Bocchi the Rock!

HeroAca and Blue Lock? Sorry...I don't do Shonen stuff.
Spy x Family? Even though I have a family, I don't fall into that category.
Mob Psycho 100? Great conclusion from the manga that's finally translated to the anime, but I'm not all that psychic to begin with.
Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen a.k.a Thousand-Year Blood War? I'll let you have your moment of glory just right behind Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
Do It Yourself!!, Yama no Susume? We can be buddies in the same theme, just doing different things!
Chainsaw Man? OVERTAKEN and DETHRONED. LIKE A GLORIFIED MIC DROP.

The Fall 2022 season has really seen its fair share of past and new juggernaut ... glories: from Tite Kubo's Bleach's decade-long wait for a triumphant return still being one of the Big 3, to the much-anticipated Tatsuki Fujimoto's Chainsaw Man being studio MAPPA's massively high-profile equivalent to Ufotable's Demon Slayer in terms of story and animation prowess. However, there are certain shows that as humble as they come initially being an afterthought, to then unexpectedly and shockingly take the sweeping crown, those are the shows that we the anime community can call it special to begin with. It's more impressive even, when such a stacked season as this manages to live up to the hype, that it gets overshadowed by the mainstream being a hidden diamond gem in the works. And my friends, that show is mangaka Aki Hamaji's Bocchi the Rock!, easily the most anticipated of CloverWorks's produced shows of the year when the initial teaser trailer dropped to leave a vague message of its 2022 release in December last year, only to leave us hanging in nerve-wrecking-ness until the PV's release just right before the Fall season started rolling.

Before I dive deep into this unexpected, hype-deserved acclaim of a masterpiece show that deserves more than being reduced to an excellent adaptation, I feel like I need to clarify something which the anime community has more often than not, got some facts wrong. Despite Bocchi the Rock! being serialized in publishing company Houbunsha's Manga Time Kirara magazine (that's where all of the 4-koma manga come from) promoting its CGDCT theme, it is NOT considered as a genre, but rather a SUB-genre of Slice-of-Life, the same as how Isekai is a subgenre of Fantasy. It's actually more of a motif or theme because it uses a set of tropes and archetypes that separate it from other Slice-of-Life shows that makes it distinct, but thanks to the modern anime community that we have these days (and so much so that I'm a victim of it because I REALLY love CGDCT shows, albeit specifically), we sort of treat it as its own unofficial distinct genre: the human fault we call recency bias. And to be clear, Bocchi! the Rock! is not necessarily a CGDCT anime, but rather, a parody of both the CGDCT theme and the SoL genre, since it's given genre of comedy reflects it as such: a culmination of traits already done and perfected by other SoL and CGDCT anime.

But still, you can't deny that the show pays an homage to one of the greatest CGDCT anime of all time: the legendary monumental classic and moe-blob phenomenon that is K-On!, serving the same SoL genre for the anime community, both past and present respectively. So figuratively, while we can call Bocchi the Rock! the GOAT CGDCT of the modern day, as a collective whole, I feel that there're better CGDCT shows than this: say this season's Do It Yourself!!, and while not quite moe-blob as one trait that defined SoL, is still very enjoyable. CGDCT fans are really eating REAL GOOD in 2022, especially considering that it's CloverWorks leading the charge, from the likes of Winter's Akebi-chan no Sailor-fuku a.k.a Akebi's Sailor Uniform that unfortunately had the confirmation bias of "animation carried the show" to Spring's Kunoichi Tsubaki no Mune no Uchi a.k.a In the Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki which turned out decent, along with other returning classics like Machikado Mazoku a.k.a. The Demon Girl Next Door, Yuru Camp△ the Movie (which is arguably the best of the series yet) and Yama no Susume a.k.a Encouragement of Climb.

