Retrospect in Retrograde: Ring ni Kakero 1 (Anime)

OK, this whole thing has greatly exceeded even my own expectations, i.e. this is gonna be long, so strap yourselves in. Therefore, I'll just cut to the chase: Ring ni Kakero 1 is one of my favorite anime of all time, yet has gone so under the radar of English-speaking fandom for the past 17 years that it might as well have never existed in the first place. To say that this anime means something to me would be putting it lightly (it IS what truly made me a fan of Masami Kurumada, after all), and I even promised myself to never watch it again with an English translation until it gets licensed, because I wanted that translated re-watch to mean something. However, I think over a entire decade since the fourth season finished airing in mid-2011 is long enough time for me to break that completely arbitrary restriction and give the Ring ni Kakero 1 anime the Retrospect in Retrograde treatment, not to mention with today being the 40th Anniversary of the manga's final chapter.

It's rare to find an anime composed of individual seasons
that were made far enough apart to be done in two different aspect ratios!

When Masami Kurumada debuted Ring ni Kakero/Put It All in the Ring in Weekly Shonen Jump at the start of 1977, I'm sure absolutely no one had an inkling of how influential it would be on manga, specifically the kind of "shonen action" that would often be the most popular. I mean, Shueisha literally advertised it as "The Hot-Blooded Fighting Manga Bible" for its digital re-release in 2014. So when the final chapter came out at the tail end of 1981, it's no surprise that Jump gave it special, first-time-ever treatment by giving the first four pages "lead color" status (i.e. they were fully painted in color & started the entire issue of Jump), and giving the remaining pages "all color" status (i.e. they were all painted in tones of red), something that would only be replicated later on in the 90s with Dragon Ball & Slam Dunk; Naruto would then offer fully-painted (digital) color for the entirety of its final chapter in 2014. To this day, you can still trace almost any popular action series' style & execution, especially those in Jump, to Ring ni Kakero in some way, because they are still following the "bible" that Kurumada wound up writing.

"So why didn't RnK receive an anime back in the day, if it was so successful?", you might be asking...

The seeming answer to that is a simple one: Masami Kurumada just didn't have any interest at the time, and back then that was enough; he later did have interest in an anime, but by then the manga was nearing its end, & no one else was interested. However, things changed after Saint Seiya debuted in 1986, and over the course of the next 18 years we'd see adaptations of that, Fuma no Kojirou, & B't X. So when Kurumada celebrated 30 years as a mangaka in 2004, he finally decided to let Ring ni Kakero be made into an anime, 27 years after it first debuted; it also likely acted as supplemental advertising for then-running sequel manga Ring ni Kakero 2. Following a 5-minute test pilot directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, Toei Animation would produce a 12-episode Ring ni Kakero 1 anime (named after, & technically adapting from, the 2001 "Deluxe Edition" manga re-release), which aired in late-night on TV Asahi in the Fall of 2004 and saw its final two episodes aired together on the same night. A second 12-episode season, Nichibei Kessen-hen/Pacific War Chapter (or "Japan vs. U.S."), would air on TV Asahi in the Spring of 2006, also in late-night. After that, it'd take four years for more RnK1 anime to get made, with the Spring of 2010 seeing a 6-episode third season, Shadow, which aired on Animax's Sky Perfect! & Suka-chan premium PPV channels. That was followed by the Spring of 2011 seeing Sekai Taikai-hen/World Tournament Chapter, another 6-episode season that aired on Animax itself. These last two seasons were produced in 16:9 HD, compared to the first two seasons both being in 4:3 SD "digipaint", though the entire anime has never seen better than DVD release.

Following Sekai Taikai-hen, Toei has moved back to only ever producing Saint Seiya anime, so much so that it's effectively made adapting any other Masami Kurumada manga into anime an impossibility, Toei or elsewhere, outside of pachislot machines. Still, despite stopping before adapting the final three story arcs of the manga, let's look back on the 36 episodes that we did get, see if they work as a standalone product, and determine if this series has deserved the sheer lack of any attention that it's received in English-speaking anime fandom ever since the first season debuted 17 years ago.

Four seasons, so four group shots of our leads.

Ryuji Takane & his older sister Kiku are the children of a pro boxer who died before becoming champion. In order to help give their grieving mother a better life, Kiku takes Ryuji from their Yamaguchi prefecture home to Tokyo in hopes of training him into a pro that surpasses even their father. Ryuji eventually meets boxing prodigy Jun Kenzaki, with the two becoming friendly rivals who push each other to become stronger. Now, Ryuji & Kenzaki are about to fight in the finals of the Metropolitan Jr. Boxing Tournament, their third fight overall, with the winner set to represent Tokyo prefecture in the upcoming Japan Jr. Champion Carnival. Following the Carnival, the two will team with Chiba's Ishimatsu Katori, Kyoto's Kazuki Shinatora, & Niigata's Takeshi Kawai to form Golden Japan Jr., as they take on a makeshift Team America lead by American Jr. Champion Black Shaft, the mysterious Shadow Clan that wishes to replace them, & finally the 1979 World Tournament itself, facing off against Italy, France, Germany & Greece in order to achieve their goal of "Perfect Victory, World Conquest".

