Title: Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo Volume(s): ? Author(s): Yoshio Sawai Format: Unflipped; Right-to-Left Publisher: Viz Media MSRP: $7.99 Genre(s): Action/Comedy Rated: Older Teen (16+) There is no "Buy Now" bar here because I do not support this release.

The review you are about to read is not going to be the most detailed and complicated review you'll read on the Internet (or on this site, for that matter). The series I am reviewing is called "Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo," and the reason this review won't be very detailed is because I have no idea what the series is about. I have no basic story to work with, no real character traits to study, and artwork that is just... well, I'm not sure how to describe that either. The easiest way to describe "Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo" is that it's the strangest thing I've read since "FLCL." In fact, "Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo" may even be a tad bit stranger than "FLCL" itself, and THAT'S saying something! All these websites and the back of this book have some sort of story description for "Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo." I'm glad they can figure out what this book is about, as I sure as heck can't. Well, I take that back, there is ONE way to describe what happens in the book, and that way is "stuff happens."

There, that’s it. Stuff happens in this book, and it never really makes any sense as to why that stuff happens. One thing I will say, though, is that most of the stuff that happens is really, really funny. The humor may not make sense, but it's funny. I'm not sure if the humor is brilliant, or just plain dumb, but it's funny. It can also give you quite a headache if you're not used to having your comics dishing out a joke every two panels (or in other words, this series is not for people who read "Cathy" and "The Boondocks"). This series also isn't something you can choose to be in the middle about: you either love the series or you hate it. I like it. I don't love it, per se, but I did laugh quite a few times. However, it also made me cringe a few times, as either the joke wasn't funny enough, something was making even less sense than usual, or the artist used the same facial expression for a double take for the three hundredth time. Nevertheless, it was funny at times, so while it wouldn't go to the top of my list, this series is something that I would be interested in buying from time to time.

The artwork in this series is both stylish and limited at the same time. The good thing about the artwork is that the characters have all unique looks for them, the backgrounds are diverse, and (of course) the situations are pretty lively. The bad thing about the artwork is that most of the characters usually only have two or three real facial expressions, there is a double take from someone every couple of pages that gets old, and sometimes the artwork is TOO lively, making it hard to figure out what’s going on sometimes, and the villain just looks so typical compared to everyone else in this book that he seems to be out-of-place. Otherwise, though, the art works for the most part, so I can't complain about that too much. What I CAN complain about is the lackluster job Viz Media has done on this series! Oh, don't get me wrong, the translation seems fine and all that, I'm just not too impressed with Viz's marketing plan. At the moment, this is the only volume of the series you will be able to buy. Not only that, but I have no idea which volume this book even is. Viz's plan is to release this one volume and see if people will buy it before they commit to the whole series. Sorry, guys, but I don't buy that crappy plan, as I believe you are either committed to the series or you aren't.

I don't believe in this "if you buy this RANDOM volume of this series, we'll consider releasing the rest of the series" bull! It's not like Viz doesn't have any way to make people aware of this series. Not only is the TV show on Cartoon Network's very popular Toonami block, but they could make this a new series in "Shonen Jump" (with some mild editing for magazine content), or they could just start from book one and let word-of-mouth and good reviews make this series a hit. But releasing some random volume at the middle of the series as the one and only book? I'm sorry, but that's just sloppy planning in my opinion. So what's my final verdict? The series itself is popcorn entertainment, nothing more, nothing less. However, it's not good enough that I should have to join some book-buying campaign to get the rest of the series released. Besides, with only one volume on the shelf as it is, it's not like there will be a ton of sales for this book at any point anyway, so what's the point of this plan? If Viz had just released volume one of the series, people who would have liked what they'd seen would have bought future books. People who didn't wouldn't buy any more of the books.

If this one book is all we have to choose from, then how can you be certain whether or not the sales of this book are from people who enjoyed the series rather than people who didn't? If sales for this book are good, and they no doubt will be since a lot of people will be buying this book anyway just to see what it's like, will Viz release the rest of the series? What if 68% of the people who bought this book don't like it? Would the sales still be the same when the book DOES get a proper release?! Of course, maybe some people will like the book, and buy the rest of the books when they come out. But how will that make Viz look when they end up getting conned into re-buying this book down the line? See all the serious flaws in this strategy yet? I think this is a funny series, but I will in no way endorse such a lousy marketing gimmick. "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure" book-skipping was one thing, but this is utter nonsense. I won't completely fail this book since there are some laughs to be had, but I in no way recommend you buy it. When you see a copy of the book that says "Volume 1" on it, THEN pick it up! But in no way does this current edition satisfy anyone.

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -