I always wanted to share my honest feelings of Megalo Box since it doesn't deserve even an ounce of the praise it's been getting in the slightest. This has been a long time coming, I just needed to find the courage to throw my feelings into the world. I have tried my best to comprehend why people love Megalo Box so damn much. Why it's even put on the same pedestal as classics such as Hajime no Ippo or Ashita no Joe by many. But to no avail, I have not come to any conclusion. I feel I am one of the incredibly few who think how terrible and overrated Megalo Box is. It had potential, but every aspect and the cast of characters bore me to tears, making me very sleepy. I really hate Megalo Box. My feelings are on the same wavelength as with my views on Demon Slayer. Both are a terrible example of their respective execution of well-known troupes even when they do have the potential to prove us otherwise. It just infuriates me to no end to see classics aforementioned earlier be put on the same level as this absolute mess.

Ashita no Joe is a certified masterpiece about Joe's growth from a street rat with a vicious personality to a genuine human being. The boxing aspect of the show is used to explore his character and develop him slowly over time. Megalo Box is what I would personally consider the dumpster fire version of Ashita no Joe. With no heart in the right places apart from pouring in with that cheap nostalgia. Both characters are called Joe, but one is complex and has tons of layers, and the other is just damn boring and awfully written. Megalo Box's Joe is just a repetitive trainwreck and hardly changes apart from his boxing techniques. He is so annoying. The personality is all over the place. I can never take anything that comes out of his mouth seriously for a second. The guy has no flavor or proper goals that actually feels heavy and give the vibe of being genuine. So I couldn't care less about him or any of his damn problems.

There was a brief time we touched upon Joe's fear during his first match with Yuri, which gave him some humanity. But that was never touched upon again, and he conquered that flaw about his character too quickly. It's sad since that could've opened up doors to many more elements for Joe. The fight that Joe had with Yuri becomes a simple revenge story to get back at him to give our insufferable main lead a blood bath. I won't talk about the others character much or at all as they barley added any form of entertainment value to the show. Also, the whole setting of the plot revolves around a brother and sister competing for control over their father's legacy. There were still a few things I liked about Megalo Box, one of which was the boxing concept. Using compartments to make your blow heavier and the swings faster, the backlash from punching someone less and so forth was impressive by itself. I didn't last long before I got old quickly. That said, if you're looking for not half-bad animated boxing matches, I guess Megalo Box can give you a kick on that alone.

For me, that's not enough if the two fighters feel like two emotional robots punching each other. Joe hardly exhibits any traits during his matches, many of which he always ends up getting knocked on the floor. Only to get back up by the last count, and this frequently recurs and many times. All those training segments we got felt worthless. Joe was always complaining about the same old-shit about getting knocked out cold and how to better himself to beat his opponent next time. This, among others, shows that the staff was not trying hard enough to make Megalo Box's success. Not only from a nostalgia perspective but also from a story, execution, and direction. But sadly It was just rinse-repeat of the same after the introductory bit was over with.

While I am aware, boxing matches are simple. It revolves around many figures going up against each other to come out as the final winner. Then why did Hajime no Ippo work? Because it established everything properly and had a heart in the right places. Every time Ippo went out for a match, we got to see he was genuinely happy when he won or lost in-depth. We heard Ippo's inner feelings and how much these matches meant to him and how much he wanted to make his precious coach proud and happy. Unlike Joe, who feels like an ungrateful one-dimensional brat. Megalo Box failed because it only focused on making itself as successful as Ashita no Joe by using its troupe and nothing more. When Megalo Box clearly had many strengths right from the beginning. It should've used to build itself up and become revolutionary but still paying a great amount of homage to Ashita no Joe and possibly stand close to it.

Besides all that was mentioned above, it's the world-building aspect. It honestly piqued my curiosity a lot of times, but we never got to see it in detail. It was just a potential of Megalo Blox that got glossed over. Another strong driving factor for me personally is the soundtrack, which definitely fits Megalo Box's whole setting and complements it. It's unique. Not something you see everywhere, ranging from hip-hop to pop tunes with lots of variations. There was even a rap segment, but my favorite has to be that main theme that hits all the right notes. I don't like the OP personally, but that ED is the best part. So about the art-style, which I honestly liked but was not all that crazy about. It was okay. The animation was not bad; it was well-shown during the boxing matches. Oh, I almost forgot mentioning that the pacing was jarring, and how character personality did 180 was just awful and didn't sit well with me. It's to be expected with 13 episode run-time, but I've seen many shows done a far better and actual tasteful job.

Overall, Megalo Box is a missed opportunity. A wasted one at that, which should've used its own strengths more often than just copying Ashita, no Joe. I get people who loved the masterpiece Ashita no Joe has a soft spot for this mess. But it's no reason to put it on close to the same level or even label it a masterpiece. I have heard some on the world wide web say as much. This was not an example of good boxing anime one damn bit whatsoever. If you want one that is truly worth every damn bit of your time. Watch Hajime no Ippo for pure boxing or Ashita no Joe for an extremely well-written tale about Joe. He matures through boxing as he experiences the many sweetness and bitterness of the world. If you want neither and just want some good soundtrack and to see how Ashita no Joe might've looked like if it lacked heart. Go for that absolute trainwreck of a mess known as Megalo Box which is honestly not good or bad but for the reasons I've stated above. I feel sadly much more deep hatred for it than neutrality.