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Hajime no Ippo Manga Gets 1st Stage Play
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
The combined 36th and 37 volume of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine revealed on Wednesday that George Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo boxing manga is inspiring its first stage play in January 2020. The play will cover the beginning of the manga, and the cast will be announced in September.
In addition, the manga's first art exhibition will open at the Seibu department store in Shibuya, Tokyo in November.
Morikawa launched Hajime no Ippo in 1989, and the series is his only manga. Kodansha published the manga's 125th compiled book volume on July 17. Morikawa said in March, "when I think about the [story] material, I've probably only covered about half of it." He jokingly added that he is not planning to take another 30 years to get through the rest of the story, stating that it would be really troublesome.
The manga inspired a television anime adaptation in 2000, followed by the Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger sequel in 2009 and the Hajime no Ippo Rising sequel in 2013. The series also inspired the Hajime no Ippo - Champion Road special and the Hajime no Ippo - Mashiba vs. Kimura original video anime in 2003. Geneon Entertainment released the first television anime season on DVD in North America before the company ceased operations in 2007.
Source: The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
