One of the absolute greatest, most surreal pieces of true lore in the manga community comes from Weekly Shonen Jump and the absolute madness of the gag manga Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo.

In the manga world, official character popularity polls are a massive deal. Fans mail in physical postcards to vote for their favorites, and the results are published with color pages. It’s a metric that can literally make or break a character’s screen time.

When it came time for Bobobo to host its very first popularity poll, the creator, Yoshio Sawai, decided to break the system entirely.

The Sweep to End All Sweeps

Instead of publishing a normal ranking of the cast, Sawai printed a completely fabricated results page where Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo won 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place simultaneously.

He didn’t just list his own name five times; he treated every single version of himself as an entirely different runner-up, giving them distinct reactions and post-match interviews:

1st Place: Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo — "Thank you, everyone! I couldn't have done it without you!"

2nd Place: Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo — "Dammit! I was so close to first place!"

3rd Place: Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo — "Third place isn't bad, I'll aim higher next time!"

4th Place: Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo — "What?! Fourth place?! Are you kidding me?!"

5th Place: Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo — "Honestly, I'm just happy to be included in the top five."

To make the bit even more absurd, this "official" popularity poll was dropped in Chapter 3 of the manga—long before fans even had time to receive a physical issue, fill out a ballot, and mail it back to the publisher.

The Legacy

This single page became legendary meta-lore within the industry. Decades later, major manga artists who grew up reading it started sliding references to it into their own work.

The most famous nod happened in Jujutsu Kaisen. During JJK's very first real-world popularity poll, author Gege Akutami had Satoru Gojo quote Bobobo’s exact 1st-place acceptance speech, while Nobara Kugisaki echoed the exact existential rage of 4th-place Bobobo.