"Me and Roboco," which is scheduled to air as a five-minute anime from January 2023, is based on a series currently being serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump. It is a bright, gag manga, in stark contrast to the recent popularity of dark works in Jump, and at first glance it doesn't look like a work serialized in Jump. Rather, it has a style that seems like it could be serialized in Shogakukan's CoroCoro Comic, and in fact it is clearly made as an homage to Doraemon. However, it is packed with countless other parodies, too numerous to even keep track of. In this article, I would like to introduce some of those parodies!
Parody No. 1: Dragon Ball Nappa
Roboco, the outrageous custom-made robot that came to the main character, an ordinary man, is not cute like other custom-made robots, and on top of that, his knee is Nappa. Nappa is a muscular bald man who appeared in Dragon Ball and attacked the Earth. His line, "Get out of the way, Nappa!" is quite famous.
Parody No. 2: Roboko I want to exterminate
Roboko, the custom-made maid who came to Bond, was a complete failure as a custom-made maid who takes care of his master. Because of this, Roboko has a history of being rejected by his past masters, and sometimes he amplifies his hatred for humans and says scary things like "I'm going to exterminate them." This is a line from Attack on Titan, a popular work serialized in Monthly Shonen Magazine.
Parody No. 3: Demon Slayer Sword
When Bond introduces Roboco to his two friends, they laugh at him, saying, "Who's the Demon Slayer Sword?" and that it's a knockoff from some country. Roboco responds to his friends, saying, "Who's the Demon Slayer Sword?" Demon Slayer Sword is a social game that looks very similar to the real "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" that once existed, and is a knockoff from some country.
Parody #4: Katon: Goh Kakyuu no Jutsu
If it's made to order, it should be able to be moe or moe-kyun. However, what Roboko did was the seal of the ninjutsu Katon: Goh Kakyuu no Jutsu used by Sasuke in Naruto. The cream puffs that were supposed to be delicious ended up exploding.
Parody No. 5: Darkness is no good
Roboco usually has a unique appearance, but if he uses too much energy, he turns into a beautiful girl. Bond's mother, sensing the presence of darkness in Roboco, comes to warn him. According to her mother, darkness is no good, but Ayashiki Triangle is safe. Of course, I'm talking about To Love-Ru! and To Love-Ru Darkness, which were serialized in Jump, and Ayashiki Triangle, which is currently being serialized. However, since the author is the same, it seems like it's a given that Ayatora will turn into darkness...
Parody No. 6: Shohoku High School Basketball Club
A scene where Roboco is sleeping with Nyonta and the stray cats. This is a scene from SLAMDUNK, the legendary basketball manga that was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump. This may not be a joke that people who are currently reading Jump will understand.
Parody No. 7: I could endure it because I'm the eldest son, but I couldn't have endured it if I were the second son
The line spoken by the eldest son, Gachi Gorilla, in the scene where he declined an invitation to hang out with his friends for the sake of his family. This is one of the most famous and confusing lines of the main character of Demon Slayer, Kamado Tanjiro. It was the line that was in Tanjiro's mind as he was doing his best despite his serious injury.
Parody joke no. 8: Clothes fly off
The reaction of the hardcore gorillas when Roboco, who can't cook, eats the curry he makes after a lot of effort. This is a joke from Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma, which was serialized in Jump. There are several comics that have become gag manga because of over-reactions when eating food, but in Food Wars! Soma, the clothes of the female characters fly off.
Parody No. 9: Kaibara Yuzan
The delicious curry made by Roboko is so good that it makes his clothes fly off, but when En-Chuwan eats it, his face turns into that of a tough old man. This is Kaibara Yuzan, who appears in Oishinbo, a series published in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits. Kaibara Yuzan was a personality disordered character at first, but before you know it, he has become a person of integrity.
Parody No. 10 Log Pose
In the scene where Roboco checks the time while working part-time as a pizza delivery man, the watch he is wearing is the Log Pose that appears in One Piece. In the setting, without the Log Pose, you cannot reach the next island on the Grand Line.
Parody No. 11 Shigaraki Tomura
A one-liner joke from Roboko, who is very popular with children. The original is Shigaraki Tomura, the last boss of My Hero Academia and the nemesis of the main character, Midoriya Izuku. He always wears a mask that resembles an arm. Those are the arms of his family, who he killed when he was a child due to the rampage of his quirk.
Parody No. 12 Boys Over Flowers
A group of rich, handsome elementary school students, known as the Bamu 4, appear before Roboco. One of them is Motsuo. The original is the F4 that appears in Boys Over Flowers, which was serialized in Shueisha's Margaret. Actually, you shouldn't say Makino.
Parody No. 13: Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare
The title of the manga that Gachi Gorilla's sister, Ruri-chan, lent to Bond was Omoi, Omoware, Buri, Hamachi. The original was Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare, which was serialized in Bessatsu Margaret. It is a famous work and Shueisha's work covers shojo manga as well.
Parody No. 14 Enel Face
Roboco's reaction when he anticipates an attack from his younger sister, Robomi. Robomi is a strict younger sister even for her self-indulgent older sister, and is feared by Roboko. The original is the reaction when Enel's electric shock, which showed overwhelming strength with the power of the natural type devil fruit, had no effect on Luffy in the Sky Island arc of One Piece. Since then, facial expressions similar to Enel's face have appeared frequently.
[Me and Roboco] Summary of parodies and homages
I've put together a list of parodies and homages that appear in Me and Roboco! As a premise, it's a parody of Doraemon, but Jump and other works from Shueisha, which are unlikely to get in trouble, have their material wedged in as if it were a given. Some of the material is so old that it's incomprehensible to my generation, and some is from works by other companies, so the number is huge. If you can figure them all out, you're super amazing!
