This Fall, there will be a familiar boxer making his boxing debut at your local bookstore. Asao Takamori and Tetsuya Chiba’s Iconic Boxing Manga, Ashita no Joe is set to make its English debut this year!
In a brand-new announcement from Kodansha and ICv2, the manga publisher is finally bringing one of the most influential titles in the manga industry and a cultural phenomenon in Japan to English Audiences.
Ashita no Joe: Fighting For Tomorrow was popular amongst working-class people and college students in the New Left movement, who viewed themselves as Joe Yabuki, fighting against the system. A prime example of this took place in 1970 when members of the Japanese Red Army took part in the Yodogo Hijacking and compared themselves to Joe as they saw a revolutionary message in the manga. During the hijack, they shouted, “We are Tomorrow’s Joe!” it also impacted other famous cultural figures such as poet/playwright Shūji Terayama (who planned a real-life funeral for Joe’s rival Rikiishi), author Mitsuyo Kakuta, and marathon runner Yuko Arimori.
Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow will be collected into eight oversized, hardcover omnibus editions, scheduled to be released in December 2024. It will also be available in digital editions. Kodansha Publisher Toshihiro Tsuchiya released a statement shortly after the manga announcement, speaking about how Kodansha believed that the manga market was maturing and how the company was looking for past manga classics that haven’t been translated into English yet.
“Kodansha believes that the manga market is maturing, as well as looking for past manga classics that have never been translated into English. This work is a true masterpiece that Japan is proud of. This year marks the 50th anniversary since its completion in 1973.Because of this, we think that now is the best time to bring Ashita no Joe: Fighting for Tomorrow to English-reading manga fans worldwide. We consider it an honor and a labor of love to introduce such an important manga masterpiece to a new generation of fans. And we hope that this new edition will be as much of an inspiration as it was when it originally debuted in Japan.”
Toshihiro Tsuchiya, Kodansha Publisher
Ashita no Joe made its debut in Kodansha’s Weekly Shonēn Magazine in January 1968 and ran until May 1973, it was compiled into twenty tankobon volumes and was reprinted in Shukan Gendai in March 2009 until the year’s end. it would be adapted into anime, live-action films, a stage play, a radio drama, and six video games. But in 2018, it would be reimagined in a futuristic retelling called Megalobox, which the anime was released on Joe’s 50th Anniversary and would pick up a sequel series. You can catch it on Crunchyroll.
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