Gearless Joe (Japanese: ギアレスジョー, Hepburn: Giaresu Jō), also called Junk Dog is a fictional character from the 2018 boxing anime Megalobox produced by TMS Entertainment.

He reappears in the 2021 sequel Megalobox 2: Nomad as a depressed man escaping from his past while meeting immigrants who he befriends while also coming to terms with the sin he committed.

Joe's more depressed personality was something the staff heavily discussed in the making of the sequel as they aimed to give him a notable character arc.

Critical response to Joe's character has been positive with multiple writers seeing him as a likable lead with entertaining fight scenes.

[5] The staff had mixed thoughts about how they should handle Joe as a depressed adult despite his young days as Megalonia's champions as that was how the first season ended.

Moriyama decided to touch new themes to make Megalobox become a more independent work rather than keep staying as a tribute to Ashita no Joe.

[9] Hosoya noted the response to the first season was not popular only in Japan but also Western regions as a result of the multiple letters the team received.

The first minutes of the first episode were Tang's favorite scenes especially the part when Joe is riding a bike based on the storytelling and animation.

Mikio Shirato meets with Joe before their fight is due to start and reveals that he knows he is an illegal underground fighter with a fake ID and threatens to tell the world if he gets in the ring.

[17] The following night, as the ceremony is held to introduce the final four fighters for Megalonia, Joe crashes the scene and demands that Mikio fight him fairly.

Following Chief's death, Joe returns to his old gym to face his parts which causes mayhem with Sachio who still blames him for abandoning them and letting Nambu die while he was trying to win a match.

[20] Otaku USA liked how Joe's character changes across the narrative as he goes from a fighter who does arranged matches to a more competitive boxer driven his rivalry with Yuri and pride.

As a result, he views Gearless Joe as an improvement over the original Jo but felt his rivalry with Yuri lacked depth despite him being his final rival in the first season.

As a result, the fear he expresses when entering into the competition Megalonia feels natural due to high probabilities of Joe dying in the ring, which he felt were inspiring.

The aftermath of the fight also received feedback because the ending of the season shows the impact Joe made in the scenario as he inspired multiple children to try boxing in Nowhere.

[25] In 2019, Joe was nominated for the 3rd Crunchyroll Anime Awards in the categories of "Best Protagonist" and "Best Boy", but lost to Rimuru Tempest from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and Izuku Midoriya from My Hero Academia, respectively.

[28] In regards Joe's portrayal in the sequel, Anime News Network wrote, like Biggest in Japan, that the character still feels faithful to the idea of the importance of human drama rather than sports based on his depressed state over Nambu's death.

The writer was moved by how Joe interacted with immigrants, most notably the boxer Chief due to how gradually accepts their way of living due to their differences in regards to how the two had different priorities at the times of fights: while Joe is a dedicated boxer, Chief instead chooses to participate in arranged matches to provide for his people.

Nevertheless, he still enjoyed the fact that the character could fight in an entertaining fashion and there were several hints about why Joe feels his guilty over Nambu's death.

Meanwhile, the present Joe was felt to be caring as he allows himself to be defeated in an arranged match in order to provide for Sachio even if his friend will never forgive him for abandoning Nambu.