Timely reminders of the virtues of hard work and perseverance – and the importance of the details.

Welcome back to the I Really Like This Thing series, where I do my best to introduce something I, well, really like. They could be music, movies, games – anything, really. The point is for me to share. Worst case, you think my taste sucks. Best case, you learn about something cool.

For the third installment, I talk about the long-running (30 years and counting!) manga/anime: Hajime no Ippo.

Life… kinda sucks, doesn’t it?

You can have all these plans; lose weight, work on your craft/career to open doors to more opportunities for yourself, be a good friend, etc. You can put in the time and energy to plan just how you want to do these things.

Then have it blow up in your face anyway because of factors outside your control.

Maybe it’s a difficult client, maybe it’s multiple bad days at work that leave you too checked out mentally to go for a run, maybe clashing schedules put months between opportunities to meet your friends.

Life is some real tough shit sometimes.

Control what you can

It’s a pretty common piece of advice that every over-thinker inevitably comes across – don’t let the things you can’t control overwhelm you. Just concentrate on the things that you can actually make a difference with, counting on no one but yourself.

Close the laptop at 6:30pm on the dot. Go for a run every evening. Lock down a date each month to meet your friends.

I’ve realized that sometimes not quitting just means not actually deciding to quit.

Kein Chua, co-founder of The pick and roll

It’s easier said than done, of course. But if you break it down to individual steps, it’s infinitely more doable.

And never has that principle been illustrated more poetically and accurately, both on a macro and micro level, than in Hajime no Ippo.

The first step

Written by George Morikawa, Hajime no Ippo is a manga and anime about boxing. The title literally translates to “the first step”, which is a great tone setter for what the story is about.

It follows the growth and development of Makunouchi Ippo, who begins the story as a shy, socially-awkward but well-meaning high school student.

He starts off with low self-confidence, but after being introduced to boxing (and finding out that he loves it), he starts on a path of passion and growth that comes to define his life.

Through it all, Ippo remains humble. Even after finding success, his dedication to his craft is still uppermost, not the fame or anything else. The author goes to great pains to show how Ippo obsesses over becoming a better boxer. He mumbles to himself incessantly, mulling over new concepts and techniques. He makes detailed notes – complete with anatomical diagrams – of how he and his opponents move and fight. He does his roadwork (aka, running) consistently and without complaint.

Every word he jots down, every footstep on each of his runs – they all matter.

Ippo’s gym mates – Takamura Mamoru, Kimura Tatsuya, Aoki Masaru – all have their own stories too. Same goes for Kamogawa Genji, owner and head coach of the Kamogawa Boxing Gym, which they are all members of.

Production value

Morikawa has a background in boxing, and his understanding of everything about the sport, from training to matches and even coming to terms with a loss, are all well-represented.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the fights themselves, which are beautifully illustrated and animated so you can feel the weight behind every punch thrown. There are also inspired soundtrack and sound design choices, the latter of which I’ll talk a bit more about later.

3-Step program

What’s a sports manga/anime without signature abilities, right? Here’re Ippo’s:

From a complete novice, he learns how to harness his innate ability to punch really hard to come up with the devastating Liver Blow.

This helps him win his first matches, but as you might expect, as he goes up the ranks he comes to realize that the “Liver Blow” alone isn’t enough. He meets an opponent that requires him to learn a new move – the Gazelle Punch.

From there, the next one is the highlight move of the whole manga/anime. Even if you’ve never watched or read Hajime no Ippo, you might have come across this term in passing: The Dempsey Roll.

Let’s go back to the sound design point from earlier. Listen to how the sheer power of the Dempsey Roll is represented by the sound of jet engines revving up and finally blasting off. Then, silence. Silence for just long enough to impress upon the viewer the weight of the moment.

And, the animation. You feel the weight behind every movement – how Ippo decides to step in, shift his weight and weave and bob faster, and finally, how he gets into the rhythm of the rolling sequence.

None of it is just for flash and pizzazz either. By engaging the viewer in every possible way – aurally, emotionally, physically – Hajime no Ippo establishes a connection with them that they can truly feel to the core of their being.

Trust the process

Let’s pause for a moment. I’m a writer, and a storyteller. Most of the games I play are RPGs, or otherwise have a strong story element to them. And, for the most part, after I’m done with a game or book or movie, I don’t go back to them.

All of which to say: spoilers are one of the biggest no-nos in my book. They affect my enjoyment of all of the above, sometimes ruining the experience entirely.

Therefore, don’t worry that I’m just putting Ippo’s three signature moves out there just like that. They’re spoilers, but actually no, not really.

Because, you see, that’s the best thing about Hajime no Ippo – its beauty lies in the process.

The story takes great pains to show him learning everything from scratch. It takes a while before he even knows how to throw a jab – the most basic punch in boxing – properly.

Additionally, in between learning each of these moves is a whole lot of story: about his training, about his friends and coach, about his opponents – and they all weave together beautifully to show how and why he comes to fight the way he does.

Ippo can punch really hard from the get-go. That doesn’t come from nowhere, it’s because he’s built up great upper body strength from helping his mother with the fishing boat family business. Takamura is a genius-level natural when it comes to boxing, and he’s cocky about it – what keeps him tied to this small gym? Everything has a really good explanation.

The details matter, sometimes in ways you don’t recognize at first.

And don’t worry – if you watch the anime, you’ll realize that all I’ve done by showing his three moves is merely foreplay.

The best fight

Keeping with my stance that spoilers essentially don’t matter for this series, I’ll finish with my absolute favourite fight of the whole series: Takamura vs. Bryan Hawk.

That’s right, my top pick of the numerous fights in the series doesn’t even involve the protagonist. That’s how well Morikawa fleshes out the key supporting characters.

It’s Takamura’s first world title challenge, having conquered Japan; Bryan Hawk is a detestable human being who, among other things, punches the elderly Kamogawa in the lead-up to the fight. During the fight, we see Takamura, who’s been largely unbeatable in all his matches so far, legitimately challenged and pushed to the brink. We find out about what keeps him going through everything.

We don’t follow Takamura’s journey from scratch the way we follow Ippo’s, and we definitely won’t be able to relate as easily to his natural talent as we would with Ippo’s hard work. And yet, this fight’s story, told through events before as well as during the match, leaves an emotional impact that I would argue is the deepest of the whole series.

We tend to remember life via the moments that stick out. That one time you got top in class, or your first breakup. It’s all the times you felt like the happiest person in the world, or when you wished you never existed.

However, these events don’t just come out of nowhere. Whether you realize it or not, there are many steps and factors that come together to make these highlight (or lowlight) moments happen.

And once you realize that, there’s nothing that can’t be overcome.

Whatever your goals are, no matter whether you’re in a good starting position or you just had your plans fall apart, it all begins with a single step.

Take that first step today.