Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo: What? The Story of Toonami's Wackiest Anime!

Anime is certainly a lot different than American cartoons. While we have our fair share of silly animation, you can bet Japan does, as well, and even more so. Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo is one such animation. Based on the popular manga by Yoshio Sawai, Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo (we'll call it "Bobobo" for simplicity's sake) is the story of one man's struggle against the evil empire…of baldness.

Yes, I'm serious.

Bobobo is on a quest to defeat the evil Chrome Dome Empire led by the evil Czar Baldy Bald, whose ultimate plan is to rule the world by hunting down and destroying all of the hair in the world. To combat the empire, Bobobo uses his amazing "wiggin' powers," as well as his special nose hair-based techniques of Super Fist of the Nose Hair and Snot Fo Yu. Of course, being a constant thorn in the empire's side makes him #1 on its hit list, so as he travels across the land, he's under constant attack's by Baldy Bald's underlings.

Don't worry, though; Bobobo isn't alone on his quest. The first companion he meets is Beauty, a young girl Bobobo saved at the beginning of the series. Obviously having nothing better to do, she decides to join him. She's the voice of reason on the team. Of course, that means she's relatively useless, as no one follows her advice anyway.

Don Patch (known as Poppa Rocks in the manga) is the leader of the Wiggin' Tribe, and besides Bobobo, is easily the wackiest character in the group. He always complains about not having enough screen time and not being the main character, even though he probably has more screen time than anyone else.

Gasser - or "Gas-Can," as Beauty affectionately calls him - is…well, okay, he's another voice of reason. He and Beauty appear to have something special going on, and being the only two sane people, get along really well. His power is known as Fist of the Backwind. As odd as it sounds, he fights with…farts.

Softon - is his head made of ice cream or poop? You decide. He's the token "tough guy" on the team, always calm and collected in battle. He fights by summoning the Goddess Blabs-A-Lot.

Jelly Jiggler, former leader of the A-block Hair Hunt troop, is the team's fall guy. When something bad happens, you can bet he'll be getting the brunt of it. Despite that, he's well-loved by all. He fights with the Fist of the Wobble-Wobble, in which he transforms his gelatinous body into various objects.

Dengaku man is just plain cute. He's the team's cute monster thing, and also the weakest member (moreso than even Beauty), but he's just so cute, who'd want to hurt him? The one skill he does have is being able to fuse with - ooh, that would be telling!

Torpedo Girl may be the most powerful team member. She simply plows through her enemies, because…well…SHE'S A TORPEDO! She was easily the toughest enemy Bobobo and his crew had encountered up to that point, but finally decided to join up with Bobobo. She says she hates all of the bad jokes Bobobo, Jelly Jiggler, and Don Patch make, but lately she seems to enjoy them…

And these are just the good guys! The show is crammed full of wacky enemies, from cliché-looking villains who fight with giant scissors to rabbits to guys who fight with bad-smelling bubble gum. The sheer variety of enemies in the show is staggering.

The wackiness, known as "wiggin' out" in the show, is the characters' method of defeating their enemies, by confusing them into submission. This method is used more often than not by Bobobo, Jelly Jiggler, and Don Patch, and generally, it works. Whether it be smacking the enemy over the head with a giant trout, blowing them up with citrus bombs, or smacking them with nose hair, you never know just what is going to happen next. Characters will appear and leave for no apparent reason, fuse into a multitude of different forms, attack each other, all for the sake of…well, nothing. Basically, take what you know about anime, and take all of the rhyme and reason out of it.

At this point, you're likely thinking, "…what?" Yes, Bobobo is wacky. Bobobo is insane. Bobobo is nonsensical. And as such, the series is not for everyone. Having a sense of humor is one thing, but if you can't appreciate a show that's nothing short of sheer absurdity, Bobobo is probably not for you. It's a show not meant to be taken seriously. It's a "take your brain out" kind of show that's nothing more than silly entertainment. Believe it or not, even with all of the nonsense, there's still a story in there. Not much of one, mind you, but a story, nonetheless. The characters are fun and imaginative. The jokes are random, but humorous, especially in the American version, as they take many Japanese jokes and twist them around (such as the characters not being able to read Japanese text when they are, in fact, Japanese themselves). All in all, I'd say at least give it a shot to judge it for yourself. Bobobo is currently seen on Cartoon Network's Toonami block, Saturday Nights at 10PM eastern time.