Ashita no Joe: Difference between revisions

Tomorrow's Joe
	File:AshitaNoJoeManga.jpg
Genre	Sports, Drama
Manga
Written by	Tetsuya Chiba, Asao Takamori
Published by	Kodansha ; Star Comics
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Magazine
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	January 1, 1968 – May 13, 1973
Volumes	20
Anime
Directed by	Osamu Dezaki
Studio	Mushi Productions
Released	April 1, 1970 – September 29, 1971
Anime
Directed by	Osamu Dezaki
Studio	Mushi Productions
Released	March 8, 1980
Anime
Ashita no Joe 2
Directed by	Mizubo Nishikubo, Toshio Takeuchi
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Released	October 13, 1980 – August 31, 1981

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Tomorrow's Joe (あしたのジョー, Ashita no Jō) is a critically acclaimed boxing manga created by Tetsuya Chiba and Asao Takamori in 1968 that was later adapted into an anime series and movie. It is most commonly referred to as Ashita no Joe. Outside Japan it is also referred to as Rocky Joe or Joe.

Story

File:AshitaNoJoe.jpg

Ashita no Joe anime

The story begins with a troubled orphan named Joe Yabuki who ran away from the orphanage walking in the Tokyo slums until he met up with former boxing trainer Danpei. During this time, Joe gets arrested and goes to a temporary jail, where he fights Nishi, his future best friend and leader of a few hoolagins. He and Nishi both go to a Juvenile Prison miles away from Tokyo. There he meets Rikiishi, who was formerly a boxing prodigy. Joe and him develop a rivalry. They have a match together, to where Rikiishi dominates Joe throughout the entire match till Joe hits him with a Cross Counter, resulting in both being knocked out. This inspires the other prison mates to take up boxing. Joe and Rikiishi vow to fight again. Before this happens, Danpei teaches Joe 3 lessons, Joe completes them but not completing the 3rd until he defeats a young underdog boy named Aoyama, who most of the prison made fun of for being so small, Danpei temporarily takes him under his wing, and "abandons" Joe. This causes Joe to feel mentally broken and his scared of Aoyama for the fact that Danpei is teaching him. Joe takes part in the Prison Boxing Tournament. He first fights in the semi-finals against Aoyama. Joe, being the aggressive fighter he is, is unable to hit Aoyama who specializes in speed. Joe then learns how to effectively defend, defeating Aoyama. In the finals, when Rikiishi is scheduled for leave of the prison, Joe challenges him to a fight right then and there. Which Joe cheats by having rocks in his gloves due to being exhausted from his previous match. The match is interrupted.

After Joe gets out of prison, he manages to go up to Bantamweight. But this wasn't easy, as Danpei had a very tough time getting a boxing license because of his past troubles. After this, Joe fights a rookie champion boxer named Wolf Kanagushi. Wolf was also a Cross Counter Specialist, thus they both were considered wolves. Joe challenges Wolf in a Locker Room Brawl, to where they both knock each other out. This causes Wolf to have a grudge against Joe. Wolf, in retaliation, harms the neighborhood kids, to where Joe wants revenge...motivating him more to defeat him. Both boxers go under special disclosed training. Joe manages to perform a Triple Cross Counter on Wolf. Joe then earns the right to fight Rikiishi in the professional ring.

Due to the fact that Rikiishi was three weight classes above Joe, he had to cut down lots of weight and go under a super strenuous weight loss program, to where he was so skinny that he was as skinny as bones. To compensate for the lack of power he lost, Rikiishi typically would do uppercut boxing relentlessly throwing uppercuts till it hit the opponent. Eventually the two greatest rivals fight each other to where Rikiishi beats Joe. But It turns out eventho Rikiishi won, he dies right when he's about to shake Joe's hand. It was a result of Joe hitting Rikiishi extremely hard in the temple. This was the end of the 1st story.

The second part of the story picks up where the first part ended. It shows flashbacks of the match between Joe and Rikiishi as a distant memory. Joe was still shaking up from that match, both mentally and physically. Eventually, he returns to his old club and starts training again. Soon after, during matches, Danpei, Joe's trainer, figures out that Joe is having a serious problem with boxing. He is not giving shots to the face. Obviously, Rikiishi's death was more shocking than what he had expected. This took Joe quite some time to get over. It costed him three straight losses. But then he has finally conquered his fears when he faced the globally #6 ranked Carlos Rivera, his new rival. It ended with a draw. Yet, this fight gave Joe tremendous fame and respect around the world; especially since Carlos Rivera was going to face the World Champion Jose Mendoza in his next match.

