Fujio Fujiko’s Doraemon is a renowned classic in the world of manga. The series has more than 800 chapters and ran for more than 25 years. During that period, it manages to bag multiple awards, including the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award. Not only that, it’s also the first-ever grand winner of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. Later winners of the award include Naoki Urusawa for Monster and Pluto, Yasuhisa Hara for Kingdom, and Satoru Noda for Golden Kamuy. After being well received by the masses, Doraemon has been adapted in various other forms media. It’s popularity still persists at present, and there are still a few Doraemon movies coming out every now and then. The latest one is Doraemon: Nobita’s Little Star Wars 2021, which is a remake of the original movie from 1985. Needless to say, the series has been and is still a big hit in and outside of Japan.
Doraemon‘s plotline revolves around the titular character, a robot cat from the future trying to save his owner’s ancestor from living a pitiful life. Nobita’s descendants from the future are so unimpressed with how he lived his life to the point that they send a robot cat back in time just to lead him towards the proper path. However, Doraemon isn’t exactly the best robot helper either. Instead of giving Nobita futurist training or whatnot, he just whips out gadgets from the future to solve Nobita’s predicaments. Because of that, Doraemon and Nobita’s life becomes filled with (mis)adventures. Doraemon is a gag manga with no fixed plot, though there are a few characters introduced towards the latter parts of the series. However, those characters are far and few, so they don’t really have much of an impact. This manga’s chapters follow a certain structure. It almost always starts off with Nobita finding himself in trouble. This is either he’s done something stupid, he’s jealous about something, or he’s being bullied by Suneo and Takeshi. Nevertheless, Doraemon will whip out some gadget from the future. The gadgets Doraemon brings out aren’t just ordinary technology. Each of the gadget has one futuristic ability. For example, the Dragonfly helicopter allows them to fly simply by attaching it to any body part. Finally, the ending comes next. This is the most unpredictable part of the chapter as it always ends in some sort of twist.
Me & Roboco (Japanese title: Boku to Roboko) is a fairly new manga series serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, and it is digitally available in English on Viz Media. Its first chapter came out last July, and everything about it screams Doraemon. This isn’t just a mere coincidence. In fact, Me & Roboco‘s first volume cover is a parody of Doraemon. Just like Doraemon, Me & Roboco is a gag manga without any set destination. The series focuses more on its comedy and surprisingly wholesome plot. Similar to Doraemon, or it may be more appropriate to say inspired by Doraemon, Me & Roboco follows a master and robot duo. The series is set in a world when maid robots called order maids are a common commodity. Bondo Taira, a young boy and the protagonist, also wants to have their own robot maid as well. However, they are too poor to actually afford one. But with some convincing, he manages to make his mom agree and get them an order maid. However, the story still doesn’t end there. For some reason, Bondo’s mother somehow the order maid they’ve received aren’t anything like the others. Roboco, a clumsy, superpowered order maid, turns out to have not even a shred of skill a real order maids possess.
The other characters of the series are also heavily inspired by Doraemon. Bondo’s bullies, Gachigorilla and Motsuo Kaneo, are basically from the same tree as Nobita’s bullies, Suneo and Takeshi. Even Bondo’s crush, Madokaaaa, is similar to Nobita’s crush, Shizuka. Being a parody manga and gaining the approval of the editors assigned to such series, Me & Roboco doesn’t even bother hiding these kinds of things. However, the similarities between the two end there. Even though their characteristics and quirks are similar to Suneo and Takeshi, Gachigorilla and Motsuo are surprisingly wholesome. Even the way they “bully” Bondo is nothing more than a means to make Bondo smile or support him. They treasure their friendship and even go out of their way to make Bondo happy. Even Madokaaaa, the comedic version of Shizuka, has various abilities. She’s a master board game player whose face drastically changes when deep into concentration. Last but not the least, Roboco also doesn’t have Doraemon’s magic pocket. She doesn’t whip up gadget after gadget Doraemon. Instead, she is fully equipped with various features and weapons that usually gets the job done one way or the other.
Doraemon‘s humor roots in the stupid ways Nobita gets himself into trouble, as well as how Doraemon and his gadget helps Nobita solve his dilemma. But that’s not all there is to it. The unexpected plot twists surprisingly add comedic value to the series. Similarly, Me & Roboco also follows the same format. However, its comedy doesn’t just rely on the plot. Instead, it banks more on breaking through the fourth wall and metafictional quips, which will make even Deadpool proud. Not only that, Me & Roboco also loves doing parodies of different esteemed manga, which are mostly titles serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump. The series have already made various references to classics like One Piece, Slam Dunk, Dragon Ball, and a lot more. There’s even a chapter wherein the series explicitly admits that parodies and references are its bloodline. But even though it claims that, Me & Roboco has already established its own signature of comedy. It’s no longer a mere Doraemon parody, and it’s now more akin to a Doraemon for today’s generation.
With the rise of titles like Undead Unluck, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Black Clover in recent Weekly Shonen Jump releases, the magazine is getting highly focused on the action fantasy genre. Granted that popular titles like My Hero Academia, One Piece, and Naruto have statistically done well, it’s not an instruction manual for the future titles. Even if the shonen genre is catered to young boys, the genre is not limited to fight scenes and adventure. It never was, never is, and, hopefully, never will be, and series like Me & Roboco remind everybody that there is more to shonen than powers and fighting. It’s both a breath of fresh air and a treasure cove of laughter, especially for hardcore manga fans.
