Ashita no Joe/Megalobox

[LumRanmaYasha]

CRUNCHYROLL WILL BE STREAMING ALL OF ASHITA NO JOE 2 STARTING AT 6PM EST TODAY! Free users will get 7 episodes a week, while premium users will have all the episodes from the get go.

This is fantastic news! I'm pumped that the series is now finally going to be able to reach a mass audience of people, and legally! Hopefully CR adds the first series at some point as well.

And you people who haven't started reading/watching AnJ, well, here's some motivation. Go start. Now.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Wow. Its like all of a sudden everyone finally started to take notice of how awesome this series is at the same time that I did.

[Avaitor]

Are you able to watch 2 without seeing the first?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

You can, but I strongly recommend reading part 1 first if you're mot against scans. You'd be robbing yourself of the complete experience, otherwise. That said, AnJ2 is an excellent adaptation of the second half of the manga.

[Avaitor]

If I can find a way to read it, I will!

[LumRanmaYasha]

If I can find a way to read it, I will!

Here.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Oh cool!

Shame about no first part, though.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yeah, seriously, this is about Ashita no Joe. Why don't you guys talk about that instead?

Well, E-K, Pharass, and I are the only three here who have read/watched the series, and until I finish the last 5 eps of Joe 2, I don't think we really have anything new to talk about right now.

But can we please stop derailing the topic? It's clear Avaitor just isn't interested in watching Jojo's atm, and you guys should just leave it at that.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Still no reason to say nobody talks about the show here. And no reason to be a post-deleting narc about it.

Now anyway, I watched the first of Ashita no Joe a while ago. I really liked the ambient tone in the first scene, where Joe's walking across the town. It's like something out of Once Upon a Time in the West. Once I find time, I might read the manga.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

When I stop to consider it, Takamori probably had a lot of Western influences when writing this manga. I wouldn't be surprised if One Upon A Time in the West factored in as an influence for him later on in the series (both even came out in 1968, if I'm not mistaken).

[LumRanmaYasha]

I finished Ashita no Joe 2 on Friday night. I was very pleased.

Spoiler

Of course, Joe knew his body better than anyone else. He knew he was deteriorating from the punch-drunk syndrome. "So what?" Indeed. Joe didn't care about what would happen to him after the match. His only concern was his fight with Jose. Joe fights because he loves boxing, the challenge, and the thrill that can only come from doing his best, pushing himself to the limit against a mighty opponent. Jose offers Joe his shining moment, an ability to match fists with one of the greatest boxers ever, to prove his mettle, to fight the best fight he could ever fight. If that was going to be the end of his career, so be it. He didn't care about what happened after the match, win or lose. So long as he could give his all against the man he respected most, for the sake of those who suffered along his path, and for himself, it just didn't matter.

For some time now I expected Yoko was in love with Joe. Really, with how far she went out of her way to help him, and how much she cared about his well-being, it was clear she had grown attached to him on a level exceeding mere business matters, or even that as a concerned friend. Her confession was a wonderfully powerful moment, since so rarely did she let her emotions get the better with her, and act so distressed at any time in the series. And while she was tempted to run away, avert her eyes from the gruesome spectacle in the ring, she knew she had to go back, and bear through it in order to see what she helped create through to the end. She needed to be there to support Joe. In a rare moment, she does not ask him to throw in the towel, as she usually did in past matches when things got rough. She encourages him to fight on. She understands that Joe has to see this through to the end, and her words gives him a push of energy to carry it on with intensity. I'm not sure if Joe reciprocates her romantic feelings for him, but as his gift to her proved, he certainly was grateful to her and and that she did for him through his career, helping him get to where he is. I feel bad that she had to lose another person she loved, and it's too bad we don't know how she carries herself afterwards, but I'd hope she managed to find happiness and live on for both their sakes.

I loved how pretty much every recurring character in Joe 2 came back to observe Joe and Jose's match. I liked the scene where all the prison inmates were together, talking about how while they've lost their youth and become adults, Joe still has his youth, and Aoyama wistful of those days. And I was happy to see Wolf return the money he borrowed, and his and Joe hanging out at the bar, Gondo looking on, backing out from greeting Joe so to not ruin their moment. That was a brilliant scene. I was happy to see both of them root for Joe in his match, and how at the end of it, Gondo takes his hat off for Joe. A quiet, but profound action of respect for a fallen friend.

