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This show counts as a G-Rated Drug.
Wherever there's a head of hair being threatened by a criminal clipper, I'll be there!

Combining a thinly-disguised Affectionate Parody of Fist of the North Star with a plethora of bad puns, pop-culture parodies, and a cocktail of hallucinogens, Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo is every bit as weird as its name, which is also the name of its main character. Bo-bobo (as he's known) is a tall, muscular man with sunglasses, a large blonde afro, and tendencies towards childish, eccentric, or downright strange behavior that belies his serious demeanor. Not surprisingly, it's filled with strange, bizarre or outright surreal imagery that has little to do with the plot most of the time.

In the year "300X", the entire world is under the control of the Maruhage Empire (Chrome Dome Empire). Purely For the Evulz, Emperor Tsuru Tsurulina IV (Czar Baldy Bald IV) has initiated a globe-spanning crusade called the "Hair Hunt". Said Hair Hunt consists of the empire's army, the "Hair Hunters", pillaging countless villages and shaving the inhabitants of said villages bald against their will.

But that's where Bo-bobo comes in.

Bo-bobo is the master of the Hanage Shinken, (Super Fist of the Nose Hair), an oddball form of martial arts that grants him the ability to manipulate his own nose hair to defeat his enemies. More often, though, he defeats them by confusing them to the point of insanity with his countless eccentricities and endless assortment of sight gags (like little people living inside his massive blonde Afro). This is eventually revealed to also be a form of martial arts in Bo-bobo's world, known as "Hajike" (from the Japanese word "hajikeru", which literally means "to burst" but can also mean "to go crazy", translated as "Wiggin" ala the phrase "Wiggin Out"), where the object is to use these strange happenings to distract and confuse your enemy into submission.

The manga was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2001 to 2005, with an anime adaptation that ran from 2003 to 2005. The dub wasn't a direct translation from the Japanese original (just look at the narrator) as a lot of the jokes from the original source were centered around Japanese culture and likely wouldn't translate well to English-speaking countries. The anime was canceled after 76 episodes, and the American manga beginning at Volume 11 (renumbered) is on hiatus, with only five volumes released (supposedly they are going to translate more in the future, according to an email).

Not to be confused with Bobobobs, a similarly wacky (but infinitely saner) Japanese/Spanish animated series that enjoyed some heavy popularity in those countries in The '90s.


Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo provides examples of:

  • Achievements in Ignorance:
    • In one episode, an enemy's attacks fail to hurt Don Patch. Don Patch's only explanation for this is "because I'm stupid."
    • In another episode, an enemy removes 90% of the titular character's (already somewhat limited) intelligence, which just allows him to do even more things that don't make sense, such as his hair turning into miniature versions of himself that beat up said enemy.
  • Action Girl: Most of them are the few villanesses within the Maruhage/Chrome Dome Empire's many incarnations.
    • The Fusion Dance forms, Denbo-chan and Adult Woman are this.
  • Afro Asskicker: Bo-bobo
  • Alas, Poor Villain:
    • Captain Battleship/Gunkan. All he wanted was to be acknowledged for his skills by his one friend, yet he is constantly left to die and to be defeated easily in a fight.
    • Sort of off set by his being glad at the destruction of the hair empire (although that's set off by the fact that they're potentially racist), destroying Gasser's home town, and most likely killing his master.
  • All Girls Like Ponies: Beauty, but only the dub.
  • Alternate Self: Parodied with Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo Double Twin Mark II Second/Bo-bobo From A Parallel Universe Kinda Like His Alter Ego.
  • The Alcatraz: Cyber City
  • Aloof Big Brother: Softon to Beauty and Bi-bibi, Be-bebe and Ba-baba to Bo-bobo
  • Amusement Park of Doom: The Chrome Dome Empire's strongest bases of operations are these. Why they're amusement parks and not actually, you know, military bases is anyone's guess.
  • Animated Actors: The characters occasionally refer to themselves as such when they're Breaking the Fourth Wall.
  • Animation Bump: Certain episodes like the Battleship fight, part of the Halekulani fight, aspects of the J introduction fight, etc, are given more dynamic and smoother animation than the usual quality of the episodes.
    • Episodes in the series circle through noticeable animation shifts, certain episodes go into the Surreal Horror valley as they ramp up the Deranged Animation aspect of the show, while others are more toned and cartoony in style.
  • The Artifact: The importance of the Maruhage Empire's "Hair Hunts"(see Bald of Evil below) fluctuated as the series progressed. By the time the group battles Halekulani, the notion had been virtually forgotten. Only during the final battle of the Hair Kingdom arc does it get any important mention (Bi-bibi started the Hair Hunts out of jealousy) again.
