Megalo Box

"To be quiet and do as you're told, that's the cowardly choice." These are the words of Junk Dog, an underground fighter of Megalo Box, an evolution of boxing that utilizes mechanical limbs known as Gear to enhance the speed and power of its users. Despite the young man's brimming potential as a boxer, the illegal nature of his participation forces him to make a living off of throwing matches as dictated by his boss Gansaku Nanbu. However, this all changes when the Megalo Box champion Yuuri enters his shabby ring under the guise of just another challenger. Taken out in a single round, Junk Dog is left with a challenge: "If you're serious about fighting me again, then fight your way up to me and my ring."

Filled with overwhelming excitement and backed by the criminal syndicate responsible for his thrown matches, Junk Dog enters Megalonia: a world-spanning tournament that will decide the strongest Megalo Boxer of them all. Having no name of his own, he takes on the moniker of "Joe" as he begins his climb from the very bottom of the ranked list of fighters. With only three months left to qualify, Joe must face off against opponents the likes of which he has never fought in order to meet the challenge of his rival.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Joe Main

Hosoya, Yoshimasa Japanese

Yuuri Supporting

Yasumoto, Hiroki Japanese

Nanbu, Gansaku Supporting

Saitou, Shirou Japanese

Sachio Supporting

Murase, Michiyo Japanese

Shirato, Yukiko Supporting

Mori, Nanako Japanese

Aragaki, Tatsumi Leonald Supporting

Tamura, Makoto Japanese

Shirato, Mikio Supporting

Suzuki, Tatsuhisa Japanese

Fujimaki Supporting

Kinoshita, Hiroyuki Japanese

Shark Samejima Supporting

Ogami, Shinnosuke Japanese

Higashi, Potemkin Supporting

Egawa, Hisao Japanese

Abe, Kengo Producer

Katayama, Yuuki Producer

Sugiyama, Yuuko Assistant Producer, Background Art

Moriyama, You Director, Mechanical Design

Reviews

Jun 28, 2018

DarthInvader

Recommended

*Minimum Spoiler Hidden Gem Review*
TL;DR: If a young Hajime no Ippo made an illegitimate baby with the sexy cougar, Cowboy Bebop, in an 80's themed love hotel with Samurai Champloo music blasting in the background, then Megalo Box would be the gorgeous mixed bastard child that will emerge from the Redline ambulance nine months later. Such a hidden gem but packs so much hype. "JOEEEEE!"
[Story: 6/10 , Characters: 7/10, Art: 9/10, Sound: 9/10, Enjoyment: 8/10]

"They don't make tombstones for stray dogs" - JD

Yes Yes Yes. This is that shounen sports anime this season badly needed to remind what real anime is all about. You don't ... need bad CG. You don't need blended CG. You don't need Ufotable level CG. What you need is a good mindblasting underdog story, eyegasmic hand-drawn visuals and eargasmic catchy rap music to ignite that flame that you put out long time ago to suffer through random sports anime thrown at you. Boxing anime can always be hyped. There is just something about two people beating the crap out of each other that brings out our animalistic nature to get that testosterone cascading within us and our blood viciously pumping through our veins. Megalo Box just takes it one step further. If you didn't watch it yet, then damn you are one lucky twat, because you get to binge this greatness and I'll tell you why.

"I don't mind dying as long as I know that the faith I had in myself was real" - Joe

This is an underdog story paying an homage to the 50 years of greatness to the boxing anime, Ashita no Joe, brought in the Japanese Anime Industry. It's a similar story however with one twist, mechanical box or gear attached to every boxer that enhances the speed and power of the user. Boxing is already bloody as it is, now imagine boxing with robotic limbs.
It's a crazy concept but luckily this is not the focal point of the story and we don't focus on the gear too much but rather the boxer themselves. This anime follows the archetypal hero's journey but since they execute it well, it becomes a great strength rather than an overused flaw. The whole idea is that there is a Megalo Box World Tourney and our hero must fight from the slums where he threw boxing matches to earn money to face the number one boxer, Yuuri, in the new Megalo Box Arena. Will he be able to do it? Find out on the next episode of DBZ. Jokes aside, from training montages to flashbacks of boxers' background to understanding their purpose in life, you really get drawn to this linear rollercoaster plot that's constantly giving you knee-jerks to throw you off of it. However, if you hang on tight, albeit a few slip-ups here and there, you get to taste the rewarding experience.

