Megalo Box

One hell of an anime... Helped me through a rather rough time, about 3 or 4 months ago I got a rather severe allergic reaction on my scrotum, putting it frankly my balls were on fire. I knew I wasn't getting any sleep that night and needed something to distract myself till the morning, when I could go to the doctor. Binge watched the whole thing in one night... Damn near forgot I even had testicles, partially cause they were all swollen and numb but also cuz the anime is proper epic. The visuals and story is really relaxed, doesn't make you strain anything... Easy on the eyes and the story gives of the vibe, ' you don't need to understand what's going on in the background, just go with the flow', as long as you don't try to understand the politics between characters and try to treat it the same way Joe does, it's a genuinely great, relaxing experience. Of course the action scenes are pretty freaking amazing as well, but I'm droning on about the relaxing aspect cos that's the bit that really stood out for me, considering my situation at the time. Rewatched it after my balls recovered, still a good watch

Fighting animes tend to be very straight forward and focus solely on the task at hand: beating the shit out of your opponent. That's what we love about it, the raw nature of a human wanting to be the best. This series is all about that but also has alot of interesting elements on its way to the top aswell, giving something more than just a straight punch in the face! The protagonist Joe also known as "Junk Dog" has the potential, but he cannot do what he want in the fights due to "illegal" reasons and is forced to throw matches to put food on the table. The classical underdog story that focus on a character that is already well bruised and complete, it is just the way to the top that he struggles with due to certain events. It is fun to see a guy who already got it all in terms of skill and attitude, not faltering and from the get go stands up for himself and his friends. What can you expect out of this storyline? fighting scenes in top-class admirable fortitude interesting life-changing choices zero to hero progression when it comes to success Is that something you like to put your teeth in? Change your destiny, make it your own!

Megalo Box was enjoyable, overall deserving the 8 out of 10. Many things were great about it; pretty realistic boxing, nice balance between dramatization and realism, relatively interesting characters and story, and not losing sight of what it wants to be in the first place. This is a drama more than it is a boxing anime. And I'm glad to say that it doesn’t try to be more than it wants to be. This is anime whose writers took some fundamental aspects of boxing and stuck with it, took cues from anime like Cowboy Bebop for art style and fight sequences, and created a very enjoyable piece of choreography that kept me interested and entertained. It had some of the usual exaggerations of anime, but nothing horrible or excessive, so well done there. They never pretended to be a boxing anime, focusing much more on the drama of the story and character development with boxing as it’s pedestal to present it. Boxing is just the plate; what you should be looking at is the story. From this point on is a comparison to Hajime no Ippo. Don’t read it if you just intend to defend what in your own personal opinion is the greatest boxing anime of all time and insult me without proper argumentation or logical thought process. That being said, personal attacks and autistic screeching incoming. Yes I am well aware you’re bigots, no need to tell me. To get the autistic screeching and insults out of the way, let’s begin with this. I am a boxer; like a real boxer. Not professional, but I trained in the same gym as my country’s national team. I don't like Hajime no Ippo. Yeah, I don't. Fight me. If you enjoy it, good for you. I don’t. So I don’t watch it. I also don’t go to the Hajime no Ippo page and post “THis aNImE SUx BoLLs HUrHuRdUuur”. Don’t be childish. Not everyone enjoys an anime with overly exaggerated fights that get draggy and take too long, therefore losing said suspense and turning it into annoyance. It's like dragonball or naruto fights that last like 10 episodes, though not quite to that degree. Either way, it’s not very enjoyable for me to hear jet plane noises during a hyper-exaggerated Dempsey roll and have fists bleed from punching heavy bags because MC is so dedicated, he trained so hard. If your hands bleed punching the bag, you need to get new gloves. If your bones break from training, you need to rethink your training. Feet tendons won’t snap from high speed dodging, and only idiots punch trees and shit to train. Also, he drew his philly shell wrong. Just saying. Someone previously highlighted to me that the author of Hajime no Ippo owns a boxing gym. Well that doesn’t make him infallible or completely right all the time. If it did, then doctors wouldn’t be policed for malpractice and policemen would never be corrupt or racist. Owning a gym says nothing about your knowledge of the art or practice; the reason why there are plenty of Mcdojos out there, and even if Hajime no Ippo has plenty of training montages stating real boxing facts and tips, it’s all moot if it goes out the windows the moment he writes a fight scene for the sake of drama. There needs to be a balance between dramatization and realism, and that balance is different for everyone’s preferences. I don’t like Hajime no Ippo’s balance. Maybe you do, and that’s okay. But I don’t. Hajime no Ippo is supposed to be a boxing anime, meaning that I have to hold it to a higher standard of boxing than I would Megalo Box. But even then I think that Megalo box delivers a better standard of boxing representation than Hajime no Ippo in many respects, even taking both of them as boxing anime. Megalo Box as a drama has better boxing than the boxing anime that Hajime no Ippo is supposed to be, and I don’t think it should be that way. If you intend to write about an actual real-life technique, make it more accurate to real life. At least cut out the jet-plane noises. If you create a technique out of nowhere for the sake of the show, then be my guest and do with it as you will. To end this, I think that Megalo Box is better than Hajime no Ippo because of the balance it strikes between realism and dramatization. I enjoy that balance much more because of it, and everything else about it only adds to that enjoyment. Be that the incredible art and soundtrack, or the nice fights, or the overall character development in general. This is my own opinion, so do with it as you please. But if you insult me in the comments, I will ignore you. Enjoy the show, it’s a worth a watch. Also the ending song by NakamuraEmi is absolutely incredible.

