Megalo Box Nomad – 10 [Las derrotas pasadas son acompañadas por señales de buena suerte]

Hello all and welcome to another week of Megalo Box Nomad! This is late, I know, but I have a good reason. You see I will be out of the state for work starting Sunday and have been spending the week busily packing and prepping. This also means I will be unable post/writeup Nomad on Sunday as I won’t be able to watch it until Thursday. So yeah, expect this weekend and the week afters to be merged into one post before the final review. Sorry about that. Now on with the show!

And what batter place to begin than with exactly what I wanted to see from Nomad, the family stuff! So much family stuff this week. From Mac to Sachio, Joe to Yuri, the way Nomad managed to tie everything back into the 1st arc. This is exactly what I wanted from the series, up to and including minimal Rosco! While one reader might disagree with me on Rosco’s story overtaking Joe’s, I’m sure we can both agree that this episode benefited a lot from it’s family centric focus. And if I sound like I’m being purposefully vague here that would be because I am. I don’t wanna spoil non-watchers before the break but I also want to give a clear hook to make people read, oh the tightropes we walk. I’m rambling because I’m happy with the episode, I promise.

So actual spoilers: The Mac and Chief parallels. These were really cool in a lot of ways. Not just in the philosophical meta sense of how Joe inspired them both, with Chief’s words of inspiration coming back, but also in their situation. How Mac’s son survived while Chief’s didn’t, the reasons they fight being similar, the respect Joe gives each. It’s a lot personal meaning being added to the fight that wasn’t there prior yet it feels completely natural. Like a continuation of Chief’s legacy, the natural next step of Joe’s journey. Like I have said in previous posts, this is exactly what I wanted out of Mac! I always thought he fit the familial themes of Nomad really well so I’m glad to see that fully realized.

Furthermore the way all of this connected back to Gansaku, how it mimicked the Lie fight from 5 years ago, was great as well. While I’m generally not a fan of “extend the same flashback scene 5 more seconds” as a way of revealing important information I do at least like what got revealed. Namely that Joe didn’t fight Liu for the money, he wasn’t lost on some hope that they could save Gansaku. No, instead he fought to keep the gym going. Fought so that Gansaku would know it would carry on, to hold it together the same way be brought it together: Through power and force of character. That’s a lot more in line with Joe’s character than the previous stuff! He’s brash, he’s selfish, he’s not concerned with money! And the way this new information brought Sachio into the fold to? Delicious.

Everything about Sachio make’s a lot of sense now. His reticence to accept Joe back like everyone else wasn’t based in hatred, at least not completely. Rather there was an element of… jealousy? I can’t think of the proper word but he was afraid of losing his place now that Joe had returned. Sachio was determined to take his place, to become the new beacon to hold the Team Nowhere together. And he failed. It explains a lot about why he gave up engineering, his focus on boxing, etc. I’m not sure a boxing match was the best way to portray this moment though. I get that it’s something both of them understand, a deal Sachio would take and a sort of proof that Sachio will never be Joe. But I don’t think I’ve ever resolved an argument by just beating the other person down. Not and still been friends.

Anyways this post has taken long enough as is and I don’t want to wait any longer while I think up what to say. The long and short of it is that this was a good episode of Nomad. From the big stuff with Joe and Sachio to even the little bits like the mob boss looking after him for Gansaku. It was filled with callbacks that felt organic, like natural extensions of the characters. I’m still a bit concerned with where the Rosco side of the story is going from here but I’m confident now that at least the Mac end will be handled well.

As for future posts, once again, sorry this took so long and is so incomplete. I know there’s a lot I missed worth talking about here such as Joe’s collapse, Yuri and Liu’s conversation and the full meaning behind Gansaku’s words to Sachio. I could have spent a lot more time about Sachio and Joe’s reconciliation, etc. Work has been hectic but after my business trip next week I should be back to full power and a lot more consistent. At least work had the decency to calm down before the final reviews right?