Anime / RobiHachi

Let's all go to Isekandar! ^* From left to right: Gras, Allo, Yang, Hatchi, Robby, Ikku

20 Minutes into the Future, humanity has successfully colonized the moon and perfected space travel. With the universe more connected than ever, intergalactic tourism is both readily available and the main source of income for most worlds. The most legendary of all tourist destinations in the distant planet of Isekandar, where all your dreams are said to come true.

Robby Yarge, a hapless slacker in Neo Tokyo, is deep in debt and eager to escape his life of poverty. One fateful day, his attempted escape to Isekandar from Yang Finance's debt collectors leaves one of them, the enigmatic Hatchi Kita, on Robby's spaceship. While the two butt heads immediately, Hatchi is himself bored of his mundane life and decides to stay on board, at least until they get to Isekandar. Thus begins an interplanetary road trip where the two sample all outer space has to offer, not the least of which is their own blossoming friendship. All this while Yang and his henchmen, Allo and Gras, are dead set on capturing Robby by all means necessary.

RobiHachi is an original buddy comedy adventure anime airing in the Spring 2019 season produced by Studio Comet. While not wildly successful, its blending of Cowboy Bebop, Space☆Dandy and Gintama has earned it some fans.

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This show provides examples of:

• Accidental Hero: In the finale the two crash into a UFO that was about to destroy Earth. They escape in Hizakuriger, making all witnesses turn it into a legend... for a short while.
• Advert-Overloaded Future: You hardly can go anywhere without hearing about Isekandar, even in the anime's Ad Bumpers. Many planets are filled with ads, but Isekandar itself especially.
• Agent Peacock: Yang is the flamboyant president of loan firm with asymmetrical multi-colored hair who will chase Robby no matter what, and nothing can stand in his way. Even being shot from a taser doesn't faze him because "his love is stronger".
• All for Nothing:
  • Hachi spends an episode trying to find the alleged head of Haccone's Yakuza to get the traveling permits. Not only said boss is the opposite of the threatening atmosphere he was told to have, but the permits to Isekandar also were not required.
  • The entire trip ends in this, and there was a shortcut nearby, but It's the Journey That Counts.
• Alternate History: A sole Japanese man somehow got the Moon just two days before Apollo 11, and made First Contact there. The current year is still called "the first year of Reiwa".
• Alternative Calendar: The series takes place in G.C. 0051 (Galaxy Century), which is 2019, half a century after humanity's first contact with aliens.
• And the Adventure Continues: The Hizakuriger stops being popular once again and Robby runs out of money. Then he's picked up by Hatchi and they go on another trip. The Isekandar ad now sings about Izumondor.
• Author Avatar: Possibly, Robby's look-alike from Yuma Yarge's Hizakuriger anime is called Yuma, who wants to make manga movies.
• Benevolent Boss: Yang picked up Allo when he was homeless, and treats him and Gras well, though he still orders them around.
• Boring Return Journey: Robby says the journey isn't complete if they don't return to Earth. It turns out there was a shortcut between Earth and Isekandar the entire time, which makes the return trip take about 2 minutes, though only Dontsu knew about it. Robby is visibly disappointed, though not for long as they quickly get into another round of trouble.
• Born Unlucky: Robby fails at almost anything he tries, but he can always hope. He wants to get an Akafucrystal to stop this.
• The Cake Is a Lie: Robby and Hatchi are determined to get the Akafucrystals from Isekandar. In the end, Isekandar is no different from any other attraction and the crystals can't actually magically solve all your problems. To be fair, the two probably could take a hint from their adventure so far to not trust the commercials.
• The Cameo: Wombat shows up in Episode 5 as a wandering hot springs customer.
• Carnivore Confusion: Maritan octopuses serve takoyaki, and Odwarlan mermen serve wish. Hatchi is disturbed by the thought for a moment before getting even more interested.
• Casanova Wannabe: Robby can't not get close to a female if he sees one, but they either get tired of him quickly or try to swindle him.
• Cassandra Truth: Hatchi tries to tell Robby that Martians being aliens was something H. G. Wells came up with. When they get there, they are indeed populated with octopuses. Subverted when they are revealed to be Human Aliens in costumes.
• City Planet: Yokkamarche is basically Space Akihabara, a planet filled with multilayered repair factories and alleys of anime shops.
• Collector of the Strange: Yang's office is filled with odd things from retro electronics to archeological artifacts.
• Combining Mecha: Robby finds a real replica of a robot from Galaxy Traveler Hizakuriger, an anime that aired 50 years ago, after combining two jets.
• Contrived Coincidence: The first person the team meets on the entire factory planet to fix Hizakuriger so happened to be the biggest Hizakuriger fan. It's not commented on.
• Cool Starship: Yang has a golden carp-themed ship that is highly detailed and weaponized.