Worth the watch - more story than action Unless it was just me, the show got a lot of hype. I had just finished Inuyashiki, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and wanted a well reviewed, highly praised anime....enter Megalobox. The thing I loved the most was the animation. It’s gone for a style more akin to the 90s anime’s, like you Noen Gen, Bebop, Trigun etc. Not only have they really done the retro style justice, they’ve injected some modern flare. Colours are pleasant, movement fluid and very polished. The action was not at all what I expected. To be honest though, I don’t really know what I expected, It was just what I didn’t.......... Anyway, it’s limited, it’s short but despite this, it does do a good job of pushing the story forward so all in all, it was good. What becomes clear reasonably quickly is this anime is less about the action and more about the story. It’s very well told and you remain emotionally engaged with Joe’s, our main protagonist, journey. The concept of the story is good too and all those the premise has been told countless time in different guises, it really enjoyable. It’s the story that make the action scenes what they are. Throughout ever seen it ensure you are very aware of what the characters are going through which ensure your attention never wavers. All in all, this was a solid anime. Lacking in certain areas for sure, but most anime worth watching is never perfect and this one certainly is.

I was finding anime quite boring for a while, couldn't quite find one that could draw me in like the good old days... well, that all changed when I was recommended megalo box. An absolute masterpiece. The art style is very retro-y feeling, almost reminiscent to like cowboy bebop type things... it's a story, without spoilers, that isn't necessarily anything absolutely wild or out of the park amazingly something new, it's something familiar with some twists on it, and sometimes there really is beauty in simplicity. The protagonist might be one of my favorite characters in anime, which might say more about me and what I enjoy, but I think it also has to do with the characters being wonderfully written. Just a masterpiece, once again.