One should remember that this anime is adapting a manga that originally ran in the late 70s & early 80s, so after over 40 years the cast can feel rather simple & straightforward, though one can certainly argue that it gives them a refreshingly novel appeal today. Considering the manga's status as a "bible", however, that also means that they are the bases that most others of their ilk have built off of over the decades. Ryuji is dedicated, eager to push himself to be stronger, & very friendly when not in battle; he may be limited in pure technical skill, but his indestructible will more than makes up for it. Kiku is an energetic tomboy of a coach, though her relevance gets lessened as the story moves on, as she feels that Ryuji has to be able to learn what to do on his own. Kenzaki is a cocky prodigy, though he respects others who are truly strong (like his teammates), and uses them to force himself to be even better. There's also a budding romantic relationship between Kenzaki & Kiku, though that becomes more pronounced after where the anime covers; the romantic tension does get established just enough in the anime, though. Ishimatsu is generally the comic relief character, but within his short stature is a hot-blooded & passionate boxer. Shinatora is a stoic & serious (sort of) delinquent, made that way through the harsh, bushido-focused kendo training his father put him through, one that gave him a mental block preventing the use of his (previously injured) right arm in fights. To compensate, Shinatora has a "Miraculous Defense", as he can quickly dodge attacks at a split-second, making it look like people are simply punching through him. Finally, Kawai starts off as a smug "noble boy", but learns to respect his fellow boxers, while his prodigious skills as a pianist allows him to convert the flows of fights into various musical concepts, like an allegro or period. Beyond them are supporting cast members Zoroku "Pops" Omura & Rokusuke "Rock-san" Ohno, the respective father figure to Ryuji & Kiku and prospective pro boxer at the Omura Gym the Takane siblings live at, who start appearing later on in the anime (Seasons 2 & 3, respectively) for the occasional bits of exposition or bonus support; Omura even doubles as an occasional narrator for the last two seasons.

We start with the subtitle-less "Season 1" of Ring ni Kakero 1, which adapts the final fight of the Metropolitan Tournament Chapter, the second story arc, in the first two episodes for set-up, before adapting all of the Champion Carnival Chapter, the third story arc. As you can tell, this means that the anime does something non-traditional: It doesn't start from the beginning of the manga. In particular, the anime skips over the first year or so of the manga's original serialization (or roughly 60 weeks), which details Ryuji & Kiku's arrival in Tokyo, meeting Kenzaki, Ryuji & Kenzaki's first two fights, and the rest of the Metropolitan Tournament (i.e. Ryuji's quarterfinal match). However, it's a decision that honestly makes sense for one main reason, which is that Ring ni Kakero's beginning is notably different from what it'd become most iconic for. Initially, Kurumada made a direct Ashita no Joe homage, which resulted in more of a character drama execution. In fact, Ryuji originally had to share lead status at points with Rock-san, who was actually going pro, to help push the dramatic sports elements, like passing the pro test & winning a professional match. Eventually, Kurumada felt that he needed to move away from simply imitating Joe & create his own style, which resulted in the shift towards being more of an action spectacle, inspired by over-the-top Jump baseball manga Team Astro & its ability to "attract" the audience with its (literal) superhuman feats. Because of this, having the RnK1 anime start from the beginning would result in it (arguably) giving the wrong first impression. In fact, while Shinatora appears early in the manga in a observatory role, Ishimatsu & Kawai don't appear at all until the Champion Carnival, while the majority of the supporting cast from this early portion (namely Ryuji's classmates & teachers) stop appearing at all after the Carnival ends. Therefore, I fully understand the decision to jump ahead from the start.

The end result, then, is to start with Ryuji & Kenzaki's third match, with the first episode using some flashbacks in its first half to explain the early plot points newcomers would need to know ASAP, namely why Ryuji & Kiku left their mother & home, how Ryuji & Kenzaki first met, & how their first fight ended; the OP sequence also shows images of some other "pre-anime" moments of note, which is a nice touch. Also, the only person from the "classmate" supporting cast who carries over into the anime is Sachiko Kimura, who appears with Kiku as Ryuji's second/cornerman throughout the Carnival, though she's gone for the successive seasons. Finally, Shinatora, Kawai, & Ishimatsu all appear in the crowd for Ryuji/Kenzaki III, replacing the real-life boxers who reacted to the fight in the manga, which helps introduce them as major characters to keep a watch out for immediately.

Had to bring up the contrast on this image,
because of the pure white background.

Is it an ideal way to start off? Admittedly, it's not, but I can attest that it still works just fine in retrospect, since the RnK1 anime is how I first experienced Ring ni Kakero back around early 2005, with my only prior experience with anything by Kurumada being the B't X anime. Therefore, while it's obvious that you are missing out on some details, the anime still manages to let you know the most important things by the end of Episode 2. Also, this season flashes back every now & then to other "pre-anime" moments when relevant. Plus, do remember that this is based on a manga from the late 70s/early 80s, i.e. the storytelling itself was much more "to the point", so you aren't missing much in terms of deep characterization that the anime neglects to inform you of.

