Tomorrow's Joe

Ashita no Joe, also known as Tomorrow's Joe, is one of the most famous sports stories in Japan. It began as a manga written by Asao Takamori and drawn by Tetsuya Chiba. It ran in Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine from 1968 to 1973. The first anime was made by Mushi Production and directed by Osamu Dezaki. It aired on Fuji TV from April 1970 to September 1971, for 79 episodes.

The story takes place in a poor part of Tokyo in the years after the war. The streets are full of cheap inns, day workers, and children with little hope. Into this place walks Joe Yabuki, a young drifter with no family and no plans. He is rude, proud, and ready to fight anyone. But when he throws a punch, people notice that he has rare talent.

One of those people is Danpei Tange. Danpei was once a boxing trainer, but now he is old, broke, and drinks too much. When he sees Joe fight, he feels hope for the first time in years. He wants to turn Joe into a real boxer. Joe does not care at first. He would rather cause trouble and make easy money. His bad choices finally catch up with him, and he is sent to a reform school for young criminals. It is a harsh, cruel place.

Inside, Joe meets Toru Rikiishi, a strong and serious young boxer. Rikiishi is everything Joe is not: calm, disciplined, and skilled. The two quickly become rivals. For the first time, Joe meets someone he cannot beat with anger alone. Danpei keeps writing to Joe and sending him lessons by mail, and slowly Joe begins to take boxing seriously. A rich young woman, Yoko Shiraki, also enters his life. Her world of wealth is very far from Joe's, and her link to boxing grows important as the story moves on.

Once Joe decides boxing is his future, a new problem appears. Danpei's past as a drunk has ruined his name, so getting the official right to coach is not easy. The pair must fight against the rules and the doubts of other people, not only against opponents in the ring.

The show is a coming-of-age story about a young man who has nothing except his fists and his pride. It looks at poor people and class differences in a frank way. The boxing scenes are rough and emotional, and every fight costs the fighters something. Director Dezaki uses strong still images and dramatic pauses that later became famous in anime.

Ashita no Joe had a huge effect on Japanese culture. Many working-class readers and college students saw Joe as a hero. In 1970, members of a radical group who hijacked a plane even shouted that they were "Tomorrow's Joe." The story has inspired many later works, and the 2018 anime Megalobox was made as a modern take on it for the manga's 50th anniversary. Its story continues in Ashita no Joe 2.