Crusher Joe

Crusher Joe (Japanese: クラッシャージョウ, Hepburn: Kurasshā Jō) is a series of science fiction novels written by Haruka Takachiho and published by Asahi Sonorama from 1977 to 2005 (an additional trilogy was published between 2013 and 2016). During the late 1970s one of the founding fathers of Studio Nue, Takachiho, decided that besides being a designer he would try his hand at penning novels. The result was Crusher Joe, a group of antiheroes who were not the typical self-sacrificing types but noble in their own right nonetheless.

Crusher Joe was made into an animated film in 1983 and two original video animation (OVA) episodes in 1989. The film version won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1983. The film features several guest designs by Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira Toriyama, Rumiko Takahashi and Hideo Azuma. In 2021, Takachiho revealed that he worked with Otomo on a sequel film "a long time ago." Otomo created a storyboard for the beginning of the sequel and gave it to Sunrise, but the project fell through. The movie and the OVA series were licensed for English release by Discotek Media in 2016.

A manga series illustrated by Yu Harii, titled Crusher Joe Rebirth, started in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Evening on 12 September 2017; the manga entered on hiatus in February 2022, and the magazine ceased its publication in February 2023. Its chapters have been collected in five volumes as of February 2022.