Screwed morning to you!
In the morning of Prince Negil Nejiru's 11th birthday, his father the King Jill Hanazir gifts him the Screw Soul and a personal VocaBot, Heybot, a personal companion and a partner in VocaBattles. Excited, Nejiru fights his father right away, and Curb-Stomp Battle ensues. The King exiles Nejiru and Heybot until they gather various powerful VocaNeji Screws to challenge him again.
This series can best be described as Gintama meets Beyblade. Nejiru and Heybot run a do-anything shop to help random characters or battle the recurring cast for their screws. The plot of each episode is as random as possible with frequent Surreal Humor and No Fourth Wall.
The brainchild of the director Shinji Ishihara, along with Atsuhiro Tomioka, he was asked by Bandai to make one last show for Nagoya TV's note long running Metele Station Ends Anime Block using their new toy as a prompt. And using Doctor Slump and Patalliro! as the main inspirations, they've decided to go all out.
Produced by Bandai Namco Pictures and Bridge. Aired in 2016-2017 on TV Asahi and its affiliates for 50 episodes as part of Super Hero Time block alongside Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger and Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. Aired with English subtitles on Crunchyroll.
This show would also make its Super Robot Wars debut in Super Robot Wars X-Ω.
This series provides examples of the following:
- A Boy and His X: The story is about Nejiru and his Heybot.
- Action Mom: Nejiru's mom, Naguri Dotsuki, is a Blood Knight with an extra pairs of fists thanks to Prehensile Hair like Twintelle and likes to put her sons through Training from Hell.
- Affectionate Parody: Of various kid-oriented weekend morning anime shows with Nejiru somehow screwing with stock episodes.
- Anti-Hero: For the protagonist, Nejiru has "a few screws loose in his head", as he harasses citizens of his own kingdom just to touch any screws they may have. Though he likes to help anyone if people ask him.
- Art Shift: Happens quite a bit as a gag, sometimes making the characters look like Bishounens, sometimes making them look… weird.
- Ass Shove: Awesome Fine Screw defeats a Turtle Burger by ramming himself into monster's behind and making it pass out blushing.
- Battle Rapping: All conflicts are resolved in VocaBattle, which are done by competitors inserting three VocaNeji into their VocaBots and making a gag song using the three words corresponding to the VocaNeji used. The funniest gag marks the winner. How "funny" the gag is typically can be predicted by the used combo, as rare VocaNeji always beat regular VocaNeji.
- Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Nejiru and Heybot's Kombi dynamic, where usually Nejiru is The Ditz and Heybot is Straight Man. Many other characters form a duo as well.
- Broke the Rating Scale: The VocaReemans's gags are so bad Screw King rates them with -273 Screwnergy.
- Cast Full of Crazy: The only "normal" people here are complete outsiders, which can be counted on one hand. They eventually join the shenanigans after staying for a while.
- Cerebus Rollercoaster: The series occasionally cuts to events that happen outside Neji Island. Despite keeping the absurd character designs and visual effects, the background plot is completely Played for Drama with subtle hints that there's a reason the main plot is wacky the way it is.
- Chekhov's Gun: A lot of crazy stuff that happens throughout the show is given a somewhat rational explanation by the end.
- Chekhov's Gunman: A few Recurring Extra in the second half reveal themselves to play a larger role by monitoring the Island.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Most of the regular cast can be seen among the spectators in the first episode.
- Eastern Zodiac: There are 12 Eto VocaBot and their respective Eto VocaNeji, themed after Chinese Zodiac.
- Fictional Currency: The series has screwyen, which are screws with numbers on them.
- Flying Postman: SkyRabbit can fly and deliver cargo and high speeds.
- Gag Series: Not only is it about making gags, the show itself uses gags of different types and caliber whenever it can.
- Game Show Host: MC Screw pops up whenever there's a VocaBattle and Screw King acts as Combat Referee. If there are a lot of witnesses present, the battle turns into a show.
- Gasshole: Heybot is one, despite being a robot. It’s even part of his name.
- Geek: Nejiru's obsession with screws is screwed up to say the least, with some characters considering it a fetish of sorts.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: The series isn't afraid to add plenty of innuendos that would fly over heads of young viewers.
- Gotta Catch Them All: There are about 70 VocaNeji Screws of varying type and rarity and Nejiru wants to collect all of them. They are needed to perform efficiently in VocaBattles, though Nejiru just loves them in general.
- Grand Finale: In Episode 50, the cast is informed that the series is going to a close. Treating it like The End of the World as We Know It, everyone tries to do as many gags as possible, before coming to terms with their feelings and asking fans to
make up stories for themselves. - Grandpa God: Screw King is a magical grandpa that wears nothing but a loincloth and is said to be the father of all gags.
- Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Nejiru will do absolutely anything to get his beloved screws, which terrifies or disappoints the rest of the cast.
- Honest Axe: Nejiru drops Heybot's Bungle-Bungle Screw in Nejiyanagi's well. When she offers him a new Weepy-Weepy Screw as a choice, Nejiru goes for it instead, which only ends up angering her.
- Human Disguise: Vocammy spends most of the time in a convincingly-human android body.
- Hurricane of Puns: Almost every character talks with puns related to their theme.
