The Ballad of Tobio

The Ballad of Tobio (トビオのバラード, Tobio no barādo) is a manga and later Anime series by Osamu Tezuka that ran on Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 1965 to 1969, it tells the story of young orphan Tobio Tenma (Expanding his brief role in Tezuka's Astro Boy, this time, in a different role) training from Street Smart Teen to Featherweight Prize fighter, this is considered to be Tezuka's most violent work in his career.

in 1975, United Artists released a loose adaptation simply named Toby, starring Gene Hackman as the trainer Robert Shmuel, in 1979, an Anime adaptation was aired on NTV that concluded in 1982, followed by some Video games.

Story
the year is 1963, Tobio Tenma is a troubled 15-year old boy who ran away from an orphanage in 1955, Wandering through the slums of Tokyo, he picks a fight with 60-year old Jewish WWII vet Robert Shmuel, after punching the elder in the face, Tobio slips on a banana peel and gets knocked unconscious, Robert later takes Tobio to his Boxing Gym and later Tobio wakes up on one of the benches, the two become friends and Tobio agrees to be Shmuel's Boxer Pupil.

however, a ruckus begins outside caused by the biker gang, the Mad Masked gang, Tobio pops out of the gym and defeats many members, including their leader Mack "The Knife", Tobio later frees italian-american 14-year old schoolgirl Hannah Cacaronie, whom becomes Tobio's love interest later on.

Tobio later attends Hannah's school to get a better education.

after some weeks of rigorous training, Tobio feels ready for his first fight, Tobio starts his debut at a underground bar against the 28-year old French weakling, Jean Belmondo, whom Tobio defeats in the first round, Tobio later fights the more stronger 17-year old Jo Kashuka, whom he knocks out in the second round.

during Tobio's school life, he makes some new friends, including Jiro Takeshi, whom he saves from bullies.

After winning a slew of illegal underground matches, Tobio then faces off against Jazz Kidd, a 16-Year old African American living in Tokyo, they then score a brutal match on each other, both getting major injuries in the process, at the final 5th round, Tobio soon gets the upper hand and knocks him to his corner, Tobio tries to perform the final blow on Jazz, when his arm is stopped by Hannah, preventing Tobio from accidentally killing Jazz, the match ends with a split decision, declaring Jazz the winner, though they become friends later on.

Tobio and his friends from School and the gym all decide to unite together to fight the Mad Masked gang, they all emerge victorious against the gang and even getting leader The Knife sent to the police while the rest of the gang all declare surrender, they become heroes of the Neighborhood slum, thus ending the first half of the Story.

(Second Half of the plot in progress)

Anime Series (1979-1982)
the series was adapted into an Anime series that ran for two seasons on NTV from 1979 to 1982, the first season was later dubbed into English by Cookie Jar Entertainment (Then known as Cinar) and retitled "The Life of Toby" with Distribution from MGM/UA Television (There movie division owning the rights to the 1975 Movie adaptation), unlike most English dubs, this one was uncut by retaining the violence and swearing, and aired on HBO from 1984 to 1986, later on, MGM/UA Home Video released volume tapes of all the episodes.

in 1998, MGM sold the home video rights to Lyrick Studios, the same company that released Barney and Friends, The Wiggles and Veggietales tapes at the time, though MGM continues to own the 1975 Movie to this day, Lyrick released volume tapes of the dub in an edited form to cater to Children, Lyrick's target audience.

in 2001, HiT Entertainment bought and absorbed Lyrick Studios and all it's properties, except for This Series and Veggietales (Owned by NBCUniversal on behalf of Dreamworks Animation) meanwhile, Manga Entertainment bought all rights (including the undubbed Second season) and released the entire original series Uncut.