English Dub Review: Megalo Box “Buy or Die?”

Gonna fly now.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Junk Dog (Kaiji Tang) is a prodigy in the sport of Megalo Boxing, similar to regular boxing but with metal arm attachments for that extra punch. He currently works in an underground fighting ring with really low tech equipment but is always forced to take a dive at the last minute, even though he could beat any of his opponents in a heartbeat and dreams of the day he’ll be allowed to. One fateful night, he nearly runs over Yukiko Shirato (Erika Harlacher), overseer of the upcoming Megalonia tournament to find the best Megalo Boxer. Junk Dog has some contention with her thoughts on what makes a “real” boxer, but her bodyguard Yuri (Lex Lang), the current champion, almost fights him off before Yukiko calls him off. The next day, Yuri arrives to fight Junk Dog on his home turf, so he finally gets a chance to prove his strength.

OUR TAKE

This synopsis might seem shorter than my usual ones, but that’s mostly because there isn’t actually a ton that happens in this episode. Instead, Megalo Box uses much of its first installment to set the scene, in a sense. This was one of the hottest shows of the Spring Anime Season this year for several reasons, and one of those was its numerous visual throwbacks to things that anime of the current decade have noticeably lost back in the 90’s. Things like a grimey, lived-in setting or more hand drawn backgrounds and animation instead of reliance on CGI having more sternly drawn characters as opposed to open-eyed moeblobs. Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with how most anime are handled today, but there has been a significant change in practice since the times that Megalo Box’s artstyle and tone are emulating.

So, while we are grooving on the nostalgia trip that was these past twenty minutes, there are a few things that can be gleamed from the plot so far. Junk Dog seems to just want to be able to fight his best against good opponents, but because of his being dirt poor and apparently not even being a registered citizen where he’s living, he can only get paid for literally pulling his punches. But now that he’s gotten the attention of both the organizer of this big tournament AND the reigning champ of the sport, things might be turning around for him once they learn he can hold his own. I don’t see him beating Yuri next episode, since it’s very clearly painted as a way to show him that he still has a long way to go, but it will likely serve the story well, so it’s fine.

I should also probably mention that this series was made to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of a legendary boxing manga and anime, Ashita no Joe. I only know of that series by reputation and haven’t read or seen any of it, so that’s likely not going to influence my feelings as I watch Megalo Box. Just as well, as this seems to be almost completely unrelated to that series…which makes me wonder how this is meant to act as a celebration of it beyond the boxing. Regardless, I’m really looking forward to seeing what they hype with this show earlier in the year was all about, and I think I’m starting to get it if they continue to work this well.