"To be quiet and do as you're told, that's the cowardly choice." These are the words of Junk Dog, an
underground fighter of Megalo Box, an evolution of boxing that utilizes mechanical limbs known as Gear
to enhance the speed and power of its users. Despite the young man's brimming potential as a boxer,
the illegal nature of his participation forces him to make a living off of throwing matches as
dictated by his boss Gansaku Nanbu. However, this all changes when the Megalo Box champion Yuuri
enters his shabby ring under the guise of just another challenger. Taken out in a single round, Junk
Dog is left with a challenge: "If you're serious about fighting me again, then fight your way up to me
and my ring."
Filled with overwhelming excitement and backed by the criminal syndicate responsible for his thrown
matches, Junk Dog enters Megalonia: a world-spanning tournament that will decide the strongest Megalo
Boxer of them all. Having no name of his own, he takes on the moniker of "Joe" as he begins his climb
from the very bottom of the ranked list of fighters. With only three months left to qualify, Joe must
face off against opponents the likes of which he has never fought in order to meet the challenge of
his rival.
(Source: MAL Rewrite)
This is one of those shows that I am certain people will be talking about for a long time to come, a true classic in more than one sense. I really don't want to get in to spoilers during this review as to not ruin the show for anyone planning to watch it so I will for the most part not touch on the story at all unless necessary. Now, I am not really that great at writing reviews in general and that is why I for the most part refrain from doing so, I however thought this show was worth doing my best for. The show grips you from the first minute in to the first episode by showing you exactly what you are about to experience throughout this 13 episode long journey. The journey being that of an underdog. If you even slightly like action oriented anime this is one you should not allow yourself to miss, the pure adrenaline of watching the boxers go at it in this show is not something that can not even be put into words, I have never experienced anything like it in any show I have previously watched. The show manages to keep you at the edge of your seat at all times, the matches for the most part feel like they could go either way, you never feel that the main character (Joe) somehow has some plot-armor that protects him, he is a strong fighter, he is as said in the show "The real deal", but this does __not__ make him invincible. He is as human as all the other fighters, as shown throughout the series. The show also manages to be a huge homage to not only the original (Ashita no Joe) but also to older anime in general, it gives you true Cowboy Bebop esque vibes from how they animated the show to even just how it looks in general, it is beautiful. They even went as far as to downsample the resolution of the show to make it look older which has been debated a lot over if it actually makes the show better or not. My opinion on it is that I think it was a great choice for the show, I do however hope that a full 1080p version is released through the Blu-Ray version. The original soundtrack, oh god the OST is truly perfect for this show and just amazing to listen to on their own as well, the music of this show is definitely worth a mention, every score seems to be particularly crafted for each scene they are put into it is beyond anything I see in most shows, we are talking Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo levels of OST goodness here. And it is all available to listen to right now on Spotify if you want to see (or rather listen) for yourself what I am talking about. Now onto the only real issue that the show suffers from which is the short nature of it. You really do get the feeling that some things in the show had to be rushed when watching it, with only 13 episodes to work with they really did not have time to explore everything to the extent that the original did. However, I have to say, seeing as they only had 13 episodes to work with I do feel it used every single episode to its fullest potential, it feels complete for what it is, I just wish they would have gone with a 24 episode format instead for a better buildup. All-in-all I think this is an absolute ____must____ watch for anyone. Even if you don't like boxing (which I don't). I will give this show my highest recommendation and I give it a 100/100 overall score. It has its flaws, but so does anything, this is one I will most likely revisit from time to time.
