Ashita no Joe

[Dracos]

Took a look at this this weekend.  Knew it only as sort of the preceeding boxing anime prior to ippo and one of those standouts from 1970s.  Not sure what I was expecting but not really it.  Bout five eps in basically establishing Joe out of nowhere as both unskilled and able to take on 20 men at once and pretty much scum.  It was kind of an interesting look back at 1970s era anime but kind of uninteresting to see the focus on basically Protagonist Power.

[Empyrean]

I gave this one a shot. I really, really did. Read maybe 50 chapters or so, and Joe went from being an obnoxious brat to being... still an obnoxious brat. I dropped it.

[Dracos]

Yeah, I stopped I think a few episodes into jail because it really read like he was just gonna be an obnoxious brat the whole time.  The mixture of "Here's a kid who can casually wipe out a mafia group by himself" alongside "Doesn't know how to throw a decent punch" just didn't work for me.

Shame, seemed like it'd be a neat piece of history to watch but not my thing.

[Ragnar]

I saw the movie last year, which is an abridged remake of the first TV series. It was quite good, directed by Osamu Dezaki. I haven't read the manga at all but I know the TV series is considered a classic.