Hajime no Ippo

Manga


This manga, created by  Jōji "George" Morikawa and ongoing since 1989 (!), is one of the best I've read so far which is really something coming from me as I'm usually not all that fond of sports manga. This particular manga however, was able to keep me interested for a very long time, 945 chapters to be exact.


It's about a young boy named Makunouchi Ippo, who starts out as a weak character. He's part of a single parent family and spends his free time helping out the family business. Because of this he often gets bullied after school until one day he's saved by a professional boxer. After this fateful meeting, Ippo enters the world of professional boxing facing his enemies head on one at a time.


The supporting characters are also worth mentioning, they provide comic relief for the series. Where Ippo is a bit gullible and sometimes even plain boring, the supporting characters are always up for some mischief causing many hilarious situations.


Anime

The anime adaptation is called 'Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting' and started airing in 2000. The series consists of 76 episodes which stay true to the manga. Apart from the first season, 2 OVA's were also published, 'Fighting Spirit: Champion Road TV Special' and 'Kimura vs. Mashiba'. In 2009, 7 years after the conclusion of the first season, the second season called 'Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger' aired. One of the voice actors confirmed in 2009 that a sequel to 'New Challenger' is being planned, but so far, no official news has been published.

Claymore

Claymore manga is written by Norihiro Yagi, the genre could be described as fantasy/horror.

Plotline:

Claymores are powerful female warriors part of an organisation and are called so because of the large swords they carry, people also refer to them as Silver-eyed Witches. Their sole purpose is to defeat the Yoma, these are demons that feed on people and take their form as disguise.

Claymores are half human, half Yoma, as
the organisation inserts Yoma blood into young girls in order to grant them the necessairy power to sense and destroy the Yoma. However, once a Claymore uses too much of her Yoma power and crosses the limit the Yoma half takes over and they become an "awakened being" gaining an incredible amount of power and the desire to eat guts.

The organisation exists of 47 Claymores (and the people who boss them around obviously), number 47 being the 'weakest' one and in this case, the main character Claire. Even though she wears the lowest number, she is not at all the least powerful. Claire became a Claymore after her only friend (a Claymore, the strongest number 1 in history - Theresa of the faint smile) got killed in front of her by an awakened being. The one thing she strives for is to defeat the one who killed Theresa.


Personally I love this manga/anime, it's beautifully drawn, the atmosphere is a bit grave yet appealing, the main character is well put together and the fights are incredible. I really recommend this one, although, if you tend to be more into the humorous style, this may not be for you.