20 Best Boxing Anime to Watch in 2023, Ranked

Although not as popular as classic shonen or seinen works, sports manga and anime take up a large portion of the market. This article will be about the best boxing anime you need to watch.

The list is going to include a total of 20 great anime titles and although most of them will be focused exclusively on boxing, some will include a wider approach to martial arts, but with boxing being featured among them.

20. One-pound Gospel

Original Run: December 2, 1988
Number of Episodes: 1 (OVA)

Kosaku Hatanaka is a 19-year-old featherweight boxer. He has a big appetite and often has to go on a diet before a fight so as not to exceed the legal weight, which does not put him in good condition for the match which he often loses. He is in love with a nun, Sister Angela, whom he frequently comes to see for confession, or rather to see her.

The day he declares himself, she rejects him violently even if she continues to worry about him and encourages him even more. However, he will recover professionally when Sister Angela comes to support him and wins a fight that seemed lost in advance. He also has to face the anger of his coach who can’t stand his insatiable appetite.

19. Ganbare Genki

Original Run: July 16, 1980 – April 1, 1981
Number of Episodes: 35

Little Genki Horiguchi lives with his father Hideki “Shark” Horiguchi, an ex-professional boxer with a discreet but not excellent list of lightweights, who retired at the birth of Genki. Theirs is certainly not a life of ease and wealth, but it is still dignified and marked by a deep affection.

After a long absence from the boxing scene, Hideki “Shark” Horiguchi decides to return to fighting among the pros among featherweights, thus dropping two weight categories. Although he is weakened by starvation due to a strict diet conducted to fall within the weight limits of the category and by certainly not ideal living conditions, he manages to win the first two matches.

18. Ayane’s High Kick

Original Run: January 21, 1997 – April 25, 1997
Number of Episodes: 2 (OVA)

Ayane Mistui is a 17-year-old high school student who is pretty, athletic, and lazy in the studio and would like to become a professional female wrestler. Ayane has always wanted to be a pro-pro-female wrestler. She one day she shows the jury some moves but she is not chosen. She gets an offer from a mystery man who wants to train her independently. But she unbeknownst to her is a Kickboxing coach, the sport she hates so much.

17. Shoot Fighter Tekken

Original Run: January 31, 2002 – March 28, 2002
Number of Episodes: 3 (OVA)

Kiichi Miyazawa alias Kibô is a 17-year-old high school student from the city of Kobe who is the future heir of the 15th generation of Nadashinkageryu, a very famous, complete, and immeasurably effective fighting style, while being esoteric and therefore hermetic. His favorite pastime is to face very talented fighters, to have to redouble his efforts to win, and to learn from each of his training sessions and his fights.

As the latter progresses, he will meet opponents who are increasingly strong but also very different from each other, this one also wishing to be up to the task and worthy of the succession of the Nadashinkageryu.

16. Rainbow: Nisha Rokubō no Shichinin

Original Run: April 6, 2010 – September 28, 2010
Number of Episodes: 26

Rainbow tells the story of seven teenagers: Anchan, Mario, Heitai, Kyabetsu, Suppon, Jô and Baremoto. In the first part of the manga, they find themselves in the same cell, in the reformatory of Shonan. Quickly, bonds of friendship are woven between them, they will become united and face the harsh living conditions in prison.

Ishihara, a vicious guard and Dr. Sasaki, try by all means to eliminate Anchan in order to prevent him from revealing to the outside a drama that has occurred in the prison. Ten days before Anchan’s release, the six boys will help him escape from this hell. In the second part of the manga, the heroes have served their sentence and find themselves living on their own in a Japan that is trying to recover from the Second World War.

The adventure is then divided into several stories, each story focusing on a particular character. Each misadventure will be an opportunity to show the almost brotherly bond that unites the protagonists and will allow each of them to get closer and closer to their dream.

