Tomorrow's Joe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tomorrow's Joe | |
|---|---|
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| あしたのジョー (Ashita no Jō) |
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| Genre | Sports, Shōnen, Drama |
| Manga | |
| Authored by | Tetsuya Chiba, Asao Takamori |
| Publisher | Japan: Kodansha Italy: Star Comics |
| Serialized in | |
| Original run | January 1, 1968 – May 13, 1973 |
| No. of volumes | 20 |
| TV anime : Ashita no Joe | |
| Directed by | Osamu Dezaki |
| Studio | Mushi Productions |
| Network | Fuji TV |
| Original run | April 1, 1970 – September 29, 1971 |
| No. of episodes | 79 |
| Movie: Ashita no Joe the movie | |
| Directed by | Osamu Dezaki |
| Studio | Mushi Productions |
| Released | March 8, 1980 |
| Runtime | |
| TV anime : Ashita no Joe 2 | |
| Directed by | Mizubo Nishikubo, Toshio Takeuchi |
| Studio | TMS Entertainment |
| Network | Nippon Television |
| Original run | October 13, 1980 – August 31, 1981 |
| No. of episodes | 47 |
Tomorrow's Joe (Japanese: 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.
Contents |
[edit] Story
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. Joe soon takes up Bantamweight.
Joe eventually fights against his greatest rival Rikiishi whom Joe accidentally kills during a boxing match at the end of first story.
The second part of the story picks up where the first part ended. It shows flash backs 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 when boxing. He is not giving shots to the face. Obviously, Rikiishi's death was more shocking than what they have expected. This too, however, took Joe quite some time to get over. He has finally conquered his fears when he faced the globally #6 ranked Carlos Rivera. It ended with a draw. Yet, gave Joe termendous 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 defeats the Asian/Pacific Champion and capturing the title. After that, Joe had several successful title defense matches and won all of them. In the end, he has been given the chance to face the unbelievable World Champion Jose Mendoza, who defeated Carlos Rivera with the 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 through out his career in Joe's eyes. This caused him to freak out and be scared to death from Joe.
The match ends in a draw 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 before 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.
[edit] Concept
The series debuted as a manga in Weekly Shonen 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.
[edit] 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
[edit] Characters
| Japanese Name | Italian Name | Voices by |
|---|---|---|
| Joe Yabuki | Rocky Joe | Teruhiko Aoi |
| Dampei Tange | ||
| Yohko Shiraki | Masako Nozawa, Emi Tanaka | |
| Tohru Rikiishi | Toro Riki | Shuusei Nakamura |
| Loriko | Junko Hori | |
| Kanichi Nishi | ||
| Goromaki Gondoh | Takeshi Watanabe | |
| Tiger Ozaki | ||
| Wolf Kanagushi | ||
| Carlos Rivera | Ryusei Nakao | |
| Harimao | Hamario | |
| Jose Mendoza |
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 Shuji Tarayama. The service was conducted in a full scale boxing ring watched over by a Buddhist priest[1].
Ashita no Joe 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.
[edit] 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 collaped into the ring corner after 15 rounds. His fate was left open for discussion as the reader doesn'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.
[edit] 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 |
[edit] Screenshots
 Ashita no Joe anime |
 Cover of PS2 Ashita no Joe: Masshiro ni Moe Tsuikiro |
[edit] Trivia
- 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 (Bet it on 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.
[edit] 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.