"Why don't you tell me your name?" - Yuuri

The best part about Megalo Box are the characters. There aren't many but the few characters that are shown are really well fleshed out. They don't have as much complexity as other boxing anime have but given the limited number of episodes they have to work with, we get to understand their emotional baggage they carry with them. We have "Joe," a junkyard dog coming from the slums that are cast aside in the society, Nanbu, his shady coach, Sacchio, a tech-genius kid seeking revenge against the rich and lastly Yuuri, a Russian husky of a boxer, champion of the Megalo Box arena, itching to find the greatest opponent in his life to give a good beatdown. All of these masochistic characters have so much charisma that they easily outshine the lackluster one-dimensional side characters thrown in this anime. Moreover, with a great deep-voiced seiyuu cast, this show feels so gritty and lifelike. Every time, Joe or Yuuri, speaks, they just steal the scene. Kudos to the seiyuus for not holding this anime back.

"If his punches were sharp, they wouldn't sound like a cow cutting through cheese" - Coach Nanbu

Aside from the linear rollercoaster story and the gritty characters, the highlight of this anime are the animation and music. Seriously from episode one, the hand drawn animation puts so much life into this anime. Each panel feels picturesque. Each panel feels like it can be a wallpaper. The characters are so well drawn while maintaing the respect for Ashita no Joe and the use of lines & variation of pen-strokes just makes this anime stand out from other boxing anime that came out before them. It really goes to show how maintaining a good homogenous colour palette throughout the animation really pays off. The fight sequences are well drawn and choregraphed as well. Aside from the breathtaking visuals, the music is really freaking good. The OP song provides the hype and the ED song mellows us out but the background score and sound bits in the transitions are just addictive to listen to. This anime will have one of the best standalone OST to listen to. Couple that with gritty rap music thrown in at appropriate times in the anime, it catapults the plot and hype even further. If you don't get to watch the anime, atleast listen to the OST.

"Everyone's only looking out for number one,
so why stop now? You're still not done.
No metal on your back so they call you gearless,
right now the way you act sure ain't fearless" - Sacchio

Overall, Megalo Box is a great sports shounen anime to watch if you are into boxing. Their purpose was to celebrate the 50 years of Ashita no Joe and they went ahead did just that and more. They brought back boxing anime to its roots and they showed us hand-drawn animation will never be beaten by commercialized CG animation industry. If you put forth passion and work hard to achieve a goal, then it will all be worthwhile in the end. This anime isn't perfect and everyone always enjoys sports anime of the sport they are into, but even if you aren't into boxing, it's enjoyable to watch as they don't delve that much in detail about how to box. So if you can get past the crazy plot of boxers using mechanical gears & one dimensional side characters, give this show a watch. After all, this anime isn't about the destination, it's about the journey and being the spectators we are in that megalo box arena, let's just sit back and enjoy. Anyways, check it out & let me know later how you like it as well as share with me your favourite quote from the anime! Ciao.

P.S. Thank you for reading. I hope you found this short and supaishi review helpful!

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 29, 2018

84DaysWithout

Mixed Feelings

Megalo Box has very little to do with the art of fighting itself. There is no emphasis on technique. There is no weight training. There is no satisfying payout following the arduous process of a fighter desperately trying (and often, failing) to improve their skill. There is the bizzare inclusion of gear technology that grants fighters additional strength at cost of speed - a useless consequence with speed being paramount in combat. So how can an anime that revolves around fighting, but offers none of the impertinent detail of fighting, and is decidedly worse than its predecessors Hajime no Ippo and Ashita no Joe in ... their depictions of fighting, be celebrated as one of the best releases of the year?

Megalo Box succeeds in three areas that usually manage to garner an overwhelmingly favorable response from the audience regardless of the surrounding flaws -

1) Appealing visual aesthetic. This is an attractive looking anime with well defined, distinct looking character designs and a realistic impoverished setting juxtaposed against the futuristic wealth of Megalonia

2) Epic soundtrack. A contender for best of the year, striking an impressive balance of relaxing and blood throttling beats

3) No nonsense lead character who has to fight his way to the top, seemingly against all the odds

A combination of the first two makes the anime feel atmospheric, immersing the viewer into the setting and creating a base level of entertainment from visuals and music alone. The impressive presentation makes it all the more disappointing that the fight animation is rigid and monotonous, more so resembling a match of rock em' sock em' robots than an actual high octane competition. This may even be an insult to rock em' sock em' where at the very least arms move rapidly. Slow motion is overused during fights as opposed to displaying the rapid fire jab strings and punch combinations that makes boxing so exhilarating to watch. The aforementioned lack of technique means scarce evasion tactics are used, eliminating arguably the most exciting aspect of fighting where an ill-timed whiff is met with a devastating punish. The fights in Megalo Box are rather forgettable, and at times even a chore to watch. You’d think this would be a death knell for an anime that is centered around hand to hand combat, but this is apparently less important than a pretty aesthetic, a downloadable soundtrack and a lead character that doesn't have bitchmade tendencies.

