hcassin - 2015-10-24 00:15:22

                  Noko's Classic Anime: Ashita no Joe & Ashita no Joe 2

Ashita no Joe is an Anime that would never be forgotten by me. It is one of those Anime that call to me as a person. It spiritually attaches me to the situations at hand and has been a huge influence in the Anime industry for well over 50 years. It is created by two mangaka's. The writer is Ikki Kajiwara and with the artist Tetsuya Chiba. However, the director of the first and second season of Ashita no Joe is a master and is considered one of the more influential Anime directors of the 70's. He is put onto the pedestal as high as Yoshiyuki Tomino and Leiji Matsumoto. The man himself, Osamu Dezaki. He has created Anime that can be akin to Sports, SoL, Adventure, Sci-Fi, and Drama. His most noteworthy works are Ganba no Boken, Ace wo Nerae, Space Adventure Cobra, Rose of Versailles, and Takarajima. All of his works tends to be iconic and all have huge effects over what would be green lit in the Anime industry past their release. Most of his works are also adaptations of novels and Manga, but he takes some liberties with all of them.
Osamu Dazaki
Story:

The story of Ashita no Joe is a compelling tale about man's journey through adolescence to adulthood. Ashita no Joe is an Anime that benefits from how it makes similarities to boxing movies at the time period or even predates them. People often compare this series to the Rocky movies, but I think the better comparison has to be Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull. Both are a realistic take in their respective genre. Both have a protagonist that is totally unlikable at the start. And they usually depict the hardships of poverty and boxing that differs from their peers.

In Anime, the closest I can get to something similar to this is somewhat of a mashup of Hajime no Ippo, Ping Pong: The Animation and One Piece, but add a more realistic tone. It is similar to Hajime no Ippo, because of it both being Boxing Anime and the two go in-depth into the sport itself. More so then Ping Pong: The Animation, in which the similarities to Joe is that they have strong characterizations and the interactions tend to be realistic and honest. One Piece is added in, because of how much Yabuki Joe travels around Japan and his infamy is spread all over the world. You could also put in Slice of Life elements for it being the everyday normal life in poverty 1960's Japan.
Animation:
Before I introduce you to the animation, I first have to talk about the director and how his directing style fair differently from his peers. Dezaki's works tend to have an artistic charm to them. He's generally seen to have the same animation crew for the majority of his works. As I know that Akio Sugino does the character designs for Dezaki for most if not all of his 70's animations. Akio's artwork relies on eye design and adds to the default look of the original adaptations he's worked with. Another thing to keep in mind of his art style, is that it tends to be more realistic looking then the original Manga counterparts.
Manga: Character Design by Tetsuya Chiba

Season 1: Character Design by Akio Sugino
Stays true to the original design.
Season 2: Character Design by Akio Sugino

Taking liberties for realism.
Director Trademark:
The director is known for using heavy usage of the technique called Postcard Memories. Which is a technique that ends a frame with a fade-in painting instead of a traditionally drawn image to add a dramatic feeling to the scene. Which makes the actual cut of that animation more impactful then it should be.
Example:

Season 1:

The first season of Ashita no Joe is Dezaki's first project as a lead director and it shows. At this time period he just came out of being an Episode Director of Dororo and Astro Boy. And it being made at the birth of the 70's makes it to be an impressive looking Anime. Though at the mid-late episodes there seems to be lip syncing issues where characters mouths just don't do anything at all. Which can be massively immersive breaking in some scenes. The first season gets a 7/10 in animation.

Season 2:

After 10 FREAKING years, Dezaki and crew finally makes a second season of this iconic Anime. And it shows that it is a huge step up to anything from the first season and is beyond anything that was introduced in the rise of the 80's. I'm looking at you Mobile Suit Gundam.

Tomino bashing aside. The quality of animation in Ashita no Joe 2 is equal or better then the movies at the time it was released on television. It is surely a timeless example of a director reaching his absolute prime in his life and the same with his animators pulling through with him. It is an absolute tour de force in directing and animation in its period and is the one that the Manga fans are REQUIRED to watch. I can't even say enough of how much of an absolute shock the second season impacted me when I first saw it. It was unreal that an Anime that was made in 1980 can look this good. The animation/directing is a perfect 10/10 for this season.
Music:Season 1
Composer: Masao Yagi
Performed by Isao Bitou
The music in the first season has some memorable tunes and is catchy once you get through the 70's sound of it. There is nothing much to say here, but Joe manages to do a good job for you to remember his whistle which is the opening of the first season as seen below.

