Ashita no Joe
Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow

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Read Ashita no Joe, they said. It's one of those recommendations that say absolutely nothing... And holy shit. Truth be told, this was tougher to read than Berserk.

It certainly doesn't feel that way at first, owing to its classical cartoonish style and setup. You couldn't guess how deep this goes on first glance. On second glance. On third glance, because Joe just keeps going. Because unlike Berserk, which requires a good attachment to the cast in addition to its bountiful artwork, Ashita no Joe does not care about your feelings. It only requires you to keep reading, to keep watching Joe in the same way ... he asks Shiraki Yoko to never turn away from true greatness.

The story kicks off with Joe being a dexterous ruffian. But when he finds himself in juvenile detention, he answers his life's calling to become a boxer. Throughout his journey, he quickly realizes that he is alone in the ring and revels in it. Fight after fight, Joe defies all expectations. The beauty of tomorrow is promising yet ephemeral. Tomorrow will only feature brutal bruises, bloody wounds, and the dust of dust. To everyone else, it is a revolting sight. But to him... That's tomorrow's Joe.

One thing I found very appalling is the sparse development among its well-written characters. Of course, it's not to say that there's a lack thereof, but it's assumed because the manga overall doesn't need it. Most side characters only grow through the passage of time. Joe goes through intense arcs of emotion and isolation, but quickly grows from it and subtly matures into an apex predator, looking forward to yet another tomorrow. He might continue to thrash around like an unhinged monkey, because one can argue that Joe's fists go through more character development than what Joe displays. But deep down he is one of the most mature sportsman you'll ever witness. All it took was a few moments of tenderness, ones that showcased how attuned he is to reality moreso than anyone else in the room. And he's the one taking all of the punches!

My god, dude. From his clash with Rikiishi all the way to the final bout, there's this uncanny hook in this manga that keeps you reading. A significant part of it is due to its simplistic structure and pacing, never dragging on and never a bore. Another significant part is the timeless style this manga is drawn in, giving it quite the unique and fresh vibe even today. And what would the manga be without the titular character himself? What would Joe be without the ego, the triple counter, the tenacity of a god to eat all of those punches? One word. Weak.

So, if you want to set baseline expectations, you should watch Megalobox first. It's a show that's directly inspired by Ashita no Joe, though set in a different universe and much more digestible. Megalobox's characters, premise, and some story beats are vastly similar to Ashita no Joe, though their journeys are wildly different owing to its styles. Megalobox presents boxing as a symphonic spectacle. While Ashita no Joe is basically the same thing, it's much more nuanced than a symphony. It's a deathmatch in hell.

In conclusion,

It's very difficult to describe the entirety of Ashita no Joe in a single word, but I think I can.

Tomorrow's Joe is UNBELIEVABLE. 10/10.

Until next time.

While I have this rated as a 10, I truly think it's a 9.5/10.

The story of Ashita no Joe is absolutely phenomenal, there's not a lot more that can be said.

Joe as a man and his fights encompass almost everything that I find interesting about boxing and life in general. His fight with Rikishi haunting him forever was amazing, but I truly think that his fight against Mendoza was where Joe culminated and peaked, with a close second being his fight against Carlos. Joe is everything that tomorrow is.

The ONLY thing that I have a problem with, is that I think the start is a ... little slow, I didn't care too much for volume 2 and the first half of volume 3 as the juvie arc was a little boring. and the second complaint is that I feel as if youko being interested in yabuki is a forced dynamic for the magazine that doesn't come naturally. But genuinely, everything else is perfect. I love Ashita no Joe.

I considered not writing a review for Ashita no Joe, as I didn't finish it. I didn't finish JoJo's Bizzare Adventure and don't feel I can meaningfully review it at this time. But for Ashita no Joe, if I can assist one person in making a decision on this manga, maybe that'll be worth it.

I came into this manga because many people bring it up when discussing Hajime No Ippo, but after trying to read it, I'm just so disappointed in the series, that I wonder why the comparisons are made.

There's two big problems I have with Ashita no Joe that ... have made it impossible to go on.

The first is the art style, it feels like it's a comic strip style that was popular in America in the 1960s and 1970s, I often thought of the comic script Nancy for some reason. When I think of Manga I usually think of a refined art style that feels impressive, and Ashita no Joe is absolutely not in that style. It's a cheap exaggerated art style that works great when watching a cartoon like Popeye, but in a manga it just doesn't feel like the quality bar has been hit.

The thing is after reading 300 pages of this art, I just realized I was absolutely not enjoying it. But that would be ok except for the other problem.

The second issue is that Joe is not likable. About half way through the first volume I thought "ok, I start to see Joe turning around." and then he just goes back to doing "Bad things"... Actually let me take a moment, because that's a third problem.

The writing in the version of the manga I read was laughably bad. Multiple police officers accused Joe of doing "bad things". Not crimes, not specific acts, just generic "bad things". The juvenile writing really drags down what could be an interesting story. And the thing is there's numerous points where the writing just seems to lack the emotion. Again, this could be a translation error but I wonder if this was written for a more childish audience.

Which brings us back to the problem with Joe. It's not that Joe couldn't be a good character, or can't become a great character, but with the exaggerated art style, and a character who it's hard to root for, I'm not sure if I wanted to continue, actually I wasn't sure at the end of the first Volume, after half of the second, I decided I was over the story and character. Joe was just not likable enough to continue but worse, he had every negative trait to make people hate him. While that's part of the point of being a scarred child who grew up in rough times, I decided to give up on Joe, where as his eventual coach clearly didn't want to.

Perhaps I was expecting something that the manga is not. I wanted a manga about boxing. I've heard people call this a "Character study" but the thing is... Joe as a character was poorly written, the story did itself no favors, but the art style really didn't make me interested in the study as well.

I know this is a very highly rated manga, but for the life of me I'm not sure why. And the thing is at this point, I'm not sure I'm interested enough to find out.

Ps. I know this is currently the only negative review of 21 reviews for this. If you are upset by this, I recommend leaving your own positive review, or leaving a reaction. However commenting on my profile because you disagree is unnecessary, because ultimately this is written as a personal log of my opinion on the manga, not a discussion that needs to be had where you have to change someone else's opinion or review. A review is a PERSONAL OPINION and as such people's PERSONAL OPINION'S likely differ from your PERSONAL OPINION.

I'm sorry, people have sent me despicable responses, harassed me off the site because they disagree, and resorted to name calling, so I feel like I MUST point out that this is unacceptable behavior. If you have a different PERSONAL OPINION than me, tell other people. I honestly have never cared what your opinion of my opinion is.