While I have this rated as a 10, I truly think it's a 9.5/10. The story of Ashita no Joe is absolutely phenomenal, there's not a lot more that can be said. Joe as a man and his fights encompass almost everything that I find interesting about boxing and life in general. His fight with Rikishi haunting him forever was amazing, but I truly think that his fight against Mendoza was where Joe culminated and peaked, with a close second being his fight against Carlos. Joe is everything that tomorrow is. The ONLY thing that I have a problem with, is that I think the start is alittle slow, I didn't care too much for volume 2 and the first half of volume 3 as the juvie arc was a little boring. and the second complaint is that I feel as if youko being interested in yabuki is a forced dynamic for the magazine that doesn't come naturally. But genuinely, everything else is perfect. I love Ashita no Joe.