Aug 19, 2022
Sequels are almost never are better than the original. They never live up to the hype, and the legacy that the original production brought will always be compared to the sub-par sequel.
Well, how did Shinsetsu Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo do? It's definitely worse. Despite being newer, it feels like a lot of the gags and humor have taken a step back. You could tell that there was a lot of experimentation, in the beginning volumes of the story. New characters got completely phased out by the middle part of the manga, not that this was a bad thing. The koala was extremely unfunny, and not something
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that could replace Tennosuke and Dengaku man. I mean, you have a bunch of old characters that are charming because they're so unique. Tennosuke is a jelly. Don Patch is well, Don patch. Softon is a damn guy with a poop-shaped head, and Torpedo girl is a torpedo. All of the characters that are Boke are strange, because their role is to be Boke, in contrast to the human Tsukomi characters like Beauty and Heppokomaru. Of course, Bobobo is the exception, being human and also a boke, but he's also the main character. Hatenko is human, but he's also obsessed with Don Patch, and it sort of is a nice gap between his cool appearances and his obsession. The koala, despite being a boke type character, is just a talking koala. Compared to all of the other fun characters that fit perfectly in such a crazy Hajike world, a talking Koala is really a boring character to watch. Especially so, since his actions and personality doesn't really seperate him out from all of the other characters that have their established niches and personalities. There were a couple other new characters, but the only good one is Heppokumaru's little sister, who is basically another tsukomi-type character, there to fill in for Heppokomaru long absence.
Some more experimentation include weird, non-gag or hajike battles, namely the one with Namerou and Bobobobo in the middle of the manga. Even the climax in the final arc of Bobobo had a bunch of gags and Hajike. The killing blow of Bobobo was sort of a gag, too. Yet, there was basically just a random, "epic" shounen battle in Shinsetsu Bobobo, which just doesn't fit in a gag manga.
This experimentation part of the manga is where a lot of the old characters were not given any screen time. It was only Beauty, Don patch, and Bobo that were part of the old crew, and then some new characters that couldn't possibly eclipse the old characters that were left behind. The gags were less frequent, and the setups were less funny. It was only to the latter half of the manga, where the re-introduce core characters that are essential to the comedy of Bobobo, like Tennosuke that the manga finally starts regaining some of that old shine.
Even in the beginning of original series, were there any bad arcs? I didn't think so. Only the last arc was a bit weak, but still a satisfying conclusion. Each arc of Bobobo, even the ones with only Don Patch, Beauty, and Bobobo were fun and interesting. All of the fights had their own charm, and all of the stages and enemies had their own style and gimmick that never made the series stale.
As for Shinsetsu Bobobo, none of that charm regarding the fights or new enemies were particularly interesting, and each enemy was super generic or did not have enough setup to become interesting. That was, for the first half. After invading the evil empire and getting the old crew back together with all of the old characters, there were a shockingly good amount of unique enemies, throwbacks to old techniques, and large stages hosting the battles, reminiscent of the old series. Even the old 3 on 3 battle format was brought back, and it was nice to see new fights with some old and some new characters. Stuff like the new Hajike king fighting against Bobo and Don Patch in a hajike battle was definitely the highlight of the series, and a couple of other standouts, like the gambling battle.
Art was never Sawai's strong suit, so no real complaints here, and in fact, it's probably one of the only things that were improved from the old manga. the female characters definitely feel a lot less rough around the edges art-wise, and the overall polish is a bit cleaner.
Shinsetsu Bobobo was definitely not perfect, and it definitely was worse than the original series. Gags are a hit or miss sometimes, and the quality was overall a lot less consistent. That beng said, the latter half of the series is much better, and brings back some of the greatness from the original. Not a bad series if you liked the original.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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