Roboco was maid for this.
In the not too distant future, intelligent robots have become commonplace. Most notably, ultra-capable AI-powered robotic maids called OrderMaids, which are massively popular worldwide in no small part because of their cuteness. Everybody has their own OrderMaid. Everyone, that is, except for 10-year-old Bondo Taira, whose family can't afford one. However, that changes when Roboco shows up at his door.
Now, Roboco isn't like other OrderMaids. She's weirdly muscular, she's lousy at housework, she can produce chicken tenders, she has laser vision, she can fly, and she has a whole host of other oddities. No one even knows where she came from, since Bondo's mother never placed an order.
Me & Roboco (僕とロボコ, Boku to Roboko) is a shonen comedy manga written and illustrated by Shuhei Miyazaki, which began serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump on July 6, 2020. An anime adaptation by Studio Gallop premiered on TV Tokyo on December 5, 2022.
Me & Roboco contains examples of:
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: Jump's offices are consistently portrayed as a mangaka's nightmare, with both mangaka and editor alike treated as bitter rivals and slaves. Second Year, our most recurring editor, walks around in chains and tattered clothes and cannot argue for better treatment. One of his focus chapters even has him and another editor wonder out loud why a new hire quit and called the office a "black company" after experiencing workplace abuse for no reason.
- Body Motifs: Guaranteed, if it has to do with Roboco, it's gotta be the knee. Her defined "Nappa style" knees are her most notable feature, and she won't let anyone forget it.
- Casting Gag: To hammer home the Doraemon references even further, in the anime, Bondo's mother is voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi, who currently voices Nobita's mom, Tamako in the 2005 version.
- Cast of Expies: Considering that the series constantly lampshades its "Doraemon with robo-maids" status, it's no wonder that the cast is full of Doraemon expies:
- Bondo and Roboco serve as ones for Nobita and Doraemon, respectively. Roboco even has her own Dorami expy in her younger sister Robomi.
- Motsuo and Gorilla Gachi act as this for Suneo and Gian, albeit they're nicer from the getgo and are explicitly friends with Bondo (but only appear to bully him at first glance).
- Madokaaaa hits most of Shizuka's traits, and Gachi's younger sister plays the role of a prettier version of Gian's sister.
- Even Dekisugi gets an expy in Motosugi, but Bondo is only moderately jealous of the boy (in fact it's the other way around, with Motosugi developing an obsession with Bondo).
- Company Cross References: Too many to count! The manga's pretty much a celebration of everything Jump, so references to other successful and running series are to be expected.
- Disappeared Dad: Bondo's father isn't seen until the 100th chapter, since he's a traveler and part of what seems to be a Doctors Without Borders type of organization. Bondo mentions that he never gets to see him, and when he does, it's not for long.
- Fan Disservice: Literally any Panty Shot of Roboco often used as Comedic Underwear Exposure.
- Goofy Print Underwear:
- Roboco's panties have a random phrase written on the seat, often changing between different panels.
- Bondo has a pair of briefs that Roboco had sewn an appliqué in the image of her face on the back that he's unaware of.
- Homage: Every single volume cover is modeled after covers from other successful series.
- Volume 1: Doraemon
- Volume 2: One Piece
- Volume 3: The Promised Neverland note
- Volume 4: Jujutsu Kaisen
- Volume 5: My Hero Academia
- Volume 6: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
- Volume 7: Haikyuu!!
- Volume 8: Oshi no Ko
- Volume 9: Death Note
- Volume 10: Chainsaw Man
- Volume 11: Hunter × Hunter
- Volume 12: Naruto
- Volume 13: World Trigger
- Volume 14: Sakamoto Days
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Done in the English translation. One chapter has Roboco try out slang, but in one instance she ends up dancing and proceeds to imitate the "Dabi Dance" from the Hero Academia chapter of the same name. In the English translation, the slang was misinterpreted as "Bust a T", which according to her means "Bust a Toya"—while it still refers to "Dabi Dance", it instead outright reveals the twist of the chapter (that Dabi is in fact Endeavor's assumed dead son Toya).
- Medium Awareness: Everyone in the cast, at one point, acknowledges they're living in a manga. The chapter that was released on the same day of their anime announcement pronounces this trope loud and clear since it centers around the cast trying to make itself more marketable for the viewing audience and for the censors.
- Mysterious Past: For all of her wacky antics, Roboco is very reluctant to actually say where she came from since she's not actually an Order Maid. Multiple chapters hint that she came from a combative background, with some people from her past explicitly being people from a battle organization.
- Non-Indicative Name: From the Jump editorial office, Second Year the fourth year editor. Even when he got the nickname, it was nonindicative since he was a first year at the time (he did the work of a second year in that era), and years of neglect and mistreatment from Jump higher-ups made it so that they won't call him anything else.
- Pungeon Master: Mr. Inuchika, the old man who looks uncannily like a dog, spouts dog puns
- Production Throwback: Many references to The Promised Neverland end up being this since Shuhei Miyazaki was originally the artist for the parody Promised Neverland manga The Parodied Jokeland.
- Product Placement: An early chapter does this for the live-action The Promised Neverland film adaptation, with Bondo and pals attempting to catch it in theatres.
- Robot Buddy: Ordermaids as a general rule are friendly companions to humans, the only potential subversion (so far) being Roboco herself.
- Robot Maid: OrderMaids are a whole line of these, being highly advanced AI-powered robots that resemble girls in maid outfits. Roboco herself is a rather atypical example, being rather heavyset with muscular legs and terrible at housework.
- Seinfeldian Conversation: Characters often discuss other Shonen Jump manga. For instance, Chapter 58 has Motsuo and Gachi arguing about who was the real female lead of Nisekoi.
- Shout-Out: While the lion's share of the parodies are of other Jump titles, the series isn't above throwing in a good gag about other properties:
- When drawing Manga, Roboco often wears Osamu Tezuka's iconic beret.
- The art of Chapter 83 "Akane & Roboco" evokes Junji Ito's iconic style, particularly in the characters facial expressions.
- Motsuo's recurring love interest Chiyoko Ueshiro is a walking reference to Kimi ni Todoke, right down to her appearance and her shoujo-style delusions resembling the manga. Also doubles as a Company Cross Reference, since Kimi ni Todoke ran in Bessatsu Margaret, which is owned by Sheuisha.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Roboco has a high opinion of herself, whether it's socially, regarding her looks, or her skills as a maid. That said, her ego is easily popped like a soap bubble.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The Temple Demon (a disembodied head with arms) in Chapter 7 and the head fly (a cherub-like creature with a censored face) in Chapter 50 are treated as perfectly normal
- With Friends Like These...: Bondo's main (male) friends Kaneo and Gachi are an unusual example; the default gag with them involves apparently mocking Bondo, but then following up with something turning the whole thing into a compliment. Depending on Rule of Funny, they might be 100% sincere, or just engaging in super passive-aggressive Politeness Judo.
- Roboco herself falls into this from time to time. From having bouts of jealousy over her friends to having low opinions of them, she can be rather dismissive of or say outright falsehoods about them.