Beyond that, Season 1 is as an expanded adaptation of the Champion Carnival, in particular by introducing the "World Rivals" here, instead of saving all but one for the World Tournament. In particular, Season 1 introduces German Jr. Champion "Führer" Skorpion, his "Staff Officer" Helga, and French Jr. Champion Napoleon Baroa much earlier than in the manga, and while they don't exactly do much of anything, though Helga does have a bit more relevance (as he oversees everyone's fights, for research), you still manage to get a feeling for the kinds of characters they are through their scenes. As for other "expansions", it really comes down to giving the fights more time (as they generally went by really fast in the manga), featuring more character interactions outside of battle, & simply letting moments breathe more & be seen from everyone's perspective, instead of primarily Ryuji & Kiku's point of view. In fact, Episode 7 here is almost completely original content, all meant to help develop the cast more than the manga did at this point. Overall, despite a less-than-ideal start due to the need to skip the early portion of the manga to get to the "main attraction", Season 1 of Ring ni Kakero 1 is still a very solid start for the anime series as a whole, expanding on the Champion Carnival in ways that benefits not just the story itself that's told here, but also in ways that will become more apparent in later seasons. There are some negatives on the production side of things, but even that's made up for by other aspects, which we'll get to later.

You see this cat Shaft is a bad mother (Shut your mouth)
But I'm talkin' about Black Shaft (Then we can dig it)

Up next is Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen-hen, a.k.a. "Season 2", & let's now focus on the World Rivals, since American Jr. Champion Black Shaft is the focus for this season. In particular, the World Rivals are all portrayed via national stereotypes, though I'd argue that Japan Jr. is also stereotypical, as they follow the old concept of "Yamato damashii", or the traditional "Japanese spirit". Skorpion & Helga are portrayed as highly organized & tactical to the point of being militaristic, and the manga originally had them use the Nazi Swastika as their insignia. Considering its prior history with Nazi Germany, Japan just didn't see the imagery as anything more than "German bad guy" for a time (see: Brockenman in Kinnikuman), and would even redeem some of them to be good guys (see: Brocken Jr.). Understandably, the anime removes all Nazi imagery, and even the original manga eventually did the same for the 2014 digital release, because it was truly nothing more than "cheap heat". Napoleon Baroa (& later his brothers that make up Team France) is a full-on reference to The Rose of Versailles' iconic Oscar François de Jarjayes, though only in terms of visual design, as personality-wise he follows the idea that the French are stuck-up, snooty, & beautiful romantics. Season 2 also acts as an early introduction to Italian Jr. Champion Don Giuliano, the head of the Jr. Mafia who refers to himself as a "Sicilian Dandy", & is obsessed with being seen as "cool". While the usage of international stereotypes can rub some the wrong way, & understandably so (especially with how Team Germany was originally portrayed), the usage in RnK (both the manga & anime) is really only done for the sake of instantly establishing character traits, and looks to have been done without any real malice intended. If the stereotypes seen in Mobile Fighter G Gundam (which was immensely influenced by Ring ni Kakero) didn't deter you from that show, then they won't in this anime, and the toning down of some aspects (namely for Team Germany) is appreciated.

Then there's Black Shaft, a blatantly obvious reference to the blaxsploitation films that were at their biggest during the 70s. While him being African American is remarkably ahead of its time for the manga, and even back then he avoided all of the unfortunate blackface-style visuals that were common, he's still a stereotypical American, so he's brash, cocky, self-centered, a ladies man, & extremely egotistical. However, back in the synopsis I called the Team America seen in Season 2 "makeshift", and that's because Shaft has no intention of taking Japan Jr. seriously in this arc. His intention is to take them out in a blatantly unfair fashion, so (with the assistance of Don Giuliano's connections) he recruits four people who are obviously not Jr. boxers in any way: Monster Jail, a 9' tall death row inmate who's killed 15 16 people in the past; Miss Shanell, whose mesmerizing eyes lure opponents into a defenseless & hypnotic lull; Hell Mick, leader of the Great Angels motorcycle gang (yes, it is literally the Hells Angels in the manga); & Mr. Whitie, the self-proclaimed "World's Superstar" & "King of the South"; in the manga, Whitie is also a white supremacist KKK Grand Wizard. Japan Jr., though, isn't taken 100% by surprise by this, as Kenzaki gets the info by way of Catherine, a U.S. Army intelligence officer (& Helga's old rival in private school) who works for the Kenzaki Family's New York corporate branch & acts as the team's second during this story arc. This is another anime-early introduction, as she also doesn't debut in the manga until partway through the World Tournament.

Season 2 is definitely the rockiest one of all, and it mainly comes down to pacing due to how long this arc is in the manga... or maybe I should say how short it is. You see, everything that's covered in this season only totals to a little more than a single Japanese tankouban-worth of content. Traditionally, that'd only equate to around 3 to 5 episodes of anime, but this is a 12-episode season, so it becomes extremely obvious that there's a ton of expansion here, risking into the territory of becoming outright "filler"; some episodes literally only adapt 1 to 5 pages of the manga. Some of it, like establishing a working relationship between Shaft & Giuliano, showing spars between Japan Jr. members, seeing Shinatora's dad (& even sister) beat up a bunch of Hells Angels knockoffs, giving Ishimatsu & Monster Jail more of a personal relation both before & after their fight, & explaining the rigorous training Ishimatsu, Kawai, & Shinatora went through beforehand, is honestly really good & helps flesh this season out in cool ways. We even get to see RnK2 character Caesar Giuliano (Don's oldest son) as a baby, in a wild bit of fanservice-y foreshadowing with a gun. However, stuff like Ishimatsu & Kawai's fights being extended to roughly two entire episodes, each, can honestly be a grind that slows things down.