_This review contains minor spoilers about the first episodes._ I’m not into shounen anime. I’m not into many sports anime. Heck, I don’t even like boxing. However, Megalo Box managed to catch my attention. And boy, that was a fantastic ride. Megalo Box is a tribute to the 50th anniversary of Ashita no Joe, probably the first boxing manga/anime in history. However, this review won’t focus on that fact. I will focus on the values that make Megalo Box stand out by itself, ignoring all “fanservice” (read: tribute elements to impress old-school fans) that it could have. __Story__: _predictable and simple, but it works._ This is the classic underdog story. Joe, also known as Junk Dog, who literally lives on trash, is a boxer who makes money with rigged fights, but he’s unhappy with that lifestyle, he wishes to prove himself in a real fight. One day, he finds an opponent who he can’t beat even giving his best: Yuri, the champion of Megalonia, the biggest megaloboxing tournament. After that fight, he decides to join Megalonia to climb until he can rematch Yuri. The story is simple, but it’s well done. It’s obviously not a strong point of this anime, but it isn’t either a weak point. Let’s say that the story is just there to allow the other elements to shine, so those elements are the ones that will decide if this anime is memorable or not. __Plot__: _focused on fights, with a simple yet effective message._ Oh, I haven’t mentioned what’s this “megaloboxing” about. Well, the story is situated on a future where boxing has evolved into a sport where all boxers are equipped with a gear which empowers the arm strength of its user. What’s the twist? Our protagonist, Joe, will fight without any gear. He wants to prove what is to be “authentic”. He wants to prove that you can win with only your own strength. And other characters eventually understand his message, and this may change their point of view on megaloboxing. This anime is mainly focused on fights. Are they good? Some ones are, but some others are average. And by average I mean that, even when Joe was clearly losing, at the last moment he manages to one-hit KO his foe, which may seem as an artificial resolution to the fight. Luckily, this doesn’t happen in every fight, so it’s not a big deal. The rest of the fights, the good ones, are kind of predictable, but they’re still entertaining and manage to deliver some shivering moments. On later stages of the series, the fights are still there, but some other conflicts appear, and those conflicts can’t be resolved through winning a fight, so it adds an unpredictable factor to the plot. And I find this to be really nice. __Characters__: _very well done, almost all of them experience good development._ Ironically, Joe is the only one to not get any significant development. He starts as a stray dog, and he ends as a stray dog. But that’s the point of his character. However, he serves as a medium to allow other characters to develop. The characters that are with him learn things from Joe and his motivations. Even the antagonists learn from Joe, and they get to have more screentime thanks to that. At first, this development is so small, but as the show progresses they face tougher situations and those are the decisive moments that will make them change. __Visuals__: _excellent 90s style and very good animation._ Oh boy. The artstyle in this show is excellent. It’s made on a 90s anime style, it may remind you of other well known anime from those years like Cowboy Bebop. But I’m not praising it for making an homage to that style. I’m praising it because it’s done good, and it demonstrated that this style is still enjoyable even in modern times. The character design is also so good, they perfectly reflect their personality and makes them look unique. The animation is great too, and keeping in mind that the show is mostly focused on fights, this is a very important factor. I find funny that the point of most fights in this show is “classic technique can win over modern technology”, and the artists did exactly that with the visuals of this anime. __Sound__: _amazing soundtrack used perfectly._ The soundtrack of this show is on point. They use every track exactly at the moment where they should be. That allows some amazing moments and they produce a really good experience. The soundtrack has a certain theme for every important character, and that adds to the mood when they appear on screen. It also has some original rap songs which are catchy too. Overall, the soundtrack is absolutely amazing. __Final judgment: Is this show worth watching?__ Definitely. Even if you’re not into shounen nor sports anime, it’s still highly recommended. This isn’t one of those deep shows which make you question your existence, it’s just a show to have fun and enjoy its quality and good design, but that’s totally fine, and it will let you satisfied once you finish it. _This review was taken from my reviews blog, [link to the original here](https://haxoscript.wordpress.com/2018/07/04/review-megalo-box/)._
One of the most talked about and hyped shows of the spring 2018 season, comes an anime that could have easily been overlooked due to other high profile animes taking the spotlight. I hear it pays homage to a 50 year old boxing anime called ashita no joe but that's something I know nothing about so I'll skip it. Megaloboxing is a sport which is basically boxing with huge augmented mechanical arms whose sole purpose is to make you punch that much harder. But as cool as a concept that is, the show really isn't about the mechanical part of the sport but the human part. Our protagonist is an underground fighter who is making ends meat by throwing illegal underground megalobox fights for the despite being far superior skill wise as a boxer to the rest of his opponents. The story is about our nameless protagonist who has an encounter with the world champion of megaloboxing and they become rivals and get in the ring in episode 1 itself in one of the best and hypest first episodes I've seen in a long time. _"They don't make graves for stray dogs" - _Junk dog_ _ ~~~img220(https://otakukart.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Megalo-Box-Episode-2.jpg)~~~ You will definitely notice the artstyle in the anime being much different than your regular anime. It looks cell shaded and it goes for the 80's anime look of cowboy bebop/samurai champloo and while it makes the slum settings look very nice but a lot of other environments and characters look flat and unmoving at times with very obvious outlines and a lack of detail in many areas. The fights however look pretty good which goes to show where the money and effort went. It might be an artistic choice but not a very good one. The soundtrack however is very dope. Makes you really get into the story and fights. And I absolutely love the voice over of the main character,he sounds like a fucking man. Overall, it's a story of an underdog.It's about over coming challenges both inside and and outside the ring. It's no generic sports anime, it's got a lot more going for it. You'll learn that there are fights which cannt be won with your fists alone and debts can be paid in more ways than money. The ending might be a bit controversial how they handled it but the final fight was amazing. It's only 13 eps and I'd say a must watch for this season.
