L Lawliet’s Review-O-Rama: BoBoBo-Bo-BoBoBo

SAY WHAT?

If you answered, “BoBoBo!”, then you’re in the right place. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to L Lawliet’s Review-O-Rama! Today, we take a look at another good anime series, a show about a man who travels across a post-apocalyptic world of destruction and mayhem to save the world he calls home.

You know, this sounds kinda familiar…

That’s right! It’s a parody of the classic anime series Fist of the North Star.  But, that simple little title’s nowhere near as catchy as…

BOBOBO-BO-BOBOBO!

Now, let me just make this clear-while the basic plot is a FotNS parody, the rest is pure mayhem. You got fight scenes that make no sense, pop culture references that would make LittleKuriboh blush, and the zaniest cast of characters I have ever laid eyes on. Let’s not delay and jump right into the show!

Characters

Alright, so, let’s begin, shall we? Starting us off, we have the hero of the future, the man with a nose-haired plan…

…BoBoBo! He’s a wrecking machine, hellbent on…well, I was gonna say, “Stopping Lord Baldy-Bald,” but you can never really tell with him. Sometimes he wants to relax. Sometimes he wants to punch your face in. And sometimes he wants to play with giant robots. And crossdress. He’s like Charlie Sheen if he was an anime character. You borrow his brain, and you’re like, “DUDE, CAN’T HANDLE IT!” Or, should I say, HAIRdle it?…Yeah, I’m sorry.

One man alone cannot fight an empire, though, so he gets a little help from his friends…

…like Gasser, a flatulent, furious fighting force-try saying that three times fast. He had been stalking the crew for a while before his proper introduction, but he joined up with them soon after.

…former gang leader Don Patch, a…a…Don Patch. He used to run a gang of little guys similar to him, before Bobobo came along and showed that defeat means friendship. He looks like a soda mascot-and honestly, he’d work well as one. He’d get all his little cronies to force people to spend the cash.

…Jelly Jiggler, a-I’m not even gonna bother anymore. A former member of Lord Baldy Bald’s army, he joined Bobobo due to his…well, I’m not really sure by this point, I’m gonna say it’s his dashing good looks. Last but not least, we have….

…Beauty, quite possibly the only sane human in this world. She serves as the straight man to EVERY OTHER CHARACTER IN THE SHOW. Tough job, but someone’s gotta do it.

Along the way, they get help from other folks, like Captain Battleship, Softon and Dengakuman, but they’re on and off companions.

You know, this wouldn’t be complete without discussing what makes Bobobo Bobobo without talking about the parodies.

Parodies, or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Bobobo

Bobobo is a very self-referential series. It seems to know it’s a manga, and takes pride in the fact that it can do things many other series can’t, due to their seriousness. It can openly talk about other Jump manga, make references to the traits of shonen anime, and be generally silly. It takes a serious subject matter-i.e., the manga Fist of the North Star, which is a dark and gritty tale of post-apocalyptic survival-and turns it into…well…

Yeah.

Another thing is that while the manga doesn’t take itself seriously, the characters do. They honestly think their wacky way of fighting evil is genuine, and they don’t understand why Beauty freaks out every two seconds while they’re busy DODGING MISSILES WITH DANCE. It’s an all around cheesefest, and it revels in this fact. It’s what makes it worth watching.

Final Thoughts

Bobobo is a sight to behold. It’s wacky, it’s over the top-it’s a once in a life time experience in animated format. You don’t know what you’re watching, but you keep watching it anyway. It’s something everyone should see once. It’s not a great anime-it gets repetitive and the wackiness sometimes gets boring, believe it or not-but it’s still one that’s worth a few days of your time. Overall, I give BoBoBo-Bo-BoBoBo 3 and a half blonde Afros out of five. FIST OF THE NOSE-HAIR: SIGN OFF ATTACK!