That's because in the manga Japan Jr. pretty much wipes the floor with the non-boxers that Shaft brings in, with only the final "Champion vs. Champion" fight between Ryuji & Shaft being an actual contest. However, that'd make for a rather bland (& extremely short) TV series, so it makes sense that the fights were stretched out & given more drama. Outside of simply adapting two story arcs at six episodes each, which would have easily been better in retrospect but I imagine would have made for trickier marketing at the time, there really was no other choice to be made. The expansion seen here is understandable in how it's handled, & a lot of it is actually rather good (this season pulls from RnK2 the most, and Kawai's training would even get referenced near the end of RnK2 itself), but it's still nowhere near ideal in terms of pacing. The end result is that Season 2, as I put in my original review back in 2010, is a case of "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back", as while it's a better season production-wise (though still with its faults), it falters in terms of the storytelling. That said, it's not a bad season of RnK1, but it's the weakest of the four.

Since the Shadow Tower is an homage to The Game of Death,
Ryuji vs. Nobi is obviously Bruce Lee vs. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Then there's Ring ni Kakero 1: Shadow, a.k.a. "Season 3", which in the manga is where the storytelling truly starts heading into a more fantastical direction. In particular, this season focuses on the Shadow Clan, which was formed by a man back in the Taisho period (i.e. the 1920s) that managed to fuse the sweet science with assassination techniques, resulting in him killing an American soldier who had challenged him. He was then excommunicated from Japan's first boxing gym & went into hiding, slowly finding himself followers that have since formed a clan of "Shadow Boxers". With Golden Japan Jr. becoming the country's shining hope for the World Tournament, the Shadow Clan wishes to take out our leads & be the new reps, bringing the Clan back into the light after 60 years. The story told here, then, is neatly split up into two halves: Episodes 1-3 detail Ryuji fighting his way up the five-story "Shadow Tower" pagoda in order to rescue Kiku, who had been kidnapped to force Ryuji's hand (a very cool homage to Bruce Lee's unfinished film, The Game of Death), while Episodes 4-6 detail a traditional 5-on-5 boxing battle between Japan Jr. & the Shadow Clan's best fighters, including their leader Sousui, in front of the Tower of the Sun at Senri Hills. Yes, the word "sousui" simply means "leader", but everyone outside of the Shadow Clan uses it as a actual name for him later in the manga, so I might as well keep it untranslated.

But most relevant, starting with this arc, is the concept of "superblows", extremely powerful punches with special names that can break the laws of physics at their strongest. Kenzaki is described as punching with so much force that he smashes atoms, effectively creating light (i.e. a microscopic big bang). Shinatora can punch so fast that he can deliver 3 (& later 5) left straights to his opponent's body & head in the span of a second. While Ryuji's Boomerang Hook & Shinatora's Rolling Thunder were the first to be introduced during the Champion Carnival, it's with the 5-on-5 fight here that we see the superblow start to become a regular thing. Ishimatsu's Hurricane Bolt sees him jumping high into the sky so that he can use gravity to help add to the force of his blow. Kawai's Jet Upper has him bringing his right arm & fist as close to the mat as humanly possible before rising back up with a devastating uppercut, so as to gain extra momentum & force. Sousui's Shadow Raijinken is an uppercut that booms with the strength of the thunder god himself. In Season 4, Ryuji's Boomerang Hook gets improved into the Boomerang Square, which imparts rotation so strong that his opponent literally spins around the fixed axis of his fist, possibly inspired by Popeye's iconic Twisker Punch; what, Popeye was highly influential in Japan. While the anime had amped up fights prior to Season 3 as a sort of stylistic catch up, it's at this point where the manga starts fully embracing the spectacle & turns into the "SF Boxing" it'd be called in Japan back in the day, and the anime follows through, in turn.

As for how Season 3 fares as an adaptation of the Shadow Chapter in the manga, it's as close to a 1:1, page-for-page adaptation as you can get. For example, where Season 2 never went more than ~30 pages of the manga adapted for an episode (& for the majority it was a stretch to even reach double-digits), the first three episodes of Season 3 adapt from 40-70 pages each, and minus just a couple of small details are quite literally panel-for-panel adaptations. This results in a very fast pace to each episode, whereas before the pacing would be a little bit slower at points (even in Season 1), and while the other three episodes average a little fewer pages/episode their pacing doesn't change all too much. That's because the original RnK manga is a very fast-paced series, with fights that (once you get to where the anime starts adapting) very rarely overstay their welcome by any means; if anything, you can argue that some go by a bit too fast. Another interesting aspect for Season 3 is in how it aims to make each half distinct from each other. The story involving rescuing Kiku from the Shadow Tower utilizes a lot of unique music that establishes a dark mystique for the Shadow Clan, and even the episode title splashes for the first two episodes differ in style than any other episode in the anime. Meanwhile, the story regarding the 5-on-5 challenge returns things back to what had been the usual before this season, but now with better aesthetics & production. Overall, Season 3 is my favorite season of RnK1, and while I had been a big fan of the anime before this, this was the season that truly made it one of my all-time favorites.

Tug-of-war-esque superblow clashes become a common
thing with the last two seasons, and I have no problems with that.