Let's be real: social anxiety IS a thing, and it culminates in the form of Social Anxiety disorder (SAD) a.k.a social phobia, characterized by sentiments of fear and anxiety in social situations, causing considerable distress and impaired ability to function in at least some aspects of daily life. These fears can be triggered by perceived or actual scrutiny from others. Individuals with social anxiety disorder fear negative evaluations from other people. And this is what exactly happens to a certain pink-haired Hitori "Bocchi" Gotoh trying her best not to shit herself socially, but from the outset, her growing-up life has been met with nothing but insecurities: from the lone effort of making friends to being a ghostly outcast in school, so much so that she becomes a closed closet Hikikomori a.k.a acute social withdrawal, referring to both the phenomenon in general and the recluses themselves: described as loners or "modern-day hermits", regarding themsleves as being totally withdrawn from society and seeking extreme degrees of social isolation and confinement, which in the real-life context of Japan, is a seriously grave issue, especially if you have seen Spring 2019's Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu, being the show with the most acute similarity. To counteract from being a Hikikomori, Hitori engages in the online spectrum hoping to find friends there in the veins of YouTube being the illusive ever-so-slightly-named alias "guitarhero" that amasses a respectable subscriber fanbase for her guitar plays that are uploaded every once so often to satisate her followers.

That is, until Hitori steps out into the real world where and she is submitted to the harshness of reality slapping her face in both directions, as much as she herself wants to get out of this rut and at least make a life-changing decision for herself. That decision comes in the form of a person: the blonde-haired Nijika Ijichi, who saw Bocchi juat lazing with her guitar and without words of explanation, forcefully dragged her to the underground livehouse that is STARRY as a last-minute replacement for the guitarist that abruptly left the group before their performance. And together with Nijika and the blue-haired bassist bandmate Ryo Yamada, the performance might have been a total wrecking ball of a complete poor failure, and at the very least Hitori knows that both are fans of her "guitarhero" YouTube persona, but with her social anxiety preventing any further conversation and ultimately withdrawing into the same recluse as she was before. Sure, Hitori might've gained her "Bocchi" nickname not because it rhymes with the "hitoribocchi" a.k.a All Alone pun, but it's a sign that at least acknowledged her presence more than anything. This is further cemented with Ikuyo Kita, the vocalist-cum-guitarist and initally Bocchi's classmate, when the latter requests her help to improve on her guitar playing skills, and the deal is struck since the former has an overwhelming infatuation on Ryo. Thereby, which was learnt later that Kita was the one that Nijika had Bocchi hurriedly filled in at the very last minute because she was not being honest with her feelings and fled the "crime scene" after the realization that Kita's guitar playing was not up to snuff. Together, the 4 girls make up Kessoku (lit. Zip Tie) Band: the center band of the series, and their endeavours together are a sight to behold, other than the highlight that is Bocchi's exaggerated, over-the-top, visual medium crossovers of her inner thoughts exemplified at the highest, most extreme degrees of insanity that exudes overflowing creativity of nonchalant acerbity that's some one-of-a-kind talent that you don't normally see in AniManga, let alone the manga chapters that if you read alongside the anime, each and every chapter title page paying homage to famous bands and their songs' music video. Also, there're tons of references plastered throughout the anime, even more than Chainsaw Man's OP, and that's saying quite a lot. So have fun in figuring out this too!

To really understand how much Bocchi the Rock! got all of this deserved hype that we're only seeing right now, we have to go back in time to even before the anime was ever a thing:

The year was 2019, and mangaka Aki Hamaji's work was just 2 years old at this point with only Volume 1 being released and Volume 2 set to be released the very next year. The debut chief animation director and character designer that was a nobody at the time, Kiyoki Rikuta a.k.a Kerorira was just about in the anime industry for little over a year or two doing key animations for a large variety of shows, most of which was under CloverWorks about months since the separation of the studio from A-1 Pictures, that still is under the Aniplex brand. Normally when an anime project is announced, the director or producers will be pushing forth and calling people up for the task, but in the case for Bocchi the Rock!, it was the key animator himself who pushed for the project, so much that it’s worth noting that it wasn’t a particularly shocking reveal. Since being open about his love for the series, Kerorira has gushed to the point of sharing short, animated clips of it on social media a.k.a Japanese Twitter. And when it came time to find people to helm the project, he went to the long-time veteran producer Shouta Umehara requesting people that he'd like to work with, such is the case for a certain Keiichiro Saito, that like Kerorira, he is also working in key animation and has become quite the veteran for years, that with this show, marks his official debut has series director. But if you know anything about the anime industry, especially when it comes to freelance works, it's talent and drive that makes the shows work, and without the help of Shouta Umehara and his exceptional scouting abilities, plus the boldness to bet on fresh, young and unproven talent while managing Aniplex's woeful corporation slavery management, Bocchi the Rock! really wouldn't have turned out the way it is today.

Even I have to admit, it is a HUGE RISK betting shows on unproven talent. And speaking of Keiichiro Saito, his experience as a key animator whether in theme songs or episodes, these don't often typically give opportunities for people to train to be better as the grind of seasonal shows gleam along with none the wiser. It's only until Saito-san himself has an opportunity to work with the legendary director Shingo Natsume on his own experimental creation in the form of Summer 2021's Sonny Boy, that he is given the chance to learn the ropes and showcase his indomitable idiosyncrasy's worth of talent, such as the case where he contributed a lot to the anime for Episode 8. Back to Bocchi the Rock!, when Saito-san was offered the chance to read Aki Hamaji's manga with its only premiere volume out, by the time he'd finished reading it, his impression had changed, and found it to be a smart work in many ways: succeeding at both humor as a slice-of-life comedy and depicting its characters as a coming-of-age drama, with sharp jokes. This immaculate delivery would just not work based on one person's effort alone, and this is where scriptwriter and series composer Erika Yoshida steps in to help him visualize the vision that despite Bocchi the Rock! not being a fundamentally transformative adaptation, simply tweaking the orignal work with Yoshida-san's help certainly was a match made in heaven, most presumably when anime detracts out of its medium to do a 4th wall breaking on animation prowess that includes some live-action footage, because the hell why not, while focusing his directorial efforts on enhancing the themes that the original work could never develop. An amusing gag series about a lonely girl is now animating loneliness, giving the original work a whole new layer of emotional resonance to it while maintaining its original fun that's only possible in the hands of an exceptional animation team like the one that has surrounded this core team, and with promises such as the fully 2D live performances that involve 3D-ish rotoscoping (as an example) used to its maximum potential.

For an unproven team of supposedly misfits, Bocchi the Rock!'s shining moments are with its staff team, and it certainly can't be imitated outright on this kind of insane magnitude. One key phrase that Keiichiro Saito shared is that starting out as a key animator, his eye for craftsmanship on how people and objects move elevates the anime by giving it massive attention for its many poses. As an example, there’s a scene after their first live performance where Hitori creeps up closer to the others (this is in Episode 1 of the anime), and where Hitori is moving in an eccentric manner, how can the staff team make it funnier and bring out more of her personality? He spent a lot of time thinking about how it could be made funny in animated form, and not forgetting that for the performance scenes, using footage of real-life actors performing as the base for the animation, and solely requesting them to keep in mind the characterization, as well as replicating the performance itself. Even more so regarding the orignal source's 4-koma format, there is a lot to fill in along the lines, and along the way, both Saito-san and Erika Yoshida found out that by inserting realism into the anime, it loses the gloss and charms of the original work. So, by adding in methods and approaches exclusive to animation, as well as adding supplementary gags for connecting scenes with help from the manga staff, it helps give the anime a life of its own that doesn't discredit where it came from. Truly, all of this sounds like a passion project, and yes, it is. It's talent that you only see once in a blue moon, and for that it is commendable.

