News
Hajime no Ippo Reportedly to Return to TV in January
posted on by Egan Loo
This year's 42nd issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine will reportedly announce that George Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo boxing manga will return to television in a new anime series in January of 2009. The story follows the path of Ippo Makunouchi as he rises from a shy high school boy to the ranks of Japan's best boxers — and eventually the world's. The first Hajime no Ippo television series ran in Japan from 2000 to 2002, and no new anime has been produced since then except for a 2003 television special and a 2003 video. The original manga has been continuously running in Shonen Magazine since 1989, and over 73 million copies of the 85 compiled volumes have been published. The magazine's 41st issue had promised last week that a "big surprise" will be announced for Hajime no Ippo in the next issue.
Geneon Entertainment released the first television series and television special under the name Fighting Spirit on DVD in North America. Three of the videogame adaptations, including a Nintendo Wii game last year, have been released in North America under the series name Victorious Boxers.
Thank you to ParaParaJMo and Matt Ponton for the news tips.
Source: Kakure Ota no Blog
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