The Manzai Routine

Calling all comedy lovers!

Hi everyone! I bring to you one of the funniest comedy acts in Japan: The Manzai Routine! Also known as the "Boke-Tsukkomi Routine"

What does this mean exactly?

Well the person playing "Boke" would normally make a stupid comment and then be "punished" or tsukomu'd by the Tsukkomi who corrects him/her. This type of comedy is really funny and is evident in anime and manga as well!

Here are some examples:

In the manga Love Roma, Hoshino's relationship with his girlfriend is usually in a boke-tsukkomi style because of the Always-Honest-Hoshino and the embarrassed girlfriend ^^. Hoshino even claims their relationship to be a Manzai one:

Note: You may have to click the image to see it better (alternatively read this on mangafox here)

It's quite a wonderful manga and I highly recommend it if you like comedy/romance ^^

Another funny Boke-Tsukkomi relationship is from Lovely Complex:



This anime is about a romance between a very tall girl and a very short boy. You can imagine the comedy in that. Although this anime is quite old, it's still a very good story =).

Lucky ★ Star also has some very funny Manzai moments. Take Kagami and Konata for example. Kagami is always quick to jump into her tsuntsun half of her tsundere personality to pounce on the ridiculous comments Konata has to offer. It's also very funny ^^.


Sometimes when the Boke is punished, they actually enjoy it! Take Toaru Kagaku no Railgun for example. Everytime Kuroko annoys Misaka (the Railgun) with her awkward comments, she shoots her with an electric shock that looks very painful.


Another funny Boke-Tsukkomi example comes from my favorite anime: Clannad!
As Kyou tries to teach Kotomi how to play the Tsukkomi role, she ends up being the Boke as Kyou tsukomu's her. Here's a video clip of this in action!

Note: This comes from episode 11, and is a partial spoiler.



(Uploaded myself of course ^^)

And thanks to Chansu for the contributions from the Touhou department:

In this one, Cirno is announced as the "new tsukkomi"--wait! TWO tsukkomis? This has got to be interesting...



A Touhou collection of studio Ghibli jokes... or should I say... Shibli? If you're a fan of My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Ponyo, or any other Ghibli movie, you're sure to enjoy this:



So as you can see there are tons of Boke-Tsukkomi duos out there in anime, manga, and even fan-made videos, so if you like this type of comedy, don't hesitate to check it out! ^^

That's all for today, thanks for reading!
:::Deretsun:::