Ashita no Joe (Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Rocky Joe, Tomorrow's Joe

Japanese: あしたのジョー

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 20

Chapters: 171

Status: Finished

Published: Jan 1, 1968 to May 13, 1973

Genres: Drama, Slice of Life, Sports

Theme: Combat Sports

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Magazine (Weekly)

Authors: Kajiwara, Ikki (Story), Chiba, Tetsuya (Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.97¹ (scored by 20,925 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #19²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #286

Members: 66,044

Favorites: 4,807

Available At

Kodansha USA

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8.97

Ranked #19Popularity #286Members 66,044

MangaShounen Magazine (Weekly)Kajiwara, Ikki (Story), Chiba, Tetsuya (Art)

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Volumes: /20

Chapters: /171

Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow

Volume 1
$19.99

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Synopsis

Joe Yabuki has learned how to toughen up and stop trusting others after a troubling youth spent bouncing between orphanages and fending off bullies. After finally escaping the cycle of violent temporary homes, Joe adopts a delinquent lifestyle in the streets of San'ya, a slum in Tokyo. He makes his way through the world with his fists, picking fights with anyone he pleases.

Danpei Tange, a washed-up and alcoholic former boxing coach, notices Joe's animalistic combat ability and attempts to mentor the wild teenager. Despite developing an explosive relationship, the two form a close bond and rely on each other to look after the other homeless children in San'ya.

Unable to abandon his destructive habits, Joe is arrested for petty crimes. In jail, he meets and fights with lifelong friends and rivals, including the boxing prodigy Tooru Rikiishi. Continuously challenging Rikiishi to fights, Joe is knocked out time after time due to his savage brawling style failing in the face of Rikiishi's controlled boxing technique. But eventually, Joe stuns his rival with a knockout blow, earning Rikiishi's respect and the promise that they will one day meet again inside the professional ring.

Finding a reason to live within boxing, Joe takes life head-on with a new purpose. As he rises through Japan's amateur and professional boxing scenes, he contends with painful loss and increasing injury. Joe's passion for fighting is all-consuming, and he grapples with the idea that a life without boxing may not be one worth living.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Ashita no Joe has sold over 20 million copies, was adapted to two anime series and films, as well as two live-action films in 1970 and 2011. Both the titular character and series have become an incredibly influential part of Japanese pop-culture.

The series has been published in English as Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow by Kodansha USA under the Vertical Comics imprint since December 24, 2024. It was published in French by Glénat Editions and in Italian by Star Comics.

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More characters
Characters

Yabuki, Joe

Main

Rikiishi, Tooru

Main

Tange, Danpei

Main

Shiraki, Yoko

Main

Rivera, Carlos

Supporting

Mendoza, José

Supporting

Gondo, Goromaki

Supporting

Nishi, Kanichi

Supporting

Kinoko

Supporting

Sachi

Supporting

Reviews

Jun 15, 2025

Maverick_01

Recommended

The beautiful tragedy of self-destruction

This is my first time writing a review i don't feel like wanting to write reviews but i feel like I have to write something for this story after re-reading it recently I can say for sure that it's is one of the most impactful story out there in the whole medium.

The journey and development of Joe yabuki is unlike any other character that has stood the test of time his journey and development unlike characters like Musashi and thorfinn who become completely different people by changing their ways is like rather opposite his development and journey is more about become ...

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Jan 17, 2024

morgueee

Mixed Feelings

Spoiler

While I have this rated as a 10, I truly think it's a 9.5/10.

The story of Ashita no Joe is absolutely phenomenal, there's not a lot more that can be said.

Joe as a man and his fights encompass almost everything that I find interesting about boxing and life in general. His fight with Rikishi haunting him forever was amazing, but I truly think that his fight against Mendoza was where Joe culminated and peaked, with a close second being his fight against Carlos. Joe is everything that tomorrow is.

The ONLY thing that I have a problem with, is that I think the start is a ...