Easily the character on note, Hitori "Bocchi" Gotoh is the one that everyone in the production staff team is looking out for, being the weird oddball that's different from everyone else. Of course, trying to manage expectations on how to be sure on animating Bocchi's 1001 expressions is no easy task, so a balance is necessary, because while Bocchi inflicts us the audience being oh-so-freakishly relatable with her poor communication skills, making sure not to come off too strong or otherwise, making those watching feel bad. One thing about Hitori is that she also possesses extraordinary skills, so Saito-san and his team strived to depict both her positive and negative traits as a character in a memorable way, making the audience laugh when she does something weird, but also make her especially captivating when she shows off her cool side from time to time. This is especially for Kerorira, making his debut as both character designer animation director, that the obscene fan of the manga has a lot on his plate to consider as well. It's not just the extreme introvert herself that he has to contend with, but also considering the others as well (Ryo, Nijika and Kita) in their unique expressions as well. One thing that Geoff Thew of Mother's Basement actually captured when it comes to character designs, comes with the characters' hair positions that tell us something about them: Nijika’s antenna, for example, is a simple triangle, and Hitori’s tied-up hair isn’t actually connected. This is due in part to depicting anime-like designs that aren’t possible in reality and was a major necessity to create character designs that look appealing at first sight than those that conform to reality.

But Bocchi the Rock! isn't so much about Hitori herself, it's the others that help Bocchi be a better girl that as socially inept as she is, it's a growing journry that fits the confines of a coming-of-age melodrama in the most hilarious way possible. Starting with Nijika Ijichi herself, the founder of Kessoku Band and the group's drummer, she stands as one of the most understanding and caring members of the group being the general extrovert, and always constantly holds Bocchi together in helping her deal with her social anxiety. It helps that her older sister Seika is also coincidentally the manager-cum-owner of the livehouse located in Shimokitazawa, so the livehouse is actually treated like their main home when gigs are always in abundance. For the band's bassist Ryo Yamada, other than the requirement not to date the 3Bs of "Bassist, bassist, bassist", Ryo may seem like an introvert, but she is in fact a loner by choice (get the distinction right, folks). The aloof, quiet and mischievous girl with a cool demeanor and a bisexual appearance, she is the epitome of cheap molasses, as everything in life is served to her palate, be it food or allowance money, even to the point of eating weeds just to survive. Last but not least, the band's vocalist-cum-(formerly) guitarist Ikuyo Kita herself, the extreme extrovery with her oh-so-gleaming "Kita~aura" that it's hard to resist her claims, especially when shoved towards Bocchi's face. But her real reason of escapism from Kessoku Band because of her infatuation with the bisexual-looking Ryo and the general expectations from people to promise them like a people-pleaser, man it just hits hard when even Kita herself is vulnerable to the human conforming mindset that really, no character is 100% perfect, and each and every member's SWOT Analyses are what band the rag-tag group together as they aim for stardom. Oh, and for the eagle-eyed of you who are into Anisong, did you notice something striking? Just look into the family names of the 4 girls, and you'll soon realize that they're derived from one of the legendary J-Rock bands of all time: AKFG a.k.a Asian Kung-Fu Generation, with their instrumental roles being an obvious match: Hitori like Masagumi Gotoh on rhythm guitar, Nijika like Kiyoshi Ijichi on drums, Ryo like Takahiro Yamada on bass, and Ikuyo like Kensuke Kita on lead guitar, but also being lead vocals.

A special mention would be the side characters, most particularly Kikuri Hiroi: the alcoholic who spends her money on booze (or beer as is known elsewhere), encountering Bocchi and striking out a deal with her to do a live, impromptu performance out on the streets, taking a chance for the extreme Hikikomori herself to overcome her fears in front of the general public. What you may not know is that the psychedelic rock band SICK HACK's lead bassist and vocalist herself, like Bocchi an the rest, they do share their last names with another real-life band: 88Kasyo Junrei a.k.a 88Kasyo, with Kikuri herself being like Margaret Hiroi, adjectively described as "the bassist, singer and the gang's mastermind". Not to be outdone, Hitori's family shold be given credit here as well for their role in bringing up the once-labelled Hikikomori herself: father Naoki, mother Michiyo, younger sister Futari (which means two people) and the pet dog JimiHen. If you have to start a comedy somewhere, why not from the family itself? Futari is easily a savage character in front of her Onee-san, and as much as she wants to gush of Hitori's greatness, it comes at the cost of the older sister's warped mentality to respond to things that she doesn't mean literally.