The story continues with Joe starting to climb the ladder after his amazing match with Carlos and finally defeating the Asian/Pacific Champion, Ryuhi Kin, a Korean Boxer who was heavily abused by his father and afraid of blood. Joe captures the title. After that, Joe had several successful title defense matches and won all of them, lastly defending it against the Malaysian Fighter Harimaio. His unorthodox fighting style was pretty unpredictable but Joe manages to successfully defend his title. In the end, he has been given the chance to face the unbelievable World Champion, Jose Mendoza, who defeated Carlos Rivera with a KO punch in the first round, costing him his boxing career.

The anime as well as the manga ends with Joe slumped on a chair in his corner on the ring, tired and bruised but with a smile on his face after his greatest title match against the World Champion, Jose Mendoza. Joe has fought relentlessly in that match without giving up, no matter how many punches Jose hit him with. It was a great match that went back and forth, in which Joe was able to knock down the champion more than once. In some instances, becoming the newly crowned World Champion was within reach. To Mendoza, he saw the ghost of other boxers whom he destroyed throughout his career in Joe's eyes.

The match goes all fifteen rounds with Jose getting the judges' decision as the winner. He looked fragile and old (his hair turned white). Joe was sitting on his chair in his corner waiting for the verdict. He took his gloves off and gave them to Youko Shiraki, who confessed her true feelings for him before the match. Joe died on that chair when the verdict was announced. He was smiling as if he has found the match that he was looking for his whole life. He has become "white ash", exactly what he said that he was fighting for.

Concept

The series debuted as a manga in Weekly Shōnen Magazine at a time when considerable economic and social upheaval was transforming Japanese culture in the late 1960s. Joe was essentially the tragic hero representing the struggle of the lower class. His trial and sacrifice to the sport was a semi-reflection of the will of the people he was representing. By the 1970s, manga readers and college students across Japan would turn the character into an icon.

Staff

Original Author: Tetsuya Chiba

Creator: Asao Takamori

Screenwriter: Osamu Dezaki, Shun'ichi Yukimuro, Tadaaki Yamazaki

Director: Osamu Dezaki

Episode Director: Yoshiyuki Tomino

Producer: Atsushi Tomioka, Koji Bessho

Design: Akio Sugino

Art: Tetsuya Chiba, Teiichi Akashi

Animation Director: Akihiro Kanayama, Akio Sugino, Shingo Araki

Music: Masao Yagi

Characters

Tange Gym

Joe Yabuki (矢吹丈, Yabuki Jou): Seiyū: Teruhiko Aoi; Live-Action Film: Shōji Ishibashi; Italian Name: Rocky Joe
Danpei Tange (丹下段平, Tange Danpei): Seiyū: Jūkei Fujioka, Takeshi Aono (game); Live-Action Film: Ryūtarō Tatsumi
Mammoth Nishi (マンモス西): Seiyū: Toku Nishio, Jiro Daruma (Ashita no Joe 2), Shiro Kishibe (film), Daisuke Gōri (game); Live-Action Film: Masaaki Yamamoto; Real name Kanichi Nishi (西寛一, Nishi Kanichi)

Shiraki Gym

Yohko Shiraki (Shiraki Youko): Seiyū: Kazuko Nishizawa, Masako Ebisu (ep. 34~44), Emi Tanaka (Ashita no Joe 2), Fumi Dan (film); Live-Action Film: Yōko Takagi
Tohru Rikiishi (力石徹, Rikiishi Tooru): Seiyū: Shuusei Nakamura, Toshiyuki Hosokawa (film), Hideyuki Hori (game); Live-Action Film: Seiichirō Kameishi; Italian Name: Toro Riki

Rivals

Wolf Kanagushi (ウルフ金串): Seiyū: Osamu Katō, Gorō Naya (Ashita no Joe 2)
Jun Shioya (塩谷ジュン, Shioya Jun): Seiyū: Keiko Yokozawa (Ashita no Joe 2); Wolf's fiancee.
Jiro Shioya (塩谷ジロー, Shioya Jirou): Seiyū: Yoku Shioya (Ashita no Joe 2); Jun's little brother.
Carlos Rivera (カーロス・リベラ): Seiyū: Taichirō Hirokawa, Ryūsei Nakao (Ashita no Joe 2), Joe Yamanaka (film)
Harry Robert (ハリー・ロバート): Seiyū: Takeshi Kuwabara, Michihiro Ikemizu (Ashita no Joe 2); Carlos Rivera's manager.
Ryuhi Kin (金竜飛, Kin Ryuuhi): Seiyū: Norio Wakamoto (Ashita no Joe 2)
Harimao (ハリマオ): Seiyū: Takashi Taguchi (Ashita no Joe 2); Italian Name: Hamario
Jose Mendoza (ホセ・メンドーサ): Seiyū: Yoshito Miyamura (Ashita no Joe 2), Masami Okada (film)
Goromaki Gondou (ゴロマキ権藤): Seiyū: Chikao Ōtsuka, Takeshi Watabe (Ashita no Joe 2)
Tiger Ozaki (タイガー尾崎): Seiyū: Shōzō Iizuka, Hiroya Ishimaru (Ashita no Joe 2)

