Aoi Teruhiko, no matter what lesser anime's he's been in since and how marginal a few of his voice performances may have been, he will never be less of a voice actor than he is as Joe Yabuki in Tomorrows Joe. He is authentically disturbing, entirely becoming a man, transcending to the most vulnerable. He lives and breathes this performance, and you realize that his portrayal runs so deep that it's no longer a performance in the traditional sense. There is the bone chilling scene near the end of the anime that makes me cringe reflexively, but all we see is an ashy silhouette.
The dim, hazy slow-motion shadowboxing of Joe’s shrouded figure, the tops of the judge's heads barely visible through the shadows of the background, out of which the sporadic flash of a bulb will momentarily disperse---is not even a moment in time so much as a corner sketch of a moment in time, playing on endlessly and savoring itself. And it's a moment of heightened reality in the routine of a boxer: Those moments pumping up ringside before the fight begins. Director Osamu Dezaki manages to present his anime with moments so abstract and yet so pared down that many impressions such as mine can come of it. It's pure feeling.
The character, Joe Yabuki, that proceeds to pervade every scene subsequent is not just a crass, angry man with hang-ups. The sudden, random violence that explodes incidentally and in the background of Joe’s past & current life is more than just part of a tableau of mean abandoned streets of the Japan Joe knows. The shocking fights, the brawls and arguments, the top-of-the-lungs fight with Yoko, these are the tableau of Joe’s limited, insulated inner world. These are the things that he acts on so regularly that his world can't make sense without it.
It's not a story of boxer Joe Yabuki’s life. It's a story of bitter congested aggression and how it affected his career in the ring. He would fight like he didn't deserve to live. He would punish his opponents like they were the root of his paranoia and anguish, and he would take beatings and punish himself for what he'd done wrong. This is inarguably one of the darkest most potent anime’s. It broods deeply, much quieter and much more claustrophobic than any anime I’ve encountered. Tomorrows Joe Explores the soul of a profoundly complex man who is searching for purpose.
Story: 10/10
Art: 6/10
Sound: 8/10
Character: 10/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Overal: 9/10
