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Warning this review contain spoilers for Megalo Box

Tribute is a way to celebrate old works, by taking ideas of the thing is was inspire by, try to modernize its theme, and setting. That what Megalo Box is it’s a tribute to manga that was made in 1968 known as Ashita no Joe. For those who have never heard of it, Ashita no Joe was a shounen sports manga that ran in Shounen Magazine Weekly. It spanned for 20 volumes and had 171 chapters, it got an anime adaption in 1970 that ran for 79 episodes, it later got a second season during 1980 and it ... ran for 47 episodes. For the time Ashita no Joe came it out nothing was like it, it was a heave drama show that covers all themes boxing had. It did a lot of things that establish what anime and manga known for, without a lot of your favorites wouldn’t be the same. With that established, going back to the word tribute, Now if a tribute only copies things from it was inspire by does that mean new viewers who never watch Ashita no Joe won’t enjoy this, no it’s possible to enjoy Megalo box with seeing Joe, true you won’t get the references, but you still able to get some level of enjoyment out of it. However, hear the thing about a tribute should do, a tribute needs to separate it self from the thing it’s reference, sure it okay to reference things you are inspire from, but you need to separate yourself from it the inspiration. That what you are looking into with this review and determine if Megalo Box did enough to consider separate series or is still in Ashita no Joe shell?

The plot of the show revolves Junk Dog wanted to see how strong he truly he is, he never been sure, due to the fact he been fighting fix boxing matches, in order to get money, as they are involved with this mafia boss they own a lot of money too. It isn’t until he meets Yuri and Yuri gets curious how strong is Junk Dog, they fight, and Yuri is impressed that he was able to make him use both his hands against him. After Junk Dog lost the match again Yuri, he vows to challenge Yuri once again and show him how strong he can become. He changes his name to Joe to as a reference to Joe Yabuki the main character of Ashita no Joe. With this you think that their a rivalry going between Joe and Yuri, but that were you wrong, as you loo into the content of their characters, Junk Dog the only one who cares about facing Yuri. Yuri during majority of the shows doesn’t care if he never faces him again, true the strong Joe become the more interest Yuri is, but it isn’t until the days before they have their final match Yuri is interested in facing him. With that we have to give Joe opponents for him to face to reach the right to face Yuri again. With that this show mainly becomes boxing matches of the week, as we keep moving on to the next guy, which hurt the show as this show doesn’t have proper build up to it matches and does spend enough time developing its characters. If was 26 instead of 13 we could have more time between matches, more growth for Joe and Yuri, and the matches could be more intense. That the problem her with it’s matches, sure they are great to look it, but you release majority of the fights fell dull, because they have to hurry up and finish the fight, that way we have time to do JD vs Yuri. Even when we get to the match, the fight is lackluster, majority of it is finally fight it just Joe taking hits and trying to survive, it isn’t until the last round, he start to fight back and beat Yuri with a Cross Counter, which that a giving as in Ashita no Joe, Joe signature move is the cross counter, so that was bound to be use in Megalo Box somepoint in the series. However even it cool too see as I do love that move, it’s comes off a lame, as if the fight had more episodes to it, the impact of cross counter, cloud have been epic, it could have been awesome, but its’ not. What we are left it an empty final fight, which a shame I wanted the fight to be epic, as Joe Vs Rikishi was, but we didn’t get that. Instead we got a lame fight. Now if you are think even if the fights were rushed and they were at least well animated, and you right they are. The show has a never nice looking retro style that different then what we are used to coming out. We get shows that look not much different from each other, so for a show like Megalo Box to come out in the time it did, felt refreshing, and that what made the popular when it was out.

