Hajime no Ippo: The Phantom Step
At twenty-two, Akiyama Jin is already considered too old to start dreaming.
In a country where boxers peak young and power is praised above all else, Jin walks into the overlooked Kagawa Boxing Gym with nothing but amateur experience, quiet confidence, and a style that doesn’t belong. He doesn’t brawl. He doesn’t rush. He moves—light on his feet, thinking three steps ahead in a ring built for violence.
Labeled “boring” and dismissed as a late bloomer, Jin climbs the junior lightweight division not with knockouts, but with timing, footwork, and intelligence. Along the way, he crosses paths with Mari Iimura, a sharp-tongued boxing journalist who sees something in him the public doesn’t. What begins as professional curiosity slowly turns into partnership, then love, unfolding through late-night gyms, ramen shops, weight cuts, and stolen moments between rounds.
Surrounded by familiar faces from the world of Hajime no Ippo, Jin’s journey isn’t about surpassing legends—it’s about carving out a place for himself. Through hard losses, quiet victories, gym comedy, and everyday life, he learns that boxing isn’t just about how hard you hit, but why you keep standing.
A story about starting late, thinking differently, and finding both purpose and home—inside and outside the ring.