Finally, there's Ring ni Kakero 1: Sekai Taikai-hen, a.k.a. "Season 4", which acts as the climax for the anime, as a whole. Because of introducing the World Rivals starting all the way back in Season 1, & featuring them all throughout, the anime had essentially been teasing & building up the World Tournament ever since the beginning, so after a nearly 7-year wait, i.e. 2004 to 2011, the "main event" finally happens. In terms of pacing, Season 4 is what Season 2 would have been like had it only been six episodes instead of twelve, i.e. it's primarily about the fast-paced fights. Emanating from Yoyogi National Stadium, every episode here features anywhere from two to four notable fights, depending on the opposing team, so it's easy to see what the focus is on for this final season. That being said, I should point out that, due to being more focused on direct manga adaptation, the sheer number of fights (& how utterly short some of them are) does indeed match that of the manga. Again, this is a series from the 70s, so the "to the point" storytelling results in only the most notable of fights actually running for longer than just a few pages, which in turn results in the shorter fights being done in mere minutes in Season 4, if even that. However, the fights that matter the most (i.e. any of Ryuji's fights, & the matches against Germany & Greece) are given enough time to breathe, while still staying true to the manga, if not even adding in little touches, similar to Season 3.

However, I will still admit that this does result in Season 4 almost feeling like it has a breakneck pace at points, and that does match with the fact that this is the only season of the anime to skip over certain swaths of the manga's version of this story arc. However, these skips are all in regards to introducing the World Rivals, as this is when they first appear in the manga, outside of Black Shaft. Since the anime had introduced all of them much earlier, though, viewers already have a good feel as to who they are by Season 4, so the removals don't feel quite as obvious to those who aren't already familiar with the manga; early expansion ever since Season 1 pays dividends this far down the line. For example, Black Shaft originally had a scene where he talks with Japan Jr. in between bracket rounds, but that was simply to introduce Team Italy & set up how they'd screw Team America over. Since Season 2 had already introduced Giuliano & his crew, and even set up a relationship between Shaft & Don, Shaft's scene is excised, and the little bit of explaining the Jr. Mafia is given to Catherine, since she has other scenes in this season. Likewise, had Catherine not debuted in Season 2, her first appearance would be in halfway into Season 4. Similarly, Team Germany's main introduction is excised, since the anime has shown Helga attending all of Japan Jr.'s matches ever since the Champion Carnival, establishing that he's been researching them the whole time, so all we really miss is some psychological teasing before the fights; at least Helga's file book regarding his scientifically-crafted superblow counters is still included. The characters who suffer from these cuts the most would be mythology-based Team Greece, as they were only ever hinted at in Seasons 1 & 3, but even then said cut mainly established that team leader Apollon wants to fight Japan Jr. at full strength, after some of his lackeys tried jumping them the night before. It's not a truly major loss, and we still get the main part regarding Pandora's Box; it makes more sense in context, I swear.

Remember, this isn't regular ol' boxing... This is "SF Boxing".

But when Season 4 is adapting the manga itself, it does so extremely accurately, so much so that if you were to compare between the two you'd realize just how fast the manga can be to read through. For example, every episode in this final season adapts anywhere from 80-100+ pages, but outside of the major swaths I mentioned, you'd be hard pressed to call the parts that are adapted "inaccurate", since the manga really is just that fast-paced; some lines here & there are excised, sure, but that's just manga-to-anime adaptation 101. There is one fight that is admittedly truncated a good bit, Ishimatsu vs. Göpels/Geepels in Episode 3, but that fight just dragged in the manga (it did NOT need to go two rounds), and shortening it for the anime puts it more in line with how the next two fights after it flow. Sure, in an ideal situation Season 4 would have been a full 12-episode series, though even that would be stretching a little (& that's with me including all the cut content), and I will fully admit that this final season can sometimes feel like it's going a bit too fast at points. However, it is still true to the manga in all the ways that really matter, remarkably so even, and by the stinger of the final episode (this is the only season to have post-credits scenes) it does indeed feel like the anime finally earned the place it stopped at. It took seven years, including a four-year gap, and there is still manga left to adapt (three arcs, pretty much the last two years of the original serialization), but Season 4 ends at a place that I think works well for the story & themes that the anime focused on; it does end rather suddenly, but even that is manga-accurate for this story arc. It's little adaptation & pacing quirks prevent it from being my personal favorite season of the anime, but Season 4 is still easily second place.

As limited as the animation in Season 1 can get,
there are still some really cool visuals to be found.

In terms of production, Ring ni Kakero 1 definitely starts off as rather limited with Season 1, but each successive season improves upon what came before. The anime is also known for having a bit of a revolving door when it comes to directors. Season 1 was only the second TV series directed by Toshiaki Komura (Ultimate Muscle, Tiger Mask W), and he does about as well as he could, considering the more limited bits of animation shown; that said, there are some visually striking shots every now & then. Season 2 is directed by Yukio Kaizawa (Digimon Tamers & Frontier), who seemingly had slightly fewer restrictions, resulting in a better looking anime compared to Season 1, but still limited in some ways. Season 3 sees Komura return, and it's really important to remember that there was a four-year gap between seasons here, because it sometimes feels like it a completely different show, in some ways. Animation is more fluid, there's a little bit more adherence to Kurumada's visual style, & everything overall just feels much more crisp & stylish than before; there's even some really nice "sakuga" to be found. Finally, Season 4 marks the "Series Director" debut for Hiroshi "aho_boy" Ikehata (Magical Circle Guru-Guru [2017], Kiratto Pri☆Chan), who had made a name for himself prior as a bit of a wild card episode director with a knack for impressive animation, even when faced with limitations. The end result is, arguably, the nicest-looking season of them all, as Ikehata & the animation staff deliver some cool little finishing touches that the prior seasons didn't have, giving it just a slight advantage over Season 3. The HD seasons aren't perfect, visually, but they are still well above the SD seasons.