    • The same thing happens in Shinsetsu: By the time the first volume is over, the Hair Hunts are only mentioned in passing a few times.
    • It becomes very obvious since the villains following the Z-Block arc had various extremes of Anime Hair, talk about being a Hypocrite
    • They 'were' wearing wigs held down with, among other thing, tape and glue. Not to mention that the higher-ups have full heads of hair.
  • Art Evolution: The first bunch of volumes have very blocky and undetailed work to a degree that it looks ameturish; later volumes become more fluid and detailed, and by the time the sequel Shinsetsu begins, comparisons become exceptionally jarring.
  • Art Shift: Consistently, they often go from happy to semi realistic when doing Oh, Crap! moments, Don Patch is the greatest offender of this.
  • Ascended Extra: The Narrator in the English dub of the anime, where he becomes a Lemony Narrator.note 
    • Jelly Jiggler himself was originally intended to be a one-off joke character, but when the author received fan mail demanding that he appear more, he became a full-blown series mainstay.
  • Ass Shove: Kancho-kun/The Splinter's specialty and does this in the later story arcs...
  • At Arm's Length: Dengakuman in spite of running the strongest Block of the current generation, is just white small figure that insists he's a dog with no combat capability. When he tries to attack, he's held at arm's length and is easily swatted around as you would expect.
  • Badass Adorable: The original series had Ruby, a mind controlling Ninja little girl, and Shinsetsu has Pokomi, an absurdly strong Magical Girl Warrior.
  • Bald of Evil: Duh! Although, oddly, many Hair Hunt Troops have hair. Most of them, though, fit the trope.
    • Maybe people who decide to work willingly for the Hair Hunters have the privilege of keeping their hair. Although it is mentioned that some of the Hair Hunters are wearing wigs.
  • Balloon Belly: Suzu, after eating a whole coelacanth in episode 18.
  • Beta Couple: Gasser/Heppokomaru and Beauty, when Bo-bobo isn't pairing himself with Don Patch.
  • Big Bad: Czar Baldy Bald IV (Smoothie IV in Viz manga) Czar Baldy Bald III in Former Maruhage Arc, Hydrate in Reverse Maruhage / Shadow Chrome Dome Arc, and Bibibi-bi Bi-bibi in Hair Kingdom Arc.
  • Bilingual Bonus: A lot of it. In Japanese, a lot of the jokes have some basis in logic as Visual Puns, which obviously don't translate into English. This makes the humor appear completely random in English, but if you're well versed in Japanese language, you can deduce what the puns are. For example, in a popularity contest, Dengakuman gets fourth place, and then climbs into a coffin, because in Japanese, Four Is Death.
  • Bishōnen Line: All of Bobobo's fusions are much better-looking than his default form (except for Incomplete BoboPatch). To say nothing of the goofy-looking creatures he fuses with...
  • Black-and-White Morality: Despite Bo-bobo being an extreme Heroic Comedic Sociopath, it follows this mindset through the story, with the villains being Card-Carrying Villain types and the rebels being as just... as their Cloudcuckoolander tendencies allow them.
  • Blood from the Mouth: In the manga, everything, everything that qualifies as an attack in some way (like breathing in their ear suggestively) causes this to happen. It's almost a useful indicator that someone's been harmed. Doesn't happen in the anime (even in the unedited Japanese version).
  • Bloodless Carnage: The anime is ripe with this. You won’t find a drop of blood anywhere compared to the manga. And this was true of the Japanese version to start with!
  • Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Beauty (and sometimes Gasser) acts as Tsukkomi to everyone else.
  • Body Bridge: When one of Team Bobobo's foes, Infinite Shoot, turns the whole forest into a Lethal Lava Land, Bobobo, Don Patch, and Jelly Jiggler linked together, forming a bridge for Gasser to have better footing.
  • Bowdlerize: The anime was toned way, way down from the original manga. The High-Pressure Blood Running Gag was completely removed, Softon's ice cream head was changed from chocolate to strawberry to avoid the poop jokes, one enemy who was a box of cigarettes was changed to a box of chocolate bars, and more minor examples.
    • The English adaptation that aired on Cartoon Network went even further in both removing scenes (Usually for broadcast time reasons, but if there was a dirtier joke in an episode, that would be the scene they remove) and implementing the dreaded Never Say "Die" trope. Some of the foreign dubs also did this.