Now beside the story and animation, what I want to look into before discussion my thoughts on the ending are its characters, and its character with the expect of Nanbo are one note. They stick to what they are establish of begin. Joe is stereotypical badass main character, who try to challenge the use of gears, by going in matches without one, giving him the nick name gearless Joe. Which is a cool name, I got to admit, but I wish he would grow more beside how far he gets rankings. Their nothing much to his character, he doesn’t develop enough, if the show 26 we could have done more to develop him. But with it being 13 episodes we get not much time to develop, as we got to make sure Joe can face Yuri by episode 13. Speaking of Yuri like Joe his character stays the same, he the top guy that no can defeat, he has to the best gear, he has the best promotion, he powerful, he got it all. It isn’t until episode 12 we see something about that change, he decides to let go all things he been giving to him, his gear, his team, he going to face Joe as a one-man team, to show a form of respect to him. I like this, but I wish we got something more. The other characters such as Yukiko, Sachio, Fujimaki and the guys Joe fact, are one note as well, they don’t have anything special to them. Now you nothing I exclude Nanbu right, well the thing about Nanbu he actually gets development. He starts own as your typical teacher, but we get more to his character, we see a guy to go far for to make sure Joe is successful and try to settle the score he has with Fujimaki. Which I like this, and to see how it all end him with losing an eye, was a nice brutal scene, that I was surprise to see get pull of so well. Not jut that, but when Joe was facing his former student, we get a side of Nanbu we didn’t see before. We get a man with a lot of regrets, and he wish the man he trains end better than what he ended up as. I like this it gives him something more than the character he was based off being Danpei. Nanbu is able to separate from the character he was inspired by.

The ending of the shows was a disappointment, true it was nice to see Joe win, but I would like Joe and Yuri died in the end. It would have offer a nice tragic conclusion to see these two men fight to the death. But in the end what we got with Joe retiring and Yuri being crippled, which that is rough that man career is over. But it would have been epic to see both of them die with that cross counter, and end of being a draw. With that said there isn’t too much to left say about Megalo Box, it’s a show that stick to the thing that was inspire about by. Which is not good, as a person who know on here as the biggest Ashita no Joe on here, I wanted Megalo Box to separate itself, and I could judge as its own thing, and look back on and say that was the best tribute every made. But we didn’t get that we got a series that stick what it started as and remind the same. Which is a shame, it could have been more, but because of the it being 13 episodes, what we got was anime that always be in Ashita no shell. With that being said I give Megalo Box a 6.5 out of 10.

Warning there are spoilers in the series, so I recommend that you finish the second season before reading this review.

Plot 10/10
This season starts off with Joe coming back from his journey after his fight with Rikishi and him making a comeback after it been six months of not fighting. The main focus is Joe overcoming Rikishi death, weight loss, Joe getting his wild side back, and punch drunk syndrome. The way it handles all the trails is really well done. It also handles a lot of stuff better than the first season since we get to see more grown with certain characters such as ... Joe, Yohko, and Carlos. An interesting thing they do is instead starting off where the anime left off the manga. They decide to over write the last 25 episodes of the first series to start at the best part The Rise and The Fall of Joe Yabuki arc. This honestly the best part to start off for this season since it the beginning of the second part 2 of the series and this give the chance to make a better version of that the arc the original series end at. The reason has to the fact one of the main problems of the main series is that the anime was getting really close to the manga and some the stuff was anime original and they were running out of material to cover. It was surprise at the time that after about 10 years the season one end they decide to celebrate Ashita no Joe 10 year by giving us 2 movies and an anime series that cover the rest of the manga that never got adapted. So when the season 2 began they decide to fix that problem they had with the original by giving us a better version of that arc. The reason why is that we got see more of Joe struggled handle in a better way, better structure in certain moments, and the rivalry/friendship between Joe and Carlos. Joe struggle begin got to see how deeply Rikishi death affected him physical and mentally compare to the version of the first season where it only affected his physical. It because of this that the arc had more of an impact to it and make us feel bad for Je as he losing more fights and it seems their no hope off him overcoming Rikishi death. As for the rivalry/friendship between Joe and Carlos it way better handled then first season since we got to see interact more with each other and develop a bond. Their more conflict in this to since they both want to fight each other, but Carlos wanted to becoming a champion so has to decide between taking a risk of fight Joe or never get to settle the score with Joe. The next arc the season has it the Joe Weight Problem in this arc we get to Joe try to make weight for his first title match. In this arc we get to see the struggle Rikishi had to go through to become a bantamweight and we see Joe going through the same thing expect this time to stay as a bantam. Joe had go through the fact he sill grown and his puberty isn’t fully done yet. So Joe end ups forcing himself form growing because of the bantamweight class means to him. The third arc which Joe Wild Side arc deals with Joe needs to his wild side back before he faces the World champion. The last arc with is the Punch Drunk Syndrome arc deals with Joe going through Punch drunk and him making the decision to still fight Joe or to retire. All of the arcs deal with the most important trails for boxers and them trying to overcome them. This season proves that this is the most realistic Sport anime series ever made. All these arc were handle amazing and it shown that people who made season two here actually fans of the series which is rare thing to happen. Overall I give the plot a 10/10.

