Interview with MEGALOBOX Director Yo Moriyama and Producer Minako Fujiyoshi

On Saturday, November 16, Anime NYC hosted MEGALOBOX director Yo Moriyama and producer Minako Fujiyoshi as part of their expansive guest list. They both participated in a special panel looking at the past, present, and future of MEGALOBOX – a modern reimagining of the Ashita no Joe boxing manga and anime franchise.

Note: This interview was conducted press-junket style with journalists from many outlets present to ask questions.

Shortly after, they were proud to announce that a sequel is in development and debuted a new trailer for the upcoming second season. According to Crunchyroll, the sequel will be set seven years after the end of the first season, with an older Joe rocking a beard and longer hair.

I had a chance to interview both Moriyama and Fujiyoshi on behalf of MANGA.TOKYO. We talked about the anime’s story and characters, the musical production, and the life lessons fans can take away from the series.

Where does the phrase “Not Dead Yet…” come from and how important is it to the anime as a whole?

Moriyama: So that was an idea that I came up with. It’s a message saying that [Joe] won’t die. During production, we portrayed him as fighting throughout each episode. It’s also a message for the Ashita no Joe fans because in the original work, there’s a protagonist and rival and one of them dies. But, I didn’t necessarily want to keep the story that way. I wanted to give out the unexpected to the original work’s fans.

Was there any pressure in taking the story of a classic manga/anime series and modernizing it to make it stand out?

Moriyama: Of course.

Fujiyoshi: Initially, I was pretty optimistic that things would go well. Moriyama handled the creative side of things and he was feeling a lot of pressure from the start. For myself, I started feeling that gradually as it progressed.

How did you connect with hip hop artist mabanua and get him involved with the anime’s music production?

Fujiyoshi: Moriyama listed out all the possible artists as candidates and that number turned out to be around 20. This included artists on a global scale, so realistically thinking, we weren’t sure we could send an offer.

One of those on the list was mabanua and the music department of our company offered him the project. He thought it was interesting because he had the chance to work on the entire content of the production. So, that’s how we got him on board and I’d say it was a miracle that we could get him.

What are your thoughts on the rivalry between Joe and Yuri?

Moriyama: When we started out, we actually had Joe and Yuri as the two guys that were fighting each other, so the rivalry was already there. That was the whole centerpiece of MEGALOBOX. Especially because the original work had Joe and [Toru] Rikiishi, so that was something we founded [it] upon and it was an integral part of the entire thing.

What message or theme do you hope MEGALOBOX fans take away from the anime?

Moriyama: The biggest message that I wanted to send out is the focus on the individual. The way that individual characters are living their life and going through all the things they’re going through. When we made MEGALOBOX, we didn’t specifically have a target audience in Japan or the rest of the world. The focus on individualism and doing things by yourself is the main theme of this work.

Was there any inspiration taken from real boxing matches in regards to the animated fights?

Moriyama: I did watch them, but that was mostly as inspiration for drawing the illustrations. So it wasn’t a specific match, per se. I would of course get excited and had a lot of fun while watching them. But, most of my intentions were to reference the movements in matches, so it wasn’t just specifically the boxer or a specific scene. I was really more focused on the movement.

Do you have a final message for those who have watched the series and are awaiting the sequel?

Fujiyoshi: I understand that there’s a lot of love regarding MEGALOBOX and I’m very happy about it. I’m also very happy to say that MEGALOBOX 2 is in development and we definitely wouldn’t want to disappoint the fans. I’m very much looking forward to it.

Moriyama: There’s really not much I can say at this point. I’m really trying to give out a very different angle compared to the first MEGALOBOX. So I think we can definitely give fans something that is beyond their expectations.

Caption: Yo Moriyama (left) and Minako Fujiyoshi (right)

MEGALOBOX 2 is in development and a release date is to be determined. You can keep up to date on any news about the production with the links below.