In a sense there’s not much drama in this fight between Joe and Shirato Mikio – just as was the case with whether the fight was going to take place at all.  There’s only one result that can happen if the series is going to follow its destined course, and in each case that was the result we got.  But that leaves me quite worried about what’s going to happen in the end, because another thing that doesn’t have much suspense is the Greek tragedy – and there’s more than a whiff of that to Megalo Box.  And the lasting image from each successive episode is the terrible beating Joe’s body (and brain) is taking with each successively more brutal fight.

I was surprised the episode jumped right into the middle of said fight – the middle of the second round, to be precise.  But I suppose the entire eighth episode was build-up to it, so it hardly got shortchanged in that department.  And as per usual with Joe’s fights, he’s getting beaten up pretty good in the early rounds.  A few less teeth is going to be the least of Joe’s problems if this continues – and he tastes the canvas twice in the second round alone, though he drags himself to his feet each time.

The idea that a gearless opponent would be the Achilles heel for Mikio’s gear (which is called “Ace”) was a good one on paper.  But Ace is apparently so advanced that it can predict a move it’s seen one time – which leaves all the work Joe and Nanbu did in the gym (seen through a gorgeous cutaway in the midst of the Mikio fight) seemingly for naught.  But for a fighter who seems to be winning easily, Mikio doesn’t seem very happy in the corner – certainly not with the team of techs who make a mockery of the idea of cornermen.

What sort of skill does Mikio need if his gear is actually doing his thinking for him – and moving his arms in response?  That takes augmentation to another level and basically pisses on the idea of boxing as a competitive sport.  But what’s interesting is that Mikio seems to be aware of this – even as he obsessively pushes to get his synchronization levels with Eva-01 Ace up to 100%, he also appears to be desperately trying to assert his own control over what he does in the ring.  I’m not sure where Ace stops and Mikio begins, and I’m not sure Mikio is either.

There is an Achilles heel, in fact, not just of Ace but of all gear, and we’ve seen it assert itself multiple times already.  Using any sort of gear takes its toll on the body – on Aragaki, on Mikio, and on Yuri too.  Joe’s greatest weapon in the ring has basically been his jaw and his stamina – he’s outlasted his toughest opponents.  That’s more or less what happens with Mikio too, though in fact Joe wagers everything on one punch – the idea being that if Ace has never seen it before, it can’t predict what’s coming.  So Joe drops his guard altogether to get into Ace’s (and Mikio’s) head and prolong the war, and asks Nanbu where he thinks Mikio’s eventual killing blow is going to come from.

There’s definitely something of the classic tragedy in the way this all ends.  Mikio, in fact, gets knocked out because in the moment of crisis he disregards Ace and goes to finish Joe with a left.  While that’s the opposite of what Nanbu predicted it’s what Joe’s body told him was coming in that moment.  So really, you had a boxer who only has his own instincts to draw on showing better instincts that a boxer who’s used to letting an A.I. control his movements – hardly surprising.  It’s the end for Mikio, and while Joe gets to fight another day (if in fact the mob will let him do so) it seems fair to wonder just how much more abuse he can take.