'The First Step') is a Japanese boxing-themed manga series written and illustrated by George Morikawa.

It follows the story of high school student Ippo Makunouchi, as he begins his career in boxing and over time obtains many titles and defeats various opponents.

A 76-episode anime adaptation produced by Madhouse aired on Nippon TV from October 2000 to March 2002.

In North America, the first series, including the television film, was licensed by Geneon in 2003, which released it under the name Fighting Spirit.

After that incident, Ippo gave the situation a lot of thought and decided that he would like to begin a career as a professional boxer.

However, after a week of tough training, involving nightly hours, Ippo manages the technique in the nick of time.

He waits for the jogging Takamura to come by his usual path and surprises him by catching all 10 of the falling leaves and only doing so with his left hand.

This impresses Takamura greatly, and he informs Ippo that the action required to catch all 10 leaves is called a boxing jab.

As expected, Ippo loses by KO, but not until Miyata struggles dodging his punches and finally ends the match with his trump card: "The Counter".

Ippo has a habit of running into his opponents before matches, giving him a chance to learn more about their backgrounds and even sympathize with them.

A colorful cast of supporting characters and opponents as well as side stories concerning their paths in the boxing world rounds out the series.

[13] An original video animation (OVA) titled Hajime no Ippo Mashiba vs. Kimura was released on September 5, 2003.

[14] A second series titled Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger aired on Nippon TV from January 6 to June 30, 2009.

[15][16] In 2009, Rikiya Koyama, the voice actor of Mamoru Takamura, revealed on his blog that a sequel to the Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger television series was being planned.

[25] In September 2020, Discotek Media announced that it had licensed the series, including the 76 episodes, Champion Road and, for the first time in North America, the OVA Mashiba vs.

Tracks of guitars, drums, piano, horns, and combinations of the instruments were used to help accentuate the mood and action of the scenes.

Ippo and Takamura have also appeared in the 2009 crossover video game Sunday vs Magazine: Shūketsu!