The thing i most find fascinating about Yoko's and Joe's relationship is the inevitability of all that'd lead up to Joe's ending. I've seen some people hypothesize that if Yoko had come forward with her feelings to Joe earlier on she could have prevented his fight with Jose Mendoza but i have to disagree.
No matter how earnest or sincere her efforts could have been, Joe could have never reciprocated, and it's not because Joe doesn't have any interest in love or relationships. But because of his low self esteem and his own self awareness.
A romantic relationship between the two could have never been, the social and economic barrier was far too vast to get past.
No hate to this poster at all! I just found the points interesting wanted to provide my own perspective, and the few things I wanted to express disagreement on. This was too long for a comment!! 😖
I feel like it’s being implied the main reason for Joe and Yoko’s disconnect is class and social status, which I don’t think holds up, especially as the series progresses. It plays a role in their initial distance, but I don’t think it makes their relationship impossible, particularly since a major theme of Ashita no Joe is breaking free from social constraints.
Joe’s insecurity is definitely important in how he responds to Yoko and why he struggles to see the genuineness in her gestures. There are numerous scenes of him comparing himself to a man like Nishi, saying he is “stable” “changed” etc. Joe clearly doesn’t view himself as the ideal man. But I think a key point is being left out: he doesn’t actually know Yoko likes him, and she’s often ambiguous about her intentions. That ambiguity feeds directly into his insecurity. The story shows that despite his emotional struggles, Joe is someone that responds pretty well to openness and vulnerability, which I talk about in my Reddit analyses. If he had clearly understood that she loved him earlier on, I don’t see why a relationship with her would be inherently impossible.
These are some of my favorite scenes from the Kim arc of Joe actively seeking out Yoko, (even if here isn’t romantic). Social class isn’t an issue for him, it’s simply about the understanding that matters. What happened during this OPBF match as clearly important.
And the scene of Joe doubting Danpei when he says Yoko cares a lot about him is one of my favorites. He’s getting a little upset that she left him at Rikiishi’s grave when they are clearly having a moment. It’s pretty cute. But if anything, it proves that the major contention between them is simply that neither of them are entirely honest people, and Yoko especially had a huge issue with expressing directly to Joe how she feels, clearly preferring actions and facilitating his boxing career.
But back to it, I also think Joe’s insecurity remains important—he wouldn’t suddenly feel worthy or know how to navigate a relationship. But the moment where he feels touched from Yoko’s support and gives his gloves matters because he finally accepts that her feelings are genuine. That realization, and the fact that she still supports him unconditionally in the boxing match which means so much to him, is what gives him the extra drive to keep getting up and fight José. No one else encouraging him in that moment would have had the same impact.
I talked about this a lot on my Reddit Ashita no Joe analyses, but Joe’s facial expression here hits really hard, and emphasizes just how much Yoko’s honesty and support meant to him. Let alone spending his final moments talking to her, and making sure she received his gloves. He could have spoken to Danpei, or given a message to anyone else, but Yoko was his sole priority here.
The gloves symbolize a lot, but to me the key points are that he accepts her into his world of boxing and acknowledges (and to me reciprocates) her feelings. For someone like Joe, that level of vulnerability is huge. Joe and Yoko here just reached a level of understanding that Joe basically hasn’t experienced with anyone, besides Rikiishi. But the one he shares with Yoko is special. Joe can easily connect with people like Rikiishi and Carlos through boxing. He doesn’t need to have a long history, conversations, etc. just going all out in the ring, in something that means so much to him can form unshakable bonds.
To form such a relationship with Yoko, someone who is a woman that he can’t box with, their understanding has to come through words and actions, which is far more difficult for Joe, especially because of his insecurity and Yoko’s ambiguity for most of the series as I mentioned. But this is exactly why his relationship with her is so special. All it took for was Yoko’s instance of vulnerability and unconditional support to allow him to do the same, especially in such a monumental and symbolic way with his gloves.
Because of that, it doesn’t make sense to me to say they could never be together, especially in a post-series scenario where boxing is no longer a barrier, and they could be more honest after everything they’ve been through.
In the original ending, Joe and Yoko are supposed to be living together post-series. Given Joe’s personality, it’s hard to imagine him choosing that if he didn’t have feelings for her, he wouldn’t accept that level of care and devotion if he couldn’t reciprocate. If anything, I think the stronger argument against them being together earlier on in the story in a hypothetical where Yoko confessed, is that Joe wouldn’t feel able to take on the responsibility of a relationship given how dangerous and unstable his life is, rather than an intense fear and insecurity over status differences. I could definitely see Takamori writing an interesting dilemma with this, especially later on, once Joe learns he’s punch-drunk, where he may possibly have to choose between personal fulfillment and a relationship with Yoko.
All in all, I think the story doesn’t lean to the inevitably of these two being unable to be together. If anything, the tragedy lies in the fact that Yoko, and in response Joe, were honest far too late. I write more about this in my Reddit character analyses if anyone is interested, but the story subtly shows countless times how similar these two actually are.
1. Both are young people on a journey of breaking free from social expectations in favor of finding self fulfillment.
2. Similar life values, which is why Yoko is one of the few able to actually understand and accept Joe’s passion for boxing, despite not even being a boxer herself.
3. Both have been isolated and misunderstood their entire lives because of people unable to see them as more than what their status is,
And there are many more. The irony of their relationship is that they are from completely different worlds, Man and woman, wealthy and poor, boxer and non-combatant, and yet they are somehow the most similar down to their core. It was just realized far too late.
Adding onto this, while it's true that Joe initially mistrusts Yoko in some form, her money isn't (I think) the full and complete reason for it. I don't think Joe's thought process was, "Yoko is rich so I don't like her or think we can be together and we're worlds apart," it's the misunderstanding that "Yoko is trying to use her money to buy and sell love, affection, regard, and camaraderie, which are things that no money can buy. Therefore she is fake." Basically, it's not money exactly, but his wrong notion that she is insincere, manifesting through her money.
In this regard, it's not that different from Joe's initial dislike of Danpei, who was poor. For Danpei, Joe's thought process was, "He's trying to use me to make money and regain his lost glory." And while Danpei might initially have seen Joe as a free meal ticket through boxing, that clearly changes over time. Danpei rigging the scale so that Joe wouldn't die of weight loss, as an example.
And as much as they clash, Joe eventually accepts Danpei's sincerity, affectionately calling him his "one-eyed mother" in the manga, and obviously, the reason he doesn't tell Danpei about his medical condition was that there was no way he'd let Joe fight if he knew, because at some point Joe as a person became more important to Danpei than winning matches and getting money and fame.
If he could get over that with Danpei, presumably he could with Yoko, who proved her sincerity in the final match against Jose by encouraging Joe to fight with no regrets.
It's a misunderstanding that would be corrected once they clear things up and are honest and forthcoming.
