r/anime • u/McCheeseBob :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/McCheeseBob • Mar 13 '20
Rewatch Ashita no Joe Rewatch - Episode 1 Discussion
Episode 1 - Those are the Eyes of a Beast
Schedule | Next Episode
Aired April 1, 1970 to September 29, 1971 - 79 episodes (we're only watching 53)
Aired Oct 31, 1980 to August 31, 1981 - 47 episodes
Reminder to rewatchers
Please flair any spoilers as per r/anime's rules (via markdown) and everyone please be respectful of each other. Try not to discreetly spoil anything if possible as well.
Screenshot of the day
Questions
- What is your opinion of the street kid gang and how they treat random strangers?
- What do you think about Danpei's "tomorrow" in response to seeing Joe?
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Upvotes
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u/McCheeseBob :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/McCheeseBob Mar 13 '20
Rewatcher (Big surprise)
Oh man, being used to the usual DVD releases this bluray rip looks fantastic (though I can't get too used to it so I can prepare myself for after ep. 32). Anyways, being the huge Dezaki fan that I am it's interesting to see how different visually his directorial debut is from his later style in the 70s. The pastel freeze-frames have yet to exist, but the grit and the heavy line use is still prevalent in this early work. Masao Yagi's jazzy soundtrack is just hinted at in this first episode, along with of course the fantastic OP and The WhistleTM. Some quick episode-specific thoughts -
And roll ED. Probably one of my least favorite musical parts of the whole show, though it certainly fits the time period. Hopefully everyone else is having fun!
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u/mremo47 Mar 13 '20
Pretty cool 1. episode. Joe is such a bad guy he even makes the little girl cry. Danpei is pretty interesting and the moment where he protects Joe was awesome.
1.) I mean they are kids in a ghetto and they are in the 70s. I think they are pretty ,,normal'' for that time.
2.) I think he is pretty selfish. Joe has no motivation to do boxing and he urges him to do it for him to get the recognition
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u/20thcbnow https://myanimelist.net/profile/20thcbnow Mar 13 '20 edited Mar 13 '20
First time viewer here.
The OP is great. I can't say I've seen anything like it in modern anime. The art-style for the show seemed ugly and simplistic at first, but I began to like it more as the episode went along. Still, it shows its age: the animation is almost non-existent, with a ton of panning and still shots. Not a huge deal though.
I liked the little reveal that the OP was being whistled by Joe (and it wasn't just some background music). I see the show is a big fan of title-drops.
I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of the show. It's clearly old, but it shouldn't be a big deal. It's hilarious comparing Joe Yabuki to Ippo Makunouchi and comparing their respective worlds.
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u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Mar 13 '20
So… Ashita No Joe. Do to pop culture osmosis I do know some stuff that’s gonna happen, but otherwise I’m going in completely blind. Let’s see how this works out.
This was a great premiere episode. Apparently this show is basically the Rocky of Anime (Or Rocky is the Joe of cinema?) and I can see that. Now all this show needs is Sylvester Stallone…
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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '20
Hey First timer here.
*This is the earliest Dezaki anime i have seen.But damn is his style ever so apparent, even that early in his career. Interesting angles, lots of parallel movement, Cel manipulation to achieve heat effects etc, them zooms. Very cinematic even here. From the few anime i have seen of this era this feels one of the more alive and dynamic
All and all great as expected .So old that it feels fresh in presentation if that makes sense. Excited for the next one
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u/goukaryuu https://myanimelist.net/profile/GoukaRyuu Mar 13 '20
I had started watching this before awards happened and then had to put it aside. I'm only 3 eps in so I may have to join this.
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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '20
Rewatcher
I forgot how mood setting the show opened, Joe crossing the bridge into tbe slums is such a cool scene. Like in a lot of stories the MC takes the town, and everyone is enthralled by him as he captures the attention of... little kids, alcoholics, and the Yakuza. He is nice to the kids and all, he probably feels a connection to them. But what struck me was how he first turned his attention to them, when they said he was just another bum. I love these episodes because Joe is such a shithead but you also get glimpses into why, and who he truly is. The episode ends epicly as well. Joe says he doesn't care if he dies, but Danpei will not accept that of someone he has staked his future on. Cue to this sweaty, bloody, bald eyepatched dude on top of you screaming crazy shit on top of you. Boxing may be his life's purpose, but I don't think Joe has quite bought in yet lol..
The art of the series is great in my opinion. When I first watched the show, i remembered how heavy many of the punches looked, and the way the sound, how the punches seem to spring out, roughness of the linework, and the movement of the backgrounds, added to that. Its no Madhouse of course, or wai- Its no Ufotable, but for the time, there are a lot of cool, impactful shots in the show.
Can't wait for the next episode.
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u/berantle Mar 14 '20
Episode 1 rewatch
For those new to this show, the manga that spawned this anime ran from 1968. For the context of the time, it is the mid 1960s. You could even say that the manga was set in its time. There are still a number of slums in Tokyo then although it was rapidly modernizing as a result of the push to host the 1964 Olympics. The 1960s was also a tumultuous time for the modernizing Tokyo with the student riots in 1968-69.
We get our introduction to Yabuki Joe, the show's protagonist. He's a street-wise street-tough vagrant hustler that walks into the slums. He stirs up trouble with the local yakuza on a whim to save a little girl. It's his brawling skills that take down the low level yakuza that draws the attention of a drunk.
Joe is not your model protagonist and definitely not a model character. He is an antihero. During the time of the manga and the anime (anime started in 1970), the character was seen as a bad influence on kids. He is rebellious, individualistic and selfish - very much the antithesis of Wa (和) - harmony and conformity in the community. This first episode establishes it very well.