Characters 10/10

Joe Yabuki: In this season we get to see how much Joe has changed after his journey. He not as rude, more caring, and has become a man. He still is having same traits has he still the asshole we all love, but he more mature now. He also starts to show a nicer side when around his friends and Yohko. In this season Joe goes through a lot of struggles in boxing career. It is because of the struggle we start to start love Joe more now since he finally starts to change and feeling bad for him. The series shows use flashbacks on how Joe used to be alike and showing how much he has grown. Another thing I love more about Joe this season is how feeling change about boxing. At first he only doing to settle the score with Rikishi, but now he doing because he loves boxing. We get to see this by his still waiting to boxing even during his losing streak and the fact he could no longer punch in the temple. This gives the determination of waiting to overcome it no matter what. Another instance was when he was having trouble losing weight. During the episode Danpai wants to Joe to stop trying to lose weight Joe says the reason why I am want to stay a bantam is because of Wolf, Carlos, Jose Mendoza, and even Riksihi who died as a bantam weight. This shows how much he respects his rivals by staying in the class even though it might cost his own life. The third moment is when he tells Noriko the reason why he boxes which he loves doing it and he will do it until he becomes White Ashes. The last moment is he goes through punch drunk syndrome and him still decide to box even though he might end up becoming like Carlos or worse. These moments show that Joe truly loves boxing, respect his rivals, and he will box until the day he dies. We also get to see he is very thankfully for Danpei because of him he meets Rikishi. The last thing about him that as change is how much he cares about his friends. Such as the moment Nishi had to retire, Wolf, and the moment he found what happened to Carlos after he fought Jose. In the two moments we get to see how much this affects him and joe starts to blame himself as the reason why Carlos had punch drunk Syndrome, Overall Joe is easily the best anime character ever made and is truly shows because how much he has changed.

Carlos Rivera: Carlos who ranked number 6 in the world. We first see when Yohko goes to brings him to Japan in order to face the Japan best fighters. Carlos fights ends fighting the last opponents Joe lost to in reserve order. He is described as an actor because he doesn’t take his fight seriously. His main goal is to fight someone that make him go all out and to become a world champion. He starts to become a second Rikishi for Joe when they had their sparring match. In his sparring match we see Carlos finally found someone he can go all out in order to defeat him. It is after this moment Carlos wants an official match with him in order to settle the score. However, this problem because he was only schedule to only have three fights and has a match with Jose coming up, but he still to decide to fight Joe no matter and refuse to leave Japan until they settle the score. During the fight he was happy to finally to face someone he can toe to toe with. The best to describe him that he similar to Joe by the way the grow up and has the same wild side Joe has. Carlos shows us how dangerous punch drunk syndrome can be when we get to see after his fight with Jose he becomes a broken man and no longer the same. This very sad to see since he longer the same person anymore. Overall Carlos is one of the best characters in the series.

Tengei Danpai: In this season we get to how much he truly cares about Joe and how much his relationship with Joe has change. This is shown by him worrying about when Joe was overcoming his struggles. Danpai in the end wants what best for Joe even though Joe will agree with in the end. This shown when he told to Joe retire after he saw the suffering Joe had go through with overcoming Rikishi death and Joe losing weight. We side of Danpai where he doesn’t Joe to end up having the same fate that Riksihi had. However, Joe end up showing him his determination which the reason why Danpei still has faith in him no matter what. We see get to see more of the father role Danpai has since he his Joe father figure. Even after the moment Joe lost to Jose, he recognizes that Joe is a champion in these of Joe Japan champion and he the campion of everyone who lived in the slums. Overall it goes without a doubt that Danpai is easily one of the best master ever.

Nishi: In this season we get to the how close his friendship with Joe is and the struggle he has to go through. We get that he ends up retiring because of his injured hand. After this we see him starts to focus more on job and to get with him the girl of his dreams which is Noriko. Through we see that a side of him that we never saw before and we see of him making an important decision in his life which is him decide to give up boxing even though he loves it. We also get to see how close Joe and Nishi have become over the years to end up having a Manly friendship. Even though he stops boxing he still spars with Joe because want to help him out. In the end Nishi is one of the responsible men in the series and achieves his goal which is to end up marrying Noriko.