Notes: I've been putting off this series since it released because I wasn't really interested in boxing series. Little did I know, after giving it a try in Late Jan 2020 I would become hooked to not only the story and characters but also the setting and art style - I feel this is a very thought out series that have many foundations that make this much better than many of the sports series I've seen. That being said, it still has a few flaws I personally didn't find appealing. Story: The idea of a mechanical aided boxing (or any contact sport) hasn't necessarily NOT been produced before but the structure Megalo Box pursues provides refreshing content that goes against the grain. The initial point of the series shows how an underground sensation tries to climb the competitive ladder with a fairly large handicap - Not having mechanical equipment. The plot is intriguing because it means instead of raw strength or rare capabilities, our MC Joe resorts to endurance to defeat his enemies. He's probably knocked down 4-5 times per game before he's ready to secure the win, kind of unrealistic knockdowns/knockouts but the way they are executed makes it very satisfying. (eyes go fuzzy, vision blurs - essentially replicating the mood of being knocked down and close to losing consciousness) Art & Sound: Generally, anime released recently follow a similar modern art style with clean outlines, satisfying character color palettes etc. However, in terms of art style this series definitely goes against the grain and instead, opts for a early 2000s style - I think this is a very thought-out decision considering the environment and premise the story is set, it is almost like the art style is reproducing an american style animation or at least an older sports series. Despite it opting for a dated art style, it is generally very easy to watch - It's not unbearable. Sound is fairly average like every other mainstream series. Character: Character development can be seen in not just Joe, the main character but also Nanbu and Sachio (to name the least). In the beginning, Joe and Nanbu were in the underground Megalo Box community match fixing games to pay off what seems to be a debt; Sachio at this stage of the series would have been with his group thieving merchandise from street sellers and reselling them for food or possibly cash. Toward the end of the series, all 3 characters had undergone some sort of character change: Joe, who was extremely arrogant and hostile to everyone grew by meeting Yuri and other opponents while also training under Nanbu. Nanbu, who didn't dedicate much of his life to Megalo Box or Joe grew by teaching Joe and living with him while they are on pursuit of the top prize. His character change can be seen when he decides that gouging out his left eye is much less important than match fixing Joe's last opponent before Yuri. The pure dedication Nanbu displays is a sign that he as a character has developed and adapted to Joe much easier than in the beginning of the series most likely because they are relying on each other as they progress. Sachio, a thieving adolescent grew by being at Joe's side for assistance after he got caught trying to thieve gear for Joe. Sachio's character developed in a way that he has become more supportive in Joe winning because it benefits him - But in reality, he gets concerned when Joe isn't in his best shape for an opponent. Enjoyment: I'd say I would enjoy it but I feel that would be an understatement - This series is (as of Feb 4 2020) rated 8.00 by MAL users for a reason. It delivers a powerful plot and extremely well thought of character palette and setting. I would say this is one of the more enjoyed series I've seen in 2020.

Although I watch a fair amount of sports animes, I'm always a bit reluctant when it comes to boxing, and I don't know why. I heard a lot of good things about Megalobox, on reddit threads, and on the serious anime pages and meme pages I follow, so I thought I'd give it a try, and I'm glad that I did. Well, obviously from the name, I expected boxing, but I honestly didn't expect a twist on it. And it made it even more interesting for me, too, which is a win-win. But then again, whatever ongoing anime that I watch is always a bit of a fiction/slightly futuristic, so it just might be getting to me. With animes like this that involve the main character having a big goal, you kind of expect the character to reach it. Well, about that--I won't say anything that will spoil it, but just go ahead with that thought while you watch the anime, and see what happens.

