Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is a manga that began serialization in 2001 being published by Shueisha for Weekly Shounen Jump, and because of its bizarre themes, it isn't as well known of a manga as say Dragon Ball or Naruto, but it is pretty memorable for people who watched it on Cartoon Network when it aired back in 2003.
Just like with any other anime adapted from a manga, Bo-bobo has differences, and quite a few more than most adaptations do. This is probably due to how metafictional many parts of the manga are, but the author, Yoshio Sawai has said that there are many gags that were extended in the anime due to nature of anime and manga.
10 Bo-bobo Kills People in the Manga
Not only does Bo-bobo not kill anyone in the anime, they go out of their way to remove the concept of death from the entirely, avoiding any mention of words like "kill" or "death" where they appeared in the manga. The anime censored many things other than just this, but this is one of the biggest censors.
The manga actually had many people kill and die, such as the Bo-bobo World technique ending in death instead of just losing, Bo-bobo dying and going to Hell, Kancho killing himself over and over, and countless other deaths, where most main characters have died at least once. There's even a scene near the beginning of the manga where Bo-bobo just flat out says he is going to kill everybody.
9 Many References Were Dropped from the Anime
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo started initially as a parody manga, and continued to have elements reminiscent of this throughout the whole manga, and oftentimes, direct references were made to other manga series. There weren't many references that stayed in the anime, but they did add a couple of references from American cartoons, like SpongeBob Squarepants.
There were countless Dragon Ball references, a couple of Naruto references, Sailor Moon references, Yu-Gi-Oh references, many Kinnikuman references, a Yu Yu Hakusho reference, a couple Saint Seiya references, and even whole chapters dedicated to events that happened in Dragon Ball and Death Note, neither of which brought to the anime at all.
8 Yami Yugi Made An Appearance in the Manga
While Yu-Gi-Oh references were made in the series, such as characters using Duel Discs and being called Duelists, as well as there being a scene where there are Yu-Gi-Oh cards of Bo-bobo and Don Patch, but none of these things are quite as memorable as the scene where Bo-bobo summoned Yami Yugi out of his golden afro during his fight against Halekulani.
This came to be when Yoshio Sawai and Kazuki Takahashi, the writer of Yu-Gi-Oh, met at a Shounen writer meeting, and while drunk, Sawai jokingly asked Takahashi how funny it would be for Yami Yugi to come out of Bo-bobo's afro. Takahashi liked the idea, so he drew it, and then it ended up making it into the manga.
7 Several Names Were Changed in the Anime
It isn't too common for names to change during adaptations from manga to anime, but it happened a lot in Bo-bobo throughout their adaptations. From the Japanese manga to the Viz English release, many names changed, and most of these names were carried over to the English anime.
Bo-bobo's name remained mainly the same, Heppokomaru was called Gasser, Gyorai Girl was called Torpedo Girl, Tokoro Tennosuke was called Jelly Jiggler, Hanpen was called General Lee Fishcake, Gunkan was called Captain Battleship, and Tsuru Tsurulina was called Baldy Bald. Oddly enough, Don Patch was called Poppa Rocks in the Viz manga, but he was called Don Patch in the anime.
6 Short Stories Were Implemented from the Manga
About a year before Shueisha started the serialization of the manga, Yoshio Sawai was publishing Bo-bobo short stories. While most of these didn't appear in the manga, most of them made it into the earlier parts of the anime as some sort of filler. As a result, it actually made the beginning of the series pretty slow.
One of the most notable and memorable stories was shown as a flashback in the anime where Bo-bobo was shown capable of hearing the voices of hair. He met a man who could also hear the voices of hair, and he proceeded to teach him everything he knows about hair and then would be his inspiration to go on and defeat the Hair Hunt Empire.
5 Bo-bobo Theater Was A Thing in the Anime
Speaking of the short stories that were brought into the anime, a lot of them that were put in there as flashbacks were shown in this plot device they called the "Bo-bobo Theatre" where a random theatre appears where the characters are and they just start watching.
There were other things that were actually in the manga that were changed to Bo-bobo Theatre scenes in the anime, such as Bo-bobo's father abandoning him to leave him to the Hair Hunters and Bo-bobo's Christmas story that he told during his Hajike Battle against Don Patch. Bo-bobo Theatre has also shown up for stories that have nothing to do with him, such as the God of Destruction Zarubios and the time he was kicked out of a restaurant for double dipping.
4 The Manga Goes On Further
Unfortunately, the anime wasn't too popular, neither in America or in Japan, and this, alongside the fact that the anime concerned Japanese parents about their children's mental health, it eventually was cut short before the series finished.
Due to the nature of anime seasons, the writers of the anime knew beforehand exactly how many episodes there would be. Of course, this was acknowledged by the characters in the anime, where the characters basically counted down how many episodes that they had left and eventually Dengakuman announced that the anime was ending, so all of the characters told their farewells to the fans.
3 The Characters in the Manga Became Anime Characters
Like most adaptations, there was an overlapping publication date between the manga and the anime, and the Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo manga took advantage of this to advertise the anime in the manga in a creative way that is unique even to gag manga.
Whenever Tokoro Tennosuke was about to make his big debut to being a big villain in the anime, there was a scene in the beginning of a manga chapter being published around that time where the rest of the main cast was shown in color, saying they had already become anime characters while Tokoro Tennosuke was still black and white. Softon then turned him into an anime character using his True Fist of Babylon.
2 Shinsetsu Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo
This should be obvious, seeing as the first manga wasn't even fully adapted into the anime, but there was a second part of Bo-bobo that wasn't adapted into anime form whatsoever. It takes place a year after the first part of the manga ended, showing all the heroes meeting up to fight against the Neo Hair Hunt Empire that replaced the original.
The Shinsetsu Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo manga was in serialization from 2005 to 2007 and released 7 volumes throughout its serialization. It wasn't anywhere near as long as the first manga, but it was a lot more serious in tone than the original, so there was a lot of plot progression condensed in comparison to the original.
1 A Manga Where Don Patch Is The Main Character
The idea that Don Patch is actually the main character instead of Bo-bobo has been entertained several times throughout the series, where Don Patch strongly believes that he's the main character, and everyone, including the Narrator, constantly reminds Don Patch that he's wrong. The message got across to Don Patch during the battle against Bibibi-bi Bi-bibi, where he was reading the Bo-bobo manga and it made him realize that he wasn't actually the main character, which greatly upset him.
There have actually been multiple mangas in serialization since Shinsetsu Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo that feature Don Patch as the main character, called Fluffy! Don Patch and Honnori! Don Patch. This is the current part of the series, which takes place three and a half years past the end of the Neo Hair Hunt Empire. Bo-bobo actually doesn't appear much in these manga series. These events also didn't appear in the anime.