I always wanted to share my honest feelings of Megalo Box since it doesn't deserve even an ounce of the praise it's been getting in the slightest. This has been a long time coming, I just needed to find the courage to throw my feelings into the world. I have tried my best to comprehend why people love Megalo Box so damn much. Why it's even put on the same pedestal as classics such as Hajime no Ippo or Ashita no Joe by many. But to no avail, I have not come to any conclusion. I feel I am one of the incredibly few who think how terrible and overrated Megalo Box is. It had potential, but every aspect and the cast of characters bore me to tears, making me very sleepy. I really hate Megalo Box. My feelings are on the same wavelength as with my views on Demon Slayer. Both are a terrible example of their respective execution of well-known troupes even when they do have the potential to prove us otherwise. It just infuriates me to no end to see classics aforementioned earlier be put on the same level as this absolute mess. Ashita no Joe is a certified masterpiece about Joe's growth from a street rat with a vicious personality to a genuine human being. The boxing aspect of the show is used to explore his character and develop him slowly over time. Megalo Box is what I would personally consider the dumpster fire version of Ashita no Joe. With no heart in the right places apart from pouring in with that cheap nostalgia. Both characters are called Joe, but one is complex and has tons of layers, and the other is just damn boring and awfully written. Megalo Box's Joe is just a repetitive trainwreck and hardly changes apart from his boxing techniques. He is so annoying. The personality is all over the place. I can never take anything that comes out of his mouth seriously for a second. The guy has no flavor or proper goals that actually feels heavy and give the vibe of being genuine. So I couldn't care less about him or any of his damn problems. There was a brief time we touched upon Joe's fear during his first match with Yuri, which gave him some humanity. But that was never touched upon again, and he conquered that flaw about his character too quickly. It's sad since that could've opened up doors to many more elements for Joe. The fight that Joe had with Yuri becomes a simple revenge story to get back at him to give our insufferable main lead a blood bath. I won't talk about the others character much or at all as they barley added any form of entertainment value to the show. Also, the whole setting of the plot revolves around a brother and sister competing for control over their father's legacy. There were still a few things I liked about Megalo Box, one of which was the boxing concept. Using compartments to make your blow heavier and the swings faster, the backlash from punching someone less and so forth was impressive by itself. I didn't last long before I got old quickly. That said, if you're looking for not half-bad animated boxing matches, I guess Megalo Box can give you a kick on that alone. For me, that's not enough if the two fighters feel like two emotional robots punching each other. Joe hardly exhibits any traits during his matches, many of which he always ends up getting knocked on the floor. Only to get back up by the last count, and this frequently recurs and many times. All those training segments we got felt worthless. Joe was always complaining about the same old-shit about getting knocked out cold and how to better himself to beat his opponent next time. This, among others, shows that the staff was not trying hard enough to make Megalo Box's success. Not only from a nostalgia perspective but also from a story, execution, and direction. But sadly It was just rinse-repeat of the same after the introductory bit was over with. While I am aware, boxing matches are simple. It revolves around many figures going up against each other to come out as the final winner. Then why did Hajime no Ippo work? Because it established everything properly and had a heart in the right places. Every time Ippo went out for a match, we got to see he was genuinely happy when he won or lost in-depth. We heard Ippo's inner feelings and how much these matches meant to him and how much he wanted to make his precious coach proud and happy. Unlike Joe, who feels like an ungrateful one-dimensional brat. Megalo Box failed because it only focused on making itself as successful as Ashita no Joe by using its troupe and nothing more. When Megalo Box clearly had many strengths right from the beginning. It should've used to build itself up and become revolutionary but still paying a great amount of homage to Ashita no Joe and possibly stand close to it. Besides all that was mentioned above, it's