Doya Town

Chibi-tachi

Sachi (サチ): Seiyū: Fuyumi Shiraishi
Kinoko (キノコ, Mushroom): Seiyū: Keiko Ushizaki, Junko Hori (Ashita no Joe 2)
Tarou (太郎): Seiyū: Hiroshi Masuoka, Kiyonobu Suzuki (Ashita no Joe 2)
Hyoromatsu (ヒョロ松): Seiyū: Kaneta Kimotsuki
Chuukichi (チュー吉): Seiyū: Noriko Tsukase
Tonkichi (トン吉): Seiyū: Jōji Yanami, Hiroko Maruyama (Ashita no Joe 2)
Chibi (チビ, Squirt): Seiyū: Mitsuko Asō

Hayashi Family

Noriko Hayashi (林紀子, Hayashi Noriko): Seiyū: Kaoru Ozawa, Kei Moriwaki (Ashita no Joe 2)
Keishichi Hayashi (林敬七, Hayashi Keishichi): Seiyū: Setsuo Wakui, Minoru Yada (Ashita no Joe 2)
Tamako Hayashi (林玉子, Hayashi Tamako): Seiyū: Teruko Abe, Shō Saitō (Ashita no Joe 2)

DVD

On March 2, 2005 the series was released on 2 DVD complete box sets covering 33 hour 55 minutes of footage across 79 episodes spanning 16 disks by Nippon Columbia. It also includes an all-color explanation book in 3 volumes totaling 120 pages.

Previous release formats include mini-box sets in September 21, 2001 and individual disks on September 21, 2002.

Influence

When the fans of the series saw the death of Rikiishi, there was a special funeral for him. In March 1970, about 700 people packed the streets dressed in black, wearing black armbands and ribbons with flowers and incense, participated in the funeral. The event was called for by poet Shūji Terayama. The service was conducted in a full scale boxing ring watched over by a Buddhist priest^[1].

Joe Yabuki is still a cult favorite in Japanese pop culture to the present day. On October 13, 2006, it was voted "Japanese Favorite TV Anime" placing 4 out of 100 among celebrities votes^[2]. It has succeeded in capturing people's hearts around Japan with its quality storyline and excellent boxing matches. The characters are very human and have their own weaknesses like Joe causing trouble all the time and Dampei being short tempered.

On Youtube, diehard fans made a fight between Joe Yabuki and Ippo Makunouchi (From Hajime no Ippo) by splicing and editing episodes from both series to keep the memory of Joe Yabuki alive.

The Wallflower (manga) anime has a brief spoof of the series. In The Adventures of Mini-Goddess, Gan-chan also dresses as the boxer.

Sequels

The Ashita no Joe movie was introduced in 1980 reusing footages from the TV series to form an identical story but much reduced in length. It was to bridge the gap for audiences who were about to see the 2nd half of the series named Ashita no Joe 2. The 2nd series featured new directors, as it synced up with the final half of the manga. It was in this series in 1973 that Joe's career climaxed in the anime with the memorable finale. He collapsed into the ring corner after 15 rounds. His fate was left open for discussion as the readers don't know whether he lived or died. However, in the last volume of Ashita no Joe the death of Joe is actually confirmed by the author at the very end of the book.

Video games

Title	Alternate Titles	Publisher	Developer	Platform	Release Date
Ashita no Joe		Taito	Wave Corp	Arcade	1990
Ashita no Joe Densetsu	Legend of Success Joe	SNK	Wave Corp	Neo Geo	1991
Ashita no Joe		K Amusement Leasing		SNES	November 7, 1992
Boxing Mania: Ashita no Joe	Boxing Mania	Konami		Arcade	2001
Ashita no Joe Touchi: Typing Namida Hashi	Ashita no Joe Keyboard Pack	Sunsoft	Sunsoft	Playstation 2	March 29, 2001
Ashita no Joe 2: The Anime Super Remix		Capcom	Capcom	Playstation 2	June 20, 2002
Ashita no Joe Masshiro ni Moe Tsukiro!		Konami		Playstation 2	December 4, 2003
Ashita no Joe Makkani Moeagare!			Konami	Game Boy Advance	December 4, 2003
Ashita no Joe Masshiro ni Moe Tsukiro! Konami the Best	Ashita no Joe Masshiro ni Moe Tsukiro! Greatest Hits	Konami		Playstation 2	July 8, 2004

Reference in other Media

The final shot of Joe on the chair in the manga is also the cover of the Ashita no Joe Masshiro ni Moe Tsukiro! Playstation 2 video game.