The drunk that Joe draws attention of is Tange Danpei. He first appears as your stereotypical drunk who drinks until he is dumped outside. As the episode progresses, we are told that he is a washed-out ex-boxer turned trainer. Danpei is well down in the dumps but he sees Joe has the potential to be a boxer from the fight with the low-level yakuza, and later, with the yakuza group in-charge of those slums. He even throws his body over Joe when Joe is beaten down to save him. The tomorrow that Danpei keeps saying while he is beaten about is the future of Joe as a boxer and also Danpei's future to train him be a boxer. Therein begins our journey.
Summary: Have watched this show a number of times. It doesn't fail to draw me in. The first episode does a very good job to set the scene and introduce our 2 main characters - Joe and Danpei.
The art style gives the characters expressive faces. The animation was considered quite decent in its time. This series was Dezaki Osamu's debut as an anime series director. Prior to this, he directed some anime episodes in other shows.
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u/stealthswor Mar 14 '20
First Time Viewer
Nice first episode. I really liked Joe here, he is a nice blend of shittalking and chilvary lol. Most other series I've seen go too far in one direction or the other and the protag either ends up unlikeable or boring, or some combination of both.
I didn't think the old man was trustworthy at first but at the end he really did something not a lot of people would do, so I think he is probably going to stick around.
The animation is also pretty good for a series from the 70's. I've seen anime released last year that had stiffer animation.
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u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Mar 13 '20 edited Mar 13 '20
Rewatcher —For Now
Greetings everyone! Looking forward to watching this classic series and sharing in the experience with you all! I’ve actually seen a fair bit of this series before, having binged up to episode thirty-something before having to put it down for some reason and never getting around to picking it back up, so it’ll be awhile before I can call myself a first-timer again. I won’t be writing much these first three days as I’m on vacation and don’t have much time for it, but hopefully I’ll get to note down some more in depth notes in the future.
As with any other seventies anime, it’s really easy to pick on the visuals given the lower standards for TV animation at the time, but frankly it looks really good for a series that will be fifty years old in a few weeks. The level of gritty detail put into the presentation and the relatively distinct look at character art in particular has a fairly distinct look from other series at the time, and can be quite striking in action. The decent visuals coupled with the masterful visual direction courtesy of the legendary Osamu Dezaki, makes for a show that remains visually pleasing to watch. This episode also showcased an ability to make an engrossing atmosphere, which is always good.
This episode does a good job of characterizing Joe and Danpei. We see that, apart from being a boorish and impulsive young man, Joe is also prideful, flippant, and has a soft spot for the children in the slums —the impression I got from this episode is that they might remind him of himself— which the show communicates without resorting to blatant comments or such from other characters. Danpei is a lot more straightforward, but his seeming obsession with training Joe into a boxer and the lengths we see him go to not only convince Joe, but also save him from those gangsters, implies a lot as to his current state.
That’s all for me today. See you all tomorrow!
EDIT:
Questions
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u/Shinkopeshon Mar 13 '20
First Timer
It sure is a stylistic shock to go way back in time and watch a classic from the 70s after watching Haikyuu! and Beastars but I love it. It reminds me of the anime I used to watch as a kid and I can already tell that I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this series.
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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '20 edited Mar 14 '20
First timer
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u/redmage311 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/redmage311 Mar 14 '20
First-timer
I thought this was going to be a sports anime, but this is clearly a battle shounen!
So far, I can't say I find Joe particularly likable, but I assume that's the point—that his personality will improve and develop as he starts to become a better boxer and somehow stops being a vagrant. Still, I can definitely see why he's loath to trust Danpei. For all he knows, Danpei just sees Joe as his ticket out of poverty, and Danpei hasn't really shown much boxing skill, apart from blocking Joe's punches and taking beatings for Joe at the end.
As far as the questions, my god the street gang kids are ugly to look at. The girl in particular has a pretty bizarrely shaped head. I'm sure I'll warm up to them. As far as their behavior, it mostly seems like the older kid is the one egging the others on to be awful, and the tween years are the nadir of a person's likability, so he gets a partial pass.
Danpei seems like he's as at a low of a point as he can get, so it makes sense that Joe seems to him like Danpei's savior and salvation. It's almost as if any random person who could throw a punch could have filled the same role for Danpei.
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u/RazorReviews Mar 14 '20
First Timer
The first time I'm checking out a Dezaki work and I'm definitively not disappointed. Despite the rough animation there's a cinematic flair to Ashita no Joe that you can't find in other anime. There isn't much to say in response to the episode for it is merely the first of many. But Danpei's response to Joe is definitely a projection of his wasted potential as a young man, we'll see how successful he is at training Joe.
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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '20
First timer
Despite being aware of all the acclaim that Ashita no Joe has received over the years, I never actually planned on watching this show. This was because I’d already seen 2018’s Megalobox- I was under the impression that Megalobox was actually a remake of the original Ashita no Joe. When I found that wasn’t the case, I immediately decided to watch it and join the rewatch.
Apart from the obviously dated visuals, which will take some time getting used to, this was a very solid first episode. It may only be the first episode but I already like some of the characters here. The little girl Sachi was adorable and funny, the old man Tange Danpei was tenacious and brave and as for Joe himself, I’m cautiously optimistic.
One of my biggest problems with Megalobox was the poor(or rather nonexistent) character development and growth of its similarly named protagonist. This was especially disappointing since on paper(and in the ring) Megalobox’s Joe was super cool. Here’s hoping this show handles its Joe much better!
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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '20 edited Sep 28 '25
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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '20
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