Alot of people compare this anime to Cowboy Bebop, but in my opinion, it reminds me more of Redline more. As both MC's go for the simple and straight forward route to victory, and ultimately succeed. Not to mention that both partner's of the MC's are very similar, getting into a mafia type situation, which overall holds down their partners goals. It was amazing to see Jnk Dog, or Joe, and the other main characters go through this interesting journey to reach the top. The art was great and definitely encapsulated the rundown sci-fi scenario. The sound and soundtrack was good as well, and I enjoyed those little hip hop moments that occurred during some episodes. Overall I'd recommend this for anyone who is into boxing/fighting and futuristic anime.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Ashita no Joe's manga, Megalo Box was created to pay a huge homage to it. As such, the show has scattered tons of references to one of the pioneers of sports manga. Fans of Ashita no Joe will be able to quickly recognize them which do help increasing the enjoyment level of the show. However, Megalo Box is a solid show that stands well on its own. We start off with our delinquent protagonist, also named Joe in this show, together with his one-eyed trainer, as they work their way from rock-bottom to try to aim for the very top. While Ashita no Joe has 20 volumes of manga to gradually develop the story, Megala Box does not have such a novelty. Still, Megalo Box manages to deliver a strong plot to hold its ground well, developing sufficiently the most important parts of the story such as the tournament, the Gear technology, and the main characters. Unlike the more recent Hajime no Ippo which focuses a lot on the terminology of the sport, Ashita no Joe and Megalo Box do not particularly aim to educate the viewers on the sport, instead relying on delivering adrenaline rushes from the excitement of the matches. The artwork during the fights are superbly done with pure hand-drawn animation with minimal CG usage (not really a common trend with action anime nowadays). You won't be getting your fancy, over-the-top action from Megalo Box either, all fight scenes are incredibly realistic and reflects the real world pretty closely. Well, that's what the fights in Ashita no Joe were about anyway. While Ashita no Joe was famed for its legendary ending, Megalo Box somehow found it difficult to replicate such high heights, perhaps rightfully so suffer the wrath of many Ashita no Joe's loyalists who had very high expectations to this show. The popularity of this show subsequently dropped as the show progresses to its latter half, eventually becoming "cult favorite" show. I wouldn't say the plot is awful, but really, the ending could've been better. Nevertheless, the ending won't take a lot of enjoyment away from you, especially if you weren't spoiled. Perhaps you have heard the many praises surrounding the OST of this show, indeed, Mabanua, the composer of this show's OST, did a stellar job on it. The tracks give a strong vibe of the late Nujabes of Samurai Champloo fame, yet held a strong distinctive flavor of their own. You will be hearing jazz, hip-hop, lo-fi, electronic music, etc. Just to mention a few. Dammit, just listen to the OST somewhere and you will know where we are going from here. I would say Megalo Box did well in presenting its characters, albeit not in an excellent manner, but it was good enough. At only 13 episodes, we were only given enough details to at least be able to empathize with what the characters are going on. Joe's and Yuri's yin and yang dynamic is good, yet nothing ground-breaking and is something you should've already seen in the other shows, still you will easily find yourself getting off your seats every time they confront each other. As for Joe working his way to climb up the rankings of Megalonia, his opponents have sufficient gimmicks on their own to distinguish them from one another. I was hoping we could see more of Yukiko though. To wrap up this review, let's just say that Megalo Box is a short and sweet enough show to entertain you for a short while. Perhaps it may not find its way to your top 10 favorites, but I am sure you will still hold it with a relatively high regard, as its animation and soundtrack are absolutely decent, with perhaps a weaker story and characters to boot. It won't be too shabby either, so rest assured, you will be getting yourself a nice, quick treat of an action show should you pick this up. If you are done reading this review, do yourself a favor and start reading Ashita no Joe if you haven't. You will thank me later. =)

Not once did I think that I would watch a boxing anime. Until Megalo Box, I hadn't watched any sports anime and I thought that I wouldn't for a long time. But I'm glad that I didn't wait because this one was actually pretty good! So, the story is basically about Joe and, later, his last opponent being able to live in the moment and experience that one event that they, up until a certain point, didn't know that they were waiting for. The way the story weaved in those themes is basically flawless and I love that. Each episode is closely connected because it's simply Joe's journey to Megalonia. This also includes some additional information about the characters he comes across. Each fight is nice to watch but, somehow, lacking in intensity so it decreases the enjoyment a bit. I also liked the characters as well for the most part. Joe, Nanbu, and Sachio are very likable characters. Joe wants to get into Megalonia, Nanbu wants to see him get there, and Sachio is the kid they meet who supports them in more ways than one. Along the way, they meet other characters who have their fair share of development. The less important ones...not so much. I think even Yukiko got some development thanks to the backstory and her relationship with Yuuri. Speaking of him, he also changed a lot. He's mysterious but we learn little bits and pieces about him through backstory and his interactions with other characters. Basically, most of the characters are interesting and/or likable. The art is really nice looking. The characters all look cool but the environment and background is what really stands out. Everything just feels so urban (despite the location) and that's not a feeling you get with most anime. The animation is great as well. I don't remember a single awkward movement. I also really like the sound. I wasn't a big fan of the opening song but it fits Joe so I don't mind it. I prefer the ending song though. The soundtrack is just amazing. I love when they incorporate rap into the anime. Any other dramatic or exciting music was well timed. Story: 10 Art: 10 Sound: 10 Character: 9 Enjoyment: 9 Overall, this is a great anime. It has made me slightly more eager to watch more sports anime. It deserves a 9.