  • Butt-Monkey: Everyone except Beauty, but in particular Don Patch and Jelly Jiggler (especially the latter), to the point where Bo-bobo randomly beats them up in fights for no reason.
  • Cable-Car Action Sequence: one of our protagonist's special attacks involves this.
  • Calvinball: That's literately the only rule of the fights in the Bo-bobo universe. The rules for one battle won't carry over to the next one. One battle my be borderline serious, with all attacks ending in blows even if the attacks themselves are silly, and another one the enemy might be defeated by what appears to pure psychological damage because the moves shouldn't be do any damage. It's very, very odd.
  • Comically Invincible Hero: Bobobo and his friends are this trope personified.
  • The Comically Serious: Dengakuman and Bobobo's other fusion "Adult Woman", a confident and "mature" woman who treats her foes as children and uses just as goofy attacks as everyone.
  • Canon Immigrant - Dark Yasha/Sambaman originally first appeared in the Bo-bobo GBA game, "9-Kyoku note  Senshi Gag Yuugou", and he later appears in both the manga and the anime in the Emperor Playoffs.
  • Catchphrase: Torpedo Girl's "I'm a TORPEDO!" Even her laugh is just her repeating the word "torpedo"('Gyorai') over and over again. Infact, it actally starts to annoy the heroes in her debut episode, to the point where Don Patch asks her to stop saying it.
    Torpedo Girl: And that's because...I'M A TORPEDO!!
  • Chekhov's Gag: Bo-bobo uses "Ganeme", a modification of "megane" (the Japanese word for glasses), by flipping a pair of glasses while fighting Zeb Ziegler/Kibahage to confuse him and it came back later in the fight against Be-bebe when Bo-bobo flips his glasses upside down and unleashes the ultimate glasses-filled attack that defeats his brother.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Pickles, of all people, was left behind in the first chapter because Bo-bobo secretly assigned him to spy on his evil brother, Bi-bibi.
  • Clothes Make the Superman: All over the place in the series, a genuinely serious example would the Super jacket that allows Bo-bobo to become Super Bo-bobo.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Bo-bobo, Don Patch, and Jelly Jiggler.
    • Even the villains have some, Battleship, Rice, Torpedo Girl despite her mission to destroy those with this traitnote  and most of the Hair Hunters that aren't serious.
    • Name any character on this show. ANY character. Chances are they're completely off their rocker.
  • Cloudcuckooland: Bo-bobo has this in his head. LITERALLY.
    • One notable case is when Don Patch injects the Poet with a serum that causes him to think like Don Patch. Instead of creating cool weapons to attack, he creates "Stupid Prince", "Pure-Hearted Bucktooth Cop" and "Panties".
  • Combat Pragmatist - Any Hajikelist/Wiggin Specialist such as Bo-bobo and co. are this.
  • Comedic Hero: Bo-bobo, Don Patch, and Jelly Jiggler to various degrees,
  • Comedic Sociopathy: This was one of the main reasons that parents in Japan petitioned the anime's cancellation; too much of the show's comedy was placed on absurd slapstick.
  • Confusion Fu: Bo-Bobo has a black belt in it, tenth dan. Essentially the strategy is cause the enemy to let their guard down with their bizarre antics
  • Cross Dresser: Don Patch, and occasionally Bo-bobo as well as Jelly Jiggler.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Don Patch, back in his he didn't show real combat ability to back up his boasting at this point, goes to face off against the very tall and muscular Tough-Looking Guy. Rather expectedly, he gets beaten off-screen in a matter of seconds due to the obvious weight class difference.
  • Cut Short: The anime ran for 76 episodes, covering 11 of the manga's 13 story arcs; it was cancelled after about a third of the second-to-last story arc surrounding the battle with the Reverse Maruhage/Chrome Dome Empire aired. The manga itself did, however, reach a conclusion.
    • The Viz release of the manga seems to have ended at volume 5 (Japanese release: volume 15) with 6 volumes left untranslated (13 counting Shinsetsu), as there is no indication that they will be continuing and no previews for future volumes at the end of the latest one. (According to an email, they are going to translate more at an undetermined point in the future)
    • The release in Spain won't cover Shinsetsu despite the first series ending with a giant Sequel Hook (Tsuru Tsururina III is back!) and the volume and author notes encouraging the reader to buy Shinsetsu (Which were left in the volume, of course). After constant Screwed by the Network moments (Early volumes coming almost randomly, stopping for a while after 5-6 were published and stopping again for nearly two years when they only had 2 volumes left to finish the first series), Spanish fans felt this was final middle finger moment from the publishers. The only explanation was "low sales", but it's not like the series is known for selling a lot (In fact Shinsetsu ended for its low popularity), so...
