How can you tell the 1989 Hajime no Ippo debut issue?
The debut is Weekly Shonen Magazine 1989 No.43, cover-dated October 11, 1989, priced 190 yen, carrying a bottom banner that announces the new serialization in so many words. Three later No.43s are anniversary issues, not this one.
The markers
What to check on the coverThe debut, and the book that is not it
Checklist: the red masthead with WEEKLY at right; the top banner boasting 426 pages; at right, 'October 11 issue No.43' and the cover price, 190 yen, a hard era marker; and along the bottom, the debut banner itself, 'New Serialization No.3, 60 pages, Hajime no Ippo.' The contents list is a cross-check in itself: it includes Kotaro Makaritooru, Ashita Tenki ni Naare, Offside and Shogun. Inside, Round 1, 'The First Step,' runs 60 pages with its first three pages in colour.
The market agrees on the issue's weight: one published Japanese buyback list pays 70,000 yen for the 1989 No.43, tied for the highest price on that entire list and the only Ippo issue on it.
The confusers
Same number, wrong decadeThree traps. First, 1989 No.50, seven issues later, is the second Ippo cover: a premium issue, but not the debut. Second, No.43 recurs as the anniversary slot: WSM 2019 No.43 and 2024 No.43 mark the 30th and 35th years, and the combined 2009 No.42-43 the 20th. Check the printed year context and the cover price; 190 yen means 1989. Third, no Kodansha facsimile reprint of the 1989 issue surfaced in this research, in English or Japanese: treat any claimed reprint edition as unverified until a publisher source appears.