ボクシングに人生をかけた男

[From November Issue 2013]

 

Ashita no Joe (Tomorrow’s Joe)

“Ashita no Joe” (Tomorrow’s Joe) is a work that focuses on its main character, YABUKI Jou (Joe) who is a boxer. It was serialized in the weekly Shukan Shonen Magazine between 1967 and 1973. The anime version was serialized twice on TV and so far it has also been adapted into both animated and live action movies. The show had such a big impact on the public that halfway through the season when Joe’s rival RIKIISHI Tooru dies, an actual funeral service held for him was attended by approximately 700 fans.

At the beginning of the story, Joe appears drifting aimlessly through a downtown district. He does not have any family, and we do not know where he came from, or how he lived up until then. Many day laborers live in the area. Joe meets TANGE Danpei there. A former boxer, Danpei recognizes Joe’s talent and tries to turn Joe into a first-class boxer. However, far from responding to Tange’s enthusiasm, Joe gets mixed up in crime, is arrested then sent to a reform school.

There he encounters Rikiishi who is destined to be his rival. Joe has never lost a fight before, but is defeated by Rikiishi. When he discovers that Rikiishi was a professional boxer, he seriously takes up boxing. NISHI Kanichi, one of his friends at reform school who also later becomes a boxer, senses that Joe becomes unhappier as his strength increases. His unease, like a bad omen, brings an air of tension to the story.

Rikiishi and Joe intend to fight each other as professional boxers after they are released from reform school, but there is a big problem. They are ranked in a different class as there is a weight difference between the two. In order to fight, Rikiishi goes on a strict diet to bring his weight under the limit. Although Rikiishi wins after a desperate struggle through eight rounds, he dies right after the match from a brain hemorrhage caused by weight loss and damage sustained during the fight.

The final blow to Rikiishi was a punch to the temple and, suffering from guilt over killing Rikiishi, Joe can no longer bring himself to deliver this punch. Even though he is repeatedly defeated, Joe cannot give up boxing. Carlos RIVIERA, the uncrowned emperor, arrives on the scene. Rising to the challenge of Carlos’ seemingly unlimited ability, Joe overcomes his trauma. During his match with Carlos, Joe fights intensely, delivering punches to his opponent’s face.

After the match against Joe, Carlos is knocked out in a World title match against Jose MENDOZA. Suffering from punch drunk syndrome there is no hope that Carlos will recover. Moreover, the rumor spreads that it was not Jose who inflicted the damage on Carlos, but Joe, who he had fought right before the title match. At the same time Joe had been trying to suppress the weight he’d gained through his natural physical development, by undergoing an impossible weight loss program.

Furthermore, Joe has also been affected by punch drunk syndrome, too. Those close to him recommend retirement, but, just like the late Rikiishi, he pushes his body to the limit and challenges Jose to a potentially fatal confrontation. The depictions of Joe’s victories and struggles are not romanticized or glorified, which is all the more reason why Joe’s vigorous dedication to boxing is so touching.

Text: HATTA Emiko

[2013年11月号掲載記事]

 

あしたのジョー

「あしたのジョー」は、ボクサーの矢吹丈(ジョー)を主人公にした作品です。週刊少年マガジンに、1967~1973年まで掲載されました。これまでに二度テレビアニメがシリーズ化され、アニメと実写の両方で映画化されています。連載中の社会的反響が大きく、ジョーのライバルである力石徹が死んだときには、実際に葬儀が行われ、700人ほどのファンが参列しました。

物語の冒頭、ある下町にジョーはふらりと現れます。親兄弟はなく、どこから来たのか、どうやって生きてきたのかもわかりません。日雇い労働者が多く住むその町で、ジョーは丹下段平に出会います。元ボクサーだった段平はジョーの才能を見抜き、一流のボクサーに育てようとします。しかしジョーは段平の熱意に応えるどころか、犯罪に手を染めて逮捕され、少年院に送られます。

そこで宿命のライバル、力石と出会います。けんかで負け知らずだったジョーは初めて力石に負けます。力石がプロボクサーだと知り、本気でボクシングにのめり込んでいきます。少年院仲間で、後に同じくボクサーになる西寛一は、ジョーが強くなるたびに不幸になっていくと感じます。この不安は予言のように物語に緊張感をもたらしています。

力石とジョーが少年院を出た後、正式にプロボクサーとして戦うはずでしたが、大きな問題がありました。二人には体重差があり、階級が違っていました。対戦するため、力石は過酷な減量を行い、限界まで体重を落とします。そして8ラウンドにおよぶ死闘の末に力石が勝利するものの、減量と打撃による脳内出血が原因で、試合直後に死んでしまうのです。

力石を殺したという罪の意識に苦しみ、ジョーは致命傷を与えたこめかみへのパンチを打てなくなります。敗北を重ねながらもボクシングを捨てられないジョーの前に、無冠の帝王カーロス・リベラが現れます。底知れない実力を持つカーロスに刺激され、ジョーはトラウマを克服します。カーロス戦では、顔面への打撃を繰り出す激しい試合をします。

ところがそのカーロスも、ジョーとの試合後に行ったホセ・メンドーサとの世界タイトルマッチで、KO負けしてしまいます。そして、パンチドランカーの症状により再起不能になります。しかもカーロスを壊したのはホセでなく、直前に戦ったジョーだという噂がささやかれます。一方でジョーは、体の成長による体重増加を無理な減量で抑え込もうとしていました。

さらにジョーもまたパンチドランカーに侵されていました。周囲は引退を勧めますが、かつての力石のように限界まで体をしぼり、命を落としかねないホセとの対決へと突き進んでいきます。作中では、ジョーの勝利や努力は、賛美も美化もされることなく描かれています。だからこそ、ボクシングにすべてを捧げたジョーの生きざまが胸を打つのです。

文:服田恵美子

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