Me & Roboco, Vol. 3

僕とロボコ [Boku to Roboco] #3

by Shūhei Miyazaki

Bondo’s crazy days continue as he tries to survive Roboco going on a diet, an introduction to social media, and even a meeting with the creator of One Piece!

Genres: Manga

176 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 2, 2021

Reviews

[Blake the Book Eater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continues to be a perfectly okay series. Slightly amusing but nothing too special.

[X · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, not the biggest fan of the direction in which this manga is going. It started out with not being entirely decided on if it wants to play out or deconstruct some misogynistic manga cliches, and by now it seems to have dropped any pretense of deconstructing them. It's just a weird vibe. A few jokes were mildly amusing and it's easy to read so I'm not going to drop it quite yet. I'm hoping it eventually picks up the hints it dropped in the first volume that there might be more to Roboco's story that meets the eye - though unfortunately, at this point I'm starting to doubt it.

[〔 ✿ 〕 · Rating 5 out of 5]

i want this series to get an anime adaptation

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The worst thing about this manga not getting enough respect in the West: I have to catalogue the original Japanese print release of this volume, despite having read its contents on the MangaPlus app. I think I usually use the Japanese Kindle versions to add Jump manga to my Goodreads shelves. I could add a "new edition" for the Kindle release of this volume, but I'm too lazy. The second-worst thing is that I can't find a "table of contents" online, so I'm just guessing that the volume ends on Chapter 29.

Pretty glad I'd caught up to Jujutsu Kaisen (that is, the point in that manga that aligns with the release of this volume's chapters), as otherwise I'd have been spoiled on Gojo getting sealed by Pseudo-Geto.

The chapter about The Promised Neverland is pretty funny, but I'm not sure it "stood the test of time." I don't know if Japan dislikes the manga's last several chapters as much as Westerners do, but I'm quite sure the second season of the anime is loathed worldwide. I know Miyazaki got his big break in Jump from his TPN parody (referenced much earlier in Roboco), so I'm sure he loves ("loved"?) the manga enough, but I can't help but feel some Japanese readers might return to Roboco several years from now and be confused at a full-chapter reference to a manga that might not have so great a legacy, compared to e.g. all the Dragon Ball and Hunter x Hunter references, as well as newer things like Kimetsu no Yaiba and Jujutsu Kaisen, which both have "legs" (especially with KnY now being Shueisha's biggest money-maker...). The volume's cover, also referencing TPN, works well enough besides.

Motsuo and Gachigorilla continue to be the best characters in all of Jump. I feel weird that this manga is making me get more seriously invested with a love-triangle than actual romance manga - I like both Ruri and Madokaaaa for Bondo.