Heartwarming / Tomorrow's Joe

• Joe's series-long goal, and the reason for both the big scam that landed him into juvie and later his attempts to become world champion and earn that kind of money: to help the people in the San'ya by building a factory for them to have decent jobs, a hospital to care for them, and a school for their children.
• Danpei's sheer determination to help Joe become a boxer and have a honest job (even before Joe decides to become a boxer), even risking what remains of his health to train him.
• The juvie inmates spontaneously establishing a boxing tournament and following the rules after seeing Joe and Rikiishi's first match.
• Joe reconciliating with Danpei after the latter faked abandoning him to train Aoyama, and making friends with Aoyama himself-even admitting Aoyama came very close to win their match.
• When Rikiishi makes his return to the ring, everyone in juvie goes to watch it in tv, with the director leading the cheer squad.
• When Joe was sent to juvie, he quickly made enemies of everyone, guards and inmates, with only Nishi and Aoyama as the exceptions. By the time they let go Nishi (who had a lesser term due not having tried to escape), Joe had made friends with everyone, and could even make small jokes as the director's expense. And by the time Joe leaves, the mud-flinging context he gets as send-off from his cellmates involves even the guards and the director, and is completely friendly-
• After he returns from juvenile prison, Joe is met with a welcome back party and a newly built gym just for him and Nishi. He doesn't even know how to react, only staring as everybody laughs and dances in front of him. Later that night, while everyone else is asleep, he's crying quietly under the sheets.
• When Joe leaves juvenile prison, he'll need a day job until he becomes a famous boxer. Nishi has already found him one at the store he works at, with the store owner being willing to tolerate his early incompetente until he learns the job even knowing he's dealing with a former convict.
• How Mikinosuke Shiraki, Yoko's grandfather, reacted to finding out about Danpei being unable to get back his licence and having been arrested for drunken violence:
  • Upon hearing of Danpei's plight, he pays the bail and offers him a job at his gym... And Joe and Nishi to enroll them there and make them become pro. It seems like Yoko's usual attitude, as he'd gain a lot from it... But when the deal falls through because Joe wants a proper fight with Rikiishi and wouldn't be able to have it if they were from the same gym, Shiraki doesn't take back the bail money or the vouching that got him released.
  • Shiraki is on the scene when Joe achieves a double KO with Wolf Kanagushi as part of his plan to get Danpei reinstated. What does he do? He calmly tells the journalists that Joe is from the Tange Boxing Club and cannot become a professional boxer because the Japanese Boxing Commission, led by Wolf's manager Otaka, refuses to reinstate Danpei's licence, thus helping Joe to force the JBC to reinstate that licence... And proving he was trying to help.
• The celebrations at the slums after Joe passes the boxing licence exam. Especially because of how hated Joe was when he was arrested.
• The good luck telegram from their old juvenile prison Joe and Nishi got right before their first match.
• After their long-awaited pro match and losing, Joe goes to Rikiishi to shake his hand and congratulate him. Then Rikiishi collapses and dies from his starvation and Joe's fists soon after...
• At the slums, everyone's joy when Joe is finally back from the circus.
• Every scene of Joe and Carlos being friends.
• Joe annihilating Usman Somkit in one minute and six seconds... Because having a long match against him, the #5-ranked OPBF bantamweight, would have made Carlos, #6 WBC bantam, look bad.
• After coming back from the Hawaii, Joe passes by the building where he had barricaded himself after his scam had been exposed and remembers the events, including Danpei beating him up so the police could arrest him... And he's actually thankful for the latter, finally understanding that Danpei had done it for him.
• After the anime-exclusive fight to decide the first challenger for the soon-to-be-crowned lineal champion, Joe meets his defeated opponent Leon Smiley... And they immediately hit off. They disagree on who'll be the lineal champion (Joe expects Mendoza's victory, Leon expects the winner will be Mendoza's opponent Karold Gomez), but Joe promises Smiley that, once he becomes the champion, his first title defense will be against him.
• In the anime, Joe had lent Wolf most of the money he got from fighting Carlos to help him renew the gym of his ex-fiancee. Danpei didn't expect to see that money again... And then, at the dawn of the day of Joe's fight with Mendoza, Wolf wakes his old rival up with every single yen he owes him.
• Joe ditching the journalists after his fight with Harimau because Carlos being back was more important.
• Several during the final match against Mendoza:
  • Among the public, we see Aoyama with Joe's cellmates from juvenile prison, Gondo and his gangsters, Inaba and the travelling troupe, Wolf Kanagushi, and (in a sadder note) Carlos Rivera, all cheering for Joe. And members from the police are playing the national anthems.
  • Upon realizing that Joe is losing sight in his right eye, Mendoza trying to get Joe to forfeit-and when that fails, redoubling his efforts to knock him out before he kills him.
  • Yoko deciding she won't run away anymore (as a Call-Back to Joe and Rikiishi's first match) and ordering her driver to return to the stadium. And when everyone keeps telling Joe to give up the match (and with good reason), Yoko, showing how much she has come to understand him in these last minutes (possibly even better than anyone else alive), is the only one to cheer him on and tell him to fight without regrets.
  • At the end, Danpei trying to comfort Joe after Mendoza is declared as the victor.

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