Hajime no Ippo: Official Guidebook

Hajime no Ippo: Official Guidebook's cover.

Hajime no Ippo: Official Guidebook, (はじめの一歩公式ガイドブック, Hajime no Ippo Kōshiki Gaidobukku) is the second guidebook that released in March 11, 1996 with 246 pages.

It contains information such as interviews, artwork, detailed description for characters, "what if" match descriptions such as Takeshi Sendō vs. Ryō Mashiba, and the timeline between the year 1988 through 1992.

Special Opening Message

Part 1

"Hajime no Ippo began with Jōji Morikawa's last-minute decision!"

Eight years have passed since the serialisation of Hajime no Ippo began in 1989. However, Morikawa feels much more time has passed already. Because Ippo Makunouchi is Morikawa, and every single one of Ippo's battles is also his battle. When Ippo took his first step, Morikawa was standing on the edge of a cliff as a mangaka. When he was 16 years old in high school, his entry for the Kodansha Manga Newcomer Award, "Silhouette Night," was selected and he debuted as a mangaka, but both "Signal Blue" (F1 manga) and "Kazuya NOW" (soccer manga), both of which were serialised in "Shōnen Magazine," were discontinued, and he was more on the verge of losing his future as a mangaka if his next work did not make it. If he had admit defeat there, he would have no choice but to stop being the mangaka he really loved to be. He felt fiercely determined.

Then he decided to draw his favourite genre - boxing. This is how "Ippo" was born. Therefore, he was able to empathise with him and say, "What the hell!" he was emotionally involved with him. However, even though Morikawa wrote that he would never admit defeat, it is true that he lost before (discontinuation of serialisations). It wasn't the fault of anyone around him or anything. He saw that it was his own mistake. So he accepted the loss as a loss and thought long and hard about what he was missing. Sometimes people effortlessly blame others for their failures and leave the stage. But he didn't think it would be anything else. What Morikawa has learnt is that it is important to draw a series that satisfies both the reader and the writer, while looking for the areas where the reader and the writer are most in sync with each other. Thanks to the readers, Morikawa and them have synchronised for eight years, and will continue to synchronise further down the line as well.

Part 2

"No boxer is more intelligent than Jōichirō Tatsuyoshi."

Hajime no Ippo Event History

For the full timeline, see: Timeline.

1988

Year	Month	Event
1988	April	Ippo enrols at the Shiritsu Zōshirushi High School.

1989

Year	Month	Event
1989	April	Ippo meets Takamura and enters the Kamogawa gym.
	July	The spar between Ippo and Miyata. Miyata loses and leaves the Kamogawa gym.
	October	Takamura defeats Kazuhiko Hirano.
	November	Ippo passes the pro test.

1990

Year	Month	Event
1990	January	Debut match. Ippo defeats Yūsuke Oda in a decisive victory.
	February	Yoshio Fujiwara is defeated.
	June	The East Japan Rookie King Tournament begins.
		Ippo defeats Jason Ozuma.
		Ippo goes to Miyata's match and meets Kumi.
	August	One week training in Izu.
		Ippo defeats Kenta Kobashi.
		That same day, Takamura defeats Yoshiaki Yajima to become Japan's middleweight champion.
	November	Ippo wins against Ryūichi Hayami and advances to the finals.
		Miyata loses against Ryō Mashiba.
	December	Tournament finals. Ippo defeats Mashiba to win the East Japan Rookie of the Year title. Awarded Best Rookie of the Year.

1991

Year	Month	Event
1991	January	Ippo had planned to withdraw from the All-Japan, but when Takeshi Sendō visits him, he decides to enter the tournament.
		Ippo receives treatment from Dr. Yamaguchi.
	February	Ippo defeats Sendō at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, becoming the All-Japan Rookie of the Year.
	March	Ippo graduates from Zōshirushi High School.
		Miyata travels overseas.
		Naomichi Yamada (Geromichi) joins the Kamogawa gym.
	May	Ippo acts as a sparring partner for Eiji Date.
	June	Ippo wins against Keigo Okita, ranked 5th in the featherweight division.
		Miyata's match in Thailand against Rusak Paddy ends in a draw.
		Miyata wins by knockout against Jimmy Sisphar.
	July	Yamada passes the pro test.
		Ippo's mother is hospitalised due to overwork. Umezawa helps out at the fishing boat business.
		Class-A Boxer Prize Money Tournament Round 1. Ippo fights Takuma Saeki and wins.
		Yamada quits the Kamogawa gym due to a change of school.
	October	Tournament final. Ippo defeats Volg Zangief and wins the tournament. Earns the Best Fighter Award.
		Ippo meets Kumi again.

1992

Year	Month	Event
1992	February	Japanese featherweight title match. Ippo is defeated by Eiji Date.
		Date relinquishes his title and challenges for a world title match.
		Date with Kumi at the Kōrakuen Amusement Park. And Mashiba comes with them as well?...
	April	Championship match. Sendō wins by decision against Volg, winning the Japanese title.
		Ippo reunited with Miyata in the venue.
		Volg returns to his home country.
	July	Ippo's come-back match: a knockout win against Ponchai Chuwatana.
	August	Date defeats WBA featherweight fifth ranker Jeff Brooks to challenge for the world title.
		Kamogawa gym members go to Pension Yoshio for the training camp.
		Ippo goes on a date with Kumi at the Ueno Zoo. (Error, see Trivia)
	November	Ippo challenges for the title, defeating Sendō and becoming the featherweight champion.

Trivia

• The book erroneously says Ippo had a date with Kumi at the "Ueno Zoo" (上野動物園) instead of the "Shimono Zoo". The Ueno Zoo is the name of a zoo that exists in real life in Japan, and may be what the Shimono Zoo is based on.
  • The same event happened after Takeshi Sendō vs. Akira Shigeta, which was in the last week of September (As said on the first page of Round 239), not August.