully, his new strength attracted the attention of a powerful group of students, and in order to overcome them, he must train in many martial arts styles.
Similarities Between Hajime no Ippo and Kenichi
- Both series follow scrappy weakling main characters who are just learning how to fight
- The main characters have to win over their teachers
- The main characters has a love interest that plays a small role in the story
- Both series detail training extensively, and are actually pretty educational on their martial arts
- The main characters have good hearts, and they put that heart right into the fights
- The occasional moment of sexual comedy is used, but never distracts or detracts from the story
Differences Between Hajime no Ippo and Kenichi
- Kenichi is a mixed martial arts series. He learns many different fighting styles while Hajime no Ippo focuses on just various styles of boxing.
- Hajime no Ippo is, mostly, about fighting boxers in the ring. Kenichi is often about beating up bullies and other people that challenge martial artists.
Haikyuu
After being inspired by the small, but talented volleyball ace Little Giant, Shouyou Hinata trains endlessly despite his middle school not having a boy’s volleyball club.
Managing to scavenge enough athletes at his school to field a team for a middle school volleyball tournament, Hinata is soundly crushed in his first and last game of middle school by King of the Court, Tobio Kageyama.
Swearing to surpass him, Hinata joins the volleyball team in high school only to discover Kageyama is now his teammate.
Similarities Between Hajime no Ippo and Haikyuu
- Both series make sports interesting and induce hype
- Lovable characters keep you invested in the times where the sport does not
- Both anime series present their sports in a more educational sort of way
- Light-hearted moments of comedy are frequent and break up heavier arcs where the character struggle.
Differences Between Hajime no Ippo and Haikyuu
- Haikyuu is about volleyball and not boxing like Hajime no Ippo
- While both main characters are novices, Haikyuu features a main character so determined to play volleyball that he trained by himself. This is in contrast to Ippo who was just sort of pulled into boxing by the people who would become his mentors.
- Haikyuu, as volleyball is a team sport, does focus on the entire team sometimes and not just the main character.
Yowamushi Pedal
Although otaku Sakamichi Onoda hoped to join the anime club to make friends in high school, he sadly finds it disbanded. To cheer himself up, he decides to bicycle to Akihabara – a 90km round trip he has been doing since elementary school on his mommy bike.
When determined, competition-minded cyclist and fellow first year student Shunsuke Imaizumi is practicing peddling up an incline at the school’s rear entrance, Onoda’s effortless skill at climbing on an inferior bike it baffles him enough to challenge him to a race.
It is this race and the fire it ignites that fuels Onoda to put his dreams of reviving the anime club on the back burner in order to join the school’s cycling club.
Similarities Between Hajime no Ippo and Yowamushi Pedal
- Both series follow normal students who start a new sports with little experience
- The main characters are weaklings, but the nicest guys
- Both main characters initially excel due to innate physical talents (Onoda has good uphill climbs and strong legs, Hajime has a strong body from working and being bullied)
- Both main characters develop a rivalry with a more serious, technical-minded guy in the sport (Miyata, Imaizumi)
- Both series know to take the time out of training and competing to having light-hearted moments of comedy.
- Both series make sports exciting and intense to watch. They also are pretty educational on the sport.
Differences Between Hajime no Ippo and Yowamushi Pedal
- Yowamushi Pedal is about cycling, not boxing like Hajime no Ippo
- Yowamushi Pedal has far more eccentric characters. It isn’t as realistic with the designs like Hajime no Ippo is.
- Onoda in Yowamushi Pedal does technically have cycling experience, he just lacks competitive cycling experience. Riding a bike was just his way of getting around. This means he is not quite as much of a novice as Ippo.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Hajime no Ippo? Let fans know in the comments section below.
