Joe vs. Joe

Joe vs Joe
Genre	Seishun, Boxing, Sport
Anime
Directed by	Kouichi Kimura
Studio	Proudman

Joe vs. Joe (ふたりのジョーFutari no Joe) is a Japanese animated OVA consisting a total of six episodes. The show was produced by studio Proudman. The animation is a spiritual successor of Champion Joe (あしたのジョー Ashita no Joe), one of the first dramatic animations to ever be created globally which originally aired back in April 1st of 1970 in Japan. Joe vs. Joe was never aired over broadcast since this was an OVA release, in other words, direct to video.

Characters

Joe vs Joe tells the story of two youths from totally opposite life styles. The only way they can overcome their own curse is to fight each other on the ring.

• Joe Akamine: The protagonist of this story. He came from a medium-income family and lived an ordinary life for the most part, except a betrayal incident that haunted him everyday. He is a very bright person and smiles often; because of these characters he has many friends. He works full time as a deliveryman and frequently he attends a gym to box just to keep himself in shape and self-defense purposes.
• Joe Yuuki: The antagonist / rival of Joe Akamine. He was from a well-off family and lives a extravagant life-style. He is also Shibuya's number one DJ. However, Joe Yuuki is like a lone wolf and he trusts no one. After both his father and mother abandoned him, he was afraid of kindness from others (afraid of the betrayal) and did everything to avoid from people being kind to him. Due to this complexity, he had an ambition to be number one at everything to show everyone that he doesn't need anyone. His boxing career started on the faithful day he meets Joe Akamine.[7]
• Ryuichi Suzuki: Joe Akamine's boxing friend and also a mentor. He has a straight forward personality and always looks for ways to go forward. He also hates giving up, being half-willing, and always gives his fullest and best at everything. In other words, he is the ideal athlete.
• Maki Takakura: A model / actress who is trying to succeed in the entertainment business to get back at her dad. She has fallen in love with Joe Yuuki ever since he saved her from a group of Yakuza. Daughter of a champion boxer, George Takizawa.
• George Takizawa: Once a champion boxer, now retired and carries his own gym. He is also responsible for training both Joe Akamine and Ryuichi who attends his gym, the J. Country Gym. Maki Takakura is his daughter.
• Mr. Matsuda: Owner of Matsuda Gym and also the trainer of Joe Yuuki. He passionately disagrees with George Takizawa's style of boxing.
• Setsuko: Mother of Yu, daughter of Koshu (Grampa) and Ryuichi's love interest. She likes Ryuichi as well but is afraid to express her feelings to him since she is afraid that it might jeopardize his boxing career.
• Yu: Setsuko's son and Koshu's (Grampa) grandson.
• Koshu: Setsuko's father, grandfather of Yu and the owner of the restaurant that Joe Akamine, Ryuichi and George Takizawa often visit. He is called "Grampa" by his close friends and family.
• Iwamoto: Current champion of Japan for his class. He is also the number one boxer at Matsuda Boxing Gym and the Ryuichi's upcoming opponent.