Megalo Box Nomad – 2 [La desesperación da coraje a los cobardes]

Welcome all to the Spring 2021 season! My name is Lenlo and like usual I get to have the first post of the season. This time brought to you by Megalo Box: Nomad! So without further ado, lets dive in!

And what better way to start off than to talk about the music? Manabu Yamaguchi, also known as Mabanua, has done it again with this OST. Whether it be the ED “El Canto del Colibrí” or the as of yet unnamed festival accordion track or the bar song of episode 1, its great. He has managed to nail that country Spanish twang. I can’t speak to the authenticity of it nor can I speak Spanish beyond a 3rd grade level. But it certainly evokes that imagery, that culture. It makes you feel the setting just as the visuals make you see it. And what’s so astounding, aside from where a Japanese composer found a Spanish singer in Japan, is how different it is from his other works. BNA, Space Dandy, even the first season of Megalo Box. Each have their own unique sounds. And now so to does Nomad.

Moving on to the show proper, Nomad is doing a lot to differentiate itself from the first season. Where Megalo Box was about poverty and finding success against the odds, Nomad seems to be about home. Losing a home, finding a home, what a home means to you, etc. In a way you could interpret also interpret it to be about identity. About figuring out who you are and chosen family. That one seems like more of a stretch however. Fanciful thinking as Nomad starts to separate itself from Ashita no Joe and carve it’s own path. However you choose to interpret though I really like what Nomad is doing so far. The boxing matches were generally the weakest part of Megalo Box. It just didn’t, and still doesn’t, have the animation chops to compete with works like Hajime no Ippo. So this shift in narrative is a welcome one.

What I’m really curious about though is how Nomad is going to work immigration into this theme of home. It’s a complex topic for many and this focus on a Latin America-themed culture comes with a lot of real-world baggage. Worst case this could be insulting and insensitive. But best case I think it could be something really special. It’s not a subject touched on with much tact in anime, Latin American culture specifically almost never. My hope is that it dives deep into this experience. About why they would move so far, about how they are handling it and the difficulties they face. We’ve already seen some of this when the Chief talks to Joe. How they saw him as a Hero and his success lured them in only for reality to be much harsher. Hopefully that isn’t where it ends.

Speaking of Joe, a lot seems to have happened to him. We’ve only gotten bits and pieces so far, most of it from an unreliable narrator. Clearly something happened that threatened Joe’s home. Maybe the mob, maybe a natural disaster, or maybe just Joe’s own self-destructive tendencies. What little we know though clearly isn’t good. It appears that the Coach, Gansanku, is dead. And that whatever happened Joe clearly blames himself for it. Meanwhile Sachio’s fate is unknown and it appears he and Yuri have drifted apart. Based on some flashbacks we saw with Sachio ringside along with Aragaki, a former opponent, it seems Joe continued competing. Maybe underground, maybe professionally, who knows. Whatever the case though he got hurt. Badly. Did he start drinking then and this lead to violent outbursts? Or did that come after Gansaku’s death? I don’t know but I’m very curious what happened.

Meanwhile Joe himself seems to be lacking purpose. Wandering the countryside going from fight to fight, only ever making enough money to afford his drugs and booze. My suspicion is that he’s trying to die in the ring. To die as a Boxer. Either that or he doesn’t have the “courage” to do it himself. It appears though that these immigrants, Marla, Mio and Chief, are giving him something to work towards though. As if helping them will allow him to help himself. Whatever the case I look forward to seeing Joe in the coaches chair for a bit. Maybe it will help him connect with Gansaku, to understand him in whatever happened and to overcome the guilt he feels. No doubt Nomad will put him in the ring eventually. But for now I think Joe needs time. Time and perspective. And the Chief is giving him both of those.

Finally there’s some small stuff I want to talk about that don’t really warrant a full paragraph. Stuff like the Gang and Mio for instance. This is the weakest plot thread to me so far. It just seems so… rote? Like something we have seen before. Maybe it’s because of how heavily involved the mob was back in the original Megalo Box but I’m just not interested. Hopefully Nomad can do something new with it here to keep it fresh and to keep me interested. But I suspect it will live or die by how invested we are in Mio. Similarly this tournament seems very… convenient. It’s a tried and true story sure, an easy way to get Joe involved in some fights. I had just hoped we had moved on from tournaments though with this shift in setting. It could still work, I’m just not excited by it.

All in all though when I think about Nomad this week I can only say I enjoyed it. The upscaled footage is always going to be a problem of course. I wish they didn’t do this just because its the Megalo Box style. But I’ll get used to it soon enough. In the meantime this new setting and culture is more than enough to keep me engaged. I love what Nomad is doing with Joe’s addiction and how welcoming these people are to him. If it can nail their story, this setting, then I think it could be something special. At least very least I hope it stays respectful and doesn’t fall into the pits of mediocrity. Whatever the case only time will tell. See you next week!