The fact is this is happening because the author is in a dispute with his editors over getting moved to a lower ranking magazine, and his refusal to put HnI up for sale digitally. This is an abysmally terrible way to end this series, and it makes the entire mangas run an obviously bloated mess. None of the key plot points from the beginning of the manga were satisfactorily concluded, and at best they will be wrapped up in a “years later” epilogue rather than handled within the manga itself. Aoki & Kimura should’ve had their plot lines resolved hundreds of chapters ago. Fights like Woli VS Ippo took up dozens of chapters that were a complete waste and progressed the story in no meaningful matter at all. Additional characters that weren’t needed at all and just added more weight to an already overloaded cast like Itagaki were thrown into the mix and had multiple chapters wasted on their fights. An entire arc devoted to an unnecessary flashback of Kamogawas life that cost yet more time that could’ve been used to advance the main story. And so on, and so forth, all while the main storyline sat dormant as years and years of real time passed by. This is a 28 year old manga and it has less advancement of the main characters plotlines than mangas that are a tenth of its age.
At the end of it all Hajime No Ippo ends with the main character never having been able to truly accomplish any of the things he set out to do at the start of the manga because the author spent so much time on everything except Ippo that as real world considerations like his health, the series flagging popularity, and his disputes with his employers end the series. This entire manga can go down as how an author can destroy a great series by turning it into a gigantic clusterfuck because he either wants to drag it out as long as possible, or is simply incompetent and can’t keep the story focused and streamlined. There were some great moments in this manga but when you take a step back and look at the overall view, it is a flaming pile of garbage. It really gives you perspective on the authors who have the skill to move their plots forward and resolve their series in a way that leaves fans satisfied, rather than wondering why they wasted all their time.
That wide left swing to reach his blind spot, and the “naked champion” comment. His right eye is truly fucked up. Takamura shows his mettle by plowing through the competition regardless. It seems the Takamura already made adjustments for all the “paper challengers” that will try and take advantage of his disability but I wonder where this will lead?..
Morikawa is trying to show us a dichotomy of mentalities and drive I guess.
OMG. The last few pages of Chapter 1208 is hitting me in the damn feels…
It’s been talked about for so long, you end up not giving a shit about it but then it drops like a motherfucker and it hurts like hell. Props to Morikawa-san for moving the story forward somehow. Makes me feel old AF but makes me love this series even more.
I feel oddly numb to the conclusion. But at least Morikawa confirmed Ippo has actually retired and that time is still flowing forward. But I wonder how the series is going to work with the titular protagonist just living vicariously through his actively boxing friends and peers like Takamura, Miyata, etc.?
The manga is up to chapter 1221. Mangastream is just slow for some reason. If you want to read the remaining chapters, hit up the Hajime no Ippo reddit.
