Television series
Ashita no Joe
Ashita no Joe is the boxing anime that invented boxing anime's soul: the tragic idea of burning out rather than fading away. Joe is a scrappy delinquent in the Tokyo slums, trained by a broken-down alcoholic coach, chasing the one fight that might kill him. Drawn in scratchy 1970s lines and thick with melodrama, it never once winks at you. Watch it for the myth it created, not for subtlety.
If you liked this
Hajime no Ippo2000
If Joe made you want more boxing anime with actual technical joy alongside the pain, Ippo delivers hundreds of episodes of genuinely thrilling fights, a shy hero who loves boxing rather than uses it, and structure Ashita no Joe never had time for.
But It's enormous—over 100 episodes across multiple seasons—and its sunnier tone means it never touches Joe's despair.
Rocky1976
The quintessential underdog boxing film, patient and unglamorous, following a nobody club fighter given one shot at greatness—same threadbare-gym poetry as Joe, minus the doom.
But Its optimism and Hollywood polish sit far from Joe's slum grime; sequels cheapen the original's rawness in hindsight.
Raging Bull1980
Scorsese's boxing film has none of Joe's earnestness—it's about a man who destroys everyone including himself—but the black-and-white brutality and obsessive drive rhyme with Joe's self-immolating hunger.
But Jake LaMotta is far less sympathetic than Joe; this is a character study in ugliness, not heroism.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
On the Waterfront1954
Brando's washed-up ex-boxer, forever murmuring 'could have been a contender,' carries the exact wound Joe risks becoming—a fighter destroyed by the people meant to protect him, sixteen years before Joe ever threw a punch on screen.
Predates the tragic-boxer archetype Joe would later perfect—Brando's performance as a corrupted, discarded fighter is one of the most influential in cinema, and the docks setting mirrors Joe's slums.
But It's a slow, dialogue-heavy 1950s drama about union corruption; boxing is backstory, not the main event.
More like this (7)
Cinderella Man2005
A true story of poverty, desperation and boxing as the only way out, told with old-fashioned sincerity—if you want the Depression-era cousin to Joe's slum grit, start here.
But It's considerably more comforting and morally simple than anything in Joe's world, softening real hardship into uplift.
The Fighter2010
A scrappy, family-wrecked boxer and his half-brother's addiction problems echo the Danpei-Joe mentor wreckage, all grounded in a very real, unglamorous Massachusetts town rather than myth.
But More character drama than boxing spectacle; the fights themselves are secondary to the family chaos.
Creed2015
A legacy sequel that reinvents the Rocky formula with real emotional stakes and gorgeous, unbroken-take fight choreography—closest modern equivalent to watching a new fighter's myth get built from scratch.
But It leans on nostalgia for the Rocky series you may not share, and its polish is the opposite of Joe's scrappiness.
Warrior2011
Two estranged brothers claw toward the same MMA tournament from different kinds of ruin—bigger stakes, more modern violence, but the same wounded-family engine that powers Joe and Danpei.
But Its 2010s American masculinity and tournament structure feel far removed from Joe's postwar Japanese slum setting.
Slam Dunk1993
Different sport, same era of scrappy delinquents finding purpose through punishing training—if it's the desperate, unglamorous underdog energy you loved rather than boxing itself, this delivers it with more humour.
But It's basketball, not boxing, and considerably lighter in tone—Joe's despair has no real equivalent here.
Muhammad Ali2021
Joe's whole creed is 'burn out, don't fade away'—Ali actually lived that sentence, and this four-part documentary shows what the real, unglamorous cost of that philosophy looks like outside of fiction.
A serious, unhurried documentary about a real fighter who chose spectacle and conviction over self-preservation, letting you sit with the actual price of Joe's ethos rather than its myth.
But It's a long-form, talky documentary with no fight choreography to thrill you—closer to elegy than entertainment.
Whiplash2014
Swap the gloves for drumsticks and the ring for a jazz conservatory: same abusive-mentor structure, same young man convinced greatness requires annihilating himself, that made Danpei and Joe's bond so uncomfortable to watch.
A ferociously intense film about a student and a monstrous teacher chasing greatness at any cost—same obsessive engine as Joe and Danpei, wearing a completely different costume.
But No sport at all—if it's specifically boxing you're craving, this won't scratch that itch.
Recommended by
Hajime no Ippo, This Sporting Life, Megalo Box, Body and Soul