I was really impressed with the storyline and how different this boxing series was from all the other boxing anime. The training was very different then I expected to see from boxers. The Video & Audio was sharp and crisp. the subs were understandable but they have strange word choices that left me internally translating some of the dialog. I can't wait for Part 2 to come out so that I can watch the rest of the story.

This series took me totally by surprise, I actually bid on this set by accident on eBay. I ended up getting it for 15 bucks, so I figured either way it could't be that bad. And i also figured out a few days later that it was the anime that the PS2 game (which I love)was based on so I figured what the hell.... Boy was I pleasently suprised! This series is great! The boxing matches are brilliantly animated and the characters are all well designed. And best of all in addition to all the great boxing action, the show is genuinly funny in it's non-serious moments. The interaction between Ippo & Mamorou had me cracking up many times throughout the series. If you like reality based anime, then you should give this show a shot. Now on to the specifics.... Video Quality- The video quality is awesome on this set, I wouldn't be surprised if this was ripped from real DVD source code. The picture is crisp and the colors are really good. And I didn't notice ANY distortion or pixelization at all anytime during any of the episodes. Audio Quality- Again I think this was ripped from the DVD source code. The audio is great, it honestly sounds like true DVD quality to me, everything is really crisp. Subtitle Quality- Here is where we run into some problems... The subs are timed really well, I'll give them that. The problem is really the same as a lot of HK DVD's which is they re-name all the characters(as well as the boxing gyms) with chinese names. There are also some occasional typos here and there but they are rare overall. To be honest though the re-naming of the characters, while annoying didn't really take away too much from the show at all. Overall this was a truly solid buy, and I would have actually paid the $30 most people ask for it if I would have known it was this good. I got EXTREMELY lucky getting this for $15 and I'll definitly buy pt.2 when it is released. I know the series finally ended it's run on japanese TV a couple wekks ago, so hopefully that will be sometime soon. GANBARE IPPO!!! edited by Great Muta on 11 Apr 2002 11:55 pm