the world-building aspect. It honestly piqued my curiosity a lot of times, but we never got to see it in detail. It was just a potential of Megalo Blox that got glossed over. Another strong driving factor for me personally is the soundtrack, which definitely fits Megalo Box's whole setting and complements it. It's unique. Not something you see everywhere, ranging from hip-hop to pop tunes with lots of variations. There was even a rap segment, but my favorite has to be that main theme that hits all the right notes. I don't like the OP personally, but that ED is the best part. So about the art-style, which I honestly liked but was not all that crazy about. It was okay. The animation was not bad; it was well-shown during the boxing matches. Oh, I almost forgot mentioning that the pacing was jarring, and how character personality did 180 was just awful and didn't sit well with me. It's to be expected with 13 episode run-time, but I've seen many shows done a far better and actual tasteful job. Overall, Megalo Box is a missed opportunity. A wasted one at that, which should've used its own strengths more often than just copying Ashita, no Joe. I get people who loved the masterpiece Ashita no Joe has a soft spot for this mess. But it's no reason to put it on close to the same level or even label it a masterpiece. I have heard some on the world wide web say as much. This was not an example of good boxing anime one damn bit whatsoever. If you want one that is truly worth every damn bit of your time. Watch Hajime no Ippo for pure boxing or Ashita no Joe for an extremely well-written tale about Joe. He matures through boxing as he experiences the many sweetness and bitterness of the world. If you want neither and just want some good soundtrack and to see how Ashita no Joe might've looked like if it lacked heart. Go for that absolute trainwreck of a mess known as Megalo Box which is honestly not good or bad but for the reasons I've stated above. I feel sadly much more deep hatred for it than neutrality.
# __Megalobox, an anime nobody is talking about but they definitely should.__ ___ Before I start this review, let me just say this, I have absolutely no experience with Ashita No Joe, so I won't be comparing the two together, I'll be simply talking about Megalobox in the eyes of someone that neither watches alot of sports anime, nor the series this anime is based off of. ___ ___The Story___ is good and simple, nothing really there to write home about, a poor family of a son and a father are in an illegal underground ring, the son fights for money, the son is actually really good and wants to join Megalonia, basically the world championships of megaloboxing, it's your typical underdog story. ___ ___The Characters,___ however, are a completely different story, I love the characters in this anime, they're all special, each having their own backstory and goals, and having their own little ways of achieving said goals, it really feels like these characters could actually exist, like they're really there. Their designs are fine, not bad but not really amazing either, you can easily differentiate between them because of the gears they use, but other than that there's nothing really that special about them. ___ ___The Artwork and Animation___ is _really_ good, the way all of the fights are choreographed is really impressive, every single hit really packs a punch in this one (haha get it?), the artstyle is really good, I'm a sucker for anything even slightly related to mechas, so I really like how the gears look like, with the scrappy and rusty look Joe's gear have, and the futuristic metallic look the more professional gears have, I love all of them. The backgrounds look good, although you won't be seeing alot of backgrounds aside from the arenas, so yeah. ___ ___The Soundtrack,___ God, the soundtrack is just really fucking good. I would honestly still recommend this anime if it was just the soundtrack playing on a black screen for like an hour. The main theme is just really great and gets my blood pumping anytime I hear it start, I had actual goosebumps each time it started playing, this is not an understatement, I _really_ love this soundtrack. ___ ___Overall,___ Megalobox is a really good anime, with a decent story, and I absolutely adore it. I watch basically no sports anime because I'm not really that interested in sports, but this one is just amazing, I would definitely recommend this anime to anyone, whether they like sports anime or not. I see absolutely nobody talking about this anime and I feel like that should be a crime, everybody should watch this anime. ~~(Also the sequel is coming in april, I'm hyped as fuck, and I admit I may be a little gay for Joe with a beard.)~~