Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, I was able to access a digital copy.

To be honest, I didn’t check beforehand and didn’t realize this was an omnibus edition. So, it was a great surprise to have even more to read!

I enjoy sports manga because they usually teach you about the sport they focus on, and this was my first boxing manga. Since this is a classic, I expected it to explain the sport from the beginning, but it does so gradually rather than through an overwhelming info dump. Maybe because I’m used to reading modern manga, I was initially surprised by how much dialogue there was per page, but I got used to it as I kept reading.

As for our protagonist, he is not very likable, and his bad deeds have consequences. However, he still has a long way to go, and we don’t yet know if he will change. I haven’t looked up more details because I want to keep reading. This first omnibus ends on a cliffhanger, leaving me eager to know more about the story and its characters.

This is a classic manga that many fans have been clamoring to come to print, and it's finally here. Is Joe a perfect hero? absolutely not. His road to leading man is a twisting, winding journey through juvenile corrections and swindling people. This is one of those influential manga that people will argue back and forth about having stood the test of time, but it is quintessential nonetheless.

Thank you NetGalley and Kodansha Comics | Vertical Comics for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
An incredible and impacting story. Well narrated, with a simply expressive drawing.
The beginning of a legend.

I picked this up as I was interested in boxing and thought this could be a good graphic novel. Unfortunately this book wasn't for me. The art style was fantastic but the plot just wasn't to my taste. If you are a sportier person than I am I think you would like it.

Do yourself a favour and pick up this classic work - it is fun! The writing is so much better than I expected? I listened to a podcast on this omnibus and fully feel like the hosts didn't read it right??? Oh my. The story is so fully formed and fascinating! The line art is great. The special reformatory arc?? However, to end the omnibus on such a cliffhanger is pure evil!!!!

Sadly, had to dnf this one. I was already taking a leap with it as I don’t care for boxing. But, I just couldn’t get into this as the writing and the art weren’t working for me.

That being said I can really see people enjoying this. So, even though it’s not for me it could be for you.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one since I’m not normally a sports manga fan but I have to say I did enjoy it. The art style is very nostalgic but I really loved that about, the story I admit I was worried would be dated but I didn’t find it like that at all. Despite not being my normally genre I did really enjoy this one and I think due to its historical prevalence most manga fans should own a copy.

As always thank you to Kodansha Comics for the advanced copy to review, my reviews are always honest and freely given.

Thanks a million Netgalley and publisher for allowing me to read this iconic old skool manga that I have seen floating around and never got around to it..until now!


I gotta tell ya, you would absolutely fall in love with our awesome boi Joe here. He literally is like the best snarky sarcastic character that you hardly see these days. His interactions with his fellow boxing opponents and many other side characters would make you laugh all the way cause he’s just such a likeable character that you really wanna be friends with! Now this manga does have “Megalobox” vibes but honestly both are good in their unique ways so I’m not complaining about that.

Just a very good series that people of all ages should check out, it’ll make you laugh, cry and inspired by an action packed rags to riches type of story!

Amazon and Barnes & Noble reviews posted - pending those system approvals
Blog post goes live Feb 28th
Imgur link goes to instagram graphic scheduled for Feb 12
Will be covered in upcoming Youtube wrapup

**TL;DR**: You can clearly see how this is such a classic in it’s genre, and while not perfect for me it’s very engaging.
**Source**: NetGalley, thank you to the publisher!

**Plot**: Joe is a wandering orphan who moves to a new neighborhood. He finds friends, fans, and enemies alike.
**Characters**: Some of these characters I did like a lot, but Joe himself I found so frustrating to read about.
**Setting**: This I liked as well. The slum he makes ‘home’ for a time is vibrant and a great setting.
**Art:** The art here was the most interesting part for me as it really undercut that grittiness in the story and made it much more approachable and lighthearted at times.

**Thoughts**:

Ashita no Joe is a classic manga that has had several spin-offs and adaptations since it came out in 1968. There is a lot of fascinating history to this story, I highly recommend looking into it if you’re interested in it and or classic manga in general. While the beginning of the story isn’t my favorite, and Joe is a bit of an unlikeable sort, I did really enjoy where and what the manga did over the course of this first volume.

Joe moves himself to a new neighborhood, the slums of San’ya. There he catches the eye of a former professional boxer and the two start a sort of cat and mouse. Danpei wants more than anything to train Joe, while Joe just seems to want to fight. Eventually Joe ends up in a reformatory where this volume ends. Joe throughout this is both a sort of conman and a streetfighter. He refuses Danpei’s help until the last half of the book and we see him start to use his growing boxing skills to fight those who put him down.

I liked the art on this a lot. It’s very much the older style of the day, a vastly different style than we normally see in sports manga these days. It’s more cartoony, and overexaggerated and that helps to cut this story’s grittiness and sometimes dark moments. I think if you’re a fan of this genre and manga in general this is a great story to pick up and try out. I’ll likely try to continue the series myself as it should have about 8 volumes to come on this run. A fascinating reprint of a classic!

