First season The series was directed by Yō Moriyama who watched the second
animated adaptation of
manga Ashita no Joe during his youth. He was shocked by the quality of the series, not only in animation but themes of "stray" portrayed Joe Yabuki's character as well as his rivalry with Toru Rikishi. The series was created as a homage to
Ashita no Joe that reached its 50th anniversary in 2018. Producer Minako Fujiyoshi from TMS was approached by Kodansha in 2013 about making the project. Originally, the story would take place in the same world as
Ashita no Joe involving Jo's rival Rikishi but the idea was scrapped due to difficulties. As a result, the team decided to make a more original storyline. The series still retained the themes of
Joe, "the never-give-up spirit of the character", and was going to be a parody instead. This idea was scrapped again and the team decided to make a more original narrative. The artwork was influenced by 1980s works like directors
Katsuhiro Otomo and
Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Moriyama felt the animation of
Megalobox would "decrease" in the future. In early screenings of the series, Moriyama said, the first two episodes were developed to introduce the entire narrative and setting together while aiming to develop the future cast in later episodes. Voice actor
Yoshimasa Hosoya who plays Gearless Joe was present in the screenings said he was moved by the premiere due to how carefully were both handled Joe and Yuri's characters through the scene when the two meet on a rainy road. Hosoya felt that there was a character to Joe's character upon meeting Yuri due to the presence of the later. Moriyama noted that an advantage he had while directing the series is that he could often draw due to his studies at a vocational school. During this time, Moriyama became interested in moving images rather than drawing manga and joined studio Madhouse to develop anime, inspired by their work ''
Bobby's Neck. However, going from animator to director was challenging in his career but felt confident about his drawing skills. Moriyama stated Gearless Joe and Yuri were loosely based Jo Yabuki and Rikishi respectively as he views that the rivalry of two boxers was the main event of Ashita no Joe
which Megalobox'' adapted. Moriyama claims the series' message involves
individualism and that people should enjoy the battles. However, Moriyama claims there was not a main target audience for the anime. Fujiyoshi noted feedback to the first season was positive so he was glad to tell fans that a second season would be developed as a result. In choosing composers, the team found
Mabanua's skills to be appealing.
Hip hop was Moriyama's favorite type of music which inspired the soundtrack of the series which he also thought would fit the setting of presented in the narrative. Moriyama had similar thoughts about whether or not should a second season needed to be made until being convinced by Fujiyoshi despite not getting too much positive feedback in Japan. The staff had mixed thoughts about how they should handle Joe as a depressed adult despite his younger days as Megalonia's champion as that was how the first season ended. Moriyama decided to touch new themes to make
Megalobox become a more independent work rather than keep staying as a tribute to
Ashita no Joe. As a result, it incorporates more about the society and the world that they are interested in into the story, such as immigration issues. The staff highlighted Joe's depressing portrayal as he has not been able to move on with his life in contrast to Yuri and other returning characters. In order to support Joe's psychological state, the character of Chief was written. Across the narrative, Chief serves as a mentor to Joe in the first four episodes where he slowly recovers his fighting spirit. In the early stages, Moriyama drew the encounters between the characters Joe and Chief, and the things that react to each other. Joe's sin that torments him would be kept vague until the fifth episode where Joe is forced to fight himself. From there, more boxing matches were written. However, in contrast to the first season which Joe's characterization was kept simple as he was obsessed to only defeat Yuri, the second season was written in a more complex way as the writers decided to make the impact of victory or defeat be less important for the boxers. In the making of the second season, Yoshimasa Hosoya was surprised by the announcement and felt ready for the new changes given to Joe's character. Other returning voice actors were curious about the narrative as their characters did not appear in early episodes. Hosoya noted the response to the first season was not popular only in Japan but also Western regions as a result of the multiple letters the team received. When asked about the impression of the character of this work, which was set seven years after the previous work, Hosoya did not know that he was Joe at first when he saw the bearded and transformed Joe in the main visual of the second season. Hosoya was surprised by the improved animation which he felt to be more fit of a movie rather than a television series. As a result, he believes Moriyama's direction skills were so good that he would support a live-action movie too. Joe's new name, Nomad, is meant to give a new impression about how the story changed. ==Media==