TMS Entertainment is releasing Episodes 1-3 of boxing anime Tomorrow’s Joe (Ashita no Joe) this morning, celebrating the English-language launch of the manga. The eps. will be available on the TMS Official Channel on YouTube for a limited time, rolling out November 1 between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. PT.
The first-ever English version of the classic manga by writer Asao Takamori and illustrator Tetsuya Chiba, which originally ran in Weekly Shonen Magazine from 1968 to 1973, is being published as Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow by Kodansha USA. Volume 1 on December 24.
Depicting the life of future boxing champion Joe Yabuki, Ashita no Joe was adapted into an anime and was broadcast from April 1970 in Japan for 79 episodes, with 49 subsequent episodes added in Ashita no Joe 2 (Tomorrow’s Joe 2) 10 years later (currently available on Prime Video). The series was reworked into two feature-length animated movies.
Since its initial release, the anime has left a major impact on Japanese culture and is still largely considered one of the pioneers of sports-driven anime to this day. The series was directed by Osamu Dezaki (Astro Boy, Space Adventure Cobra).
