Megalo Box

I wanted to give this anime 10/10 but i didn't. Because the story is way too simple. No match to today's boxing but still enjoyable. Art is 7/10. Soundtrack is awesome 10/10. Story is 7/10. But somehow with simple story this series can make you get obsessed with it, just like it did to me. So, it is worth to give this anime a try ;D

I went through a good period where I was pretty into anime, but eventually, I just got bored with the medium. Check out what's airing the same season as Megalo Box: a handful of continuing shows, a bunch of sequel series, and all of it is very "anime" - I'm talking art style, writing, most slot very nicely in with their contemporaries. Don't get me wrong, anime is not inherently bad, there's just a ton of it, and the shows start to blend together. In this horde of anime, Megalo Box stands out as a unique, raw, and awesome sports anime.

The show is propped up considerably by its distinctive art style. Beautiful backgrounds and unique character designs are the hallmark of this show. It doesn't look like its peers. If it looks like anything, it's 90s anime like Cowboy Bebop or Trigun. And I say the show looks better for it. Honestly, the art direction on the show is stunning, and is probably the top draw for the show.

As for plot, it's a pretty standard underdog story framed in a tournament arc. This approach is simple, yet effective. The show does a great job in characterizing its characters, specifically Joe, Nanbu, and Sachio, in a myriad of little ways. The characters are brought to life by excellent voice acting. The drama of the show comes from the high stakes of each match and our desire to see (the average) Joe overcome. The show has a great sense of narrative stakes and ramps up the tension in each episode, even when there's no boxing in the episode.

Beyond narrative stakes, tension and other emotions are promulgated by the intensely vivacious and superb soundtrack. The music in this show is so excellent, and well-integrated in the story.

If I had to offer some complaints, tons of anime offer these cheap shortcuts of not showing speaker's faces so they don't have to animate the lips or jaws. Many frames have little-to-no movement in them. This is distracting to me because I look out for stuff like this, it's probably not something that too many people actually care about. Besides that, the actual boxing matches could do with some better boxing choreography. Odd angles and strange pacing in the fights hampers the show. Hajime no Ippo and Rocky Balboa are both better examples of how to frame and direct the sport of boxing.

These complaints are relatively minor, and the show itself is fantastic. Honestly, it just feels refreshing to have an anime that a (mostly) original property that tells an inspired story in an inspired way with an inspired art style. The show smacks of passion, originality, and creativity, all things that I value in art. This is one of the best shows I've seen in recent memory, and I think this one is going to have a long shelf life.

With an older school animation style that is reminiscent of some of the classics (Cowboy Bebop, etc.), a simple and clean story and characters just deep enough to enjoy it was worth the binge.

Series length about perfect, episodes were straight forward storytelling without much filler and the final episode was surprisingly fulfilling, especially considering I'm one of those anime fans who always thinks the endings are rushed / needed more wrap up.

All in all it's a nice clean 13 episode arc with a tidy ending leaving one satisfied and feeling "complete".

FYI watch until the final seconds of the credits.

Pros:

• Classic / Old school animation style.
• Good music, with some unique scores for the show.
• Characters that are simple and identifiable with most not feeling like cardboard cutouts.
• Short but satisfying series that is easily binged.
• English dubbing.

Cons:

• Animation quality dips at times, some distracting irregularities.
• Predictable story, but it doesn't pretend to be more than what it is.
• English dubbing misses some of the dialogue (I watch with subtitles on).

I have heard of this anime being mentioned by Joey (The Anime Man) many times saying how great this anime is and 110% agree with him on his opinon. The fighting scenes were just beyond incredible. The characters just make the whole viewing experience of the 13 episodes much easier to follow, especially Joe with his laid back but pumped up attitude when it comes to every opponent he fought in the ring.

It's been a very long while since I last heard an English dub and I can honestly tell you, Kaiji Tang among the other English dub actors were pretty soothing to hear haha. It's good seeing and of course knowing, that the voice actors were matched well with their characters. I can definitely say this also for the Japanese voice actors in the sub version of the anime series.

What was a downer though that it did lose a score is that the music was a hit/miss. I personally didn't think that the op and ending songs weren't that pumped up enough for this particular series. Hopefully whenever season 2 comes out this year (or next year if covid did affect its airing), the soundtrack side will be better. Don't get me wrong, the songs were good in a way but just not to my tastebuds.

Literally can't wait for season 2 and what'll bring in Joes boxing journey ^^

Megalo Box is an incredible anime, with amazing realistic art, pumping full on steroids! The first season is phenomenal!

But the second season, although it starts strong, gets tiredsome very quickly, leading me to say "stay at the first season, Nomad was unneeded."