Reviews

The pilots of Ashita No Joe contain 2 episodes titled Rikiishi & Aoyama. Most of the animation in these pilots would later be used in the opening & closing songs, however there's also some animation used only in the pilots. The instrumental version of Joe's Lullaby is featured in these specials as well as the same soundtrack played in the anime series.

Rikkishi Special is around 11 minutes in content featuring a quick summary of Joe meeting Danpei & Rikiishi. Essentially, highlighting Joe's character & motivations to becoming a boxer. The style of this pilot seems akin to a trailer to the series as it's narrator foreshadows key events along with Joe having some in thought narratives towards his goal.

Aoyama Special might be the 1st animated material ever produced for Ashita No Joe as the voice actors & some character designs are different from the anime series. This one begins with a brief scene of Joe Vs Wolf then summarizing events of how Joe met Danpei & his current position in Juvy. The rest of the special highlights the key scenes of Joe Vs Aoyama. Again, this pilot has a narrator foretelling Joe's commitment to the sport & eventual fight with Rikiishi.

As for pilots go, these were pretty good as it captures the spirit of the series even though both combined only make 20 minutes in length. Not much else to say but after watching these pilots gets a person in the mood to start watching or rewatching the series.