Megalo Box Nomad – 13 [El con alas lleva al sin alas, y el sin alas bendice al con alas]

Welcome all to the finale of Megalo Box: Nomad! It’s been an interesting ride with ups and downs, both of which we will talk about in this weeks episode. If you’re looking for a final review just give me a few days, it’s almost done. So without further ado lets dive in!

First up lets talk about the visual aspects of the fight. By and large I would say it was… lackluster? Meh? I wouldn’t call it disappointing because the narrative beats were strongly delivered. But as far as fights go Nomad’s best action was still a sparring match. Its a really weird allocation of resources to me. Did they not want the spectacle to overrun or take away from the narrative of Mac’s fight? Or did they just decide that the simpler background and lighting of the sparring match was easier to handle? I’m not sure. Whatever the case though, this fight wasn’t a very “hype” fight and that was a little disappointing. Luckily for us that the fight wasn’t the main draw of the episode or even the show. That honor goes to the narrative.

I really liked the actual story that went into this fight. Not Yukiko and Sakuma, we will talk about them, but Mac and Joe. I loved how their stories came full circle here. How Mac found solace and strength in his family. How he never realized his full potential, his own talent, until he accepted their support. You might say it was a tad ham-fisted, that Nomad overused the Hummingbird metaphor, but you know what? I don’t care. This did it for me. The self-actualization of this immigrant hero, breaking the chains of the corporation and his own self doubt to fully embody the Hero that he doubted he could be. It was a nice ending to a good, if compressed, character arc. And considering I went into the match thinking he would lose, it was a nice surprise as well.

Meanwhile Joe got an ending just as good. He wasn’t able to overcome his flaws, he didn’t change who he was. At his core Joe is still someone who lives for the fight, who enjoys boxing against strong opponents. And just like before, just like 7 years ago, he started to self-destruct. Except this time his family was there. This time he heeded them, trusted them, and prioritized coming back safely. Just like Mac, his family was there to see him safely home. And though they supported them in different ways they both still come back to the same core theme of Nomad. I thought that was pretty cool! Especially because I thought Mac would be the one to self-destruct and die, a casualty of Sakuma’s games. This ending was much more wholesome, and conclusive I feel, than what I originally expected.

This brings me to the weird part of the episode, Sakuma. I’ll be honest: I don’t really get what happened here and I don’t really like how much time it took up while resolving. I get that Yukiko blackmailed Sakuma. She was willing to go down with him if it meant protecting Mac and fixing the chip. But what I don’t get is why Sakuma agreed to anything she said if he was going to go to jail anyways? It’s such a weird conclusion to the arc, to his role in the story. Especially when the only thing he even brought to the table was how corporations take advantage of those in need. Once that was established, once Mac broke those chains and resolved that arc, Sakuma stopped being important. I don’t see why he needed this big scene. Well… at least it gave us Casual Yukiko.

All in all I think this was a good, conclusive way to end Nomad. It was… softer than I expected, in a way. No one died, the families are back together, everyone (important) lives happily ever after. You might consider it to hopeful on the front. That everyone comes out OK in the end. But for me, for a story about the importance about family and closure, I think it fits really well. This was a story about starting in a dark place and working your way out of it. It would be wrong to taint that happiness, that joy at the end of the journey, with something somber and cold. Of course this means that there’s no setup for a third season. But there wasn’t setup for a 2nd season at the end of Megalo Box either, was there?

Thanks for reading! Final review is like… 90% done. I just need to finish the first draft, write in some final thoughts on the narrative and it should be out soon. I’m a lot more positive on this experience than I was with Eighty Six so hopefully it will make for better reading. See you soon!