15. Rokudenashi Blues

Original Release: July 11, 1992 / July 24, 1993
Running Time: 30 minutes / 85 minutes

The story stars Taison Maeda, a disreputable student of the Teiken High institute, who dreams of becoming a world boxing champion. The manga follows Maeda (and his friends and rivals) over the course of three years of high school, as they gradually become one of the strongest and best-known fighters in all of Tokyo’s high schools.

14. B.B.

Original Run: April 25, 1990 – April 25, 1991
Number of Episodes: 3 (OVA)

One night, after leaving a club where he was playing the trumpet, Ryō Takagi is attacked by a biker gang. The fight is taken to the street and causes a traffic accident. Ryō eventually gives up on his music career and joins the world of underground boxing as he struggles to overcome his “burning blood” and the rage that easily overwhelms him.

13. Megalobox

Original Run: April 6, 2018 – June 27, 2021
Number of Episodes: 26

The series is set in the future where registered citizens live comfortably in a wealthy city, while unregistered citizens are forced to survive in a slum on its outskirts. In this universe, the Megalobox is a very popular sport in all strata of society. It is a form of boxing enhanced by the Gears, exoskeletons worn on the shoulders and arms allowing boxers to punch much harder than before.

The story follows the journey of Junk Dog, a young man from the slums fighting in the underground rings during fixed fights where his trainer tells him when to win and when to lose. Not satisfied with this situation, he dreams of real fights. When he learns that the powerful Shirato Group is sponsoring a global Megalobox tournament, he is initially hesitant, believing that this challenge is beyond his reach.

But his meeting with Yuri, the defending champion of the sport, ends up changing his mind. He then decides to try his luck when he does not even have a valid identity to present to register for the tournament.

12. Baki the Grappler

Original Run: January 8, 2001 – September 30, 2021
Number of Episodes: 99 (+ 2 OVA)

Baki is raised by his rich and obsessive mother, Emi Akezawa, who also pays for his training in the hope that he can be a great fighter like his father. At the beginning of the series, Baki overcomes traditional martial arts training and intends to follow the path of his father’s training, meeting great opponents along the way.

Occasionally, Baki fights with his father and is easily defeated by him. After the fight, Baki travels around the world to continue his training. Two years later, he crosses paths with an underground fighting league where he battles some of the most powerful fighters from all styles of martial arts. It is here that he really begins to hone his martial arts skills.

11. Honō no Tenkōsei

Original Run: May 21, 1991
Number of Episodes: 2 (OVA)

The protagonist Noboru Takizawa is transferred to the new Jakuniku Gakuen school, where any disputes are resolved through wrestling or sports. He arrives an hour late as requested by the headmaster and is confronted by the school attendant, Koichi Jenouchi, who decides to punish the student for being late. Takizawa is saved from this by his new classmate Yukari.

He begins his introduction to the class with a “competition” against Saburo Ibuki for the right to sit in the back of the class. After class, there is a fight between school attendant Koichi Zenouchi and Saburo Ibuki for the right to be Yukari’s boyfriend. Takizawa falls in love with Yukari. He decides to intervene in the fight, which Ibuki still wins, defeating first Zenouchi and then Takizawa. After losing the fight, Takizawa develops his own death blow and eventually wins.

10. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Original Run: October 6, 2012 – present
Number of Episodes: 164 + 17 OVA + 1 film

The plot unfolds around the story of the Joestar bloodline, a powerful family of British origin destined to combat evil supernatural forces using acquired powers; the work covers several generations of said lineage, which are adapted in each part by putting a descendant as the protagonist, starting with Jonathan in the year 1880.

Parts 1 to 6 have a continuous and linear story, while parts 7 and 8 take place in an alternate universe. The name “JoJo”, present in the title of the work, consists of a play on words composed of the name of the protagonists of each part, which can be abbreviated as “Jojo” and used as a nickname.

