Did Sylvester Stallone…

[Fantastische Hure]

rip-off Ashita no Joe?

I asked this Q before but…

 

[Classic Adamas]

Yeah Stallone knows about random manga and makes movies about them

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Yeah Stallone knows about random manga and makes movies about them

You are saying that, but how do you know he didn’t somehow get to know about it?

 

[Papasmurf]

Lol James Cameron clearly read and knew about Alita, Ghost in the Shell etc. way before any of us did. These content creators often have a broader horizon than Mysdick gives them credit for

 

[Classic Adamas]

What reason do we have to believe that's true? A film series about a boxer?

 

[Southern Gothic]

I don't think so.

Rocky came out in theaters in 1976, while Ashita no Joe released in 1980. Rocky came out 4 years before Ashita no Joe, and was based off of boxer Chuck Wepner, who's claim to fame was being a nobody boxer who went fifteen rounds with Muhammad Ali, even going so far as to have knocked Ali down during the fight, though it is disputed whether Ali tripped. Regardless, the legend grew from that.

Chuck Wepner - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

If anything, Ashita no Joe was a rip-off of Rocky.

 

[Papasmurf]

Ashita no Joe's second anime came out in 1980, its manga source started in the 60s and finished in 1973

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Ashita no Joe 2 (the sequel anime) came-out in 1980, the series came-out and was a cultural-phenomenon long before.

The story about a rags to riches story of a boxer and certain similarities definitely seem too corresponding. At-least on a surface level for me. I haven't watched that all though.

 

[Southern Gothic]

Interesting. Though by all accounts, the story of Chuck Webner has been widely credited as the genesis for Rocky, and given that the fight happened in 1975 and Stallone started working on the script that same year, I'd say that logic holds up soundly. Being from Philly, we treat Rocky as more sacred that just about anything else and this is the first I've ever heard of this manga. If Stallone had ever read it, he's never made it public.

 

[Southern Gothic]

Maybe Stallone took Ashita no Joe as the real inspiration for his debut film known as the "Italian Stallion".

Look it up.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

I know it's a pr0n lol (I think that's what you're referring to at-least).

Perhaps it's no surprise (because the series is from the 60s/70s, long before even DragonBall), but Ashita no Joe was/is huge in Japan and I think to this day might still have influences and homages made in animes/manga. The gai who arguably inspired Akira Toriyama's DragonBall and one of the people AT looked-up to and the series that started WSJ's boom and dominance was inspired by Ashita no Joe (another boxing series)

 

[Southern Gothic]

I know it's a pr0n lol (I think that's what you're referring to at-least).

Perhaps it's no surprise (because the series is from the 60s/70s, long before even DragonBall), but Ashita no Joe was/is huge in Japan and I think to this day might still have influences and homages made in animes/manga. The gai who arguably inspired Akira Toriyama's DragonBall and one of the people AT looked-up to and the series that started WSJ's boom and dominance was inspired by Ashita no Joe (another boxing series)

Yes, I was referring to that movie.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Also just to show the series that I'm talking about is Ring ni Kakero.

Spoiler

^here was AT's letter to him. People credit DragonBall and perhaps on a larger scale it did inspire because it was a bigger hit than already this big hit but perhaps AT (& everyone-else of this era, e.g. Kinnikuman & Hokuto no Ken) imitated Ring ni Kakero's style because they saw the money it made & how popular it was..

 

[Southern Gothic]

I know it's a pr0n lol (I think that's what you're referring to at-least).

Perhaps it's no surprise (because the series is from the 60s/70s, long before even DragonBall), but Ashita no Joe was/is huge in Japan and I think to this day might still have influences and homages made in animes/manga. The gai who arguably inspired Akira Toriyama's DragonBall and one of the people AT looked-up to and the series that started WSJ's boom and dominance was inspired by Ashita no Joe (another boxing series)

Now with some thought, I'm even less convinced that Rocky was inspired by Ashita no Joe. Because if you've ever seen Judge Dredd, it is absolutely horrible, while Rocky is an American classic. I refuse to believe Stallone, who's normally a solid writer and directer, could make two adaptations that were the polar opposite in quality. Rocky has to be original because the only adaptation Stallone was involved with is an all time stinker.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Now with some thought, I'm even less convinced that Rocky was inspired by Ashita no Joe. Because if you've ever seen Judge Dredd, it is absolutely horrible, while Rocky is an American classic. I refuse to believe Stallone, who's normally a solid writer and directer, could make two adaptations that were the polar opposite in quality. Rocky has to be original because the only adaptation Stallone was involved with is an all time stinker.

Maybe he made Judge Dredd intentionally horrible, because everyone in America knew that already at the time.