Despite the selling point of an underdog fighting his way the top against the odds, in truth Joe is not disadvantaged as a "gearless" fighter when gears are generally proven to be useless anyway. If anything, he's being given a significant advantage in speed, an apparently natural proficiency in boxing, and somehow being able to match the power of geared opponents despite not having a gear himself and not being particularly muscular. This Joe is a far cry from the other, infinitely more engaging Yabuki Joe who had to overcome a gauntlet of mental and physical maladies to reach the height of the boxing world, and had a famously well orchestrated character arc where we observed an aimless troubled boy develop into an honest, goal-driven man with a burning passion for professional boxing. Even if Makunouchi Ippo is even to this day a pansy (at least outside of the ring), he leads an inspirational story of a bullied nerd who through sheer dedication and perseverance works his way to the top of Japan’s boxing ladder. Both of these characters received at least one hundred episodes of development, whereas Joe receives only thirteen. We don’t learn anything about his past. We don’t learn makes him tick as a person. We don’t learn his greatest fears. His character is as deep as a puddle in the Sahara desert, and it is especially in comparison to his predecessors that he pales in comparison.

But I’m not even sure how many viewers are aware of Yabuki Joe's story. I’d wager less than 20% of the (Western) audience for Megalo Box have seen Ashita no Joe, let alone have finished it, which would explain all of the acclaim this anime is receiving even despite it's glaring flaws and stale as cardboard lead character who could only dream of being a successor to Yabuki Joe. I find it hard to imagine a viewer of Ashita no Joe watching this and walking away impressed, but there is at least one niche interest available to such fans in the many cross references and homages. From Sachio wearing Yabuki Joe's signature flat cap, to familiar character designs and reimagined scenes being taken directly from the original series, where Megalo Box fails to be a tribute in terms of writing and dramatic tension, it at least succeeds in paying open respect to the original series.

None of the above criticisms are meant to suggest that a viewer is wrong for liking Megalo Box when it does have an abundance of surface level appeal. Maybe you value tone more so than writing in media, in which case no one should be able to convince you to think otherwise. However, exceeding in one area doesn't excuse utter failure in others that are critical to the very essence of a story itself. Megalo Box is a DIRECT tribute to what I would consider to be the greatest hand to hand combat narrative in anime history. For it to have subpar fight animation and forgettable characters is a major disappointment no matter how you slice it. The only way it tries to distinguish itself from the original series is by introducing a plot device that proves itself to be totally useless, because power doesn't mean jack shit unless you can hit a moving target. Megalo Box is a decent anime for what it is - a nostalgic, short celebration of Ashita no Joe's 50th anniversary, and is not a worthy successor to the combat sport anime that came before it as is being hailed by critics universally.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jun 28, 2018

Krunchyman

Not Recommended

Art, in its purest form, is a catharsis of imperceptible cognitive entities onto a “canvas” for the purposes of provoking reactions from others. Sometimes that reaction involves laughter, other times it is sorrow, and on rare occasions, profound enlightenment, in either case, it is the responsibility of the artist(s) to determine the desired reaction, and how best to achieve it through their intended medium. As one would expect, it permits a copious amount of creativity to take place, yielding unexpected outcomes that one would rarely see in the real world. Antithetical to this branch of human intrigue, is the world of binary ... results and conventional outcomes, otherwise known as: sports. That is not to say that all sporting events are replicas of past events, but in the grand scheme, one team will lose, and one team will win — end of story. As is the case with a boxing match, one boxer will lose, and the other, by default, will win (I understand there can be split decisions, but for the sake of argument, bare with me). In case I am mistaken, one cannot win at art, as it has no predetermined result.

Ergo, making the mixture of the two (art and sport) quite the peculiar one.

One demands openness and originality, while the other requires an outcome. Not to say that it cannot be done, as the predecessor of this series, “Ashita no Joe” proved otherwise. Yet, fans of the original series will be quick to point out, that while it was a “boxing anime,” it was so much more. In a numerous amount of ways, the original “Joe” is akin to Ping Pong The Animation — a character driven narrative — as opposed to your typical sports anime. Breaking free from the restrictions of defined outcomes and crafting something truly imaginative.

That all being said, how does this new iteration of “Joe" stack up on the hierarchy of sports anime?

Story: 4/10

I’m going to discuss the story first, mainly because I feel there is one glaring detail that demands acknowledgement before pressing forward. I am referring to the “Gear” (i.e. mechanical limbs) the boxers use to inflict blood-stained carnage on their respective opponents. The concept, in theory, sounds interesting, but when one considers the ramifications, especially with the proliferation of CTE in athletes, it’s a horrifying notion. Imagine if “Iron” Mike Tyson were equipped with this "Gear" in his prime, he would straight up murder people with one punch (cue the One Punch Man theme music). In all seriousness, weaponizing the instrument of pain with highly sophisticated machinery, without providing protective barriers for the combatants is just ludicrous and a colossal oversight on the writer’s part. I understand the rationale behind the decision, as it pertains to my original statement regarding originality, or lack thereof, in sports. But, this innovative nuance is just a cosmetic flourish that adds little to nothing towards the overall plot.

