MEGALOBOX (メガロボクス) is a 2018 original television anime series directed by Yō Moriyama with writers Katsuhiko Manabe and Kensaku Kojima and music composition by Mabanua. The anime was produced by TMS Entertainment and 3xCube and was first broadcast in Japan on April 2018 from the Spring season.
Background:
“Bored, resigned, and unfulfilled, a young man with neither name nor past survives by fighting in underground matches of a sport called “Megalobox,” a form of boxing that utilizes powered exoskeletons. Calling himself JNK. DOG, he feels trapped in a world of crime, poverty, and ecological collapse.
All that changes when he has a chance encounter with Yuri, the reigning king of Megalobox. Now, obsessed with proving himself, JNK. DOG becomes a man driven to do whatever it takes to fight this way to the to top of the rankings and take on the champion.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, August 2020.
TMS Entertainment are quite well known for keeping their long running franchises alive over the decades, with their most notable including Detective Conan and Lupin the Third. While most of the projects they animate or adapt these days are the likes of Dr. STONE or Fruits Basket, they often revisit their IPs from time to time. In this instance we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Asao Takamori’s Ashita no Joe, which was adapted into an anime by Osamu Dezaki (Dear Brother, Space Adventure Cobra).
Rather than being a direct remake, TMS decided to go for a fresh take on the IP by offering a dystopian semi-futuristic style boxing series that uses exoskeletons for combat. This is joined by a rather unusual presentation approach in which we have animation drawn as normal but downscaled then upscaled to look like the series was released many decades ago. This result is both hit or miss to the viewers but I give them props for trying out a unique style like this.
MEGALOBOX is a really solid sports series and it’s a relief that it has done well enough to be licensed and localised for home video, considering sports anime were notable for under-performing. With assistance to shows like Haikyu!! and the re-release of Hajime no Ippo, it seems the sports genre is now selling better than before for the western market.
Viz Media acquired the US & Canada rights for the series while Anime Limited acquired the UK & Ireland rights. Viz released the series first with an English dub and Anime Limited did their usual collector’s package.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Anime Limited’s traditional collector’s package continues with MEGALOBOX with some slight tweaks to the usual formula.
The package is presented as a rigid box with an Amaray Blu-ray case to house the discs and alongside the case is a 120-page booklet and a 33x41cm fold-out poster. The booklet is pretty much the same as the Viz Media release, which includes character illustrations, interviews, episode guide, background artwork and more.
Alongside the main series is an additional DVD disc with two Picture/Audio Dramas. This is a weird one but to summarise what had happened – Viz Media tends to not allow distributors to use their discs, likely due to English cast extras, so Anime Limited instead went and used the Madman discs. However, Madman didn’t acquire the Audio Drama extras, and because Anime Limited used those discs, rather than produce their own they instead went with adding the extras on its own DVD disc.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray set is limited to 1000 units for SRP £59.99. A standard Blu-ray is coming soon but looks to be omitting the Audio Drama DVD disc.
I should note that I requested this series from Anime Limited’s 12 Days of Christmas sale as part of my Christmas 2021 haul. That being said, it was available for £19.99 during its sale.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- Bonus DVD disc with Audio Dramas
- 120-page booklet
- 33x41cm fold-out poster
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 31st August 2020
The collector’s edition release of MEGALOBOX contains all 13 episodes of the show’s first season across two Blu-ray discs, with the discs authored/encoded by Madman. The audio options include Japanese audio with English subtitles and the Bang Zoom! Entertainment English dub by Viz.
The bonus DVD disc that contains the Picture Drama was authored/encoded by Anime Limited and is Japanese with English subtitles only.
The white subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the regions are locked to Blu-ray players set to B. The bonus DVD disc is region locked to DVD players set to 2.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 2 BD-50 |
DVD Specs (Picture Drama):
| Languages | Japanese |
| Audio | Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 1.78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | 2 |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 1 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 2:
- Interviews
- Production Team
- Animation
- Sound
- Textless Opening “Bite”
- Textless Closing “Kakatte Koi yo”
- Madman Ent. Trailers
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
- Picture Dramas
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
MEGALOBOX is available to order across multiple retailers in the United Kingdom. You can still order the collector’s edition or simply wait for the standard edition over on Amazon.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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