We can see here another work of art on sports, this time bringing not just all the violence and brutality of boxing in the eyes of the Japanese masters (Yo Moriama in this case) but also presenting a subliminal message being unraveled only in the end of the show. The whole major question of the main characters revolves around overcoming, a constant struggle against their own origins, an endless duality, a great question of identity crisis, which in fact occurs literally and not just metaphorically. Megalobox surprises with a soundtrack made with care, perfectly translating the high and low moments of each episode. Coupled with a good character construction for a series of 13 episodes, the final package boils down to a work of art not to be missed, whether you are fond of boxing or not.

So I really only have one con for this anime, but to me it's a big one. With that being said let's start with the pros. 1. The music and art is fantastic. I'm a huge fan of Cowboy Beebop and Samurai Champloo and both do a great job of using very unique jazz+rock combination that presents a very chill yet intense atmosphere. While I understand those principles conflict with each other I think that's what makes the music so unique and awesome. I have the album from this anime downloaded and I love listening to it. I'm also a huge fan of the art. The main story-line doesn't go into a lot of detail about the setting, but it doesn't have to because the artwork does such a good job of literally painting a picture. It's very obvious that in this world you are either upper class or lower class, there is no in-between and this is all taken from the artwork. Furthermore, the contrast that is presented with each scene sets the mood perfectly your eyes are in constant motion. 2. Character Granted the whole "started from the bottom and now we are here" concept is pretty mainstream they do a great job in this series presenting the characters as actually struggling mentally and emotionally. It is much more than just "I was an outcast and wanted to be recognized as a member of all society" or "I had no talent and I worked hard and got better". This is a character who doesn't care who he's associated with and he's someone who already has a large amount of natural talent. He pretty much represents the middle-finger and that's what I love about his character so much. 3. Enjoyment I mean after what I posted I obviously enjoy it. 4. My one con THE SHOW IS CALLED MEGALOBOX AND THE MAIN CHARACTER DOES ALMOST NO MEGALOBOXING. I mean come on, how is this not infuriating. The whole concept of megaloboxing is there is new strategies, more power, more moves that must be considered when fighting. The main character in megalobox resorts to no megaloboxing. Like I understand the direction they were going with, but the story could've presented a similar message while still having a decent amount of megaloboxing. Also, I don't try to play the rational card when rating anime but someone knocking someone out with no gear versus a literal machine increasing your force output by 10 times? Come on now.

This show was an experience to watch, Im not into sports anime at almost all, no in fact I don't like them. This show made me like it though. The plot is interesting and hinges around the basicic same story or lessons but they use that as a very good narative tool. The anime also has a very likeable charecters with some reasonable and relatable goals. This show was also able to build very high tension in important sense and my heart still is racing after finishing it. It was very good, it did everything pretty much right in my opionion. The one small complant is that the charecters could have more detail into their backstories, but the mystery of almost every charecter also makes it more exiting. Over all i think it is a fun watch and most people would enjoy it.

