***Implicit spoilers ahead***
Megalo Box is kinda meta.
To understand why let's go over this point:
You'd think that a world in which an anime is set in, would follow the logic of itself for it to be believable and the like. It doesn't have to coordinate with reality, hell, even school anime don't have to, but so long as it makes sense in its own world, it becomes a very believable story, something to take seriously.
Now, Megalo Box seems to not understand that and does. I will explain why.
Megalo Box is a series that takes boxing to the next level, in a time of which boxing has evolved to gear boxing, which is basically just Real Steel but humans and robots do a fusion dance before fighting. It is also a story that follows the "trash" of society trying to make their way to the top, from nothing to something, most of which is performed via cons. The idea is good, and "mature" (keyword here) even, but I found that Megalo Box kinda cheated its way throughout the entire journey. When I say gear boxing is taken very seriously here, it both is in context and isn't in the narrative, it is just some gimmick to make the story stay alive. An act, a con even. I will put forward what I mean. We have people literally spending (presumably) hundreds of thousands on new technology that literally amounts to nothing, zilch. People from quite literally nowhere can somehow match with big shots that have been in the game for quite some time now. Why? I don't know, ask the directors and scriptwriters. If it integrated the con artist aspect of the anime into this plot device, it probably would have been a hell of a series, but it didn't. Instead, it took itself too seriously and resulted in a half-hearted story being pushed across. I mean, the fact that these guys know that they are shitting their way through legal businesses yet somehow feel as if boxing matches hold everything is on the line is a bit strange to me, I mean, have you seen the first episode. Pretty much every fight would go the way that was decided from the start. It isn't like there was no prior experience too as the story progresses (in the Megalonia), as said, they match big shots, like people who unironically spend a ton on this stuff and have trained for god knows how long. They match it in some ridiculously short amount of time to add as well. The first major fight was probably the most realistic of them all, from the second Joe enters Megalonia is where everything follows on discrepancy over discrepancy. It is truly asinine. It turns into a meta work, it understands it is a hack but doesn't understand which hack it is. It's partially there but that doesn't fit the bill.
But let's ignore the fact that we care about nobodies being able to wipe the floor with top technology like nothing. Even if we didn't care and let's say people just wanted to see some cool boxing matches, I wouldn't go out of my way to say that Megalo Box has the best boxing action anime has to offer. The fights are formulated in the same way disregarding the first and last ones. There isn't really anything new to feed on in terms of what boxing anime can be capable of, it is just the same as others I suppose. When you get to know the series better throughout viewing you begin to see that there wasn't a lot, to begin with anyway, but the writers had to do something, it can't just do nothing. What really annoys me a little in this aspect is a bit arbitrary but I will go point it out anyway. That is its presentation, which draws a little bit into demographics. Firstly, demographics shouldn't mean a lot to the avid watcher, the fact that Non Non Biyori and Elfen Lied are literally in the same demographic needs no further explanation to explain my point, though, if we were to ignore this for a second, and pretend that Megalo Box was to be labelled into demographic typically, then it doesn't exactly do a good job at "fitting in". It takes itself seriously, it is a little mature but uses underhanded and unbelievable tricks to push itself forward. So take it less seriously then? Sure. Until it fires back with more serious tones. You get into this weird loop so much so that Megalo Box cannot be taken seriously as it is, hell, it doesn't really fit anywhere in terms of how "mature" or "serious" it is. It is just, itself, which of course, is paralleled to a hack.
I don't really want to go too much on about the characters, they aren't in the same category as the story and how that was too silly to take seriously, but they were indeed nothing special, to begin with. I suppose with a lack of a serious story, that as well as failing to understand its own atmosphere was subject to also dismantle any hopes for great characters. Joe, the boxer, is said to be the low-life of society, but you know, he always finds a way out. What about more about himself? Who cares, nothing here. Nanbu, the con artist, knows a lot about everything I guess. I suppose he's interesting for what was in store, had a little backstory and other connections you'd like to know more about. Sachio, basically like Nanbu but give him the tech support role plus more tragic connections. Yuri and those other guys, I think they were the bad guys.
All in all, for a series like Megalo Box, the only good conclusion I can come to was the prior mentioned scam/con tactic it uses, making itself seem worse than the superficial visual will have you say. For a series that takes itself seriously, kinda knows what is up with itself, it ended up being short-sighted to not look at the entire picture it was in the first place. I guess when the characters said that they were dishonest in getting what they wanted, they really weren't joking.
Audiovisuals. For its time, it looks pretty well made, that's for sure. It looks really well made but later episodes refused to maintain that quality consistently throughout, so what you are dealing with is a little distorted perception of colours being mistaken for good animation. It just looks nice and that is all. Whilst the animation has its time to shine, again, it just degenerates to the mainstream standard of animation for its time, something you quite wouldn't expect from how Megalo Box sets itself to be. It's the same with the OST of the anime, nothing really there to hit home with. I mean, this one was pretty creative in fairness, some raps here and there to enrich the world and statuses of our characters, but that was it. I will give it to them that at least they were somewhat memorable. Otherwise, nothing more to comment on, if you want, seiyuus did their job as expected.
At the end of the day, it comes down to whether you care as much as I did or not, the suspension of disbelief is very effective. As an individual myself, however, I cannot just enjoy things that don't make sense to their own logic, it is silly to superimpose on reality and fiction but it is also no excuse to just do whatever. You wouldn't expect characters to have their eyes burst out of their sockets like some 30s Disney movie in something that doesn't take itself as a parody, such as LoGH or Monster. Whilst Megalo Box isn't that extreme, and probably is excusable in what it does at times, the very fact that it literally will say something and contradict it, which not only makes it unbelievable but ruins any kind of improvement in the different plot elements that exist, means that I can't really sit down and truthfully say I enjoy what I see. Then again, I still found something to like in the series, it's no masterpiece, but the fights, albeit handled badly, were still something I could praise as something that at least met decent quality. It does well for its own ground. It doesn't outshine anything, but hey, who doesn't like a decent fight. Not everything has to reach maxima (although that would be ideal). So yeah, it is something that can be enjoyed by many people, but I wouldn't suggest taking the series very seriously. Watch it only for the fighting because you'd be disappointed in a quest to dig for more.
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TLDR Review:
Story - 3: It's something that cannot be taken as seriously as it presents itself to be. Forgets the fundamentals of making a believable world.
Visuals - 7: Very good for its time, although it is deceivingly good. It can digress back to baseline at times.
Audio - 7: Nothing particularly special in OST or OP/ED, but the raps were good.
Characters - 4: Nothing memorable. Can give benefit of the doubt to one or two characters but otherwise, no one else is worthwhile. Mostly all hindered by the story.
Enjoyment - 4: Not very enjoyable if you take it seriously, which it tries to be. Even if you don't, there is not a lot to go within each individual match.
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I was planning to watch Megalo Box but ended up watching it at my local anime society instead. It was worthwhile for sure, people shouting and laughing at the odd scene, but I just didn't like it if I took everything into account. Even if I didn't, the fights weren't exactly to standard. But if you are not like me, then this is probably very recommendable. I've never actually watched Ashita no Joe tho I plan to watch that (I'm up to watch anything tbh). It is one of those "elitist" titles, whatever that means, but I will take a look at what the past had to offer in terms of that. Megalo Box sequel is also something I look forward to watching, I've heard it was consistent in quality but given what has happened in this season it is really something I need to watch before I have nothing left to do with the series, I really want to know how an entire season can be made after what was just given. But hey, when money is a reward, anything can happen.
Overall - 4.33 (4)
