Megalo Box – 12 [Leap Over the Edge of Death]

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the hypest episode of the season, as Megalo Box lays everything on the table for next week’s finale. Lets just jump right into it.

Megalo Box has a lot going on this week. We saw the return of multiple characters and got updates on their lives. We were shown backstories for our leads, and best of all Yuri made his choice. But we will get to him.  First up, the ending rap. I am not normally a fan of rap, and what Megalo Box and Devilman Crybaby of last season made me realize is, that’s because I hate the subject matter. The “gangsta” lifestyle makes for terrible music to me. But lyrics about people, their struggles, who they are? Reminds me of Eminem’s “Mockingbird” and “When I’m Gone”, the only rapper I could ever stand. That plus the uniqueness of hearing Japanese rap, so very distinct from English, just really sells it. If nothing else this season, Megalo Box has succeeded in getting me to buy its soundtrack on the 27th.

Now Megalo Box’s big reveal this week, Yuri and his gear. I had a hunch this would happen. Yuri’s choice was always going to be between Yukiko and Joe, and his entire character arc was going from domesticated back to the stray Mikio named him. Yet, even though I figured this would happen, the moment wasn’t lessened one bit. The conflict between him and Yukiko, of her respecting his dreams vs fighting for her own. His refusal of drugs, which I thought would be a plot hole, but was instead him setting action to his convictions. I loved it all, especially his dream in the haze of pain of him burning to ash. Reminded my of Icarus for a bit there. While all of this was great for Yuri’s character though, the whole sequence made me think one thing: Yuri is probably going to die.

To expand, I have long suspected that Joe would die in the finale, based on the end of Ashita no Joe. Joe has been messed up until now in fights, and it just made sense. Now though? This is the perfect subversion. Instead of Joe dieing, mimicking the original Ashita no Joe, they instead kill the antagonist who gives up everything to face him. Then Joe lives on with this dream, this real taste of Megalo Boxing (without the Megalo at this point I suppose). Its possible they kill both, but that would be rather weak I feel. One of them needs to live to see the stories end. I think Joe lives because of how much this has affected his life. He’s a citizen in all but name now, he has a future, and Yuri has clearly affected him deeply if the end of the episode is any indication.

Now lets take a moment to talk about our returning characters, like Mikio. I still standby the fact that Mikio is not a good person. Dudes an ass. But seeing him after Joe’s fight, living in the forest, disconnecting from his life in the Shirato company? Getting away from everything that made him act so toxic? Finding himself? That was good to see. And even with this newfound spirituality, Mikio was still all for messing with Yukiko. You could say he was helping Yuri remove the gear to get to see him fight Joe. That he was excited about it or wanted to help him. Me though? I think this was his last stab at Yukiko, at least partially. Taking away the headliner for her gear, after his own special gear was shut down by Joe. Its like, at the end, he still gets the last laugh against her.

Next up we got the return of Aragaki. He came back at the perfect time, reminding Joe of a tough fight and the first big obstacle he had getting into Megalo Boxing. Aragaki’s return also wasn’t just fanservice, since he filled a clear purpose. With Nanbu unable to see, this was the perfect way to reintroduce him intelligently. Its little things like this that show everyone is rooting for Joe. I like it, old characters we know coming back if only for a moment, more than flashing to random streets and citizens. It really helps the viewer remember how far we have come. In a series with more than 13 episodes, this could sort of reintroduction could take up an entire episode. Luckily Megalo Box found other things to fill its time with, and it did well.

So, expectations for the finale. I am very nervous and very excited. With Megalo Box’s history of fights, I have no idea what to expect. It could be great if they were holding back time and money for just this single fight. It could be the same average eh we have had up till this point. Will it severely impact my enjoyment of the fight if its the same quality as say Mikio’s? No, because Megalo Box is a character drama with boxing, not a sports anime. Would a high impact, beautifully animated fight make this the best finale of the season? Entirely possible. Everything is setup for this to be fantastic. The music, the characters, the story, everything. It just needs one last push to go from “Best of the Season” to a contender for “Best of the Year”. We will have to wait and see.

But what about you? What do you expect/want to see from next episode? See you next time for Finale week for Spring 2018!