Megalo Box can only be described as an underrated show of its time. Swept away by titles both inside and outside its season, the show drifted away without any recognition or talk. But with all around great direction from its narrative to music and to art, I find that it at least deserves some spotlight for its efforts. It’s got everything you can ask for in a contemporary show with hip-hop, a gray color gradient pallet, and a dystopian society. It’s a great show to watch for not only its appeal but its engaging use of animation and environment. The show tends to focus on the world around it far more than you can notice and the way it accomplishes that is its immaculate animation choice. With hardline sketches making up the bulk of its background and foreground it's hard to not appreciate the amount of worn look the scenes have especially when it comes to the wide shots. Being able to not only show but have the world breath its rough look is quite impressive, and it becomes a match made in heaven. Along with this, there is another equally impressive pallet of washouts to accommodate the world. Some might find a lack of color to be offsetting, but I believe it fits the show nicely with its dystopian setting and environment. It also mixes well with the type animation used as it’s not a style that would benefit well with a more expressive color gradient. The show does suffer at some points with its constant quality outside important scenes in far background movement, but this comes with the technical hurdle that is caused by the choice of animation and it this problem that is rarely seen throughout the show. The show isn’t afraid to get serious with its animation in fights and it switches paces fast with-it becoming streamlined and smooth in some frames while retaining the same art style in others, showing how adaptable it can be. Having a solid a grasp on animation is always a nice beginning especially when it comes to showcasing the narrative. The story prides itself on the underdog trope that is used very often in similar works. While it has been saturated of late, I still find myself attracted to its message and excitement. Rooting for someone as they attempt the impossible is always an uplifting emotion and reminds us that there is nothing truly impossible. The core of Megalo Box is no different with knowing exactly what the audience wants and how to accomplish it. Joe is the epitome of this purity and reflects on deeply with the other side characters as he travels on his heroes’ journey. Every major character he comes across has some major flaw in them that is ultimately impacted by their interaction with Joe. Maybe they see him as what they used to be or maybe they see him for what they could be, but every character is dramatically developed over their prospective arcs. It’s the characterization of the cast that is what gets me so involved in the fights. It’s not just Joe that I’m intrigued about but his opponent as well. It drives those emotional conflicts to a new level and gets me fired up every time a new person comes around. The only weakness in this plan is Joe himself. While the progression of his character isn’t weak per se it’s not greatly accelerated like the other characters he meets. The main character should be the focus of change in the story and while developing the side characters is also important it shouldn’t be the only thing developing. The scenes are also not complete in climax without a pretty killer soundtrack that accompanies them. The great animation and narrative synergize well with its impactful soundtrack. Composing of mostly character and emotion driven pieces the songs really reflect what’s going on screen. I really like the theme pieces of the score because of how tided they are to the involvement of the characters. The side characters explained previously wouldn’t have been as flushed out if it wasn’t for these pieces. There’s a lot of nuances with these songs like the theme for Yukiko Shirato and the expectations that she needs to meet and where she is at in the story with being the creator of the Megalo boxing tournament. The spaced melody allows for her high air around here and portraying her above the rest. The theme for Yuri is just as interesting with its very simple barebones harmony to try and rely on the superior and slickness about him. All the themes of the score having accompanying variations for the different moments the perspective characters are in. I also enjoyed other engaging songs like the slums and Drive. The composer mabanua was very thoughtful with how he was wanting to add to the characters and it paid off handsomely. Megalo box is the spiritual successor to Rocky. With an impeccable combination of its animation, sound, and narrative it felt like the action was right in front of you and you could follow it all the way. The show is right up there with some of the best of 2018 with its underrated popularity, it really deserves more praise. Currently available for streaming at Crunchyroll and a licensed dub done by Viz media. I highly recommend checking out the show for being one of the gems of 2018.

Megalo Box is a 50th-year-anniversary rehash of the very popular (and a personal favorite of mine )Ashita No Joe. The anime's art was gorgeous, lending a bit of authenticity to a long-gone era of hand-drawn animation which is scarcely seen in recent animes. The soundtrack written in collaboration with a Hip-hop artist was pretty good but can't be compared to that of Devilman Crybaby and Samurai Champloo. The characters were mehish at best, the fights were lackluster and didn't do justice to the original source material at all. Because in Ashita, Joe was a really strong boxer with a killer punch, in this too Joe does indeed have a killer punch but he wins fights mostly on his luck or his final punch, most of the time he is left sprawling on the mat. Everybody's motivations were also not fleshed properly like" Oh you are the real deal? I will fight you". The nominations to the top 4 were arbitrary too. The execution as in the direction and the CGI use was minimal and used to its full extent. They all leave us in the dark about who won the final battle but I will take it. All in all, it had all the potential to be a great anime because of having such a source material but it turned out to be average at best. It is still a decent watch. Don't watch this if you wanna satisfy your boxing appetite, because boxing scenes are pretty scarce and unsatisfying for a boxing anime. You would be better off watching the OG Ashita no Joe or Hajime No Ippo.

Do you like sports or more important do you like superation stories and old school music? This anime is la croup de la creme in terms of nobody becomes the champion and 90's muic and art style and it thriumps because of it's unselfishness in showing what it got to offer and is your choice to pass by it or take it. The protagonist is Junk an street boxer with no documentation nor name and his journey to fight yuri in the Megalo Boxing Tournament. I liked this show mainly because of it's art style and music, is truly the best if you can enjoy that 90's like art style and that memorable ost is just The Thing.

