tomorrow

[sSPOILERS or smn ig egh idk]

i just finished rereading Ashita no Joe, it's a pretty ancient boxing manga, and i haven't read it since I was 17. i dunno, when it comes to something really special, it's hard for me to come back to it for a rewatch. i don't know if its cuz i dont wanna ruin what itr left on me, or if maybe its some other reason, but im glad i reread tomorrow's joe again. 

watching yabuki joe just wondering throughout his life, growing up, with no guidance except his own. causing havoc and mayhem, getting in trouble and finding a passion for something he was truly good at. rikiishi was an amazing rival, and reading their interactions as their blows connect, their eyes never moving. it's alot like a dance. so perfectly choreographed and completely spontaneous. constantly going and only breaking just to approach or be approached again. endless.

there's an element i don't see talked about very well when it comes to Tomorrow's Joe, and it's Love. It's not something that's ever explicitly said to Yabuki, save for the end, but it's something that he is surrounded by. his natural response to love is dejection. having never been loved his whole life and then suddenly surrounded by it and even welcomed by it, he can't do anything but sit down and stare at it in silence. it was something that really, really resonated with me. after everyone had gone and left and fallen asleep, joe laid there crying, but they were tears of happiness, for he had never been loved like that before.

the intimacy and natural long for eachother that joe and rikiishi have is something else, too. from the second they met, joe instantly knew that he was on another level, and rikiishi was. watching their three matches,  all but one of them ending in rikiishis favor, there's so many emotions and shared sentiments that the two silently tell each other. rikiishi damaging and forcing his body to undergo extreme changes just so they could finally see what was at the end of their rope of destiny.  the jabs whistling and finding a way to their target, the crosses and uppercuts thrown into the mix, and finally Yabuki Joe's beautiful Cross-Counter dealing the fatal blow. 

I could yap on forever and ever but ima end it here for nowwww soooo bye