As for the writing, all 36 episodes of Ring ni Kakero 1 were adapted & scripted by just three men: The legendary Yousuke Kuroda (Gundam 00, My Hero Academia) handling series composition, along with Hideki Shirane (Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?) & Noboru Kimura (Gundam Build Divers); Kuroda wrote 19 episodes, Shirane wrote 9, & Kimura wrote 8. The end result is an excellent conversion from manga to anime, one that plans ahead to help with some cuts made later down the line. I've already gone over the details for each season, but the writers here knew where to add in extra bits of story & character development into a rather straightforward manga plot, allowing for expansion in ways that the manga could never do, while also establishing later characters much earlier on, which in turn allowed Season 4 to skip over scenes that would come off just a tad redundant. As for the new stuff they implemented, it's honestly good stuff on the whole & even pays respect to RnK2 a couple of times (Season 2's problem was just pacing), resulting in both extra character moments as well as some fun little gags; seeing a Shadow Boxer sew up a hole in Ishimatsu's pants is an anime-original delight. Kuroda would have been in his early teens when the RnK manga was serialized (i.e. he was roughly the perfect age for it), and the work he & his pair of writers did here really does feel like it came from a place of respect. They even managed to squeeze in parts of a bonus chapter, "Jun & Jhun! Light & Shadow", that appeared in the 2005 interview book Ring ni Kakero REAL into Season 3; new manga content made after Season 1 had aired made it into the anime in 2010.

Being a Toei-produced anime adaptation of a Masami Kurumada manga, it's no surprise that the duo of Shingo Araki & Michi Himeno were brought in for the character designs, resulting in a very similar visual feel as that of Saint Seiya. However, this would also mark the last "new" anime that Araki & Himeno would ever work on, as following Season 1 they'd only work on successive RnK1 & Seiya productions. Meanwhile, Sekai Taikai-hen would mark the last anime Araki ever drew designs for, period, as he'd pass away just six months after the last episode aired, at age 72, due to acute circulatory failure. Possibly knowing that this would be the last Kurumada series (if not anime, in general) the pair would work on, Araki & Himeno had two men alongside them for character designs in the HD seasons, both of which had previously worked on RnK1 as animation directors. Eisaku Inoue, who had worked with Hideyuki Motohashi for B't X's character designs, joined them for Season 3, while Keiichi Ichikawa helped them for Season 4. Inoue & Ichikawa would also be the ones who drew the DVD cover arts for their respective seasons, which all matched Araki & Himeno's style excellently. Of the two, Ichikawa would go on to do the designs for both Saint Seiya Omega's second half & the Saintia Sho anime, effectively carrying on the duo's legacy.

Finally, there's the music composed by Susumu Ueda (Shadow Star Narutaru, Re: Cutie Honey), which is just absolutely perfect. A very orchestral score, though with some guitar-laden rock mixed in at points, Ueda manages to make the music sound like it's been plucked from another era, namely that of the 70s or 80s, matching very well with the time that the anime take place in. This gives the entire series a very old-school sound that works astoundingly well, and helps give the series its own identity, instead of simply being "Saint Seiya, but with boxing". As for the OP theme, all four seasons use the same song, "Asu he no Toushi" by Marina del ray, an energetic & inspiring song with lyrics co-written by Masami Kurumada himself that constantly gets the viewer pumped for each episode, and Season 3 even changes things up by using the second verse for its OP sequence. Ueda also turns the OP into a massive leitmotif, with numerous variants of it being used throughout the entire anime, resulting in sad, urgent, inspirational, & triumphant versions of the song.

Each season has its own ED, with only Season 1's not being done by Marina del ray (or written by Kurumada). That would be "Take My Soul Forever" by Psychic Lover, another energetic & inspirational theme that might not act as a cool down counterpart, but still works extremely well, nonetheless; it's personally my second favorite ED. Season 2 has "Shining Like Gold ~Omoide no Kakera~", a nice little ballad about reflecting back on your past to see how far you've come; I also like how the next episode preview is implemented into the end of the ED sequence. Season 3 uses "Asu he no Hishou ~flap your wings~", another more upbeat & inspirational song, though at this point the ED sequence itself is just recap of the episode you just watched with a credit scroll, so it's slightly longer length does become more noticeable. Finally, Season 4 gives us "Niji no Kanata", which is easily the best ED of all, a fast-paced & exciting song that always feels more like it came from an anime in the 90s, but in all the good ways. Susumu Ueda also uses the various EDs as leifmotifs in the soundtrack across all four seasons, but not to the same extent as the OP. Sadly, an OST only ever came out for Season 1, so the stellar new music from Seasons 3 & 4 is impossible to find in clean form.

