Yeah he may not be the most complex character ever but he works as a classics Rocky protagonist, a warrior from nothing who only wants to go the distance & prove he's a someone. Simple but succinct.
Like his character is way easy to get. Some people have totally missed the mark & just say all his problems is that he's bored with his job ignoring he's a man with nothing working in a shit-hole & nowhere to go in his life.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."I like Joe more because of the world around him rather than himself, I suppose. The idea that he's this man put down by all odds of society (not having a social security number, living in a giant ghetto, forced to throw fights) and having to fight them makes him a lot more sympathetic than he'd normally be. The setting is so lopsided and rigged against him that his underdog and determinator qualities are enhanced immensely.
On the character itself, I feel they're playing their cards close to the chest what with Joe's cryptic background (which I'm pretty sure will likely be explored in some manner in the future). What I actually like about his character a lot is his self-destructive streak, which I found a very interesting quality. He's clearly a guy seeking suffering to feel alive in some sense (the sequences with the bike are the clearest about this), which is relatively rare in these kind of stories.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."And now, the most unexpected and yet amazing musical match-up:
WE WILL WE WILL BOX YOU!
"All you Fascists bound to lose."I like Joe a lot, and that boils down to sheer charisma and what happens around him. His character design, voice, the fact that he has to fight exosuit boxers with fucking nothing, everything just oozes badass i also believe the series did a good job in making him feel pretty human, in that we do see him in a decent range of situations and emotions. Agreeing with everyone in that he's not deep but for a story like this, that's fine.
Also, what's up everyone? Just picked up the series and caught up in like two days, it's great.
"Curry killed the pussy hoping that I could kill the hate in you" - Curry, D. "TABOO | TA13OO." TA13OO, PH, 2018New episode is out. I was afraid that I had skipped something by accident because the episode starts out in like the second round of the match, with Joe already struggling.
I'm a bit underwhelmed by how this episode turned out if I'm completely honest, not only because was the skip a bit weird and made the fight itself too short and anticlimactic, but that prediction someone had about Nanbu throwing because of the Yakuza boss turned out to be true.
I liked the episode but I do agree. It didn't match up to the fantastic build up that preceeded it.
My personal disappointment was that, once again, Joe muscled through the l pain to land that miracle punch. But that is in the DNA of Ashita no Joe so I can deal. Plus it's all in service for the ending we all expect.
edited 2nd Jun '18 4:04:38 AM by mrsunshinesprinkles
"Curry killed the pussy hoping that I could kill the hate in you" - Curry, D. "TABOO | TA13OO." TA13OO, PH, 2018Yeah, that was about what I expected from this match. Man vs machine. Joe should be getting to his physical limit, though. I've never seen Ashita, but I'm starting to think the series might end with Joe's death, or at least permanent, career-ending injury.
Also, about that ending: called it. Nanbu's a traitor. Next match will probably be about him betraying the team and then coming back in the end. Hope I'm wrong.
Myeah, the fight was a bit disappointing. Honestly, does anyone still remember that gear is supposed to increase one's punching power? Because Joe doesn't seem to have as much trouble tanking hits with his face as he used to. I mean, in his first ranked match he reeled from a punch he blocked, which is a normal human reaction when hit by a robot arm. Now Gear-aided hits seem like completely normal punches with an added swooshy effect.
Gear simply augments a boxer in some way. Super-Strength is just one of several options available. Samejima went for punching power, Aragaki went for speed, and Mikio went for (literal) inhumanly quick reflexes.
What's precedent ever done for us?Yeah, Mikio's gear doesn't seem to be power-based at all. The fight wasn't as epic as expected, but I did like that there kinda were two fights in there − Joe vs. Mikio and Mikio vs. Ace. The focus was basically "control the machine, don't let the machine control you."
That ending worries me though… Come on, show, don't do that, you've been on good tracks so far.
Why would the Yakuza want Nanbu to drop out anyway? What does he have to gain from it?
Gear augments your strength fairly drastically, from what we've seen. Like boxers in real life often irreparably damage their opponents and themselves. Even the littlest buff to base offense, without a proportional boost in defense will murder a dude. Joe hangs because he is the strongest, the coolest, and the most determined and I'm OK with that.
My guess is they make money off of bets or sell the match to Joe's opponent for that big cash. It all depends on delivery i suppose.
Another element that makes me worry about the future is how they handle Joe and Shirato's relationship. The latter, in the manga, is also an ojou-sama boxing promoter lady, but she falls in love with Joe. That happens over the course of a whole manga but megalobox has a few episodes left. I'd imagine they can drop that thread pretty easily, since the series as a whole has taken just a few liberties with the source material- otherwise, that development is gonna feel fucking weird.
edited 2nd Jun '18 8:26:09 PM by mrsunshinesprinkles
"Curry killed the pussy hoping that I could kill the hate in you" - Curry, D. "TABOO | TA13OO." TA13OO, PH, 2018I did like the episode but it felt a bit rushed, as if they conjoined two episodes together. I feel this the most with Mikio's characterization, as he was consistently portrayed as a haughty ambituous asshole before but this episode (kind of abruptly) grafts some sympathetic traits onto him by exploring more the whole "I have to prove myself" and "man vs machine" themes. I also didn't like how we spent most of an episode building up to the fact Joe's gearlesness is an actual advantage for once only to have immediately negated from the word "go" (which really raises the question why Mikio even bothered to rig the fight in the first place).
I'd much rather they had spent episode 9 setting up the more sympathetic traits of Mikio and his fear of Joe. And I'd also have actually used the "Joe being gearless means Mikio can't predict his moves" for the first half of the fight, with Mikio's gear A.I adapting and memorizing Joe's patterns in the second half and thus beating the ever living shit of Joe, leaving him to bank on his insane "drop the guard down and bank it all on a single well-delivered punch" strategy.
But, with all that said, it was a pretty good episode, just a bit rushed and not as hype as the amazing build-up. There were some definite highlights for me, like the aforementioned tactic of Joe completely dropping his guard as a bluff and subsequently banking it all on a single punch or Yuri and Mikio's interaction in the flashback.
I second everybody's sentiments of concern for this mafia plotline, though.
"All you Fascists bound to lose."I have mixed feelings regarding this series. It is certainly pleasant to watch. But the part about fighting is quite messed. Fighters hit or get hit quite randomly, not in a predictable manner. In Hajime no Ippo you could see hits come and actually do damage or be counterered. I mean characters made moves that made sense and you could see things coming.
Also Joe is one-punch man. He can take many hits, but whenever he hits someone they are defeated. Like they have never been punched before.
edited 4th Jun '18 4:37:10 AM by gropcbf
Yeah, I can see that. I didn't mind that honestly as it was stylish and engaging enough, though one can argue they could have gone full on Raging Bull on that aspect then.
Ippo has far better fights, this is true. It gets deeper into the strategy and psychology, even with a character who charges on the inside like Ippo.
Megalobox's strengths lie in its aesthetic, music, setting and overall attitude. It's just cool. It is fair to say Joe ending things in one punch is the cheap way out but in my opinion the cool factor of a gearless fighter destroying exosuit boxing monsters makes up for it.
"Curry killed the pussy hoping that I could kill the hate in you" - Curry, D. "TABOO | TA13OO." TA13OO, PH, 2018

He's a pretty good Determinator to me. His personality may not be super complex but I find him engaging for his sheer earnestness to crawl out of his shitty condition.
I don't know how close he is to the original Joe, though (from what I've read, Joe Yabuki was kind of an asshole, at least in the early volumes).
edited 28th May '18 4:37:52 PM by Lyendith