  • Darker and Edgier: The manga sequel Shinsetsu, from its darker and sharper art style to some more grisly violent moments, namely Heppokomaru getting violently stabbed by a villain and Bo-bobo's first fight with "emperor" Namero.
  • Deranged Animation: Where do we begin? Bo-bobo and co change into random things without warning, stuff ranging from booger ball people to giraffes and even Yami and Slifer come out at one point of the manga, then there's the random things in the earlier episodes like when a giant baby comes out of the train ride at the A-Block troop and then there's the rap scene....
  • Department of Redundancy Department: Namero
  • Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Bo-bobo and co. does this many times, especially the time they were sent into the underworld during their fight against Giga using the Macho Men Fist and they picked a fight against Enma...
  • Distressed Damsel: Beauty. Suzu also is victimized a few times, but not as much.
  • The Dragon: Giga to Czar Baldy Bald IV, Hanpen (General Lee Fishcake) to Czar Baldy Bald III, Byakkyo & Bebebe-be Be-bebe to Hydrate, and Shigeki X to Bibibi-bi Bi-bibi
  • Eating the Enemy
    • Kabeo was a giant, wall monster who could eat his enemies by absorbing them through his chest and steal their Super Fists. He did this to the former commander of the C-Block base after he was beaten by Gasser and wanted gobble Gasser to get his Fist of the Back Wind. Fortunately, Bobobo was able to hold Gasser back from getting himself killed and Kabeo himself really ate it when Bobobo blasted the base away Super Mario World style with him still in it.
    • Czar Baldy Bald III, Big Bad leader of the Former Chrome Dome Empire, upon realizing that Bobobo is a Living Macguffin, does everything he can to get his Hair Ball. Desperate to get it, he eventually decides to swallow Bobobo in one gulp via a longue tongue along with Don Patch. Unfortunately, the One-Winged Angel form he assumes afterward isn't like he was expecting. And soon Bobobo shows Bald just how wacky he is and is able to burst right out in spectacular fashin.
  • End-of-Series Awareness: The characters (including the narrator) complain that the series is canceled just before an epic fight, and the narrator complains that he was never visible through the entire series.
    • Although that was a line in the dub, and the narrator did in fact make an actual appearance in the recap special in Japan.
  • Enemy Mine: Played straight in The Reverse Maruhage Arc with the remaining finalists such as OVER, Halekulani, Zetsubou/Sad Sack, and Kancho-kun teaming up with Bo-bobo's gang to fight against the Reverse Maruhage Empire led by Hydrate.
  • Epic Fail: In fights whenever attacks go wrong lead into these moments very often, especially with Don Patch.
  • Evil Counterpart - Gunkan/Battleship to Bo-bobo, J to Softon, Shigeki X to Don Patch, and Jati to Beauty.
  • Evil Laugh: Torpedo Girl combines this with Pokémon Speak... despite speaking normally at any other time.
    "Tor, pedotorpedotorpedotorpedotorpedo..."
  • Evil Plan: Supposedly Emperor Tsuru Tsururuna IV wants to shave everyone bald and the heroes try to stop him, but they get sidetracked by the weirdness.
  • Excited Title! Two-Part Episode Name!: Many examples in the anime series, one of them both in the official Japanese and English titles: "The Mysterious Boy's True Form and Fart Shinken! Eat Asparagus!" or "Gasser Up! I'm Ready To Drive!"
  • Excuse Plot: A Cloud Cuckoo Lander rebels against an evil empire that wants to... cut everyone's hair off.
  • Eye Shock: Don Patch and Jelly Jiggler do this in shock after seeing Giga's true form.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Gasser/Heppokomaru in Shinsetsu, under the threat of Pokomi being potentially harmed. Namero Yononaka as well, upon discovering from a Neo Maruhage solider that he is an heir to Tsuru Tsrulina III, and a canidate to become the next emperor.
  • Fanservice: Subverted; at the beginning of one chapter, Don Patch poses while wearing girls' underwear and says "Fanservice!"
    • Service Man. His name is a parody of fanservice. Not to mention his only attack is to lift his sheet to show things that should never be seen.
    • Played straight in the forms of lolicon-girl Pokomi and Princess Chinchiro in Shinsetsu.
  • Fate Worse than Death: Hatenko deals with one of the Cyber Knights by freezing him in one place and putting a bunch of bladed keys in him. Also, Rice gets turned into a polygon and gets his face torn off.
    • Though is implied to have gotten better by the sequel series.