I’ll admit it – I’ve never seen the original Ashita no Joe, or any boxing-related anime for that matter. Hell, I’ve barely watched any of it on TV, or any form of media. But the sport has always fascinated me, for the strategic depth that goes on for both sides of the fight, and the sometimes-sheer brutality of it. So when I saw a trailer for Megalo Box, not only was there this gritty, brutal boxing series, but it was combined with the pseudo mech-like aesthetic in the form of the Gears, which initially captured my attention I know this has always been a point of contention with Megalo Box’s critics, but I absolutely adore the 480p, 90s aesthetic Megalo Box presents from the get-go. Outside of it’s wonderful characters, I think the aesthetic and world design of this show are my absolute favourites – the whole world feels worn, broken at times, even the bustling yet somewhat seedy major city the show takes place in, giving it a very Blade Runner vibe that I can’t get enough of. This show is absolutely teeming with beautiful shots of the world, my personal favourite being the stormy highway Joe has his first encounter with Yuri on. At times, the show can be very brown and boring to look at, but I say this in a way that it feels natural and right, rather than just laziness or bad art direction. The sound direction is also fantastic – there aren’t a ton of songs that are memorable, but they go a long way to set the tone and feeling of the world, which I feel is more important then just pure hype music – which isn’t to say there aren’t any in the fights, but just about every character theme is a gem. Megalo Box is one of those shows where the fights are less about the technical quality of them – the animation is never bad, but it never, sans some very cool occasional moments, reaches amazing levels. Instead, the bouts Joe fights in are usually waged on a more idealistic level – the wants and desires of the fighters stacking up against one another, fighting to claw their ways forward in this unforgiving tournament. There wasn’t a single fight I didn’t enjoy in Megalo Box – some were a lot weaker, usually against low-level, basically mob characters, but fights against greats like Aragaki and Mikio are exciting affairs since they almost always seem like having just as much of a chance of winning as Joe, and in some cases like Aragaki, you almost want them to triumph over him. But when it comes down to it, unlike many other sport-based shows I watch, I actually enjoyed the development between the fights even more then the fights themselves. Every fight is built up spectacle, since you really get to know most of the fighters prior to their brawls, which feeds into why I care just as much about them as Joe himself. Each fight build-up raises the stakes and tightens the noose around Joe and Nanbu’s neck amazingly, but there’s more to it then this; we see more of why Joe needs to do to this, get more glimpses of just how broken and desperate Nanbu is as he grapples with the amazingly creepy Fujisaki, and encounters Aragaki again. Rather than having back-to-back fights, just about all of them have time to breath and let us know what’s one the line, and without them, this would be a much weaker show. Just about every major character feels unique and distinct from one another, design and idea-wise, and even at just a glance you can get an idea of what they’re like; Joe’s frustration with his day-to-day grind, Nanbu’s desperation to pay of his debts at any cost, and perhaps most distinctly at all, the unease and worry that rises in the show every time Fujimaki appears (or hell, the fear when his name is even mentioned). By the time this show was done, I’d fallen in love with a good proportion of the cast, perhaps most of all Nanbu – his development might be among the best of any character this year, and is easily the best in the show, but I couldn’t forget about the others; Aragaki and Mikio’s character arcs made me care about them a lot, and even Joe, who can be a little boring and frustrating sometimes, got me cheering for him in some of his most exciting fights. I didn’t care for everyone – Sachio and Yukiko never really endeared themselves in my eyes, but that’s not to say they’re bad characters, just not ones I care about. But at the end of the day, in Megalo Box, every character feels like they matter, and I very rarely had a moment where I felt ‘oh man, here comes THAT guy!’. I’ll be briefly going into spoilers for this part of my review, part of which will detail a crucial portion of the final bout, so skip ahead to the next paragraph if you want to stay unspoiled. I’m frustrated, since Megalo Box got so close to being cemented as one of my favourites, but a few elements really held it back from that. My biggest complaint was the pretty early decision for Joe to go without his Gear as his gimmick to climb the ladder in Megalonia – as a plot decision, it made sense to me, but I was really excited to see him tamper and push his Gear to the very limit to overcome some of the amazingly crazy Gears he comes up against. Secondary, and this is somewhat related, is the elements of the final brawl between Joe and Yuri – it’s an amazing fight, among the best in the show, but the fact that Joe fights without his Gear leads to Yuri powering himself down (in more ways than one, which I won’t spoil) to remove his Gear takes away from a lot of the build-up to the fight, and makes the conclusion feel a lot more half-assed. It has some amazing characterisation tied to the decision, but I think it takes a lot from the fight. Megalo Box is simply an amazing ride – it’s got an aesthetic like little else in this era where about half the shows look about the same, and it looks superb, and characters that really feel like they belong in this broken, decaying world. It’s not without its problems – I feel like it made some promises about the fights that weren’t really delivered, but it’s not enough to ruin it – I really grew attached to the world and everyone in it, and just about every fight has a hype factor that just grows as the show progresses. Megalo Box utterly captivated me as a show like nothing else that season, and it’ll be one that I’ll be going back to in the future, without a doubt.

