Jun 23, 2017
Featuring the antics of a very hairy man and his equally silly sidekicks in their stand against an evil balding empire, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is as zany and over-the-top as it gets. There isn't really a story so much as an engine to kick the comedy into overdrive, a ridiculous shonen premise with absolutely no breaks between the gag-filled battles ... most of the time. Bobobo and his gang take on the various factions of the evil Chrome Dome Empire, going from base to base to take on the endless hordes of bad guys along with various allies that come and go to suit the show's
...
needs. There are no cute or beautiful girls here, contrary to what the heroine's name would have you believe, but there is plenty of testosterone and animate food like pop rocks and jelly men among other things.
Characters? Just know that Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is the driving force here; his personality largely amounts to mass random outbursts that belie his manly appearance (sort of), along with a healthy dose of nosehairs, cross-dressing and beating up some of his allies for added comedic effect. Secondary character Don Patch isn't too much different, only he is something of a butt monkey and more prone to over-the-top and violent outbursts. And then we have Jelly Jiggler, a more pitiful jelly man and a big butt monkey who often finds himself being a literal punching bag when he's not joining in on gags. Other characters include the token pink-haired teenage shonen heroine who exists for the sake of having a straight man; and a white-haired, edgy teenage boy who fights with his farts and also exists to give commentary and to perhaps be a parody of more popular Jump heroes. There are other recurring characters like a tiny dough man, a torpedo woman, an ice cream head man and a blonde psychic who literally does nothing, but the main starts of the show are the ones who enforce the comedy that comprise the show. Dozens of villains exist; most are piddly in more ways than one, largely existing as fuel for the comedy as their over-the-top skills are overcome in absurd ways. Some are slightly decent for the sheer memage they can enforce, but we're not here to see great villains, no? There are other animes for that.
Though I ranked this anime a 6, I must confess that I think more highly of it at its best and much more lowly of its worst moments. That "worst" aspect is right at the start for roughly the first 10 episodes, where Bobobo only has the pink hair as his companion for the most of it and he the majority of the onscreen time waffling about in little episodic trifles and boring gags. This I would rank a 4 or even a 3 on its own, it's that boring. It gets a little better after that, and continues to get better and better as the show progresses - of which I would rank a 7 if I could. Episode 43 is where it starts to get good, as the show dumps a rather obnoxious straight man and really gets rapid-fire into its comedy through its non-stop fights, the core aspect of the show that makes it truly enjoyable. There's not a truly dull moment at this point on, always managing to throw in something new to keep things fresh right until the very end.
Bobobo is a niche anime to watch purely as a comedy and nothing else. Seventy six episodes is indeed long, but the sheer randomness and lack of consistency among character depth and immersion mean that you don't have to know what's going on to to enjoy yourself and keep going from that point. Personally, I would suggest to skip the first half of the entire anime (or at least the first 10-25 episodes) if you're coming in to see the show at its best, though the first episode is perhaps somewhat obligatory as a slight - introduction - of sorts.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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