  • Fartillery: How much more obvious than "Fist of the Back Wind" can you get?
  • Fire-Breathing Diner: Done by Bo-bobo to Don Patch, Jelly Jiggler and Torpedo Girl during the battle against her/OVER.
  • Friendly Tickle Torture: Invoked with startling and unexpected frequency between the various characters in the show, which comes as no surprise given the anime's sense of humor. Often zigzags into this trope's more "malicious" counterpart.
  • Food Coma: In Chapter 39, Bobobo makes Suzu eat an entire coelacanth, which the latter does quickly and with no hesitation. She smugly tells Bobobo that she managed to eat it all when he turns his attention back to her, but Suzu is so heavily bloated that she winds up passing out seconds later.
  • Fusion Dance: Parodied; at one point when an enemy tricks Bo-bobo into fusing with the wrong person in an attempt to weaken him.
  • Fusion Dissonance: Played for Laughs; Bo-bobo's Fusion Dance forms never resemble their components in appearance or personality (or sometimes even artstyle). The main character is a parody of Kenshiro with a Funny Afro and he can combine with a bunch of weird monsters to form... Magical Girls and Bishōnen? On the debut fusion, BoboPatch claims to be so powerful that he can only maintain his form for one minute... but later fusions have completely random limits ranging from hours to seconds. One of the fusions in the manga is with Torpedo Girl (a literal female torpedo with a face and legs, not the KISS song) resulting in a parody of Sephiroth.
  • Gag Series: To Shōnen in general.
  • Guest-Star Party Member: Suzu joins the crew only in the Hallelujah Land Arc.
  • Goggles Do Nothing: Parodied with the minor villain Rububa the Bubbles (Bubble-uba in the English dub), who wears three pairs of goggles on his forehead, and has an extra-large pair wrapped around his waist.
  • Gasshole: Gasser
  • Ghost in the Machine: Represented in various bizarre ways fully visible to the other characters.
  • Gratuitous Korean: Denbo, the Magical Girl fusion warrior of Bo-bobo and Dengakuman, can speak Korean...very badly. In fact, when that episode was aired in South Korea, that line wasn't dubbed over, for extra funniness.
    • Also, some episodes have characters chanting "Bulgogi!" (Korean Barbecue) for some reason.
  • Grievous Harm with a Body - Bo-bobo does this with his own friends in fights against enemies.
  • Hard Work Hardly Works: When Bo-bobo was chosen over Gunkan as the 7th Master of the Fist of the Nose Hair, this led to Gunkan's betrayal.
  • Head Smashes Screen: In the Cyber City arc, Giga, the arc's Big Bad, reveals himself in front of Bobobo and Softon via a big screen. When one of Giga's cronies tried to attack Bobobo, the latter smashes his face on the big screen and declares that he's coming to kick his ass.
  • Heel–Face Turn mixed with Defeat Means Friendship - 4/7ths of Bobo-Bo's team is comprised of Hair Troopers he took down.
  • Hero Stage Show: Don Patch fights one of the Hair Hunt villains, T-500, during a hero stage show at a amusement part. Naturally it's All Part of the Show for the crowd and Don Patch tries to make himself the certain of attention during it.
  • Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Don Patch and to a lesser extent Bo-bobo.
  • Honest Axe: Spoofed
  • Hurricane of Puns: Describes the entire series.
    • Even more so in the English dub
  • Hypocritical Humor: The fusion character Bo-Jiggler constantly preaches about peace and love while beating people up
    • This could just make him a Love Freak Martial Pacifist...
    • Bo-bobo himself does this frequently, condemning an enemy for treating his ally badly, despite doing so every chance he gets.
  • Idiot Ball: Don Patch summons a LITERAL one in the manga while fighting Pana.
    • Bo-bobo later uses two of Don Patch's spikes to inject some of Patch's stupidity into a foe. And it's not the last time that they literally weaponize stupidity.
  • Inflating Body Gag: A giant toilet causes anyone who falls inside to swell up. Jelly Jiggler explodes this way. He gets better.
  • Insane Troll Logic: Anything that comes out of Bo-bobo's mouth. It makes sense to him but no one else. Except for the targets of said logic, against whom it inexplicably works.
  • Improvised Weapon: Bo-bobo does this with everything, even his own ally
  • Improbable Weapon User: Don Patch and his Don Patch Sword, which is a green onion.
  • Indecisive Parody: Although the show is CLEARLY a parody of all anime, it can also, surprisingly, be appreciated as simply a stand-alone funny show, and is by a lot of fans.