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Mar 31, 2024

Kinglink

Not Recommended

Funny

Preliminary (20/171 eps)

I considered not writing a review for Ashita no Joe, as I didn't finish it. I didn't finish JoJo's Bizzare Adventure and don't feel I can meaningfully review it at this time. But for Ashita no Joe, if I can assist one person in making a decision on this manga, maybe that'll be worth it.

I came into this manga because many people bring it up when discussing Hajime No Ippo, but after trying to read it, I'm just so disappointed in the series, that I wonder why the comparisons are made.

There's two big problems I have with Ashita no Joe that ... have made it impossible to go on.

The first is the art style, it feels like it's a comic strip style that was popular in America in the 1960s and 1970s, I often thought of the comic script Nancy for some reason. When I think of Manga I usually think of a refined art style that feels impressive, and Ashita no Joe is absolutely not in that style. It's a cheap exaggerated art style that works great when watching a cartoon like Popeye, but in a manga it just doesn't feel like the quality bar has been hit.

The thing is after reading 300 pages of this art, I just realized I was absolutely not enjoying it. But that would be ok except for the other problem.

The second issue is that Joe is not likable. About half way through the first volume I thought "ok, I start to see Joe turning around." and then he just goes back to doing "Bad things"... Actually let me take a moment, because that's a third problem.

The writing in the version of the manga I read was laughably bad. Multiple police officers accused Joe of doing "bad things". Not crimes, not specific acts, just generic "bad things". The juvenile writing really drags down what could be an interesting story. And the thing is there's numerous points where the writing just seems to lack the emotion. Again, this could be a translation error but I wonder if this was written for a more childish audience.

Which brings us back to the problem with Joe. It's not that Joe couldn't be a good character, or can't become a great character, but with the exaggerated art style, and a character who it's hard to root for, I'm not sure if I wanted to continue, actually I wasn't sure at the end of the first Volume, after half of the second, I decided I was over the story and character. Joe was just not likable enough to continue but worse, he had every negative trait to make people hate him. While that's part of the point of being a scarred child who grew up in rough times, I decided to give up on Joe, where as his eventual coach clearly didn't want to.

Perhaps I was expecting something that the manga is not. I wanted a manga about boxing. I've heard people call this a "Character study" but the thing is... Joe as a character was poorly written, the story did itself no favors, but the art style really didn't make me interested in the study as well.

I know this is a very highly rated manga, but for the life of me I'm not sure why. And the thing is at this point, I'm not sure I'm interested enough to find out.

Ps. I know this is currently the only negative review of 21 reviews for this. If you are upset by this, I recommend leaving your own positive review, or leaving a reaction. However commenting on my profile because you disagree is unnecessary, because ultimately this is written as a personal log of my opinion on the manga, not a discussion that needs to be had where you have to change someone else's opinion or review. A review is a PERSONAL OPINION and as such people's PERSONAL OPINION'S likely differ from your PERSONAL OPINION.

I'm sorry, people have sent me despicable responses, harassed me off the site because they disagree, and resorted to name calling, so I feel like I MUST point out that this is unacceptable behavior. If you have a different PERSONAL OPINION than me, tell other people. I honestly have never cared what your opinion of my opinion is.

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Poll: Ashita no Joe Chapter 171 Discussion Hentaicheg - Jun 20, 2015	32 replies	by CRankit »» Mar 23, 10:23 AM
Poll: Ashita no Joe Chapter 74 Discussion Komlan_6 - Jul 21, 2024	1 replies	by fuzzy_artist »» Feb 8, 2025 2:27 PM
Poll: Ashita no Joe Chapter 110 Discussion Komlan_6 - Jul 24, 2024	1 replies	by kusanagi_ZFG »» Jul 24, 2024 5:30 PM
Poll: Ashita no Joe Chapter 109 Discussion Komlan_6 - Jul 24, 2024	0 replies	by Komlan_6 »» Jul 24, 2024 9:16 AM
Poll: Ashita no Joe Chapter 108 Discussion Komlan_6 - Jul 24, 2024	0 replies	by Komlan_6 »» Jul 24, 2024 6:02 AM

Ashita no Joe
Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow
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Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow
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