This story lacks something! I don’t know what it is but it do! Didn’t like the graphics or the writing….i had to DNF it!

Amazing translation of this seminal work of manga!!! The edition is lovely (at least in the epub) with a great translation and a lot of love done on this edition. Highly recommended.

This was a tough manga to read and not because the content was difficult but because it was such a slog to get through. I had a lot of trouble even liking Joe, our main character, by the time I got to the end of the story and he was finally having a boxing match I was honestly rooting for him to lose, he needs to. Of course the end of the fight isn't in this volume but i'm still hoping he loses.

I kept thinking Joe's personality would start to change and he would be less of a jerk and start to see how his actions actually make him extremely unlikeable but that never happened. I do know the whole Ashita No Joe series is around 170 chapters so I will say it safe to assume the growth is slow, but it was truly the most insufferable part of this opening volume. It's very hard to root for someone who is just unnecessarily mean and rude to everyone, sure he has this sad little backstory but unfortunately I don't feel bad for him. I also understand his personality and traits are most likely due to being down on his luck and on his own, but again it wasn't enough to make me go "yah I gotta root for this kid" I wanted someone to genuinely knock him out. Now don't get it twisted I read my share of delinquent and sports manga they are my favorite genres when it comes to reading manga, but what I was getting in this didn't hit the same way as others I have read.

I know how influential Ashita No Joe is in the industry and 100% give it its due, but I'm not going to sit here and pretend that this was a solid strong opening volume. Aside from Joe being unlikable through the whole volume, the cartoony hijinks got old extremely fast, the child henchmen posse was odd and a lot of time felt like filler moments to extend the story. The pacing of the story was so slow, normally I can read a 500 page volume manga is about 2 hours this took me 3 days because I kept finding myself straying away because I wasn't being entertained. I also have to admit I didn't realize it was going to take the entire volume to get to the first boxing match, which was honestly a bummer for me.

I am glad this is getting an English printing, and I hope it continues to do well and hopefully it opens the door for other older mangas to be translated to English. I'm going to keep reading it, like I said I'm a sucker for delinquent and sports manga, and Ashita No Joe is one I have always wanted to read. I'm just going to keep hoping someone knocks Joe out because he needs it.

Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow Vol. 1 is a masterpiece that lives up to its legendary status. The story introduces Joe Yabuki, a rebellious drifter surviving in the slums of Tokyo. After a gang encounter highlights Joe’s quick fists and sharp wits, he catches the eye of Danpei Tange, a washed-up former boxer. Though Joe dismisses Tange’s offer to train him, his time in a juvenile detention center sparks a transformation, setting him on the path toward greatness.

Joe isn’t your typical sports manga hero, and that’s what makes him unforgettable. His rebellious nature and refusal to follow societal norms make him a captivating and complex protagonist. The story’s gritty setting and focus on survival highlight the struggles of overlooked and forgotten individuals striving for a better future.

This volume takes its time, introducing vibrant characters with layered backstories, hopes, and flaws. The gradual pacing builds an emotional connection that pays off as the story unfolds. Tetsuya Chiba’s artwork perfectly captures the grit and intensity of boxing, while Asao Takamori’s storytelling makes every moment impactful.

Powerful, raw, and timeless, Ashita no Joe Vol. 1 is a must-read for manga enthusiasts

I was given this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. When I saw that this was available on Net Galley I was super excited! I'm glad Ashita no Joe is FINALLY getting an English print run after more than 50 years. It most definitely is a product of it's times and is a little senselessly violent (I.e. beating up a drunk homeless man) that wouldn't necessarily fly in a sports manga in today's publishing world, but it is easy to see why this has been so influential and inspirational to so many mangakas that came afterwards. One of the things I liked most was when there were translation notes it is written at the bottom of the page or panel so you don't have to wait till the end of the book for an explanation for an obscure (to the Western reader) cultural reference. In a chonker of a volume like this (it's about 600 pages) having to either wait till the end or flip back and forth would have been annoying. I think more manga volumes should do that when possible. Definitely worth the read!

Thank you, NetGalley for an advanced ARC of this manga

This is known in the manga community as one of the beloved books and was recently translated into e English for the first time.

This is an underdog fighter story and it was OK but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, I am glad I have read this and the art style was very old-fashioned like Dennis the Menace style which I liked a lot.

I can see why this is such a beloved book and I say to others to read because I see so many loving this story

It's great to have Ashita no Joe finally in English and it works as an omnibus, although it's heavy in that way. Joe Yabuki is a drifter of sorts, violent and a conman to boot too, living in the slums of Tokyo. His fist fighting is noticed by an old drunk and failed boxer, Danpei Tange. He wants to train Joe to become the greatest boxer, something he couldn't do himself. But Joe is cocky and doesn't want to until he ends up in a juvenile detention facility and meets an opponent he needs to defeat. It's no wonder this is a classic and the series started in 1968. Thus the reader should be careful as the manga has animal cruelty and violence against women, children and whatnot. The story is slow, which is great. Takamori takes his time to develop the story and Joe too.

