Hajime no Ippo

Series Similar to Hajime no Ippo

If you enjoyed Hajime no Ippo, these series share similar themes, tone, and quality. Each recommendation is scored on genre overlap, tonal match, and critical acclaim.

1. The Prince of Tennis

   2001 · Comedy, Anime, Sports · ended

   Recommended for similar Anime / Sports profile.

   Echizen Ryoma is a young tennis prodigy who has won 4 consecutive tennis championships but who constantly lies in the shadow of his father, a former pro tennis player. He joins the Seishun Gakuen junior highschool, one of the best tennis schools in Japan, and there along with his teamates he learns to find his own type of tennis in an attempt to defeat his biggest obstacle of all: his father as well as himself.

2. Haikyuu!!

   2014 · Comedy, Anime, Sports · ended

   Recommended for similar Anime / Sports profile.

   Inspired after watching a volleyball ace nicknamed "Little Giant" in action, small-statured Shouyou Hinata revives the volleyball club at his middle school. After finding new members, they set out for the middle school tournament, where they cross paths with a formidable school with the "King of the Upper Court", Tobio Kageyama. Hinata vows to surpass Kageyama, and so after graduating from middle school, he joins Karasuno High School's volleyball team—only to find that his sworn rival, Kageyama, is now his teammate.

3. Gintama

   2006 · Comedy, Action, Anime · ended

   Recommended for similar Action / Anime profile, hidden gem.

   Life isn't easy in feudal Japan... especially since the aliens landed and conquered everything! Oh sure, the new health care is great, but the public ban on the use of swords has left a lot of defeated samurai with a difficult decision to make concerning their future career paths! This is especially true if, as in the case of Gintoki Sakata, they're not particularly inclined towards holding a day job, which is why Gintoki's opted for the freelance route, taking any job that's offered to him as long as the financial remuneration sounds right. Unfortunately, in a brave new world filled with stray bug-eyed monsters, upwardly mobile Yakuza and overly ambitious E.T. entrepreneurs, those jobs usually don't pay as well as they should for the pain, suffering and indignities endured!

4. Slam Dunk

   1993 · Drama, Comedy, Action, Anime · ended

   Recommended for similar Action / Anime profile.

   Hanamichi Sakuragi, an entering Shohoku high school freshman, holds a record for being rejected by 50 girls during middle school. His nearly 2 meters height and bright red hair causes most students to write him off as a delinquent.One day, a girl named Haruko Akagi approaches Hanamichi without any fear. When she asks Hanamichi "do you like basketball?" Hanamichi falls head over heels for the girl of his dreams. Without missing a beat, Hanamichi tells her he loves basketball, and the two head to the gymnasium where Hanamichi learns about the slam dunk. He also learns of Rukawa, one of the country's top basketball prospects, also a freshman at Shohoku.

5. Hinomaru Sumo

   2018 · Anime, Sports · ended

   Recommended for similar Anime / Sports profile, hidden gem.

   A "small" new student, Ushio Hinomaru, appears before the weak little sumo club of Oodachi High School. The words "big" and "heavy" are the rules to this sport, which does not fit this newbie one bit, but Ushio surprises everyone. Ushio and the small sumo club climbs its way to the top with a goal to reach the highest rank, Hinoshita Kaisan.

6. Ping Pong The Animation

   2014 · Drama, Anime, Sports · ended

   Recommended for similar Anime / Sports profile, highly rated (8.2).

   Makoto Tsukimoto (nicknamed Smile) is a quiet high-schooler who's been friends with the loud and energetic Yukata Hoshino (nicknamed Peco) since childhood. They're both in the local table tennis club and both have a natural talent for it, although Smile's personality always enables him from winning against Peco. The club teacher, however, notices Smile's talent and tries to make him gain some sportive tenacity.

7. Blue Lock

   2022 · Anime, Sports · returning

   Recommended for similar Anime / Sports profile.

   Japan keeps loosing the World Cup, over and over. After Isagi Yoichi, a forward for a high school team, gets eliminated in the last game in the qualifier for nationals, gets invited to a program called "Blue Lock" Their coach will be Ego Jinpachi, who intends to "destroy Japanese loser football" by introducing a radical new training regimen: isolate 300 young forwards in a prison-like institution called "Blue Lock" and put them through rigorous training aimed at creating "the world's greatest egotist striker."

8. Yuri!!! on Ice

   2016 · Drama, Anime, Sports · ended

   Recommended for similar Anime / Sports profile.

   The show's story revolves around Yuuri Katsuki, who carried all of Japan's hopes on his shoulders to win at the Gran Prix Finale ice skating competition, but suffered a crushing defeat. He returns home to Kyushu and half feels like he wants to retire, and half feels like he wants to continue ice skating. With those mixed feelings swirling inside him, he confines himself inside his parents house. Suddenly the five-time consecutive world championship ice skater Viktor Nikiforov appears before him, and along with him is Yuri Plisetsky, a young Russian figure skater who is already defeating his seniors. Viktor and both Yuris take up the challenge on an unprecedented Gran Prix series.

9. Inazuma Eleven

   2008 · Drama, Anime, Sports · ended

   Recommended for similar Anime / Sports profile.

   Mamoru Endou is the perfect example of a typical football fanatic who seeks to follow the footsteps of his grandfather. His grandfather was the former coach Raimon's Football Club where he is today. The scenario takes place at Rimon Gakuen college and the story revolves around Teikoku antagonistic college celebrates its strength, speed and total cruelty. The author shows how Endou and his friends overcome obstacles, how they face a lack of enthusiasm, discouragement and fighting against other teams to achieve their goals!

10. Celebrity Deathmatch

    1998 · Comedy, Action, Sports · ended

    Recommended for similar Action / Sports profile.

    Sport and event coverage re-defined! Today's hottest celebrities are pitted against each other in no-holds-barred fantasy fights complete with pre- and post-battle activities, one-on-one interviews, press conferences and behind-the-scenes locker room moments that parody the worlds of film, television, music and politics. Announcers Johnny Gomez and Nick Diamond offer commentary and play-by-play coverage while legendary referee Mills Lane presides over the Celebrity Deathmatch Ring.