Yoko Shiraki is a young woman born to the Shirakis, a very wealthy family who is known for their activities in the boxing field. She is the main female protagonist in Ashita no Joe.

She is very polite, graceful and kind to other people, always acting exactly as expected from a daughter born to a family with a higher rank, donating to charities from time to time. As so, she clashes in both appearance and personality with most of the other characters who know nothing but poverty and hardship.

One of those characters is Joe who is the first to remark that her so called 'kindness' is completely fake, implying her sympathy for the poor is merely a way to make herself feel superior over those who have nothing to eat. She is often very shocked by his actions but as time goes on she comes to be the one who understands him best. She is disliked by Joe as an 'evil woman' who tries to control his life by always having something to do with most the situations he finds himself in later in the series.

~!After gradually coming to like him and showing very subtle and growing hints throughout the series, she confesses her love for Joe in the lockeroom right before the world title fight, begging him not to fight José Mendoza for her sake.!~

Joe Yabuki is a troubled young man who runs away from an orphanage. Wandering through the Tokyo slums, he meets former boxing trainer Danpei. Joe is later arrested and goes to a temporary jail where he fights Nishi, his future best friend, ​and leader of a group of hooligans. He and Nishi then go to a juvenile prison miles away from Tokyo. There Joe meets Rikiishi, a former boxing prodigy, and a rivalry develops between them. They face each other in a match in which Rikiishi dominates Joe until the latter hits him with a cross-counter, resulting in both being knocked out. This inspires the other prison inmates to take up boxing. Joe and Rikiishi vow to fight again. 
(Source: Wikipedia)

Yabuki Joe is left downhearted and hopeless after a certain tragic event. In attempt to put the past behind him, Joe leaves the gym behind and begins wandering. On his travels he comes across the likes of Wolf Kanagushi and Goromaki Gondo, men who unintentionally fan the dying embers inside him, leading him to putting his wanderings to an end. His return home puts Joe back on the path to boxing, but unknown to himself and his trainer, he now suffers deep-set issues holding him back from fighting. In attempt to quell those issues, Carlos Rivera, a world renowned boxer is invited from Venezuela to help Joe recover.


Joe, a teenage orphan in the slums of the Doya streets, meets Danpei, a homeless, alcoholic ex-boxing coach. Danpei, seeing Joe's boxing talent, decides to train him. When Joe is sent to a terrible juvenile home for petty crimes, he meets Rikiishi who becomes his boxing rival. Danpei arrives at the home to help Joe to train in order to defeat Rikiishi. When Joe decides to seriously pursue boxing, Danpei cannot get a coaching license because of his reputation as a drunk. 
(Source: AnimeNfo)

[Wiki (jp)](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/恵比寿まさ子)

__Birthplace:__ Rome, Lazio, Italy

Younger sister of [Anna Rita Pasanisi](https://anilist.co/staff/174948)

Yabuki Joe is left downhearted and hopeless after a certain tragic event. In attempt to put the past behind him, Joe leaves the gym behind and begins wandering. His return home puts Joe back on the path to boxing, but unknown to himself and his trainer, he now suffers deep-set issues holding him back from fighting. In attempt to quell those issues, Carlos Rivera, a world renowned boxer is invited from Venezuela to help Joe recover.

Her sister, [Federica de Bortoli](https://anilist.co/staff/95767/), is a popular Italian voice actress too. She dubbed [Kikyo](https://anilist.co/character/1359/) (from "Inuyasha") for the first 26 episodes, then contractual questions forced dubbing staff of Dynamic Italia to change casting roles and give her one to [Francesca Guadagno](https://anilist.co/staff/96231/).

A summary movie of the first season for people to get reminded on what happened before the airing of the second season.

Pilot films for Ashita no Joe, released as bonus material on the series' DVD box. 
 
- Aoyama-hen (prod. 1969/11/06) 
- Rikiishi-hen (prod. 1969/12/22)

A milestone in Japanese manga, "Ashita no Joe" celebrates the 55th anniversary of its serialization. Hina's father, enraged by Hina's indifferent attitude toward her post-high school career decision, disappears, leaving behind all the volumes of "Ashita no Joe" for some reason. When Hina picked up the book, which had a retro Showa-era feel to it, she was immediately moved to tears. On the advice of her father's friend Kenkichi, she determined that the key to his disappearance lay in a place associated with the original work. Hina decides to visit the "sacred places" of the original work... 


Youko Shiraki