idk how to format shit on anilist like i used to on amino so thisll be ugly to read sadly. there will be spoilers, ur an idiot for not peepin dis mastapiece anyways

I read joe like a few months ago and originally? It didn't really, click or be a favorite to a good extent. I expected, hell anticipated to call it overrated in a few months and remove it from favs. It's my current #1 of all time. Quite a turn of events huh.

It's due to a lot of things, one me understanding fiction and stories a lot more. But there's a much bigger thought in my opinion: Joe hasn't left my head since the second I saw the final page. It's been stuck in my mind. Now this might be due to me reading the manga and watching the anime, I usually just do one or the other never both. But I don't see it leaving my animanga mind for a WHILE.

Because it spoke to me. It almost feels like in hindsight it told me a lot I needed to hear. A lot of personal stuff I wont mention, but a lot of general topics I grew to understand through living and by living, the more I understand my world and how I live the more Joe clicks.

I wanna explain how it clicked, and why It'll forever stick. Stick to others, and stick to me.

REASON 1:JOE IS NOT PERFECT.

A lot of animanga have MCs like this. It's just common good writing you'd think, and even to people I think misunderstand Joe its his fault and downfall. If you think his flaws make him a worse char I just draw the meathead conclusion.

I don't justify Joe being an asshole because he grew up treated like shit. I don't justify it by saying "He's mentally ill cut em some slack". I don't justify it. And that's what I love. He is so flawed as a person, an insane traumatized teen whos only option in life is to box his heart out. I don't use that as justification or reason.

Because what I love about him is that the story doesn't justify it. He almost kills Danpei in the Yong-bi Kim arc for trying to save his life. In this instance yes you can justify anger 100%, He's burned himself almost dry to get the rug swept under by someone he trusted. But it doesn't justify murder at all.

That's what I love. He's so stuck in his head, he doesn't realize he almost killed his caretaker over avenging a man whos not even alive or had beef with Kim. He's so, driven by his literal insanity at this point his untreated illness that him or anyone doesn't justify it. We just watch him suffer with his now insanity, his depressions gone beyond just that. he will kill his caretaker to earn a belt for a Deadman, so unrealistic, yet

It speaks to us. How would we react if a loved one tried to take your life goal from you? Your meaning, your NEED. I'd argue nothing is more important than his belt at this moment, nothing means more than this shot for Rikishi. in his head, it isn't life or death. It's win or death. This means more than living to him.

And that's his imperfection. He's so caught up in his stupid insane dumbass mind, yet it speaks to us at the same time. Mickey Mouse ass MCs like idfk Takemitchi would give up, or go along or be talked into it. yet, he speaks to us because he doesn't even consider his health over his happiness. He wants to avenge his friend, and no matter your view on his true purpose (joe is such a creative story I could see a 100 justifiable conclusions for why he acted as he did) you understand he speaks to us through his insanity to deliver a foolish yet human motive.

REASON 2:JOE IS A MOOD WE NEED MORE OF.(HEAR ME OUT DONT WRITE ME OFF AS AN AESTETHIC NERD)

HEAR ME THE FUCK OUT DORK. What emotions do you get when watching a show? Depends on the show yeah, but media puts us in a mood. If they're frustrating shows like DBS, it can be a bad mood. disappointment, or overall anger at the writing. If they're a good show we can get hype over just the smallest of good scenes, like LOTGH or Kenshin. A show takes it beyond when its more than good bad moods. When it's a descriptive mood, a descriptive feel a CHARM, it hits.

These moods are hard to describe sadly. like, REALLY hard. You end up going on a rant or a tangent, or you stay quiet because the listener just dips. I feel like I should try though, FOR TOMORROW!!!

Joe is a show about a broke boxer that's only happy in bursts, his happiness is robbed every time its at his peak and he never recovers the second time its robbed from him (Carlos Rivera's skull shatter). It's hard to break down WHY this makes just a perfect mood but, it just does.

Accompanied by jazz tunes ranging from sad and sorrowful to bursting with fire and passion, and visuals that put studio bones current MHA shit to shame with the beautiful use of color and expression, it's an anime aesthetic accounts goldmine really. The show feels alive, we don't even understand the language its in yet the FEEL and LOVE put into it is unmistakable, the familiarity with the kids and the small town vibes really sell it throwing us into Namidabashi.

Its the feeling of life that makes joe have just, this MOOD to it. If I look at joe crying when he gets home from prison damn well I almost cry too, even writing about it it makes me tear up. If I look at joe on the ground, sobbing after causing a tragedy to himself and his world, I cry with him. I feel his pain because the mood it puts me in has gotten so real its almost scary. When Carlos laughs after using joe as a bull and his coat as his cloth, I laugh with him. I don't do it w most any other show yet for joe its instinct, its normal emotion AND ITS SCARY once I realize I am laughing with a drawing of a character.

It's almost scary how real it is, and as obvious as it sounds, being so real and selling itself to us so well just ties perfectly into it speaking to us.

FINAL REASON:JOE DOESNT OVERCOME HIS SUFFERING

What a BIG fucking jump yeah. From "this show make me :)" to this character succumbs to illness and DIES. I love it though, because ignoring whatever his name was that's kinda how the story goes.

I love joe dying. I LOVE it so much. Not because its a great arc conclusion. Not because AHHH FORESHADOWING PURE WHITE ASH YEAAAAAAAAAAH. I love it because it isn't sugarcoated. Its painfully real.

I had a thread explaining why I believe the ending is an allegory for suicide (I lost it because I told someone who was defending the bombing of Hiroshima he was a dickrider unrelated IK) but I cant use it anymore. So you'll have to trust me for a sec, to understand what I mean.

I take the ending of Ashita no Joe as Joe's suicide. and what i love about it is the fact that, it works. He isn't "THIS IS OUR HERO ACADEMIA"d into living or getting out of it. He succeeds in his attempt, and perishes. This means. So much. It's almost pure insanity a manga this self aware on mental health was written in the late 60s, a manga so realistic on it too. I love him dying because I see myself in that, I felt for Joe so much that when he dies and succumbs to his mental illnesses, his insanity and his punch drunkness, it hurt because it felt like right there, it told me a lot.

It told me shit doesn't always work out. It works as a conclusion for this review because. It leaves with a message. We see an untreated mentally ill man give into his urge, again it doesn't let him live because he's the mc and fictional. He's an average joe, and he too couldn't beat it his illness. Him succumbing hurts a lot because its so real. Not just because its not a good outcome but its an outcome most other mangaka would have prevented within the story for a happy ending.

Joe leaving on a sad ending isn't good because its sad. Its good because its how we could all leave. Anyone can succumb to illness and even the middle class hero Japan looked up to, can fall victim without help. In this moment he speaks to us not because he's mentally ill, but because he isn't saved from it.

I. LOVE. Ashita no Joe. If you read all this you do too. Thank you Chiba for making this masterpiece. I will never forget Joe and how its spoken to me on a level I've always needed to be spoke to. Thank you, Joe.

SORRY FOR THE UGLY FORMATTING FUCK THIS WEBSITE