Tomorrow's Joe
Tomorrow's Joe, Rocky Joe, 내일의 죠, 明日之丈
Tomorrow's Joe (あしたのジョー Ashita no Jō) is a critically acclaimed boxing manga created by Tetsuya Chiba and Asao Takamori in 1968 that was later adapted into an anime series and movie. It is most commonly referred to as Ashita no Joe. Outside Japan it is also referred to as Rocky Joe or Joe.
The story begins with a troubled orphan named Joe Yabuki who ran away from the orphanage walking in the Tokyo slums until he met up with former boxing trainer Danpei. During this time, Joe gets arrested and goes to a temporary jail, where he fights Nishi, his future best friend and leader of a few hoolagins. He and Nishi both go to a Juvenile Prison miles away from Tokyo. There he meets Rikiishi, who was formerly a boxing prodigy. Joe and him develop a rivalry. They have a match together, to where Rikiishi dominates Joe throughout the entire match till Joe hits him with a Cross Counter, resulting in both being knocked out. This inspires the other prison mates to take up boxing. Joe and Rikiishi vow to fight again. Before this happens, Danpei teaches Joe 3 lessons, Joe completes them but not completing the 3rd until he defeats a young underdog boy named Aoyama, who most of the prison made fun of for being so small, Danpei temporarily takes him under his wing, and "abandons" Joe. This causes Joe to feel mentally broken and his scared of Aoyama for the fact that Danpei is teaching him. Joe takes part in the Prison Boxing Tournament. He first fights in the semi-finals against Aoyama. Joe, being the aggressive fighter he is, is unable to hit Aoyama who specializes in speed. Joe then learns how to effectively defend, defeating Aoyama. In the finals, when Rikiishi is scheduled for leave of the prison, Joe challenges him to a fight right then and there. Which Joe cheats by having rocks in his gloves due to being exhausted from his previous match. The match is interrupted.
(Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, s.v. "Tomorrow's Joe")
