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Buried Treasure - Ashita no Joe

Ring ni Kakero is generally considered the manga that put Weekly Shonen Jump on the map and paved the way for its future popularity boom in the 80s... Ring ni Kakero was Kurumada's homage to Ashita no Joe, who loved the manga when he was younger.

So, if you want to push it a little, one could say that without Ashita no Joe, Weekly Shonen Jump wouldn't be where it is today.

Lord Geo wrote:

Ring ni Kakero is generally considered the manga that put Weekly Shonen Jump on the map and paved the way for its future popularity boom in the 80s... Ring ni Kakero was Kurumada's homage to Ashita no Joe, who loved the manga when he was younger. So, if you want to push it a little, one could say that without Ashita no Joe, Weekly Shonen Jump wouldn't be where it is today.

Yeah. Too bad most people aren't aware of this...

As you mentioned in your article, it set that standard for which a lot of shounen shows drew inspiration from. Furthermore, it was one of the earlier animation shows that did not fear showing physical violence and in the early 70s to boot. The stylistic choice of using dark pencil/charcoal shading gives it a gritty feel that gives the show a certain mood and character. People used to more modern anime fare will find the show ugly, clichéd (I question this as it was the first in many of the anime tropes that have come out as anime shows post-AnJ drew from it) and very slow going, especially the TV series. Strip away the prejudices and just watch it as is.