Solid 7/10 Pros: - Absolutely stylish - Outstanding art and animation - Great music - Nice pacing Cons: - Story often makes no sense - The USP of the series, the robot arms, barely make sense in the series and are lateron almost forgotten - The ending is very weak - characters are a bit forgetable The anime is all about style, cool music, great animations and great art. If you don't mind a simple story and some nonsense moves/actions from the characters, then give it a try. If you're the kind of person who likes to watch animes with a couple of friends while drinking a bit/occasionally starting to blabber with your friends then this anime is perfect. The good thing is that the overall action keeps you entertained while the story is so simple and moves so smoothly that it doesn't matter if you have a short conversation with a buddy about the anime/other stuff, it's easy to catch up with what happened when you missed a few things.

I finished Megalo Box and it’s definitely one of the greatest sport manga ever adapted into a short anime series, the fight scenes, music, cyberpunk, art and animation, top quality. Megalo Box seemse to be inspired by Ashita no Joe and also Hajime no Ippo, the art style is a great throwback to these older anime series. I like the resolve of Joe and how Nanbu, Gansaku was his coach and was determined to make Joe fight to the top, the series is short but sweet and is exciting, the show introduces unique characters from Sachio who is a supporting character who travels with Nanbu, Gansaku and Joe he is a kid who has a interesting pass and has a reason to support the boxer Joe, Joe is a underdog and he fights to prove himself worthy to get to the top. Gear less Joe FTW

A successful homage to anime of year's past. Story: 6 As you might be able to tell from the synopsis, this is basically your typical plucky underdog story. Nothing spectacular but no major missteps along the way. It does introduce a semi-interesting gimmick early on, but I don't have a ton to say about the story. It was ok. Art: 9 If you think this looks a bit different than most current anime, you'd be right. The art is very obviously inspired by 80s and 90s anime. There is a certain grit to it that really sets the mood for the show. This is a rough world to live in, especially so from the main character's perspective. The only tiny complaint I had was the actually Megalo boxing matches were not quite as visually stunning as I would've hoped. Sound: 10 The strength of the show. While the OP/ED weren't anything too spectacular, the music in between was consistently phenomenal and not only set the mood, but enhanced scenes. The main theme is something I never tire of. I can't say I was blown away by a single performance, but the voice acting was at least competent, if not good. Character: 8 The only reason this isn't a 9 or 10 is the complete lack of backstory of the main character, at least in this anime. I have not seen "Ashita no Joe", the 50 year old how they are paying homage to, so maybe they're assuming you have. You know the MC does not have citizenship or a name (he's the one who names himself "Joe"), and because of that throws Megalo matches for money, but that's it. In contrast, the rest of the cast are given, for the most part, very interesting backstories. In particular, Joe's rival, Yuuri, and his trainer's former disciple, Aragaki, are superb. So much so that the latter is really main character material. I don't want to spoil anything, but he has had some serious demons to deal with since returning from war, and they don't really sugarcoat it. And even his aforementioned rival, Yuuri, slowly grows on you as the series goes on. Enjoyment: 9 I was a bit late to the party, and watched all 13 episodes in a single day. I think that's a good indicator of my enjoyment. It's a series dripping with style and has a unique vibe. I won't say it's a modern day Cowboy Bebop, but it's probably the closest thing we've seen to that since Samurai Champloo. Overall: 9 It's not too long and as long as you're not expecting anything too grand story-wise, I doubt you'll be disappointed. So yeah, watch it.