Which is a shame.

Because there are numerous routes the anime staff could have taken this idea, that would have elevated this anime into something worth remembering. Perhaps, for example, they could have used the technology to profit from unnecessary conflicts and war, propagating political tensions and the fears of an overreaching quasi-government (this was sort of hinted at, but never really explored with any specific detail). Boxing would have still been the main focus, but underneath, you would have an interesting perspective about the dangers of proliferating technology. Instead, what we are left with, is a brother and sister competing for control over their father’s legacy. Then, much to the chagrin of the viewer, Yuuri decides to expel his integrated “gear” for the final match, making the entire concept an irrelevant element in a story that — desperately — needed vitality to successfully engage the viewer. As the saying goes: haste makes waste. The “gear” was the waste; therefore, invariably, the production must have been made in haste.

The remainder of the story is your ordinary sports anime framework, by which I mean: a tournament. Somewhat unavoidable, given the format of the show, but do we really need to see Joe get knocked down for a ten count, only to rise to his feet at the count of nine, in every single fight? Watch boxing clips on YouTube and you will see for yourself that this sort of thing rarely happens.

Characters: 5/10

Joe, as they refer to him in the series, is reminiscent of a stray dog: he’s tough, gritty, aggressive, and has nothing to lose. Another characteristic of stray dogs is fear, an emotion that is briefly touched upon in Joe’s first fight (his first fight in the tournament, that is), but is never revisited later in the series. I would have liked to see this affliction be a recurring issue for Joe, a malignant hindrance that would have required significant mental effort to overcome his anxieties, potentially derailing his short-term goal of reaching Megalonia. Unfortunately, the series allows Joe to conquer this obstacle relatively early, diminishing much of the intrigue in his plight towards the top. In this sense, the story quickly dissolves from being an in depth character drama, and into a simple revenge story. The reflection of emulating the original “Joe” proved too arduous for “Megalo-Joe” to achieve, disappointing fans of the original series who were looking for a show that retained its predecessor’s desirable traits.

Gansaku Nanbu, Joe’s manager, is your prototypical boxing coach: tough exterior, but has a sense of honor and virtue. His actions are fairly predictable, and while they attempt to portray him as an indifferent character, we all know he will stand in Joe’s corner, no matter the circumstances; thus, nullifying the astonishment of his evident, false heel turn(s).

Nanbu’s previous protege, Tatsumi Aragaki, is the “genuine article” of the entire series. A man who was robbed of his legs and half of his face during a war, Aragaki struggles to find a reason to press forward in his “meaningless” existence. Much like the duality of his disfigured face, Aragaki leads a conflicted life, wanting to exact revenge on his coach through Joe, but also desiring a peaceful resolution that will alleviate some of his psychological woes. The depiction of this character was spot on, creating a connection with the viewer in a palpable way. The emotions that flew from Aragaki highlighted the fragile nature of all humans, reminding the viewer that one’s own mind, can be the greatest opponent of all.

I won’t engage in talking about the other character’s of the show, as the vast majority were dearth of any real personality; however, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge Glen Burroughs coming out in a monster truck. I mean, what was that? We already know he’s a boisterous American, but they really tried to hammer that point home. Perhaps they watched some old clips of Stone Cold Steve Austin driving on his ATV to the ring, but just missed the point that the WWE was a contrived entertainment event, and not a real sporting competition.

Enjoyment: 4/10

The boxing matches were, for the most part, uninspiring, and as the tournament progressed to its later stages, it became onerous for the viewer to tune in to the next episode. Real life boxing is tedious enough (just look at the declining viewership numbers), but watching it in an anime format is all the more dreary when you consider the absurdity of the “gear” itself. There were a few plot twists thrown in here and there, but nothing that made the viewer second-guess the outcome of the series as a whole. Perhaps watching Ping Pong the Animation and Ashita no Joe has spoiled my standards for what to expect from future sports anime, yet, in the end, being judged by your peers is the only unbiased way of determining your place on the hierarchy of the sports anime genre. And while this may seem blasphemous to some of you, I believe the first two seasons of Haikyuu!! capture character emotions with more veracity than Megalo Box. One of the few times a Shounen anime did something better than a Seinen anime. Not the legacy Megalo Box was attempting to solidify with its sights set on attaining the previous glory of its predecessor.

Overall: 4.67/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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