ashita no joe is one of my favourite sports manga ever. when we think about boxing we think about stuff like hajime no ippo,rikudou and other boxing mangas. most of these mangas are inspired by ashita no joe and it also inspired other fighting manga as well. while hajime no ippo follows ippo being stronger through training and boxing with different people ashita no joe is a more character driven story that shows the consequences of fighting through life and death siituations showing you can even die in a professional boxing ring,it manages to be something more than just a young kids rise to the top of the world.joe yabuki isnt like other shounen protagonists and his character development is very well done, the series ended in a seemingly sad but perfect way.

The story follows joe yabuki who ran away from an orphanage and was wandering around in the slums when he meets danpei tange former boxer who saw the talent in joes punch. he has no interest in boxing whatsoever he just wants to get rich so he befriends the kids in the slums make them help him scam people to get a large sum of money this results in joe getting thrown to juvenile where he is tortured and bullied before getting sent to an even larger rehabilitation program where he meets the man rikishi toru

defeating rikishi toru was his very first goal in life he found something he wanted to do, to commit himself to do, thats when he finally decides to agree to train with danpei tange and his boxing career begins

Unlike other sports manga, Ashita no Joe is not exactly a cheerful or uplifting series. it's very brooding, the atmosphere is dark and serious and often melancholic. This series takes itself very seriously. The heavy tone of this series separates it from others and is very important in getting across the importance of the story and the severity of life as a boxer as well as life in general.

The story may seem cliched with just an arrogant,cocky guy wandering in the streets and meets a dude that would change his life and make him rise to the top thats because most series are inspired from ashita no joe in one way or another.

As i said before ashita no joe is a more character driven story and whats good is the relationships he make with all the opponents and friends he meet on his journey

Joe Yabuki

you cant talk about other characters without talking about the main character. Joe Yabukis development is one of the best and exceedingly well done.The journey of a kid that had no ambition whatsoever when the story commenced, gradualy turned into a narrative where he formed an fervent passion for a sport and the best part was that Joe was finally loved by people and found a place he could call home. i got rocky vibes while seeing what his his reason to fight was he is definitely better than half the shounen protagonists out there

Danpei Tange

Danpei initially just wanted to use yabuki to achieve his goals of being on top in the world of boxing. i would say the old man understands a part of how joe is, but he never really got to understand him all that much like his goals and motives. the more the story goes on the more we see how much danpei really cared for joe till he becomes a father like figure to him.

Rikishi Toru

The two first meet in the juvenile detention center, where he was introduced as a boxer who was sentenced to the juvenile detention center because he had punched an member of the audience half to death after they had claimed that the match was rigged in Rikiishi's favor, enraging him.Definitely one of the best characters in the series rikishi toru plays a very big part in joes development as a boxer and as a person. joe respects rikishi alot as he mentioned he might be the only person who understands him since the old man is just using him to achieve his goals. his death was a painful one and put joe in a state of depression. joe became rikishis motivation as we can see how hard he is trying to get to his weight to be able to fight yabuki in a professional boxing match

Nishi

there isnt really much to say about him tbh apart from being joes first partner but i wasnt expecting him to marry noriko though i actually shipped her with joe dammit oh well

Carlos Rivera

Also one of the best characters in the series 6th ranked world champion of boxing,handsome,playboy and he packs a punch as well. carlos was also someone he was able to trust. his fight with joe ended his boxing career since he had punch drunk syndrome after the fight till we know that it was jose mendoza who gave him that.

Harimau

this fucker just shows up out of nowhere while he was gonna fight jose mendoza. his wild side and animal like instincts is insulting my country since malaysians are not like this. there was really no need for me to mention him here

Youko

this girls weird. a wealthy girl and one of those characters is Joe who is the first to remark that her so called 'kindness' is completely fake, implying her sympathy for the poor is merely a way to make herself feel superior over those who have nothing to eat.She is often very shocked by his actions but as time goes on she comes to be the one who understands him best. i dont really think shes faking her kindness. and then she suddenly starts developing feelings for joe and confesses to him at the end begging him not to fight mendoza we can see how much she loves joe with her still seeing the fights to support joe even though she cant bare to see joe hurt

i dont really care if it looks outdated i mostly look for story. this is probably one of the downsides of ashita no joe the fights look wack sometimes but it kinda gets better. if you dont care much about how cool fights are you can read it. here are some epic moments from the manga ig

Spoiler, click to view

It might come off as depressing and emotional sometime but thats just the stronger points of the series.I mainly read/watch stuff for the characters anyway so i enjoy any story thats well written like this. this shit should get a remake so we can have better animation no i dont care if its from the fucking 70s of anime nothing can be too old and we even got a remake for fucking shaman king and dai no daibouken

Oh my god this ending, i am not crying. even though it was evident that joe died in the anime they simply mentioned that joe turned to white ash in the manga even so they did that for the visual symbolism of the white ash, as his fighting spirit and the ash falls, he dies happy and he gives his boxing gloves to youko at the end to make it something she can remember him by after he passes away...

good video

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April 20th, 1973, Tokyo

Once the issue of the magazine featuring the final episode of “Ashita no Joe" was released, all telephones in the editorial department began to ring at once.

“Did Joe die?"
“Does Joe live?"

The chief editor repeated all through the day,

Never say 'dead’. Never say 'alive’.
You can only answer 'as shown in the picture’."

The last page of “Ashita no Joe" is so famous that a child who does not read the original comic even knows.