Wolf: In this season we see that Joe as start to forgive Joe for what he did to him. It is shown when he and Joe start to respect each more as boxers and as a person. We also see this when kept his promise to Jo when return the money he owns Joe and starts to change his life around in order to become a better person. Overall Wolf is now a more likable character in this season.

Yohko: In this season is a mysterious person. The reason why is she doing things and we don’t find out the reason until later on. An example of she brought Carlos Rivera with her from trip back to Venezuela. For him to fight Japanese fighters, but her true intentions are for Carlos to become Joe new rival. This shows that she is wants to help out overcome his struggles, but we don’t find the reason until the end. Over the course of the season she become the president of Shikari Gym in order to follow Joe career to the end. It also because Yohko connection with other people around the world Danpei ends up asking her to set up matches for when he no one left to face in Japan. Through the season you see why she does things she does is not only because she wants to help out Joe but she realizes that she in love with him. It is because of this she tries to stop Joe form fighting Jose but he doesn’t listen. She watches the fights and end up leaving because she could take seeing Joe hurt. Until she comebacks to her senses and that she needs to be there to support him. After the match Joe ends up giving gloves to her as a symbol which signifies something to remember him by and sorry I can’t be with you. Overall Yohko has become a better character and she without a doubt the best female character in the series.

Noriko: Noriko is what I describe as a girl who tries to decide who she rather be with Joe or Nishi. It is obvious that in the first series she loves Joe, but in the second season she realizes that can’t be with him after Joe tells her the reason why he boxes. It is at this moment she realizes that she can’t be with Joe since him getting hurt will touch for her to handle. It is because of this Noriko slowly develop feeling for Nishi and end ups deciding to marry him. Overall Noriko is probably the closet we ever get for a love struggle to happen and, but doesn’t go anywhere since this series isn’t a romance, but she the second best female character in the series.

Kim Yongpi: Kim is joe next major opponent Joe had to deal with after his fight with Carlos. Since Kim is the OBPF champion. Kim is very interesting since their isn’t much information about in the boxing world beside that he killed to opponents and his backstory. Kim is a fighting machine this describe the way he fights and the way he acts. Kim however has fear of blood and every time he see blood on his hands he tries to wash it even though no else can see it. He shows no sign of fear until he saw Joe keep getting back up every time he hits him which the reason why Joe win in the end. Overall Kim is character I wish we got to see more form him since has the most interesting backstory out of all the characters since he a little kid in the World War 2 and ended up killing his own father.

Jose Mendoza: Jose symbolize as a perfect in the sense he takes out his opponent with ease, treats his opponents with respect, has a family, and has a nice life style, but we realize that he actually has flaws. He servers as Joe ultimate opponent because of his strength and statue as a boxer. It shown his respect for his opponents when he refuses to Carlos on the poster for his next match. The other time was when he found he killed the WBC champion during their fight and tells Joe he fells sad. When he first sees him the series he has the most interest indroucting to a character. We see that he tells the reporter Joe Yabuki Where he came from and Where he going to go. This very interesting since this line means he want wants to Joe background and how far he going to get to in Boxing. We see that every time he shows up has this certain intimidation in him with the touch Joe shoulder and said Good Luck to the moment he called Joe a Yellow sheep. Even though he seems perfect boxers he does weakness such as can’t take too many punches and he can be drive to go crazy. When he has saw Joe was still alive in the 10th round and he wonders why Joe is still alive. This ends up driving Jose to the breaking point of insanity and starts to break the rules. Which surprise everyone in the crowed. In the end of the fight you see a broken man who knows he doesn’t deserve to win the fight. Especially when look on how he can even barely stand while Joe could still stand in the end of the fight. Overall Jose is definitely the one of the powerfully foe Joe has every face and the close thing we got to a good antagonist in the series.

Overall the series characters are simple one of the best things about this series because of interesting, entraining they can be and have great character development they have. I can’t talk about every character since that would take too long and I only want to talk about the ones that got the most focus in this season.

