Story: 8 : Some punk ass teenager who packs a serious punch and has a severe inferiority complex meets an old drunken and retired boxer who decides to teach him how to make a living through his craft.
This setup might seem like the buildup to a powerful relationship between future student and master, but it really, really isn't.
One of the first things Joe's future trainer, Tange Danpei, has to do to teach his wayward punk of a student is get him sent to juvenile detention...
Joe's history before and during the vast majority of this manga is about fighting, scamming, and trying to pick more fights with pretty much everyone he finds. So when he's offered to be taught boxing to make a living, his only answer's a middle finger and the only way to tame the beast is to send him to juvie, where he meets an actual boxer who will really kick joe's ass and open his mind on boxing a little.
Only then does he accept Tange's education in boxing, and even then, only so very little of it...
Art: 4 : Harsh note I suppose, but it's...well it's really old and art in manga just has evolved so much past this that it kinda stings my eyes to see some things. The faces may be very expressive and the technical aspect of the fights may be mostly good (as in you understand what's going on on the ring), but I still can't find it in me to call this good-looking at any point. Usually when beauty's lacking I look for style, but even then, apart from the two main characters' very expressive faces, most people look like a ton of other people in other manga.
Character: 7 : Let me expand on the "Joe accepts so very little of Tange's education" statement.
Joe is, and that's not really baffling for such an old manga but it's certainly something you wouldn't see today, a complete shithead. And I insist on that. He's not your typical cocky shounen hero or someone who has "problems" of some sort.
He's just a shithead. All he cares to do is beat people, scam people, or spit at people's faces, and ignore the kindnesses done to him. The fact that he's an unabated moron, and a teenage one at that, certainly also doesn't help.
Many, many times throughout this manga, Tange will attempt to push Joe to do something smart, and Joe will angrily tell him to shut up. And when I say many times, I mean about 5 times per tome at the very least.
Worse is that the dynamic that would exist in later manga where the estranged but like-minded master and student slowly open to one another is also completely absent. Tange does pretty much everything he can to get Joe out of the gutter he loves to drown himself in, and all he gets as thanks is disrespect and bratty selfishness.
This is something that needs to be understood: this is not a nice manga. It's not hardcore gore although the blood is plentiful in fights, but more than anything it's not meant to be nice. Characters don't grow to like each other. Assholes stay assholes. This isn't a tale meant to show how to become a responsible and gentle adult. It's a tale for the sake of the tale.
Or rather, for the sake of the flame.
None of the characters in Ashita no Joe ever change or grow much. They simply each have a purpose and serve it to their ends. Joe wants to prove to himself that he's his own boss and nobody ever orders him. Or even offers anything to him. Tange wants to make Joe a great boxer despite Joe's bratty attitude. Yoko Shiraki wants to make Rikishi and Joe great boxers. Rikishi wants to reach the boxing heights.
The last paragraph was the entire plot, character design, and purpose for everything in Ashita no Joe.
It's hard to explain since modern manga seldom ever have that principle anymore, but this truly isn't trying to tell you anything. It's not about a good or a bad story. It has no philosophical message or deep immersion into complex concepts like you could find in modern shounen or seinen.
It's just...just a punk that becomes a boxer and keeps acting like a punk. Just a drunken old fool who wants to coach a great boxer and keeps drinking.
Just a few people trying their hardest to do what they want to do in life, no matter the cost.
Enjoyment: 10: why 10, I wonder as I write this. It's not a 10. It's not even close. I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as many other things.
But I'd feel like it's a misnote if it's anything but a 10.
Beyond the issues I've cited, I could add on Ashita no Joe's problem pile that it starts off awfully slow and that you spend way too many tomes not starting the story of a boxer who's stuck on the streets or in prison. Joe's personality(in case I wasn't blatant enough about it) is obnoxious and it never lets up for almost 20 tomes.
Ashita no Joe may not have any of the qualities of more modern manga, but if one word defines its main appeal, it's no doubt "desire".
The extreme boredom at the start took nothing out of the powerful desire you feel from everything in this manga.
Joe's story, beyond being a punk, is about giving absolutely everything he has to win. No matter what. Tange, in a much wiser way, is also the same. It's what I mean when I say "desire" defines this. Nothing in this manga seems to matter, not the characters yelling at each other all the time, not Joe being a complete dick, not the side characters, not the girl, not even the opponent. All that matters is that Joe and Tange will do anything, absolutely anything, to reach their goal.
Some people will call Ashita no Joe timeless, and I can see why, although to me it's strongly implanted in the 1970's Japan and postwar Japan in spirit. It's timeless because it's not about a character, setting, or even its sport. Boxing could easily have been replaced with another bloody sport. It's the flame, the unbendable desire to conquer everything, that makes this manga so good. It's not just about winning the matches or Joe's arrogance and violence, it's about consistently doing everything, from the ridiculous to the insane to the hateful, to conquer, to win, to prove to yourself and others that you can do it. The driving force behind both the storytelling and the general structure is this tremendous flame, this burning ship that pays no heed to the storms and sails away carrying its flame, not caring if it sinks. It's when Joe falls again and again and gets back up again and again. It's when Tange yells and yells and gets yelled at and doesn't kick Joe out. It's when through all the fights, the fears, the traumas, the self-hate, the rivalries, the nightmares, they still push through like a train off its tracks speeding with a thunderous noise through the night.
If ever there was a manga where everyone gave their all, apart from Berserk's Guts, it's Ashita no Joe.
Conclusion: 9: hard to truly judge with numbers a manga this flawed. I picked it and sort of forced myself to read through the long, long and pointless pages of juvie. I hated many parts of it and wished Joe would get decked one good time or two and perhaps learn to think of something else than himself and his complex. I was awed with how many stories ended for many boxers. I was entranced by the manga's end. I looked at the fights like every fight was the final one. And while many, many mangas have been far more fun, or emotionally involving, or more interesting, none have reached the extremism, the investment, the burning need to give everything away for victory, than Ashita no Joe. Its main purpose may make it a difficult read, but it is a masterpiece in what "giving it all" means.