Masami Kurumada (famous for Saint Seiya) did a tribute to Ashita No Joe by creating Ring ni Kakero (Put it all in the ring).

The first and only official European release was in Italy and was called Rocky Joe, which was either named after the Rocky series or the real life boxer Rocky Marciano.

Parental groups blamed Ashita No Joe for teaching young children to be rebellious and anti-social towards Japanese family values during its early release.

The Super Nintendo game based on Ashita no Joe is considered as a collectors item, due to it being very rare.

In episode 8 of Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO), a couple of thugs dress like Danpei and Joe Yabuki and re-inact one of their famous training scenes.

In episode 63 of Urusei Yatsura, Ryuunosuke Fujinami cross punches her father, just like Joe did against Wolf Kanagushi. Ataru Moroboshi mentions the name of that attack, which Rikiishi thought to himself as Joe had countered Wolf in that locker room scene.

The character Dudley from Street Fighter III has a special move called the "Cross Counter" which is a tribute to Ashita no Joe.

The character Takeshi Sendo from Hajime No Ippo is an homage to Joe- his hairstyle, fighting style, and brash image are all particularly reminiscent of Joe.

In episode 19 of Ah! My Mini Goddess titled Kitchen Fighters, In the ending of the episode, Ganchan who was named Bruce Ganchan for that episode also sat in his corner's chair and was also colored gray after the decision of the boxing match. Very similar to what happened to Joe in his last fight. The winner of the bout was also named Jose Mendoza, but in this anime, he was just a mouse dressed in Mexican hat and coat, and was only a spectator.

In episode 65 of the anime Sonic X, there is a scene in the original Japanese version that heavily references to Tomorrow's Joe. It features Tails and Cosmo, a pairing throughout the series' third season, in a scene that directly parodied the Tomorrow's Joe series, in character design and appearance.

In Chapter 806 of Hajime no Ippo manga, Joji Morikawa created a splash page depicting Ippo Makunouchi shaking hands with Joe Yabuki.

References

^ Gravett, Paul [2004] (2004). Manga: Sixty years of Japanese Comics. New York, NY: Harper Design International. ISBN 1-85669-391-0.
^ Japanese Anime Vote. "TV Asashi Voting. " "Japanese Anime Vote." Retrieved on 2006-11-19.

External links

[1] Gravett, Paul [2004] (2004). Manga: Sixty years of Japanese Comics. New York, NY: Harper Design International. ISBN 1-85669-391-0.

[2] Japanese Anime Vote. "TV Asashi Voting. " "Japanese Anime Vote." Retrieved on 2006-11-19.

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[2]

@@ Line 48: / Line 48: @@
 ==Story==
 [[Image:AshitaNoJoe.jpg|156px|thumb|right|Ashita no Joe anime]]
 The story begins with a troubled orphan named Joe Yabuki who ran away from the orphanage walking in the [[Tokyo]] slums until he met up with former [[boxing]] trainer Danpei. During this time, Joe gets arrested and goes to a temporary jail, where he fights Nishi, his future best friend and leader of a few hoolagins. He and Nishi both go to a Juvenile Prison miles away from Tokyo. There he meets Rikiishi, who was formerly a boxing prodigy. Joe and him develop a rivalry. They have a match together, to where Rikiishi dominates Joe throughout the entire match till Joe hits him with a Cross Counter, resulting in both being knocked out. This inspires the other prison mates to take up boxing. Joe and Rikiishi vow to fight again. Before this happens, Danpei teaches Joe 3 lessons, Joe completes them but not completing the 3rd until he defeats a young underdog boy named Aoyama, who most of the prison made fun of for being so small, Danpei temporarily takes him under his wing, and "abandons" Joe. This causes Joe to feel mentally broken and his scared of Aoyama for the fact that Danpei is teaching him. Joe takes part in the Prison Boxing Tournament. He first fights in the semi-finals against Aoyama. Joe, being the aggressive fighter he is, is unable to hit Aoyama who specializes in speed. Joe then learns how to effectively defend, defeating Aoyama. In the finals, when Rikiishi is scheduled for leave of the prison, Joe challenges him to a fight right then and there. Which Joe cheats by having rocks in his gloves due to being exhausted from his previous match. The match is interrupted.