9. Nozomi Witches

Original Run: August 5, 1992 – March 10, 1993
Number of Episodes: 3 (OVA)

Nozomi is a beautiful and young actress who has returned to Japan from New Zealand. Once there she makes the acquaintance of her new neighbor, a student named Ryōtarō Shiba, and she decides that he must join the boxing club.

8. Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple

Original Run: October 7, 2006 – September 29, 2007
Number of Episodes: 50 + 11 OVA

Kenichi Shirahama, also known as ken-chan or funuken (weak legs), is a 16-year-old high school student accustomed, to his greatest shame, to being the target of his classmates. His lack of experience and know-how in the art of fighting forces him to flee violence. One day, however, when he witnesses an old man being attacked by thugs, a new student, Fuurinji Miu, manages to defend the old man with martial arts techniques that Kenichi immediately wants to learn.

For this, Miu will present him to his masters so that the young man can be trained. Unfortunately for him, the latter will not take gloves with him. But to his great surprise, the training he will undergo will allow him to make enormous progress in a short time. This will have unexpected consequences: all the gangs in the city now want to fight Kenichi, who from his first fight, had a reputation as an experienced fighter.

7. Sakigake!! Otokojuku

Original Run: February 25, 1988 – November 14, 1988
Number of Episodes: 34 + 1 film

The private school’s principal Genius, Heihachi Edajima, is a World War II hero. It trains its students to play a role in the politics, economy and industry of Japan and the world.

6. Slow Step

Original Run: April 12, 1991 – November 1, 1991
Number of Episodes: 5 (OVA)

The story of Slow Step revolves around a sentimental triangle made up of Minatsu Nakazato, a young student and softball player, her schoolmate Shu Akiba and Naoto Kadomatsu, a young boxing promise. In fact, Shu has always been in love with Minatsu, who however has eyes and heart only for Naoto, who nevertheless has a nice crush on Maria.

In fact, in order to escape from some criminals, the girl was forced to assume a secret identity and that is precisely that of the mysterious Maria, of whom Naoto has fallen in love, and to whom Minatsu cannot reveal himself despite her.

The latter also arouses the attention of the young professor Kango Yamazakura, his coach of the softball club, who, at the request of the principal, will train, having a brilliant experience at the university level, also that of boxing where Shu is enrolled.

5. Levius 

Original Run: November 28, 2019
Number of Episodes: 12

Levius is an alternate history set in the early 20th and 21st centuries. In this universe, technology has not evolved as in our world with electricity and electronics but thanks to steam. So we find ourselves in a steampunk universe. Mechanical boxing is the main sport of this universe. By replacing or improving certain body parts, fighters can be made much more powerful.

Previously, a world war broke out in Europe where the peoples were torn. Millions of people lost their lives and it is in this context, between boxing and war, that we meet Levius who lost an arm during the latter. He fights in the second-best category of mechanical boxing and will meet during his matches, A.J., an extraordinary boxer who managed to defeat the champion of level two, who was the idol of Levius.

This one wanting to avenge his friend will have to fight against A.J and find out why this young girl blindly listens to a corrupt group called “AMETHYSTE”.

4. Ring ni Kakero

Original Run: October 6, 2004 – June 12, 2011
Number of Episodes: 36

Ryuji and Kiku Takane leave their home to flee to Tokyo, tired of the constant harassment of their stepfather, and decided to retrace the footsteps of their father Go, a promising boxer who died prematurely. The character of Kiku, a great hard worker, and indomitable spirit, allows the two to find accommodation in the Kenzaki home, the home of a billionaire who admired their deceased parent.

It is in this place that Kiku and Ryu meet the young Kanako Sanjo, daughter of friends of the Kenzaki, who has a crush on Ryu, and it is always at the Kenzaki house that the brothers meet Jun, the only son of Mr. Kenzaki and also a promising boxer.

Here begins the eternal rivalry between Ryuji, a young tenacious but without particular talent, whose skills are honed by the boxing intelligence of his sister-teacher, and the brilliant Jun, who already in middle school appears as the most gifted young boxer at the level. national.