I like how, during the fight, we learn more about Joe's life in the past before he met Danpei. How he was a vagabond, an orphaned child who lived life through wit and luck, but shallowly and aimlessly. What would have happened to Joe if he didn't meet Danpei? Would he have just been like that, alone, a drifter wandering about with nothing to do and a deep emptiness? It's hard to think about, since Joe's life was so radically redefined by Danpei and boxing, but those flashbacks, if anything, showed Joe always had one thing. A passion for survival. A willingness to fight against any odds and adversity, using any means possible, in order to win at life. That part about him hasn't changed. Though he has people who care about him now, he is still fighting a solitary battle. It's a battle against his own limits, but a battle all the same. Even if he had to reduce himself to a thoughtless husk motivated only by the fight, it was necessary. He had to make it through the entire fight giving it his best, never once faltering or deteriorating, even at the end.

The flashbacks/visions of Rikishi was good foreshadowing of where this fight would lead Joe to, but they also were just additional motivation for Joe to succeed. After all, as much as this is a fight for himself, it is also a fight motivated by the fate of Rikishi, the man who inspired him to seriously become a boxer, and the man who's death forced him to overcome unbelievable adversity, adversity that lead him to meet Carlos, find a new goal in Jose, and become the fighter he is. So, those were some good scenes.

The fight was incredible. Joe pushed himself to the limit, and by the end, was a pure fighting machine, with determination so fierce it made the reserved Jose completely lose his wits. I enjoyed the return of the cross counter, and triple cross counter in the fight, as it seemed only natural to have Joe's signature moves be utilized in his finest hour. Not to mention the satisfaction in seeing Joe hit Jose that first time, and using his own tricks against him, is insurmountable. But I especially have to love what happened to Joe as the fight progressed. Jose has stayed champion thanks to his foresight to maintain a healthy body, something Joe failed to do. Joe, as usual, doesn't start off at his best in the first rounds, which lulled Jose into a false sense of security. However, once Joe started to gain momentum, standing up and fighting with fierce punches despite his weakened state, and near blindness in his right eye, he became afraid. Joe was willing to sacrifice his body, his life, in order to win the fight. Jose keeps himself healthy exactly because he is afraid of dying and injury. Joe was hanging on purely out of determination in the final rounds; his life was already forfeit, but he showed no signs of struggling. Despite his air of mightiness, Jose was actually weak-hearted as much as he was weak to punches, and that's why, in the heat of things, he snapped out of fear and committed a foul. There was no way he could stay rational against someone as anomalous as Joe. This pushed Jose to fight with all the strength he had to spare as well. This brought out the best in both fighters, which Joe gladly desired. Of course, the consequence is that Jose lost his healthiness; he is withered, bruised, his hair white, and is no doubt psychologically scarred. He may have technically won the fight, but in reality, he completely lost to the fire of Joe's spirit, which burned him up and left him broken. There is no way he'll be able to stay champion anymore, his body as it is. In the end, Joe got what he wanted, but Jose lost everything. It's a sad fate, but of course, one befitting someone who thought he could stay at the top for most of his career, underestimated his opponents, and never suffered a true defeat.

Now, the final scene. I'm going to bungle my thoughts on this. I still don't know how to best describe my feelings about it. It's funny how many series spoiled it for me, yet I didn't even realize yet. It did not in any way affect how powerful that image was, though. Joe Yabuki died with a smile. He burned up his youth in a fiery passion, performed the greatest fight he ever had in his career, and was now but ash. But there was really nothing waiting for Joe after this fight, nothing he wanted at least. His fight with Jose was everything he needed to leave the world happily. Death was by far the best fate for him, rather than being a crippled shell of himself like Carlos became. His body was failing him. As the fight went on he must have been in unbearable pain. But he did not deteriorate. His body lasted him, so he could see it through to the end. He lived and died a boxer in the prime of his strength and youth. I can't see any other fate that would be better. If you ask me, this is a happy ending. Of course, the other characters, Nishi, Danpei, and Yoko will despair and mourn, but Joe Yabuki had no regrets. He was glad to live a fulfilling life as a boxer, and leave the world at his peak. There was nothing left he needed to prove, or had to do in the world. He completely burned up, and was content to leave as pure white ashes.

I will say that there is one, singular thing I did not like about the ending...the usage of "Midnight Blues" when we see the final image of Joe. It may be "blues," but the song felt too upbeat for a powerful, (I would think) quiet and contemplative scene like that. I really think that either of the ending themes would have been more tonally appropriate. Just a nitpick, but something that did kind of rub me wrong.