Joe is super annoying and I'm happy every time someone beats him up. Story-wise this still works, but time has eaten so much of it, but that's understandable. The art is childish and comical like the art used to be, but it's still good. The kid henchmen are super weird too, but something that used to be normal. Ashita no Joe proves that times have changed, but at the same time it's easy to see this manga's place in history.

Reading Ashita no Joe in 2024 is a fascinating look at manga of the past, and a sports title whose influence is still being felt today, from contemporary sports and fighting manga, to American films like Michael B. Jordan's use of the cross-counter punch in Creed III. It's not hard to see the scrappy drifter-turned-fighter Joe Yabuki in contemporary manga and anime protagonists. This, and Joe's near preternatural (but untrained) fighting ability from the start, track with a lot of shonen manga.

Fifteen-year-old Joe Yabuki is a drifter in an economically depressed Japanese post-war landscape. When he gets into a fight in the street, a former boxer named Danpei eventually convinces Joe to enter the ring (but not before engaging in a multitude of schemes that eventually land Joe in juvenile detention). Joe's rivalry with boxer Rikichi drive the latter half of the volume, resulting in a pretty explosive match between the two of them that ends the collection on a cliffhanger.

For all of its energy, the manga does show its age in the cartooning, which clearly owes a lot to Osamu Tezuka's use of his stock cast,,with Takamori's broadly drawn characters following a similar style, who resemble more of early Disney and Fleischer brothers cartoons than they does contemporary manga. For a boxing manga with character's dying in the ring, this could be a bit jarring. It's not bad, but it is a historical style that may not translate as well to all modern manga readers.

It's also dense, with a lot going on per page, making it a pretty lengthy read. Ashita no Joe is best when it gets to its kinetic action, but it does take its time to get there, with a lot of what feels like filler between the action that doesn't particularly move the story along much. But what's there when it moves is truly dynamic.

This is a brief summary of my review over at howtolovecomics.com.

Finally! Ashita no Joe has been published in English. This series is a classic for a reason, with fantastic drama, boxing action, and charismatic art that brings the character to life.

I liked the artwork, and some of the comedy. The main struggle for me was the character himself. He was unlikeable with little or no redeeming parts. Unlike Naruto, who had a poor beginning but wanted to be the best, Joe is unfeeling, uncaring and totally self-abosrobed to the point he cannot grasp what friendship really is. I expected the story this long to have a satisfying ending, but no. This book ends on a cliffhanger, which makes it even worse.

A Special Thanks Goes Out To Kodansha and NetGalley for the Opportunity to Review This Title.

It’s finally here, Ashita no Joe: Fighting For Tomorrow made its way to English audiences, it is one of the most influential titles in the manga industry and a cultural phenomenon in Japan, that empowered the working class and college students of Japan. The story focuses on a young drifter named Joe Yabuki, who finds himself wandering through the slums of Tokyo. After a gang of hoodlums tries to get a jump on Joe, Yabuki quickly shows the gang that he is quick with his fists and wits. What he doesn’t know is that this caught the attention of an old drunk named Danpei Tange, a failed boxer and former coach who sees something special in the boy. Tange pleads with the boy to train and help Joe become a boxer, but the boy quickly shoots down the old coach. After Yabuki gets himself arrested and placed in the juvenile detention facility, he realizes that he needs to hone his skills to survive, which leads to a partnership that could take Joe to the top.

The thing you have to remember is that Joe Yabuki isn’t your typical Sports Manga protagonist and that’s not a bad thing, it helps him stand out from the rest. He didn’t even want to take up boxing, just someone who knew how to fight and could take a beating if it meant taking down his opponent with him. Yabuki is a good representation of the forgotten class of society that is quickly overlooked, who have dared to try to make a better world.

Also, keep in mind that this first volume is more of a collection, so it introduces key characters, their quirks, dreams, failures, and what they hope for tomorrow. It’s not at a fast pace, but at a gradual speed where it keeps the reader’s interest, this collected bundle shows its greatest strength because it gives a better idea of where the story is going and pieces it together as it progresses. As far as the story goes, it still resonates with many of its readers today, those who view themselves as Joe Yabuki, going against any obstacle to make their dreams come true. Another aspect to look at was the reality of a post-war Japan after World War II, with the slums being portrayed as bleak, violent, and unforgiving, a place where many had to fight to survive. Joe’s disdain for authority and law wasn’t due to being considered a quirk, but this was considered by some as a reflection of a broader disillusionment of the system that failed people like him. As for Danpei, his alcoholic and washed-up state was supposed to be a representation of the struggle of a generation that couldn’t achieve their dreams in the wake of Japan’s wartime defeat.

While discussing the artwork in this story, Tetsuya Chiba’s artwork and style are something to admire, with Takamori’s writing it was the perfect pairing in terms of a manga. Chiba’s style may look cartoonish to some, but he captured boxing’s fast-paced movements and the sense of grit and realism. The action was dynamic and fluid, Joe’s raw power when it came to his fights, also showing off Yabuki’s ferocity.