This is the first chapter of a story that will lead the two to face each other first as rivals in the Tokyo district final, where the match will be won by Jun at the cost of his right arm severely injured due to training at the limits of human endurance. Ryuji, as a finalist, will therefore represent the Tokyo district in the national tournament, the Champion Carnival, during which he meets skilled and talented boxers, and in particular Takeshi Kawai, Kazuki Shinatora and Ishimatsu Katori.

At the end of the competition, they will become friends of Ryuji and, together with him and Jun, they will form the group of five athletes appointed to support the colors of Japan in the Junior World Championship, before which the Japanese are challenged twice, once by the champion. American national team Black Shaft and a second one from the mysterious Shadow Clan.

3. Kengan Ashura

Original Run: July 31, 2019 – October 31, 2019
Number of Episodes: 24

Since the Edo era, in certain areas of Japan there have been arenas for fighters, where entrepreneurs and wealthy traders hire them to make them fight in bare-knuckle fights in which whoever wins can dominate the market. In modern times, these fights still take place in secret form between the great entrepreneurs around the world.

Ōma Tokita is a fighter with a mysterious past, whose fate accidentally crosses over with that of Kazuo Yamashita, a middle-aged man without a backbone, very fearful and submissive, an employee of the entrepreneur Nogi, a shrewd and unscrupulous businessman.

Tokita and Yamashita find themselves involved by Nogi in a dangerous tournament called “Kengan”. Oma immediately demonstrates his superior technique and will have the opportunity to settle some outstanding bills for years, while Yamashita will have to pose as an entrepreneur for a bizarre strategy developed by Nogi.

2. Ashita no Joe

Original Run: April 1, 1970 – August 31, 1981
Number of Episodes: 126

The protagonist is Joe Yabuki, a troubled young man who has spent most of his short life in state orphanages (in fact he has never met his parents). When he finally manages to escape to Tokyo, Joe lives by wandering from place to place like a stray dog. In the slums of the city, he meets Danpei Tange, an old boxer and retired former boxing coach, now reduced to a life of a bum and perpetually drunk.

And it is precisely the periphery (a place of social and psychological exclusion) the supporting co-protagonist at the beginning of the story: an area that in the immediate post-war period, at the time of reconstruction and the economic miracle, was disadvantaged, poor, and full of organized crime. (the famous yakuza, the so-called Japanese mafia) and juveniles.

The two main characters, Joe and Danpei, at their first meeting (as if it had been marked by destiny), end up fighting each other for a futile reason. But immediately after taking a lot of punches, the drunk ex-boxer suddenly comes to his senses, immediately realizing the great talent possessed by the young man.

He then begins to follow him, continually repeating his proposal: to be trained by him and become a boxer. At first, Joe just doesn’t want to know, he doesn’t even think about considering a proposal that seems so odd, made to him by a drunken old man.

1. Hajime no Ippo

Original Run: October 4, 2000 – March 29, 2014
Number of Episodes: 127 (+ 1 film + 1 OVA)

Ippo Makunouchi is an extremely shy student who cannot make friends because he has to constantly help his mother run her fishing business. Because he stays to himself, he is bullied by a group led by Umezawa. One day he is badly beaten, but a passing middleweight professional boxer Mamoru Takamura stops them and takes the injured Ippo to the Kamogawa gym owned by retired boxer Genji Kamogawa. This treats his wounds.

After Ippo wakes up to the noises of boxing training, Takamura tries to cheer Ippo by letting him drain his frustrations on a sandbag. The men get the first glimpse of Ippo’s talent for boxing. After this incident, Ippo thinks a lot about the situation and decides that he wants to start a career as a professional boxer.

In delivering this message to Mamoru Takamura, Takamura believes Ippo is taking professional boxing too lightly. He can’t turn Ippo down right away, however, especially because of his feat of punching the sandbag much harder than anyone in the gym except Takamura.