
Ashita
no Joe
An
influential anime and manga series that translates to "Joe of Tomorrow".
The story begins when a young solitary boy named Joe Yabuki meets a retired
boxer, Danpei Tange. After seeing Joe's raw power in a street fight, Danpei
insists on training him in the art of boxing. However Joe refuses until
his rival Toru Rikiishi appears.
The manga,
written by Tetsuya Chiba, was published by Shonen magazine between January
1968 and May 1973, while the anime version was aired by Fuji TV between
April and September 1970, then between October 1980 and August 1981. The
series is arguably the single best boxing series ever produced, and the
anime was produced by Osamu Tezuka's Mushi Productions and featured an
episode director by the name of Yoshiyuki Tomino, who later went on to
change the face of anime with his series Mobile Suit Gundam.
Relevance
to Urusei Yatsura
Ashita
no Joe was an undoubtedly an influential sports fiction, but even by the
time the 80's were approaching it started to be considered a bit dated
and cheezy. The series was ripe for parody, and Urusei Yatsura would often
poke fun at this famous anime.
Any episodes
dealing with boxing would undoubtedly make a reference, such as episode
43 "Fear of Meow" in which even the animation style is
reminiscent of the show.
Particularly
many of the fights between Ryuunosuke and her Father mirror fights that
took place in Ashita no Joe (for example the famous cross-counter punch
between Joe and Rikishi). Even their relationship is similar to that of
Joe and his grizzled old coach.
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