English Dub Review: Megalobox 2 – Nomad “Las derrotas pasadas son acompañadas por señales de buena suerte”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

While Mikio and Yukiko are pressured to reconsider their doubts about ROSCO, Joe mulls over Mac’s challenge. Many people are eager to see him in the ring again, but others like Yuri and Aragaki worry that it would be foolish considering how badly Mac beat Liu. Joe thinks back on why he chose to face Liu all those years ago instead of be besides Nanbu in his final moments, the reason being that he thought he could keep the light of hope alive after Nanbu’s death, but obviously that didn’t work out. Now, he plans to fight for himself, just like he always has. But before all that, he challenges Sachio to a match to finally get the kid to avoid boxing for Fujimaki for the rest of his life. He wins and he and Sachio make amends, but as they’re leaving, Joe suddenly collapses.

OUR TAKE

We continue to build towards the final battle of the season, which is set to be Joe vs Mac, though first we needed Joe to get his house, both physically and mentally, in order. And it looks like the center of that, or at least a big part of that, is coming to terms with why he fights in the first place. Since beginning the journey to Megalonia in the first season, Joe has fought for the sole purpose of showing himself and others that he CAN fight, that he has the strength to face any challenger, even without gear. We learn more about what was going through his head in the fight with Liu, namely that he took the match not so he could get money for Nanbu’s treatment as it seemed, but because he was hoping to keep his family together after Nanbu passed. While that is a bit nobler than selfishly taking a fight to avoid the problems in front of him, as was also assumed, it still shows that Joe’s goals and his reality were out of synch, and he needs to have those back in synch before he even considers taking on someone who so thoroughly beat Liu. Though it seems there are some other things he needs to get together before then anyway, based on that last collapse.

That’s plenty to talk about regarding Joe, but he’s not the only character with great scenes this week. Mikio gets a good talk with Sakuma’s assistant, who used to be in his class, which better reflects his growth since his loss but also shows how his fascination for technology and its use by people has helped him grow. In terms of Joe’s other former opponents, Aragaki continues doing a fine job as Nanbu’s stand in for Joe’s conscious, while Yuri has a meaningful talk with Liu about whether or not to give up on beating Mac through Joe. Now if only we could see what Shark Samejima has been up to for all these years, haha. Sachio also seems to finally get his grudge with Joe resolved, thankfully before he ended up caught up in the same world Joe was stuck in for so many years. And we naturally have to mention Joe’s brief meeting with Mac in the hospital. Just like with Yuri, there’s no grudge or bad blood between the two boxers, but rather respect and admiration, which is both heartwarming and a bit chilling as we now have to see these two good men get very violent with each other very soon. Personally, I can’t wait.