As if that's not enough, Seasons 2 & 3 also have insert songs that are heard in a handful of episodes. The former has "Strike Anywhere ~Chikai to Toki~" by Marina del ray, which is used at the end of some fights in the second half & is a perfectly upbeat way to help add to the celebration of those finishes. Meanwhile, the latter has five different insert songs heard across the last three episodes, and that's because they're the character songs sung by the voice actors themselves that were recorded alongside Season 1; an interesting touch that actually works out amazingly well. Whether it's "Isshin Engetsu no Gotoshi ~SAMURAI Heart~" (Shinatora), "Ibara no Senritsu ~Melody~" (Kawai), "Junjou Kenka Champion ~Oneway Boy~" (Ishimatsu), "Hadou no Disutansu ~Distance~" (Kenzaki), or "Kaze ni Mukatte Hashire ~Stand & Fight~" (Ryuji), each one matches perfectly for the end of each of their respective fights in Season 3's second half. It's a very clever use of previously-recorded songs for a new production, and I'm actually surprised that this isn't done more often with anime like this.

And then we get the voice cast, which is simply best described as "star-studded". Leading everyone is Masakazu Morita as Ryuji, who literally made his first mark as a leading man (in anime) the day prior to Season 1's debut with the first episode of Bleach, as he voiced main character Ichigo Kurosaki in that. Anyway, Morita delivers an excellent performance, showing his talent early on at the start, while only improving with time as the anime moves on, especially once you get to Seasons 3 & 4; it's also neat to compare Morita's Ryuji to his Ichigo, as they do have distinct differences. He's also since become the voice of Pegasus Seiya in Saint Seiya since 2005, & even got to voice Otoko Zaka's Jingi Kikukawa for a motion comic in 2017, but it all started with Ryuji. Following him are Ryotaro Okiayu as Kenzaki, Takeshi Kusao as Ishimatsu, Hiroshi Kamiya as Kawai, & Hideo Ishizawa as Shinatora, who all also deliver equally excellent & fitting performances, though Okiayu's deep voice is always amusing to hear out of a character who's only supposed to be 14 or so. Also, special attention to Takeshi Kusao, who absolutely nails Ishimatsu' hot-blooded & gruff nature in fights, as well as his silly & comical bits, delivering easily the best overall performance in the entire anime. Meanwhile, Rie Tanaka absolutely nails Kiku down well, both in her tough & sarcastic tomboy side as well as her more caring & girlish side; it's just a shame she gets fewer scenes after Season 1.

Then come the World Rivals, which sees Hikaru Midorikawa as Skorpion, Hiro Yuuki as Helga, Takahiro Sakurai as Sousui, Toshiyuki Morikawa as Napoleon, Kazuya Nakai as Theseus, & Shinichiro Miki as Apollon, to name but a few, who all deliver their respective A-games for these roles. It's especially neat to hear some of them actually speak certain words or phrases from their respective characters' languages (German, French, etc.), which is both accurate to the manga & just a nice touch, in general. The two standouts, however, are Takehito Koyasu as Black Shaft & Takaya Kuroda as Don Giuliano. Koyasu sounds to be having the time of his life, both in Shaft's generally easy-going & sarcastic nature, as well as the various bits of English he speaks ("What?", "Oh, I'm sorry.", "Who is the guy?", "Unbelievable!"). Meanwhile, Kuroda playing Giuliano is really more a case of excellently coincidental timing, as just a few months prior to Season 2's debut Yakuza came out on the PlayStation 2 in Japan, which saw Kuroda voice Kazuma Kiryu for the first time; talk about absolutely perfect casting. Also of note is Takahiro Kawachi (Sun Ce in Tecmo Koei's Warriors franchise), who plays the commentator you hear throughout each & every match, and is just stellar in the role. Kawachi is actually an announcer & commentator by trade, most notably for MMA organization Shooto, which explains why he does so well; fans of Haikyu!! will also be familiar with him from the latest season of that anime in 2020.

The anime also features three really neat cameos in the first two seasons. The very first episode of the anime sees Masami Kurumada portray himself (or rather, his caricature from Jitsuroku! Shinwakai), while Episode 7 of Season 1 features pro wrestling legend Yuji Nagata playing a teenage version of himself, as Japan Jr. Wrestling Champion. Finally, MMA ring announcing legend Lenne Hardt (of PRIDE, DREAM, & Rizin fame) does the introductions for all five fights in Season 2, helping give them a greater sense of grandeur. The rest of the supporting cast is rounded out by the likes of Mami Kingetsu (Kawai's sister, Takako), Fumiko Inoue (Shinatora's sister, Futaba), Osamu Saka (Shinatora's unnamed father), Sayaka Maeda (Sachiko), Mai Aizawa (Catherine), Yasuhiko Kawazu ("Pops" Omura), & Bin Shimada (Rock-san). Finally, the remaining cast features the likes of Mika Doi (Ryuji & Kiku's mother, Chiyo), Naoki Imamura (Monster Jail), Rintaro Nishi (Hell Mick), Yuka Komatsu (Miss Shanell), Hiroki Yasumoto (Nobi), Kaori Takaoka (Nene), Issei Futamata (Yuuki), Atsushi Kisaichi (Ikaros), & Hiro Shimono (Orpheus), among just too many others to name.

