Ashita no Joe is something I’ve heard referenced in other anime a lot, but know nothing about aside from that it’s a boxing manga. According to Wikipedia, this series is a reboot so I don’t think I’d need any background knowledge, but if I knew more about Ashita no Joe I wouldn’t have to do this at all. Unfortunately “I’ve heard of it a couple of times” isn’t the same as “familiar with the source material,” so here I am, doing my job I don’t get paid for, instead of something less productive but also less likely to send me into screaming hysterics over a harmlessly inane line of dialogue.
Anyway, on to the thing.
There’s some pretty good animation in this episode, but they keep holding on shots of random items lying on the ground. Maybe it’s just to establish a sense of atmosphere or set up a theme about discarded things or something, but it’s starting to seem like it’s just an excuse to cover up a lack of budget. I mean, they didn’t even animate the rain in that screenshot up there. That could be a gif for all you know.
The soundtrack is also a bit sparse. There’s plenty of background music and for the most part it’s fine, but in the scene where the lady was giving an announcement to a crowd, it felt like there should be people muttering in the background or something. And when we saw Our Hero eating a snack in front of the TV while watching said announcement, there was no crinkle from the bag when he reached in, nor a crunch when he bit into it. Granted, I don’t know what he was eating, but it looked like popcorn or something. It’s possible I’m mistaken and it was something that isn’t crunchy. The rain later in the episode doesn’t make any noise, either, which is also weird.
Was the first fifteen minutes of this supposed to be a flashback? There was never any indicator of one. Nothing even happened before the first goggle shot except a touch of philosophical narration.
This is another premier I have no particular feelings for or against. Boxing is one of the few sports I kind of like so I wasn’t bored, but nothing really grabbed my attention, either. I don’t really feel like committing to three episode, but I don’t really feel like dropping it, either. I guess we’ll see next week.
[ko-fi]
Ace Anime Reviews 
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