Megalo Box - Manliest Anime This Season!

Ouch… Now that's a blow that'll be hard to recover from. Though I'm betting that Yukiko will find a way to let Joe in anyway.

Really liked the first scene of the ep, showing that Joe has become some sort of hero in the slums. The Gearless Rap is pretty cool too, though the lyrics are incredibly cheesy.

Speaking of music… I only realized now why this opening strikes me as so peculiar: not a single character appears in it outside of Joe in the very last shot. Just a few quick, faceless glimpses.

I feel mostly cheated, really.

Hm. Well, presumably Ms. Shirato is going to pull some strings and allow this final fight to take place. Mikio is a bit disappointing, if that's all he's going to be. Hopefully he puts up a good fight when his time to bite the dust comes. But this whole setup feels a bit wasteful, really. It's not like Joe isn't going to enter Megalonia, after all, so this whole thing is little more than a cliché arc. We could have done without this.

edited 18th May '18 7:06:22 PM by TheLovecraftian

Pretty sure they did this just to set up Mikio as a scumbag villain who'll take whatever cheap shots he needs to in order to get what he wants. I don't mind it too much since we all know Joe's getting into Megalonia anyways.

It also wouldn't be surprising if Mikio had already pulled that kind of crap before and Yukiko had evidence of it.

Considering it's his gear that does all the work for him, I'd say it's well established that he's a wuss.

I mean, can you even call that boxing?

I'm pretty sure that's the reason why she doesn't want him getting any farther ahead. She knows he's trouble.

I think what might happen is that considering A) the shadow of nepotism looming over B) Gearless Joe being such a rockstar C) Joe didn't even show up to the fight, the public will smell the fight was rigged in some way and the outcry for Gearless Joe being cheated will leave them with no other choice than putting Gearless Joe in Megalonia or risking having the entire credibility of the event hurled through a window.

Finally the full version of the opening is out to hear. Huh the singer's english is actually quite good.

Really cool song.

I actually like how the opening shows off the cast without actually showing them , just symbols or items they're heavily associated with.

edited 20th May '18 1:09:34 AM by Vertigo_High

Megalo Box's OP is honestly one of my favorites in years. The visuals, the music, etc feels like something from the mid 2000's and I love it.

The full ending is out too, and it's pretty neat. Structured a bit strangely − it's basically just a long verse and a long chorus − but the beat and that half-rapped half-sung delivery are catchy as hell.

I'm not all that interested in the OP or the ED, but I want a version of that rap song in the last episode.

The beginning of that episode was so cool. Seeing Joe become a street celebrity was awesome. The tats were kind of cool too.

But I speak for everyone when I say this: screw Mikio. What a jerk.

Also I realize now that Chizuru from King of Fighters had her look inspired by Yukiko(or more accurately her ahsita no Joe counterpart since they look very much alike).

edited 22nd May '18 12:45:01 PM by Vertigo_High

Episode 8: Not how I expected the situation to be resolved, but I like it that way. They had to fight tooth and nail to get that rematch, that was a close call. And I have a feeling Yukio's gear is not as perfect as he pretends.

I'm really starting to like Yukiko there. She doesn't easily let others step on her feet, especially not with threats.

Well, that was a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be. Good that this wasn't a filler episode of moping around while waiting for a miracle like I assumed after that last episode.

She's pretty cool isn't she? She hasn't fought or hurt a single person yet still manages to be one of the coolest characters in the cast.

Great episode. Glad we're getting our match but I expect some foul play from Mikio .

edited 25th May '18 11:54:38 AM by Vertigo_High

We saw Mikio upgrade the AI on his gear, so whatever trick he has on his sleeve has probably to do with that.

It better not be something like "I can totally detect the movements of a person without Gear now"

Nice. I like how this turned out. Very tense, very true, and very well executed. Really want to see Joe cave Mikio's face in now.

And yeah, Yukiko is a badass. Rules-lawyering like that takes guts.

I don't like how we're setting up Nanbu to be a traitor down the line, though. It's very clichéd, and I was hoping the show would avoid doing it.

What? How's he set up to be a traitor?

There are little moments here and there reminding us that Nanbu is opportunistic and that seem to be hinting at him betraying Joe for their weird ringleader/mob boss guy. Most explicitly, all the times Nanbu interacts with him, where he makes a point of reminding Nanbu and us that he's in charge and that Nanbu is, as he says, "a scorpion".

If this follows the cliche, it'll probably end up with a plot where the boss guy decides there's more in it for him if Joe throws one of the Megalonia matches, forces Nanbu to go with it, but then Nanbu switches sides at the last moment with a big speech. A Liar Revealed kind of plot usually goes hand in hand with this, where the team loses trust in Nanbu for a while, but then take him back when he decides to help them. Considering Megalonia's next, I presume that's going to be what happens when Joe gets to fight Glen Burroughs, while Yuri fights Pepe Iglesias, so they can have their final match uninterrupted.

I hope I'm wrong about this, but it's a very common plot thread, and they keep bringing it back up again, so I find it worrying.

edited 26th May '18 6:29:42 AM by TheLovecraftian

I more expect the "you'll always be a scorpion" plot for Nanbu to end with the Yakuza boss deliberately trying to force them to forfeit and we have a mini-arc focused on Nanbu's past with Joe until they both go against the Yakuza boss and cement that they're going for broke regardless of what the Yakuza boss says.

Also I'm probably the only one who's lukewarm on Yukiko. I mean, she's a pretty solid character, but I'm not quite admiring her because the fact she's a classisist corporate boss looking down on the masses is still clear to me (Joe even pointed out last episode how she looked at him the same way Yukio does: with disdain).

Oh yeah, that she is for sure.

Yukikio is the 1% lol.

Yeah, it's pretty clear that Yukiko giving Joe any sort of chance is kind of a last resort because she realizes how much of an ass Mikio is. Even then, she only relented at the last second.

Looking forward to Mikio vs Gearless Joe next week.

So I gotta ask what are your thoughts on Joe?

Cause I've seen some people call him the worst part of the show & say he does not deserve to be in Megalovania cause he's so flat & boring & shit.