To be perfectly honest, part of why I care so much about the Ring ni Kakero 1 anime comes down to a simple reason: BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE DOES. Mike Toole once stated on an episode of ANNCast that, after hearing this anime get brought up, he felt that RnK1 would be an anime that will eventually get licensed, but nothing over the past 17 years really indicates anything moving towards that direction. After over a decade, all English fansubbing efforts remain stalled at just 27/36 episodes (Season 4 still remains untouched), you almost never hear anyone talk about it as a show that they watched back in the day, its name has absolutely no cachet at all outside of Japan, & the continual and repeated sales failures of Saint Seiya in "North of Mexico" (both anime & manga) have effectively turned companies away from ever considering anything else from Masami Kurumada, with literally a single exception that has proven otherwise, to a small extent. RnK1's best chances for an official English release were back in 2011 with Season 4, but that aired just before Toei finally joined the simulcasting bandwagon later that same year; even then, who knows if Crunchyroll would have subbed the previous 30 episodes, as well. If Season 4 had gotten simulcasted, or a company had tried releasing Seasons 1 & 2 back during the 00s "anime bubble", then I likely wouldn't be so gung-ho about this anime as I've become, because then it would have at least been given a chance, more than likely failed, and then promptly forgotten about, but at least it would have been attempted; it probably would have even been license rescued by now. I feel it's better to have been a failure that was at least given a chance, than to have been ignored to the point where it might as well have never existed in the first place.

Ring ni Kakero 1 came out during the anime bubble, when digital fansubbing was at its most prevalent, & then later the early days of simulcasting, yet somehow managed to avoid getting literally none of the momentum that even the most forgotten seasonal fling would get during any of those periods. Sure, the first two seasons were fully fansubbed by 2008, prior to Season 3 even being hinted at, but that almost never happened, as the people who released the "raws" for Season 2 every week threatened to stop ripping the show back in 2006, because not enough people cared about it. I was one of those scant few who continued to "seed" those raws during that time, which encouraged those people to continue ripping until the end, so I have literally been fighting for this anime to be given a chance for almost as long as I've been an anime fan.

In the end, the reason why I care so much about the Ring ni Kakero 1 anime simply comes down to this: IT'S JUST A REALLY GOOD & FUN ANIME TO WATCH. The very few times I've managed to get people to actually watch it they've all enjoyed it, so it's not just me who feels this way. Yes, the first two seasons aren't spectacular in terms of animation, most mid-00s "digipaint" shows just haven't aged well visually, but they're still fun, bombastic, & entertaining shows; even Season 2, with its (unfortunately necessary) slower pacing, is still good. However, Seasons 3 & 4, despite being only half as long as the prior two seasons, are truly where the RnK1 anime shines, delivering some great animation, much improved pacing, & tons of infectious energy, not to mention ending on a spot that, despite not being the literal ending of the manga, still feels absolutely fitting; unfortunately, barely anyone even knows that these two seasons exist. Then combine all of that with a shared soundtrack that's stellar, a voice cast that's filled with legendary talent, & the really neat metatextual bonus of seeing where so many things people love about shonen action series actually came from, making it easy to jump into & enjoy today. Seriously, RnK1 has aged rather gracefully in many ways, though in others it does show, even through the anime. To simply relegate it as "Saint Seiya with boxing", as many have done, is to sell it short, in my opinion, and once again makes it sound like one has to have experience with a prior Masami Kurumada work in order to even watch it, which isn't true; ironic, too, considering that Ring ni Kakero technically came first. Sure, there are obviously similarities, because they're from the same creator, but they are still different enough in execution where it truly counts.

"Farewell, Golden Japan Jr.. Thank you for your support all this time."

Saint Seiya is this giant mammoth of a franchise whose size is likely what prevents people from jumping in, & therefore continually bombs when attempted in "North of Mexico", but Masami Kurumada has always been more than just his biggest work. I've long been a proponent of people starting with something less massive to see if his old-school & romanticized style works for them, like the B't X anime or Ring ni Kakero 1, as it's how I got started, & it's a shame that most hesitate to do the same. I won't go as far as call Ring ni Kakero 1 "the best anime you've never seen", because that would be silly; "my favorite" =/= "the greatest of all time", after all. However, it's still just as much "The Giant Robo of Boxing Anime" today as it was back when the Eastern Standard blog first called it that over a decade ago, and that's honestly great praise, & amusingly ironic, as Yasuhiro Imagawa is a big fan of RnK; see (again): Mobile Fighter G Gundam. It does make me sad that few will ever actually watch this anime, regardless of whether it ever gets an official release (or even a complete English fansub) or not; I'd even take a RetroCrush-only option, at this point. At the very least, I can say that I finally gave the Ring ni Kakero 1 anime the proper review that I had originally wanted to do over a decade ago.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Ring ni Kakero 1 © Masami Kurumada/Shueisha・Toei Animation・Marvelous Inc.

Ring ni Kakero 1: Nichibei Kessen-hen © Masami Kurumada/Shueisha・Toei Animation・Marvelous Inc.

Ring ni Kakero 1: Shadow © Masami Kurumada/Shueisha・Toei Animation

Ring ni Kakero 1: Sekai Taikai-hen © Masami Kurumada/Shueisha・Toei Animation・Sammy