April 20th, 1973, Tokyo

Once the magazine carrying the final episode of Tomorrow’s Joe was released, all telephones in the editorial department began to ring at once.

“Did Joe die?"

“Does Joe live?"

The chief editor repeated all through the day.

Never say “dead" or “alive,"

You can only answer “as shown in the picture."

The last frame of Tomorrow’s Joe is so famous that a child who does not read the original comic even knows.

Tomorrow’s Joe (20) P259 (c)TakamoriAsao ChibaTetsuya 2012

We in Japan discuss it even now.

Though everyone knows that no one knows.

It is unknown whether Joe is alive or dead.

But there are some comments by creators.

Creators of Ashita no Joe are two, author Takamori Asao and drawer Chiba Tetsuya.

Takamori Asao interpreted that Joe died

Takamori Asao (Kajiwara Ikki), the author of the original comics passed away in 1987.

He wrote in his autobiography “Manga Ichidai (漫画一代)" published in 1979.

Ashita no Joe was ended by the death of Joe Yabuki on the ring. He got burned out (therefore the story does not have the sequel).

The author thought that Joe was dead.

And Takamori died in 1987.

The last scene was created from an idea of Chiba.

Normally, we think “If the author says so, Joe died." but, Ashita no Joe has a slightly different circumstance.

Chiba Tetsuya was allowed to modify the story by Takamori because of Chiba’s track record of comics.

In fact, the legendary last scene was created by Chiba, who was entrusted with a curtain pull.

The words by Takamori was his interpretation of the ending.

Then, how does Chiba think about Joe at the last scene?

He gave readers several comments.

Adults understand Joe died, and children feel he only takes a rest with closing eyes, I drew it could be seen so. Ｃhildren may understand the ending of Joe at someday after thier growth. I believe they can make out Joe’s whole satisfaction with his life.

He avoided declaration, but sounds like he thought Joe was dead.

Chiba found that Joe is alive from a medical examiner

In 2001, medical examiner Dr. Ueno published a book about corpses.

In the book, doctor Ueno appraised Joe is alive.

Dr. Ueno explained,

A deceased person cannot support his own body sitting on a chair.

And he added

I think Joe could go down from the ring by himself. Joe is alive Specialist judged – Half a century has passed – | BuzzFeed

The doctor’s verdict was that Joe was alive and he could walk by himself.

Chiba heard it and said,

I’m very glad to find that Joe is alive.

Was the destiny of Joe updated by a man other than the creators?

It was a wonderful comment by Chiba.

He gave us possibility that Joe is still going well somewhere.

In 2018, Tomorrow’s Joe was celebrated on the 50th anniversary.

And Chiba Tetsuya won the special prize of Tezuka Osamu Comic Award.

The opportunities for Chiba to appear in mass media increased, and he was questioned every time, “Did Joe Yabuki die?"

Today, Oct 20th 2018, I attended an event of Chiba held in Tokyo.

His latest comment at the event was as follows.

While I draw that scene, I didn’t think whether he was dead or alive. I tried to express pure white Joe as a burnt-out man.

It’s not the essence of that page whether he lives, or he is dead.

We know that Joe closed his eyes without thinking whether he would die or wake up.

He simply thought “I burnt out", and completely satisfied.

It’s not a sad ending anyway.

Applaud for Joe Yabuki, such a fighter.