THE RELEVANCE (OR LACK THEREOF) OF ONE POUND GOSPEL

TONY T. - Managing Editor, 3rd Year, Economics and Data Science

"This was cathartic."

To me, Takahashi Rumiko’s One Pound Gospel would be an otherwise forgettable manga from an artist whose works already feel far too similar to each other, had it not been for one aspect. The fact that the series focuses on boxing is, frankly, what drew me to it. While I am not a fan of any Takahashi work, I do greatly enjoy certain aspects of her works, namely certain portions of Urusei Yatsura as well as Maison Ikkoku. Ranma ½ is often extremely slow, yet the dynamic of the characters is somehow rather charming even if the series never does anything with them. Her recent 2010s work, Kyoukai no Rinne, is what I consider an almost pure distillation of everything her name implies. The sole long running work of Takahashi Rumiko’s that I have yet to fully consume is ironically her most popular from a Western perspective. Inuyasha probably doesn’t have the industry influence nor the cultural impact of, say, Urusei Yatsura or Ranma ½, but is almost certainly its author’s most known work stateside. Yet, while I will likely eventually read or watch it in some form, its mix of both Rumiko-isms and battle shounen tropes frankly leave me with little to look forward to. Hence, I would call myself a fan of Takahashi Rumiko’s style, but not really a fan of her actual work. Urusei Yatsura Movie 2: Beautiful Dreamer is my favorite anime film, yet it was handled by a director who had major creative differences with Takahashi and seemingly wrote the film to slightly diss her in a slightly trippy and incredibly creative way. It’s great because it’s actively spiteful of her work while still using her style. Basically, elements of Takahashi Rumiko’s series appeal to me, but the whole is far less than the sum of certain parts.

One Pound Gospel is a good representation of my views on media as a whole. It is an intersection of elements that I would seemingly enjoy – it focuses on the one sport that I muster actual passionate fandom of, whilst also featuring concepts fairly common to its author’s works. Using a computer generated algorithm, this series is likely something that I should enjoy. And yet, it annoys me. It uses neither aspect to its greatest extent. While One Pound Gospel is not bad (in fact, I still find it quite tolerable), it embodies both the issues with defining a piece of media on its premise and Takahashi Rumiko’s work.

One Pound Gospel is not a boxing series. Then again, neither is the famous Ashita no Joe, which uses pugilism as a storytelling device to frame a narrative about the human condition. Its point could be delivered without the plot focus on boxing - it is simply a metaphor that translates internal emotional turmoil into physical turmoil so that it is better understood in a visual medium. In a similar sense, One Pound Gospel is a story that could be written without prizefighting being incorporated. The series’ use of boxing is simply that of a pastime which the protagonist has a bizarre love-hate relationship with, an occupation that he has large skill in only matched by his lack of ambition. Because of that, while Joe’s case has a central dynamic which is already common within boxing resulting in its acclaim from the sport’s fans, One Pound Gospel is not something that prizefight viewers will inherently enjoy. That part of its premise is completely meaningless as a description.

On the other hand, strip boxing away from the series and all that remains is a standard Takahashi Rumiko romantic comedy focusing on misunderstandings between two characters who obviously have feelings for each other. It’s a structure that probably made more sense before cell phones became commonplace and made fast communication a non-issue. Yet, it doesn’t really even reach my somewhat middling standards for a Takahashi work – the main characters, while fun as a duo, don’t have the same chemistry that her main pairings generally do. The narrative’s resolution, with the female protagonist basically giving up on her dreams, feels rather unbalanced. By removing the boxing florishings from One Pound Gospel, it becomes representative of the very worst things that Takahashi Rumiko has put her name to.

I should reiterate, though, that I don’t hate the series. Both the small elements of Takahashi Rumiko that I enjoy and the superficial boxing storyline are fine enough to where I think it was worth reading. Yet, I probably possess very peculiar taste – I feel like fans of both George Foreman and Beautiful Dreamer are probably not that common. To a different person who lacks the unique hobby intersections that I possess, One Pound Gospel is likely next to meaningless. Thus, while I enjoy it, I believe it is ultimately a failure in that it probably fails to entertain anyone outside a very specific group (me), while exposing the flaws of its creator (Takahashi) and shows of its ilk (as in, media that sell themselves on premise itself). Perhaps in this way, my view of it mirrors my view of the very medium of anime as a whole – strongly appealing to a particular niche while ignoring everyone outside that specific Venn Diagram intersection. And in that way, it has remained relevant to me regardless of actual quality.