  • Interactive Narrator: Especially in the dub where he's given his own character.
  • Interesting Situation Duel: Starting around the Cyber City Arc, most of the battles have some sort of gimmick. From fighting in a giant coin toss game to being tethered to bungee cords.
  • It Runs on Nonsensoleum: The entire series (manga and anime), and it does, too. Still, this is one of, if not THE biggest reason why a number of anime fans don't like this show.
    • And also the biggest reason why many anime fans LOVE it, of course.
  • James Bondage: Gasser in Cyber City Arc, and both Softon and Dengaku-man at two points during the Hair Kingdom arc.
  • Large Ham: Almost everyone aside from Beauty and Gasser. And even they get into the hamminess while freaking out at the insanity around them.
  • Last-Second Word Swap: In the English dub, while Bo-bobo, Don Patch, Jelly Jiggler and Dengakuman look like they've formed a rock band...
    All four of them: Gasser, Gasser, he's first class!
    He thinks with his heart but fights with his - Ask us how he stays so fit!
    He works out hard and he smells like-
    Gasser: HEY NOW!! Wait a second!
  • Lemony Narrator: The English dub narrator constantly breaks the fourth wall, interacts with the characters and even the producer, and bitches about certain elements of the show. Arguably, he also gets more character development than most of the main cast.
  • Lighter and Softer: The anime in comparison to the manga lacks any of the more adult elements such as swearing, smoking, drinking and sexual imagery. It also relies on Bloodless Carnage.
  • Lip Lock: Lampshaded/Parodied in Episode 53.
    Bo-bobo: Now I'm gonna tell all of ya, where we're ... going. I just hope by the time we arrive, I can speak without weird pauses.
    • Played Straight in other places.
    Gasser: I wonder how Jelly Jiggler... is doing.
  • Loners Are Freaks: The English Narrator subscribes to Creepy Loner magazine.
  • Martial Arts and Crafts: Fist of the Nose Hair. Fist of the Fart. Too many to count. The "Hajike" fighting style as a whole counts.
  • Mad Artist: Giga
  • Morality Pet: Beauty to Bo-bobo.
  • Musical Episode: Parodied in Episode 48.
  • Mushroom Samba: This might as well be called Mushroom Samba: The Series.
  • Nintendo Hard: Brought up In-Universe when Bo-bobo fights Lambada (who uses the Fist of the Polygon), who forces Lambada through several old school video games to neutralize Lambada's powers. It also lampshades several other classic video game tropes such as Giant Space Flea from Nowhere, The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard, and Hopeless Boss Fight. And it ends with Product Placement for the Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo Game Boy Advance game.
  • Never Say "Die": Only in the English dub of the anime.
  • No Ending: The anime was cancelled after 76 episodes, midway through an arc, with the characters about to storm the enemy's fortress. They're then notified by Dengakuman that the show ends on that note and everyone else, villain included, freaks out.
  • No Fourth Wall: Especially in the earlier episodes.
  • Not So Above It All: Beauty who's usually the Only Sane Man, has moments that she acts weird, but it tends to be very brief.
    • Gasser, more frequently.
  • Official Couple: Gasser and Beauty.
  • One Extra Member: The Battleship Five Quartet. It has six members.
  • One-Winged Angel: Parodied on several occasions, by opponents whose "true form" is something just plain wacky. Torpedo Girl and Sambaman are probably the best examples.
    • Super Giga is one of the few transformations that is played straight with no wacky traits.
  • Only Sane Man: Beauty, to a lesser extent Gasser, and to an even lesser extent Softon.
    • When he's not worshipping Don Patch, Hatenko is also one.
  • Overly Long Gag: The name of the series and protagonist, of course!
  • Overly Long Name: Courtesy of episode 42, in what should be a tearful farewell from one bystander to a cherished another one, we get this ridiculous sorrowful shout (Which actually is meaningless for she doesn't actually die from Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo bulldozer frenzy.).
    Alien bystander: Don't die on me!!! Copernicus Steven Gelgaccia Nicos Will May Trow Jackson III!
    Beauty: (Obviously surprised.) That's one long name!
    • Cue the alien crying in Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo arms, immediately noticing not only she survived, but she's comforting him with shoulder-rubs for the death SHE apparently succumbed to.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Most of the villains, as the plot progresses and introduces stronger and stronger enemies. Parodies the rapidly rising power levels in shonen series.
  • Paid Harem: Giga has two women that hang with him at all times.
  • Papa Wolf: Bo-bobo to Beauty. He's fully capable of harming his allies for the smallest reason, but he will never, EVER hurt Beauty, nor will he ever let anyone hurt her.
