Should You Read Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow

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Ashita no Joe is a classic manga that has become available in English for the first time. It follows delinquent, Joe Yabuki, as he makes the journey from street thug to prisoner in a juvenile detention center to world-class boxer. Written by Asao Takamori and drawn by Tetsuya Chiba, both of whom would go on to become sports manga royalty, Ashita no Joe is a story that anticipates the likes of Rocky by several years. Followed by a successful anime adaptation, Ashita no Joe became one of the most influential manga of the 1970's with artists working on everything from Ghost in the Shell to Naruto citing it as an inspiration. 

Ashita no Joe arrived at a very specific moment in Japanese history. Post-war angst was at an all time high. The Japanese government was (is) dominated by a conservative ruling class who were all too happy to aid the United States in its military efforts to suppress communist uprisings in Asia. Student protest movements rocked the country. The working class saw themselves in Joe's, often violent, struggle against a system that couldn't care less about them. On March 31st, 1970, members of The Japanese Red Army faction, a radical left wing terrorist organization, highjacked Japan Air Lines Flight 351. The high jacking began when a member of the JRA stood up on the plane, drew a katana, and shouted "Wareware wa Ashita no Joe de aru"..."We are Tomorrow's Joe".

 Ashita no Joe is deeply connected to the cultural disillusionment of the 1970's. It is a manga that is cited in academic sociology papers. Despite never having a proper English translation, I have heard it mentioned in multiple English language books on Japanese Culture and The History of Comics. There is no doubt in my mind that Ashita no Joe is an important work that demands an English release. Because of its importance, Ashita no Joe is going to be highly recommended. Unfortunately, an understanding of its importance requires that a reader be at least somewhat familiar with a specific moment in Japanese political history that occurred decades before most of us were born. I foresee many readers, convinced to buy this based on "must read" recommendations, left wondering what the big deal was. 

In the remainder of this blog post, I would like to try to answer the question asked in the title: Should you read Ashita no Joe? The first hurdle and biggest hurdle for most modern manga readers will be the art style which is more influenced by Popeye than anything most people associated with "manga" these days. 


To be very clear, I think the art is fantastic. I love old comics and manga, but I understand that the younger the reader, the more of an acquired taste this kind of art tends to be. I'd encourage people who spend a lot of time reading manga to acquire that taste. It will open up a lot of really great series to you, and it will help you to appreciate modern manga on an entirely different level. I acknowledge, though, that this is a commitment that not everyone wants or needs to make. If you don't think you'd be able to take this art seriously enough for the dramatic moments to land, then it's probably not for you.

The second hurdle will come in the way the story is told. This is a character driven story that was written at a time when comic artists in Japan were beginning to move away from Tezuka's "whimsical pictures" (manga) to "dramatic pictures" (gekiga). Ashita no Joe combines the Popeye-style slapstick comedy with gritty sports manga moments. It takes 500 pages to get to the first proper boxing match. The entire first book is only 572 pages long, and the match is not over by the end.

The third and final hurdle is Ashita no Joe's own success. Even a casual reader of manga has probably seen references to Ashita no Joe before (whether they realize it or not). Much of what makes Ashita no Joe good has been mined by later works that have kept what worked and updated what didn't to cater to the needs of modern audiences. While I think Ashita no Joe is a more important manga than say, Hajime no Ippo, I can't promise that you will have a better experience reading Ashita no Joe if you could only read one of them. 

Personally, I think that Ashita no Joe is a manga that rises to the level of literature. If I were going to teach a course on manga, I would include it in the curriculum. That being said, I don't often come home from a stressful day at work and read classic works of literature to unwind. Ashita no Joe may take some work to enjoy properly depending on your background. I think it is worth the effort. All else aside, it is an incredibly competent sports manga. But if you read manga purely for relaxation and you are too young to have ever seen a Popeye cartoon, this may not be the sports manga you want to drop serious cash on. 

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