Bobobo bo Bo bobo Manga Gets a New Stage Play in 2026

The wonderfully strange world of Bobobo bo Bo bobo is returning to the stage. Yoshio Sawai’s classic gag manga is getting a new Tokyo stage play, running from June 12 to 21, 2026.

Shō Katō, who appeared in the Ouran High School Host Club stage play, will take on the title role, while Keita Kawajiri handles both the script and direction. This is not the franchise’s first trip to the theater, as it had an earlier stage adaptation titled Chō Hajike Stage Bobobo bo Bo bobo in October 2024.

There is a fun backstory to the announcement. The franchise’s X account first floated the idea of a stage play as an April Fools’ joke in April 2024, only to come back later and confirm that it was actually happening.

For newcomers, Bobobo bo Bo bobo is a delightfully absurd comedy set in a world where the Maruhage Empire’s Hair Hunt troops menace the innocent. Bobobo, a master of the Fist of the Nose Hair with a gleaming golden afro, teams up with a girl named Beauty to topple the empire and its leader, Baldy Bald the 4th.

The series has been easy to find lately. Toei Animation’s English YouTube channel started streaming the anime on June 28, and Discotek put out a standard definition Blu-ray set with all 76 episodes in English and Japanese with subtitles back in January 2020. The original manga ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2001 to 2006 across 21 volumes, and Viz Media published selected stories in North America.

My take: Bobobo bo Bo bobo is pure, joyful nonsense, and honestly that energy could be a riot live on stage. I would pay just to see how they pull off the Fist of the Nose Hair.