• Creator Thumbprint: Like many of Shinji Takamatsu's directorial works in the 2010s, this series features an obligatory ball passing scene, loads of Homoerotic Subtext, and at least one character voiced by Tomokazu Sugita.
• Credit Chip: People in the future use Smartbracelets as wallets, passports, and phones. Robby's blocked due to the debt, so he has to use cash.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Hatchi's behavior regularly switches between Insufferable Genius and Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!. He gets excited even when he's in danger.
• Cut Short: In-Universe, Galaxy Traveler Hizakuriger was planned for 52 episodes, but rushed production, as well contact with real aliens killed it early. It had at least two reruns, but the 12th episode became a Missing Episode.
• Cypher Language: Almost all text is in Elder Futhark Runic. Not everything, but some things can be read if one tried.
• Depraved Homosexual: Yang regularly makes very suggestive comments about what he's going to do with his Robby. It becomes less ambiguous that Yang isn't there to sell Robby's organs but to make him his lover. He also happens to be Implacable Man that can't be stopped.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Everything is a bore to Hatchi and he earns for new experiences. He came with Robby mainly because of his irrational attitude.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: From "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, Hizakuriger gets a sequel after 50 years. More Ikku models are being sold and the main one becomes a writer. Robby is now rich and can spend time in the cabaret as much as he wants. Hatchi still has to be the prince, but at least he made good memories. And Yang finds himself another target. Then look at And the Adventure Continues.
• Failed a Spot Check: Robby never bothered to check that Nagaya Voyager where he lived for at least 20 years has two combining jets and anime production stuff.
• Famous Ancestor: Robby's grandfather is the director of Hizakuriger, the anime that aired during the Moon Landing which gained a minor following. Hatchi's grandfather is the first man on the Moon, the human in the First Contant and the first king of Moon. Unsurprisingly, they were friends with each other and Ikku, so the heroes were Connected All Along.
• Fanservice: Bikini girls are still an efficient advertisement material in space. It definitely works on Robby.
• Fish People: The population of Odwarla.
• Foreshadowing: Hachi gets worried when they are briefly followed by someone besides Yang. Every episode drops a hint that he's not telling something.
• Forever War: On the planet where humans are treated as Slave Race, Mecha-Count and King Chamechamecha regularly throw robot soldiers at each other for fun because robots can't die for real.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Hatchi's has 13 million followers on "futuristic Twitter".
• Global Currency: Mon.
• Happiness Is Mandatory: The Akka Sakka theme park demands all visitors to be happy at all times, or else...
• Heel–Face Turn: In the first episode Hatchi was just a Punch-Clock Villain for Yang, but with the opportunity to see Isekandar he went with Robby. Yang doesn't really care.
• He Knows Too Much: Hatchi gets arrested by Martian police for hearing the planet's secret... while returning from a bathroom. Then forced by authorities to star in a commercial with CueCards, though he speaks in Flat Joy. It's a surprise it's even been a secret for so long.
• Heroic Sacrifice: When the hope to get to Isekandar was lost, Hatchi pays off Robby's debt to allow them pass, but since his credit history is tracked by his country, now he has the same problem. Though Yang's intervention accidentally made sure he didn't get to be the Distressed Dude.
• Homoerotic Subtext: Robby and Hatchi have some Ship Tease, and even ring a bell together that is marketed as a charm for romance, though they’re still no more than Heterosexual Life-Partners (sigh). Yang wanted to ring the bell with Robby and isn't subtle about it at all.
• Hot Springs Episode: Episode 5.
• I Should Write a Book About This: Ikku decides to write RobiHachi: The Men Who Saved Earth in the ending.
• The Illegal: Robby can go into trouble for leaving Earth, though considering what happens if Yang gets them, there's not much of a choice. They can visit all tourist attractions along the way with no problems, but going through two Checkpoint Charlie at the edges of galaxies ended with a lot of stress.
• Kappa: The local population of Haccone.
• Laser-Guided Karma: The Hizakuriger fanclub tries to watch the missing episode of anime from Robby's memories with him tied to basically an electric chair. Yang rescues him by beating the club up, and hearing that the leader used to watch Yang's favorite BL anime, takes a while to do the same to him.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Robby was this, but ran away from home and lost all money in a series of unfortunate events. Hatchi has near the same story. They became first friends with each other.
• Most Writers Are Human: For all the space tourism, the locations Robby and Hatchi visit are just typical Japanese rest spots. Robby lampshades this about Haccone. Haccone AND Isekandar even have the mountain identical to Mt Fuji.
• New Neo City: The story begins in the creatively named Neo Tokyo.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The Galaxy Highway is composed of 53 planets from Earth to Isekandar, but clearly they can't be shown in a 12-Episode Anime.