Season 2:
Composer: Kentaro Haneda
The music in season 2 isn't as memorable as the first season, but the tunes that are presented here are more 80's Blues, Baroque-Pop, and Jazz. The mood that you get in the openings and soundtrack pump you up for some ass whooping action. And when it gets in its more quiet and depressing moments. It knows how to bring you into the characters lives.
Voice Acting:The voice acting is great for its period. All of the voices of every character absolutely improve throughout the first season and the second. Teruhiko Aoi and Juukei Fujioka get a high reward for some amazing voice talent and range for playing as Joe and Tange. The second season bars for some iffy Engrish that can be laughable at times. Also the second season replaces some of the original voice actors out for different ones. Although the problem with season one is that some of the sound clips and the audio is mixed too high at some places. For example, whenever the kids yell the audio gets obnoxiously high pitched and loud. Just the case of sensitive microphones of that time. Or the mixing went all wacky.

Sound Effects:Pretty good in the first and second season, but sometimes the punch effects sound the same in some places. The ambiance is great like the wind during Joe's Whistle Theme as seen below. Everything from the sound FX are rather realistic in how they are portrayed in the series. Even though you get tired of some punches sounding the exact same. Season 2 fixes on this issue, but in a more logical sense by adjusting different sounds for different punches or signature moves.

Characters:
Joe Yabuki:
Joe is a character that tries to do things by his own and does not listen to what others try to say. He is a man of his own word and doesn't want to be a hypocrite. No matter how dire situations can get in the story, he always gets up and tries to defeat what he has in front of him. There are certain Anime characters that remind me of him. Jotaro Kujo (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure), Kamina (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann), and Peco (Ping Pong: The Animation). The reason why he reminds me of these characters is that all of them share the same commonality of Joe that they'll do anything to get what they want. And it is funny when two of these characters reference Joe a whole bunch, one example is Jotaro's iconic hat is similar to Joe's hat.
Danpei Tange:
This guy is one of the ugliest pieces of filth I've ever seen in an Anime, but he has a real heart of gold and is one of the most lovable characters in the story. Danpe represents the guardian in Joe's life. He has similarities to many father or teacher type of characters. And the thing that pushes Danpe above the rest is that he and Joe don't convey their emotions straight to each other. Which makes for a tense relationship.
Side-Characters:The characters that are mostly on the sidelines do their jobs and excel on specific roles for Joe and Danpe. Most of them are great for what they are, but I don't want to reveal too much about them.

Rivals:

I got one thing to say about the rivals and opponents Joe goes against in this series. They are among the absolute best rivals of all TIME. PERIOD.

Enjoyment:This is among the best Sports Anime I have seen in my many years of watching Anime. I wouldn't even call it the absolute greatest if it were not the times where I shed tears and actually stood up like an idiot and mimic moves from the damn fucking show. Just thinking about it gives me a caffeine rush to my veins. It is bliss. If you thought the ending of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann was hype. Well think again. This is a rare diamond in a crop type of Anime just like the rest of Dezaki's works, but this shows the growth of his direction and his team like no other Anime. The situation is really similar to Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 & Brotherhood, but the gap in animation/direction is more obvious in Ashita no Joe & Ashita no Joe 2.

Overall:
WATCH THIS ANIME BEFORE YOU DIE OR AT LEAST READ THE MANGA

This is my favorite Anime of all time in the current moment. And it probably will never change for the rest of my life.

cmurray - 2014-07-28 08:10:18

Ashita no Joe: THE BEST sports anime EVER released by Japan in all of it's years. Not my favorite, but I'm biased. Every Japanese person who lived anywhere from 1960 to 1960 will know what I'm talking about. The Japanese equivalent of Rocky. Seriously, Google it.
TL;DR? Hulu.