  • Pastel-Chalked Freeze Frame: Spoofed
  • Pet the Dog: Bi-bibi who despite causing many Kick the Dog moments, is a good father to his daughters.
  • Power Incontinence: Gasser, when his collar's removed, he turns into an infant mind state, but is far more powerful
  • The Power of Rock: Parodied again. Denbo, Jelly Jiggler and Don Patch fight J by singing, which makes stuff in the song real. But the songs they think up are completely ridiculous, involving things like Beta-Carotene and a 49 year old man. There's even a little DDR section. This is recycled in the manga sequel, except that Pokomi is the one singing.
  • Purple Prose: Cyber City villain J outdoes Softon at this.
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad: almost literally by the dozen, each Arc Villain is expected to have one. The Battleship Five Quartet and the Cyber Knights being prominent examples.
  • Rapid-Fire Comedy: If one hero's joke falls flat, their reaction or other people's actions to that joke usually makes up for it, whether exasperation or extreme, disproportionate violence.
  • Romantic Plot Tumor: Discussed in-universe by the English Narrator regarding Softon and Torpedo Girl
    Narrator: (in an enthusiastic voice) THEY'RE IN LOVE!!! (voice drops to a low, weary tone) How annoying.
  • Royal Blood: Gunkan/Captain Battleship didn't earn the title as the 7th master of the Fist of the Nose Hair because he isn't of the Hair Kingdom like Bo-bobo despite his hard work.
    • This is then elaborated upon that Bo-bobo is not only the 7th master of the Fist of the Nose Hair but also the heir to the Hair Kingdom Bi-bibi learning of this kickstarted the series with his alliance with the rebuilding Chrome Dome Empire leading to the Hair Kingdom's destruction.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Halekulani utilize this philosophy in both his business and his literal ability.
  • Sex Is Violence: Manga!Rice is... very much this trope. This, uh, quirk was (mostly) removed for the anime version.
  • Serial Escalation: How totally and impossible weird can this chapter/episode be? Only answer is "more than the last."
  • Serious Business: Czar Baldy Bald IV erected a totalitarian regime with a Schutzstaffel-like "Hair Hunter" troop, all just because everyone should be as bald as him.
  • Shout-Out: For one, Bo-bobo summons Yugi Mutou from his afro in one chapter (drawn by Kazuki Takahashi, no less), and Dengakuman looks suspiciously like a Chao. Also, he once does a attack that involves a Dragon Ball Z posterboard, and Bo-bobo, when thrown while doing this attack, shouts "Vegeta"! All of this is from one volume.
    • Episode 21 briefly parodies 2001: A Space Odyssey. Also episode 31 has Tennosuke thinking 'Mustn't run away..mustn't run away..', with 'Ode to Joy' as background music. Also his opponent is (temorarily retarded)Heppokomaru, white haired pretty boy like the 17th Angel...
    • The dub of Episode 27, strangely enough, has this exchange:
      Bo-bobo: Hey, where do these stairs go?
      Don Patch: They go up!
    • Chapter 83/episode 32 of the Manga has Jelly Jiggler, Don Patch, and Bo-bobo imagining "the technique", which are three different techniques. In the anime, the techniques are just three completely different attacks. However, in the manga, they respectively imagine the Phony Muscle Revenger, the Muscle Inferno, and the Muscle Spark.
    • Hell, the manga is rife with these from poking fun at its fellow Jump series to parodying live action shows. Folks not from Japan probably won't get a few of the jokes due to most of them being rather exclusive to its home nation (as if this series wasn't confusing enough). The toning down of the anime forewent most of these shout outs due to copyright reasons.
  • Something Something Leonard Bernstein: The second opening, "Baka Survivor" by Ulfuls, which goes a mile a minute and is in Osaka-ben! The only words most people remember are the title and (maybe) the chorus.
  • Spanner in the Works: Before he made a Heel–Face Turn, Jelly Jiggler had an elaborate plan to defeat Bo-bobo that all hinged on him asking Jelly how he could break his leg if he didn't have any bones. Right before he could implement it, some random kid came up and asked the question instead, ruining everything.
  • Spinoff: Don Patch now has his own manga series, Fuwari! Don Patch, in the Saikyou Jump magazine.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Don Patch tries to do this constantly, and fails spectacularly.
  • The Starscream: Gunkan/Battleship was secretly getting rid of many Hair Hunters so he can become ruler. It didn't work.