Animation 10/10
The animation has improved by a lot since the first season. This because of not only the 9 years’ difference between season 1 and season 2 ad that this had movie budget level. This the interesting since this probably the only series that has receive this level of quality and has no moments of bad animation. Ever scene in the series is beautifully, especially those screenshots that make good wallpapers. The only explanation I think of the reason why they give this season very good budget is because of the popularity and the impact it had in the anime industry. At the time the only series that can rival its popularity where Lupin the 3rd, Space Battleship Yamato, Cutie Honey, Shin Maginzer Z, and Astro Boy. So the animators know they have to give a season that everyone who was fan of Japanese animation something to remember. Out all the anime I have seen nothing rivals Ashita no Joe season 2 animation and it’s still holds out very well. Even though e getting new anime series every year none of animation they have is nothing compare to Ashita no Joe animation.

Music/Voice Acting 10/10
The soundtrack of the season has lots of jazz to it and its very emotional soundtrack especially since this the darkest portion of the series. The soundtrack fits very well by adding sad music when a sad moment and when they songs when the fight sense get very intense. All of the songs are very good and hard to choose which are mine favorites but if I had to choose it would have to be between Twilight, Forever Joe, and the ending theme of season 2. A lot of the roles have change for certain character because of the gap between the season 1 and 2. The voice that have change are Yohko, Danpai, Nishi, Noriko, Goromaki. However, is it hard to notice since they aren’t really a difference to their voices. Overall the music and the voice acting are very good.

Adaption 10/10
The second season adapts all of part two of the manga version. However, there is two chapter they do skip since season one already cover that. One of the chapters where the one Joe decide to go take underground boxing since he go through a losing streak and could get any more opponents until he meet Carlos. The other one was the exhibition match Joe had Carlos which good that as removed since that was not needed. Like the first season they decide to has filler canon moments. These include filler fights and giving us more screen time for certain characters. It is because of these canon filler moments it gives us a realistic feel. Let me explain in the manga it felt strange on how Joe was ready to face the world champion even though he only won 18 fights versus the anime he only won 24 fights. This makes manga fell kind of rush so we get to see only joe important match while the anime we get to see all of the of them. This season also handles it characters better then manga version because we more time to see the them more and the get a chance to develop. This adaption fixes the problems that the manga and gives a better version of part 2. Overall season 2 is better than the manga because of it is more realistic, relationships between characters and the grown the character go through over the years.

Enjoyment 10/10
When it comes to how much I enjoy season 2 it gives me the most enjoyment I have ever had. Like I said with the first season this is a series I can never get tired of watching. The characters, the story, and the atmosphere of it is something I always love about this series. The fights in the season have more intense moments than ever before which makes the fights more enjoyable. Out of all the fight that season 2 had my favorite would have to be Joe vs Carlos. The reason why is because they were equal, we got to see Carlos go all out, and both of them were enjoying the fight. Even though there are moments were it had to watch the series such as when we Carlos is no longer the same person anymore and the fact this season has the darkest moments in it these end help out with my enjoyment with the series. This series give me a feeling that no other series can give me. The way to describe this feeling is that it’s show that I never wanted to end and It’s a series I can never get tired of. Even when I already seen this series 3 times and still enjoy just as much I enjoy the first time I watch it.

The Ending
Before I give my final thoughts on this season I need to address my thoughts about the ending of this series. The ending is leave to your own inception on how do you think what to Joe after his fight with Jose. However for me, I believe in the end Joe died which hard for me to say. The reason why I believe this is because the white ash line. During Joe conversation with Noriko he states this I won’t stop boxing until I turn in white ash and their no long a flame that burns. What this means that white ashes symbolism death. We see that in the scene of episode 47 Joe is white. This means he has turn into white ashes and he is now died. I feel that this the best for ending since this fits it the most. During the manga still going and Chiba left in charge on how series he thought of them making Joe spend his rest of his life with Yohko. This change when editor remind him of the conversation Joe had with Noriko. It at the moment he decides to make Joe turn into white ash. This fit more than original ending he had planned since fits the character Joe. It’s hard to imagine Joe retiring seeing how much he loves boxing. So let the dying symbolizes going on journey that he will come back form. Also ending was foreshadow very since how Joe was dealing with punch drunk syndrome, the white ash conversation, Noriko asking Joe he will come back after his fight with Jose, and the fact Joe fighting best person in the world. It is sad to see my favorite character of all time died in the end, but I could not ask for a better ending. Out of all the ending I have seen this without a doubt the best ending ever made.

