Lace your gloves and polish your gear, because Joe is back. TMS Entertainment has dropped a teaser trailer for a follow-up to their 2018 sci-fi sports anime Megalo Box. Titled Nomad: Megalo Box 2, the sequel will continue the story laid down in the first season [Thanks, ANN!]
The original Megalo Box series was originally conceived as a way to commemorate the 50th anniversary of legendary boxing manga Ashita no Joe. Rather than rehashing the original story, Megalo Box added a sci-fi twist. In the future, where the rich live in luxury and the poor live in squalor on the outskirts of a desert, entertainment takes the form of combat sports, chief among them Megalo Box. It’s basically boxing, but with the competitors wearing exoskeletons called “Gears” to make their punches superhuman. A young man who goes my the ring name of “Junk Dog” fights in fixed underground matches alongside his coach, Gansaku Nanbu. After picking a fight with the top-ranked Megalo Boxer, Yuri, Junk Dog and Gansaku resolve to climb the legit ranks and join Megalonia, a big new tournament, and get a second shot at his rival. On the way up, Junk Dog takes on a proper name: Joe.
The Nomad: Megalo Box 2 trailer picks up seven years after the first season, and Joe’s in a different place altogether. He’s bearded, worse for the wear, fighting underground again, and apparently, isn’t even named “Joe” anymore. Now he’s going by the ring name of “Nomad” (hence the title). Further, he’s also wearing his Gear again. In the first season, Joe decided early on to fight his gear-wearing opponents au naturel earning him the respect of the crowd and the nickname “Gearless Joe.” Only time and flashbacks can tell us what just happened to see Joe fall back so badly.
Nomad: Megalo Box 2 is set to premiere in April 2021 in Japan on cable and streaming platforms. The original season streamed on Crunchyroll and Adult Swim’s Toonami block in Europe and North America, and on Netflix internationally, so there’s good reason to expect it’ll come to those platforms again.