  • Tournament Arc: Parodied with the Bald Bowl, an event where the Rebels and all the Hair Hunters they fought and defeated up to that point fight to see who'll become the next czar of the Chrome Dome Empire. It's built up to be this big event, but the Rebels only fight against the Dark Yaksha before the Shadow Chrome Dome Empire appears, makes mincemeat over out of all the Hair Hunters the Rebels have spent the whole story up to that point defeating, and makes their move to take over the surface world.
  • Stealth Pun: Bo-bobo's afro appears to be one based on the fact that an alternate name for the afro in Japanese is bakuhatsu atama, or "exploding head". Knowing this, it suddenly makes perfect sense when you consider what the main inspiration for the manga was.
  • Surreal Humor: The humor is often incomprehensible and unexplainable to the point that it sometimes doesn't make sense in the context in the absurd logic of the series. It sometimes gets so bizarre that leads into....
  • Surreal Horror: Some of the situations' absurdist humor get so bizarre that they become terrifying due to the incomprehensible way they occur, especially in the earlier episodes. A prime example is Don Patch the roller coaster rap takes a turn into surreal imagery even by the show's standards at the time and incomprehensible gibberish.
  • Talking Poo: Subverted: Softon's head is made of soft-serve ice cream, though the joke is lampshaded or implied several times.
  • Tear Off Your Face: Lambada has done this to Rice, although in a less gorynote  manner - the polygonal Rice was left with with no apparent injuries, save for not having polygon edges or colour on his face. The face also turned into a nice little rectangular brick thing. It has been said that Lambada does this to defeated enemies regularly.
  • The Team: Bo-bobo's gang grows as the series goes on until it composes the following members.
  • Time Skip: Shinsetsu
  • Testosterone Poisoning: Parodied with the "Macho Man Fist".
  • Training from Hell: Torpedo Girl puts Gasser and Hatenko through a comically exaggerated version of this.
    "And that's because...I'M A TOR...PE...DO!"
  • Traintop Battle: Episode 36, Bo-Bobo and the gang fight "The Boxer on the Boxcar", Cane-maru. At one point, the train derails and smashes through an amusement park.
  • True Art Is Incomprehensible: Giga's Super Fist of Objet d'Art, ordinary objects turned into incomprehensible art. He also considers Don Patch the true definition of art for some reason.
  • True Companions: Parodied, of course, but also (believe it or not) played straight. After all, Bo-bobo doesn't want Beauty to get hurt...
  • Tsundere: Torpedo Girl. One moment she acts like a giddy schoolgirl (especially when she fawns over Softon,) the next she violently blasts through anyone who provokes her like a, erm, torpedo. However, she is still dangerous in Dere mode (albeit unintentionally dangerous.)note 
  • Unreliable Narrator: In the English Dub, the narrator is a teenage preschool dropout who lives with his Grandma and has a large hate for the producer. he's lost his job many times. (Although most of them involve him quitting)
    • He also usually stops focusing on the script and starts worrying about his personal issues to the point where the producer began to take a dollar out of his paycheck every time he goes off-script. He now owes the producer a dollar every payday.
  • Visual Pun: None of which translated. Enough were there that the already-insane series became even less comprehensible.
  • Voice of the Legion: Parodied with Bobopatchiggler, whose voice pattern's alternates between three characters
  • Wild Take: At least a dozen times per episode, mostly from Beauty.
  • Word Purée Title: Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo. He also has three brothers and one sister that share the same name part, but with different vowels. Example: Bebebe-be Be-bebe.
  • The Worf Effect: Happens to Torpedo Girl/Bobobo fusion "Torpedo Girbo", a man who looks a lot like Sephiroth. He seems like a really powerful fusion but gets beaten a mere second after fusing by Bi-bibi's "Fist of Hair Hunt". He didn't even get to show off his attacks. At least in the Nintendo DS game "Jump Ultimate Stars", he shows off his power: floating around and dropping landmines.
  • World of Ham: Holy cow, do they get loud on this show!
  • X-Ray of Pain: During his fight against Giga, Bobobo delivered a punch so powerful that we see the bones in his arm shatter.
  • Year X: The manga states that the year is 300X; the first episode of the anime series announces that the year is 3001.5.
  • You Can't Thwart Stage One: Double subverted: When Baldy Bald/Tsuru Tsurulina III awakens, Bo-bobo slams his cryogenic chamber shut, duct-tapes it, and blows it up. Unfortunately, the emperor had already escaped./

Alternative Title(s): Bobobobo Bobobo

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Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

In the world of Bobobo, nothing makes sense, almost everyone is crazy and stuff happens because shut up.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (12 votes)

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