Final Thoughts
Overall my thoughts on this season 2 is this what made the best series I have ever seen. It is because of this part is why this series is my favorite anime of all time and my favorite show. When I finish the season it gives me a void that took a year to get over. This series change my opinion on the sports genre because I watch this I though sports anime were boring, but that change when I saw how much I was enjoying this series. It also left me the biggest the impact I ever had while watching a show by letting feel so much emotions, the void, how attach I was to the characters and the story of it. Overall this season is the reason why Ashita no Joe will always be my favorite anime and favorite show of all time. I give season 2 a score of 10/10.

Warning! This review contains spoilers, so I recommend that you finish the first season before reading this review.
Plot 9.3/10
Ashita no Joe or known as in other parts of the world as Rocky Joe, Tomorrow Joe, Joe’s Tomorrow, Champion Joe, and Joe is about an orphan who ran away from the orphanage at a very young age who goes by the name Joe Yabuki. After a couple of years when Yabuki Joe is a teenager he meets an old man named Tange Danpei, who used to be a boxer and gets into a fight with Joe and loses. After that at some members of the ... yakuza show up to fight Joe, but in the end Joe wins. Danpei sees this and asks him if he would like to become a boxer and Joe’s responsese to this is “no “. Danpei still keeps trying until Joe finally accepts the offer, but the only reason why is because of the money. Then a rich woman shows up named Yoko Shiraki and Joe - with the help of the kids they scam her. She finds out about this and Joe gets sent to jail for one year and six months. During his jail time he meets Nishi who becomes a good friend later on and a man that gets into fight with Joe, who defeats Joe. This person is known as Toru Rikishi. After this a rivalry starts between the two of them which causes Joe to become a boxer in order to settle the score with Rikishi.
Review of the plot: Even though the plot is nothing really special, but the way they handle it makes it one of the best stories I have ever heard/seen. The main theme of this season is pretty much rivalry and the struggles of boxing. In the first season the relationship of Joe and Rikishi evolves to not just being rivals, but becoming closest friends. The struggle this season deals with is losing weight, getting ready to fight Rikishi in the ring, Joe learning boxing techniques, and the pain of killing someone in the ring. The way the handles it is something that left me in tears in how sad this series was becoming and sometimes hard to watch.
Characters 10/10
Joe Yabuki: The main character of the series is an asshole and acts like a wild animal. Due to his past he doesn’t know when his birthday is and who his parents are. Really the only thing he knew form his past is his name. Throughout the series Joe ends up loving boxing, ends up becoming a decent person and respects his rivals. Overall I would say at first Joe is a person that becomes hard to like, but later on he becomes so that you end up loving him to the end of it. It is because of his character development he become my favorite anime main character of all time.
Toru Rikishi: He is Joe’s main rival of the series, a boxing genius, a person with a lot of determination, and also like Joe he is a delinquent. He got sent to jail for nearly killing someone who badmouthed him during one of his matches. Overall Rikishi is a total badass being able to beat up freaking bulls easily. He also is one of the coolest characters of the show. He’s also the person who left the biggest impact in the series and in anime in general. Rikishi is known to be the first character to have ever died in anime. This ended up being very risky for the two creators of Ashita no Joe because killing off a character was never heard of and the fact of killing a popular character could mean the end of the series. In unexpecting terms the fans of Rikishi end up hosting a funeral for him. It is also because of his death the series starts to take a darker tone as you seen with the last 21 episodes of the show and in season 2 of it. In the end Rikishi goes down as one of the greatest rivals ever made and becomes Joe closet friend.
Tange Danpei: Joe’s boxing coach who used to be a boxer, but retired due the fact he can no longer see with his right eye. After he retires he becomes an alcoholic, but when he meets Joe his life starts to change. When Joe got sent to jail he started to write postcard that had boxing lessons such as the jab and uppercut. After that he decide to go over there to further teach more lesson to Joe such Cross Counter, Block, and Footwork. He known to very manipulate by confusing Joe by not train him, but instead training Aoyama instead him in order for Joe to learn how to block and footwork in order to beat Aoyama. His dream is to make Joe a champion since he was unable to do it himself. The best way I can describe Danpei is that he’s a person who’s obsessed with Joe and determinated to make Joe a champion.