- Idiot Hair: Nejiru has a long spiraling one. As does his older brother, Chigiru.
- Idiot Hero: As a previously Royal Brat, Nejiru fails even at most common tasks like inserting a battery into a battery slot.
- It Can't Be Helped: Awesome Fine Screw's Catchphrase is "it's fine". Used more commonly when everything is not fine.
- Imagine Spot: Quite plenty. The characters being successful within them is more unrealistic than the abstract things that happen there.
- Insufferable Genius: Schat is the The Smart Guy in Moekath Trio, but his remarks only annoy others.
- Lazy Bum: GoroReeman prefers napping and leaving any problems to tomorrow.
- Meaningful Name:
- Neji means screw, and many things in the series are named Neji-.
- "He" in "Heybot" is a Japanese onomatopoeia for fart. Which he does. A lot.
- Merchandise-Driven: Despite being a satire of such shows, Heybot has quite a wide range of collectable toys and products of its own, and frequiently references them. There's even an entire episode dedicated to acquiring the "DX Heybot".
- The Main Characters Do Everything: Discussed in Episode 3. If Nejiru becomes a side-character, then he'll miss all the events and screws he could meet.
- Next Tier Power-Up: Awesome Fine Screw (Sugo Sugoinda Neji) is a VocaBot that is introduced in the second half of the series and is treated like a power boost to regular VocaBots.
- Non Sequitur: The amount of absolutely bizarre Funny Background Events that become Funny Foreground Events and interact with Nejiru for no reason, or Nejiru getting teleported around just for a single irrelevant sentence, for any given episode, is too much to even attempt a Drinking Game.
- No Fourth Wall: A lot of characters seem to be aware they exist in a Kodomomuke series and comment on it. The finale shows them be quite terrified about what will happen to them when the series ends.
- Perpetual Poverty:
- Nejiru and Heybot run a Screw-Ya store to earn money for Imochin or get screws as a reward for tasks.
- The VocaReemans live in an abandoned office building and try different ways to make a buck.
- Protagonist Title: Heybot is the Robot Buddy who lives with Nejiru.
- Random Events Plot: Probably even more random than Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo. As an anime about joke-telling contests, it has absurd episode plots that don't have much relation to each other (ex: one episode somehow ends up with the heroes fighting space alien grannies from Saturn).
- Random Power Ranking: All VocaBots have Power Levels that grow with training, starting from 1. Supposedly, they show how efficient a VocaBot can perform in VocaBattle, though it's effectively meaningless.
- Rapid-Fire Comedy: You'd be hard pressed to find one conversation that doesn't get interrupted by slapstick.
- Reference Overdosed: The series is filled with so many references to various manga and videogames, that some of them are obscure even for the modern Japanese viewing audience.
- Red Is Heroic: Moeru has a flame theme all over him and acts more like The Hero than the actual protagonist.
- Shout-Out:
- One to Live A Live of all things, with parodies of Oersted and Streibough.
- Another involves the infamous relationship scenes of Bahamut Lagoon... expect the "emotionless guy" the princess chooses is a non-living scarecrow.
- Social Media Before Reason: GuchiReeman leaves most of his thoughts on Fretter.
- Stress Vomit: GeroReeman pukes waterfalls of bolts on-screen more than he does not.
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Yuuko Nejiyanagi is a Sadoko's Expy and gets mistaken for one. She even lives in a well. Though behind the creepy attitude she's actually alive and just unsociable.
- Split-Personality Switch Trigger: Chigiru, Nejiru's brother, goes from Face of a Thug to Shrinking Violet if he loses confidence or eats Imochin, along with different costume and hairstyle for each state.
- To Be a Master: Nejiru's goal in life is to defeat his father in VocaBattle and become the King himself, so he can have everything (specifically, screws) for himself.
- Toilet Humour: So. Freaking. MUCH.
- Heybot farts with green gas clouds so often it's basically his Signature Move. The farts can even have various magical properties.
- Episode 11 in particular is filled with this type of humour, mostly having to do with a certain character's resemblance to poop, and Heybot’s want to… do that.
- Chigiru’s VocaBot Peket, meanwhile, has a tendency to pee everywhere.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Heybot loves Imochin snacks. Naturally, they were sold in real life.
- Your Size May Vary: Screw King can freely change his height to fairy-size.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Some cutaway scenes, as well as Nejiru's Dreaming of Things to Come, show that something is trying to reach the Neji Island, but it isn't explained until near the end.
- Verbal Tic: Most characters have one. Heybot adds "Hebo" (clumsy, bonehead) to his speech.
- Weirdness Magnet: Heavily implied that the Screw Island is the case, as the further you go from it, the more toned down to nonexisting the comedy gets.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Heybot tends to look convincing when he poses as a girl for his and Nejiru's skits.
- World's Strongest Man: Nejiru's father is said to have never lost a VocaBattle to anyone.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: The Moekath Trio insist they're the Power Trio protagonists of a Shonen series, with Moeru being a typical Stock Shōnen Hero. Kathleena is frustrated this isn't the case, as she can't be the proper love interest if they're not the leading characters.
- Yandere: Vocammy's love for Heybot is about as large as Nejiru's love for screws. With the difference being that Heybot is not an inanimate object.