• Only Sane Man: Ikku is the The Kirk and tries to keep the other two in check.
• Otaku: Yokkamarche has a lot of shops dedicated to anime, even to Galaxy Traveler Hizakuriger, whose owners strongly share Nostalgia Filter. They became very interested when Robby says he's seen its Missing Episode as a kid.
• Perpetual Poverty: Robby is bankrupt and in multiple depts, and Hatchi can't use his bank account. It's a miracle they got where they've wanted with almost no money.
• Plot Device All Along: Robby uses Hizakuriger when brute force is needed and doesn't think much about it. Said mech actually has a larger role in the setting's backstory.
• Pluto Is Expendable: Pluto is not even a part of Galaxy Highway and Robby has to remind the residents it's no longer a planet, much to their denial. Plutonians, inversely, demand to rename Monday to Plutoday, because the Moon is definitely not a planet. To be fair, being an ice desert and off-course makes a bad tourism spot.
• Product Placement: Dontsu is a real Japanese advertising company, but here they are the closest thing to a Big Bad besides Yang and most people In-Universe hate them. Yes, they're sponsoring the series.
• The Promised Land: Isekandar is advertised as a place where everyone can find happiness, with Robby concluding that it will solve all his life problems (mainly, Yang). Hatchi also wants to see it and tags along. Ikku reminds them that it's likely just a commercial bait, but gives up reasoning about it.
• Portmantitle: Robby and Hatchi. RobiHachi.
• Really Royalty Reveal: Hatchi is the runaway Prince of the Moon.
• Rebel Prince: Hatchi Kita didn't want to be the prince of Moon, he wanted to have a life filled with excietement.
• Rebellious Princess: The girl Robby meets on Mars happened to be the daughter of Mars Tourism Beurau's chief, effectively who's in control of the planet, and she's not ok with what Mars does not keep up its image.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Robby wears red, energetic, rash, somewhat of The Ditz. Hatchi wears white, cold, and a genius, though easily excitable. Sometimes these get swapped.
• Ridiculously Human Robots: Mulberry 8's population is all robots, though many don't look like humans. They can even cry with screws.
• Road Trip Plot: Isekandar's a long way from Earth. Robby and Hatchi see many strange sights along the way and start enjoying themselves despite the friction between them and Yang's pursuit.
• Robot Maid: Ikku, also known as JPS-19, is Robby's bunny butler and keeps an eye on him.
• Running Gag: Allo, Hatchi, and Robby at some points end with no money and nowhere to go, are sitting in the same cardboard at the same place. Allo also saw some kid, there, and wrongly assumed he had similar problems.
• Selective Obliviousness: Robby and Hachi take really long time to realize that Isekandar Temple is just a Scam Religion surrounded by over-priced souvenir shops.
• Shout-Out:
  • The similarity of Isekandar to Iscandar, the destination of the Space Battleship Yamato, is not likely to be a coincidence.
  • Hizakuriger in its sequel anime makes a pose from The Brave Express Might Gaine, another Takamatsu's work.
• Show Within a Show: Galaxy Traveler Hizakuriger, directed by Robby's grandpa, Yuma Yarge. It aired with 13 episodes at the same time as First Contact and became a cult classic in space, it even had reruns. Yokkamarche has plenty of other anime.
• Slave to PR: All planets became Planet of Hats because of their reputation with humans, and really serious about upkeeping their image with the help of Dontsu, no matter what. Robby tells some to just Be Yourself.
• Social Media Before Reason: Hatchi regularly checks online reviews for places he visits, and trusts them more than himself.
• Spanner in the Works: Yang decides to steal the Akafucrystal for himself since there's nobody to stop it. This reveals to everyone that it's fake and it was all just an advertising scam. Then he crashes into Moon's fleet who just arrived to collect Hatchi.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Even though Hizakuriger is a functional Humongous Mecha and sturdier than some other robots, it's still just an elaborate piece of merchandise. It's not waterproof and eventually had to be taken to repairs.
• This Is My Side: Robby and Hatchi split the ship in episode 10 because of increasing disputes. It ends on Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Robby gave Yang strawberry candies the last time he was in the office. Yang took it as a romantic gesture and now bites it regularly. He symbolically runs out of them in the finale, and then his next client gives him chocolates...
• Villains Out Shopping: Yang's crew is always behind, so they get to experience all tourists spots that were just visited by Robby and Hatchi.
• A Wizard Did It: It's never addressed why are there 53 planets neatly aligned between Mars and Andromeda Galaxy, though Dontsu probably arranged it.
• Worthless Treasure Twist: The advertised Akafucrystal is just a large plastic. Even though Robby finds the real one, it can't help him with his luck. He then realizes that the adventure with Hatchi was worth more than all of the amusement parks. Then turns out the rock he picked up had the piece of Akafucrystal inside, though Robby already learned his lesson and gives it away.