Kanichi “Mammoth” Nishi: Is one of Joe’s closest friends and a person who gets scared easily in the beginning of the series until he decides to become a boxer to overcome his fears. The best way I can describe him is that he is a nice person who has a weight problem, but overcomes this thanks to Joe.
Yoko Shiraki: Toru Rikishi’s manager and her relationship to Joe is the closest we will ever get of a love interest for Joe. In the beginning of the series she is seen as the person who doesn’t care about Joe but later on starts developing feelings for him and cares about him. This is shown when Joe needed a new rival in order to overcome Rikishi’s death. She also serves a counterpart to Joe to the point it’s hard to doubt if she’s even a villain for the first half of the series. The best way I can describe her is that she’s a very calm person.
Carlos Rivera: Joe’s second rival and the person Joe needed in order to overcome Rikishi’s death. He has a similar backstory to Joe that they were both orphans and both lived in the slums. Carlos is also a playboy who can’t stop hitting on women, a laid back and friendly person. Like Rikishi he also serves the foe Joe has to overcome and becomes really good friends with Joe. He’s also one of Joe most important opponents of Joe’s career since he is ranked 6 in the world.
Wolf: Not much to say except he is the first major opponent of Joe’s boxing career. It is because of the fight they had in the locker why Joe was able to get his boxing license. It is because of this Wolf starts to hate Joe and do anything it takes in order to defeat him.
Overall the characters are the strong point of the series because of how developed they are and how they are handled. I could talk about more characters such as the kids who follow Joe and Noriko, but I couldn’t since they haven’t received enough development and they haven’t really changed that much.
Animation 8.8/10
Due to the fact the show was made in 1970 the animation ends up begin very rough and coming out in a time where anime company was still not used to use colored animation yet. However, there are still moments where the animation does look good and times were it looks bad. It is because of this that it doesn’t really hold up well compared to anime from nowadays.
Music/Voice acting 10/10
The soundtrack is absolutely amazing and fits the series. The main genres they ended up using are jazz and rock. Tracks such as Joe’s whistle, Rikishi’s theme, the opening theme, the instrumental version of the ending. The music really handles up very well and there are some of the best soundtracks I have ever heard in anime. The voice acting, I gotta say was very well handled and each one fits their respective character. I can’t say anything about the Spanish dub, Italy dub, and English dub of it since I can only find a few clips of it and the English dub of it only covers the first eight episodes of it and the first movie. In the Italy dub and Spanish does change the title to Rocky Joe when they aired it.
Adaption 9.4/10
The first season over from the beginning all the way until the end of Joe vs Carlos Rivera, but it does have filler scenes in the series such as the doctor who treated Joe’s wounds and during the time Joe goes on his journey after Rikishi’s death. Even though the series has filler that doesn’t make the quality of it go down. The filler contributes to the story by adding more matches of Joe that the manga did end up skipping. It’s because of these fillers that makes it help making Joe’s boxing career seem more realistic. The filler moments also contribute to the development of Joe for example episode 69. However, the first series skips some scenes such as the moment Carlos kissed Yoko and the exhibition Joe had with Carlos. In my opinion comparing the first anime series to the manga I would have to say the manga is a bit better, but the first season does an amazing job adapting the manga. It also manages to handle things better than the manga such as Rikishi losing weight and Joe’s Journey.
Enjoyment 10/10
Out of all the series I havee seen they have never given me the same amount of enjoyment I had when I was watching Ashita no Joe. The reason why is because how immersed I was into the story, the characters, the fights, and everything that happened in the series. The fights are the most intense fights I have ever seen. A good example of this is when Joe was fighting Rikishi and you see the moment when both of them start using the “no-guard “position. I was amazed how quickly I started enjoying the series. Within the first 10 minutes of the first episode I was already hooked and I knew this would be a series I could never forget. This also was the first time I have experienced any form of entertainment that left me with a huge impact. This series made me feel like I was being part of the world they live in as an observer and I quickly became attached to the characters to the point I would break into tears the moment anything bad happen to them.
Final Thoughts
Overall this series probably will always stay as my favorite anime of all time because of how amazing it is and the impact it had on me to the point after I had finished the series I ended up going through a void that took me a year to get out of. Overall I give the first season a 9.6/10. Next time I will be working on season 2 and hopefully get that posted on MAL by the end of July.