Ultimately, Ashita no Joe ended as I thought it would as I got closer to the ending, and I was more than pleased with it. It was a strong ending, with a powerful final image, and left me thoroughly satisfied.  I can only hope to find more gems like AnJ as I press onwards in polishing off my gargantuan manga and anime backlogs, but it'll be hard to top this series. It's a rarely crafted masterpiece.

[close]

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Man, I wanted to do a super long post summing up my thoughts on the series, but I was waiting for you to finish it. I'll still address all of your points later on, so expect a really long post, but I agree with almost all of it (and I'd be curlous to now see how you would rate each arc compared to my ratings).

Spoiler

As for the ending insert song, I did actually enjoy Midnight Blues being placed there, since I don't consider it to necessarily be a tragic ending (as you yourself stated). It's actually not a bad song to represent what Joe was feeling at the end. Having said that, I implore you to go onto YouTube and check out this version of the ending from the movie:

http://youtu.be/ExHozD7lpDA

I think that was a much better choice for the ending song, even if I did like Midnight Blues.

[close]

Also, while this is ranked as my 2nd favorite anime, it could easily have been my favorite animated series of all time if it had been a complete adaptation of the series, since enjoying this series to its fullest pretty much requires you to have read or watched Part I. Still, it's a great adaptation of what I can pretty much call my favorite manga series that I have ever read, personally.

And yes, now I see those iconic scenes from Cowboy Bebop and TTGL (and maybe you could kind of argue for several scenes in One Piece) in a completely different light. I wonder how many Western anime fans even realize that those are references to Ashits no Joe.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Spoiler

As for the ending insert song, I did actually enjoy Midnight Blues being placed there, since I don't consider it to necessarily be a tragic ending (as you yourself stated). It's actually not a bad song, totally, to represent what Joe was feeling at the end. Having said that, I implore you to go onto YouTube and check out this version of the ending from the movie:

http://youtu.be/ExHozD7lpDA

I think that was a much better choice for the ending song, even if I did like Midnight Blues.

[close]

I do like that song better. It feels a lot quieter, and reflective than "Midnight Blues" felt to me.

I'll agree that lyrically "Midnight Blues" is fitting for that scene, but it still sounded a little too upbeat (what with the chorus going all YEAH YEAH) in the middle of it among other notes. I just thought that either ending theme would have been equally appropriate and in sound work better with the scene, but that's jut a silly nitpick on my part, since the scene was still very powerful as it was. 

Also, while this is ranked as my 2nd favorite anime, it could easily have been my favorite animated series of all time if it had been a complete adaptation of the series, since enjoying this series to its fullest pretty much requires you to have read or watched Part I. Still, it's a great adaptation of what I can pretty much call my favorite manga series that I have ever read, personally.

I can agree with your sentiments. If it was an adaption of the entire manga, it could've very well been my favorite series. That said, it's still the most well-written and executed story with well-developed characters I've seen in animated form, which is why it's my second favorite anime and third favorite animated series (I will say that the gap between it and Maison Ikkoku is small, but I still give the edge to Joe 2).

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Now we can finally do write-ups for the rest of the series.

That said, I know that we're both busy right now, so we don't have to get to those until maybe closer to summer-time.

I just hope that we can get some other people on this board into the series. It really deserves way more recognition in the West. It's series like this that truly baffle me as to how I ever at any point in time used to be impressed by series like Naruto.

Granted that it did help re-ignite my interest in manga and anime back in 2005, but at the time I had no clue of just what a slap in the face it was to all shounen series when there were true gems like Ashita no Joe to draw inspiration from.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Now we can finally do write-ups for the rest of the series.

That said, I know that we're both busy right now, so we don't have to get to those until maybe closer to summer-time.

That would be best. I'll have a good amount of free-time starting in May.

I just hope that we can get some other people on this board into the series. It really deserves way more recognition in the West. It's series like this that truly baffle me as to how I ever at any point in time used to be impressed by series like Naruto.

Granted that it did help re-ignite my interest in manga and anime back in 2005, but at the time I had no clue of just what a slap in the face it was to all shounen series when there were true gems like Ashita no Joe to draw inspiration from.

In general, there are a lot of classic series that the majority of the U.S. anime fandom doesn't really know about, since it's always about what's new and current (or if it's a well-known legacy series like Dragon Ball, though believe it or not I know anime fans, my age, in real life who have never watched a lick of any of that franchise). Most people have probably never even heard of AnJ, so hopefully Joe 2 being put on Crunchyroll will help spread some awareness for it among western anime fans.