Finished Ashyta no Joe S1. The animation was so bad that I wouldn't fault anyone for dropping the anime because of that, needs a remake in the worst way to make the series more accessible. Narratively it's up there with the best coming of age stories ever told in anime, there just aren't many character arcs as moving as Joe Yabuki. You're watching a literal convict that extorts children and kicks homeless people transform into a man with purpose and ambition that strives to make something of himself even at the expense of his health. Like Ippo but even better at it, AnJ uses boxing as a vehicle for it's characters to grow as people and form meaningful connections in life. Without it, they'd be dead or incarcerated.
HnI is obviously more accessible with better production values, a more expansive character cast and has some great comedy outside of the ring (or sometimes inside with Aoki's gag routine). All of this makes me enjoy it more, but what it doesn't do is in show the worst case scenario of severe weight loss and brain damage. Like Takamura is completely broken in how he wins in spite of his handicaps and even fought and killed a bear for comedic effect. No one could get away with that in AnJ where it sacrifices comedy and epic outcomes for realism and boxers do die in the ring. The Rikishi Vs Joe match probably carries more weight than any single fight in HnI, because of the suffering in the build up and because of the gut punch in the end.
Joe is infinitely a better character than Ippo who is meant to be someone that relates to and inspires the viewer to do whatever in life if they commit to it, rather than undergoing an actual character arc. He's more or less the same guy he was a thousand chapters ago, whereas Joe is hardly recognizable at a certain point in the story.
Supposedly season 2 is even better and the animation improves a lot. I know what happens in the end and it's not hard to see coming considering how many times Joe has gotten concussed already. Once ate an uppercut so hard his mouthpiece hit the ceiling of a stadium.