CloverWorks has done a fair few SoL shows in that regard (see Slow Start and this year's CGDCT offerings), but Bocchi the Rock! has got to be the studio's biggest undertaking since its separation from A-1 Pictures, and even then, it's only on the cusps of people relations and knowing who to find and perfect this ordinary looking 4-koma manga adaptation. I've already gushed at how utterly and brillantly magnificent are the production team's efforts at elevating Aki Hamaji's manga, and for the first-time debuts like Keiichiro Saito and Kerorira, if not for producer Shouta Umehara having that fine level of trust that young-uns can make it into the industry (a level that was once had for the controversial Wonder Egg Priority) with relative experience under their belt, it's like the adage of "nothing ventured, nothing gained". It's a risk, but a risk that while the reception in Japan is lukewarm to say the least, it bombed everywhere else outside of Japan. In a glorifyingly great way to end 2022 as THE golden year for CGDCT anime.

The one oddity is that while series director Keiichiro Saito's team has full creative control of the anime, the OST is where things could've gone awry. And especially since this is an Aniplex-produced show, tensions run high since the music production falls into the hands of Aniplex themselves, and Saito-san had to be careful with his consultation with the music team on what works and what doesn't. Because even such a minor slip-up can cause the biggest of headaches that potentially could detract the viewing experience, and hearing this from producer Shouta Umehara himself, the biggest issue with the completely separated entity was whether the musical direction that the mangaka Aki Hamaji had envisioned for Bocchi the Rock! and Kessoku Band could be carried out, and thankfully that’s one area in which Aniplex really gave it their all. And it sounds absolutely fantastic, from the OP/ED theme songs and even the insert songs when Kessoku Band is called to enact performances.

A few ways to really describe Bocchi the Rock!'s overall stupefying quality is of these examples:
- It’s like they gave K-On! to someone who adored Hitoribocchi, coupled with stupidly good animation, and a dash of Pop Team Epic sensibilities, combining animation with live action settings and other forms of mixed media.
- Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu is a much better comparison. Komi-san wa, Comyushou Desu. a.k.a Komi Can't Communicate's Shoko Komi's introversion is so over the top to the point where it's no longer even believable. Especially since everyone simps for Komi just for existing. But in Hitoribocchi, Hitori Bocchi is a loner, but wants to make friends and break out of her shell. Hitori Gotou in Bocchi the Rock! is the exact same way.

But if there's one takeaway about Bocchi the Rock!, something to really drill in the mind is that in the typical/average project, you would probably expect someone in such a position to draw less than 100 cuts of key animation, but Kerorira’s in charge of somewhere between 500 and 600 cuts, an incredible amount for a key animator that has been in the business now for 2-3 years and growing, now being a monumental figure of the staff team itself. We can say that Kerorira single-handedly carried the anime due to his love and passion that has grown from just social sharings to a full-blown anime production with support from the people he had hoped to work with. His dream is finally realized, and not a lot of people have that tenure of grace to ever be in a totally completely complete directive control of their own anime, say Akane Kazuki with his own created series Hoshiai no Sora a.k.a Stars Align that got the axe at the eleventh hour. Everything else, as they say, is akin to the phrase "Having the world at your feet".

A simple-as-molasses story, ceremoniously hoisted to the impeccable degree with absolute precision and sophistication. Bocchi the Rock! is not just a marvel of how far CGDCT anime have come thus far, but now a symbol/icon of a gold standard in resourcefulness, dedication and passion, just like the other shows in the Fall 2022 season that got their growing reputations respectively. Truly a hidden gem that has long awaited to rise up towards reaching out for the masterpiece medal, and it clinched with many hurdles to overcome, but it eventually did while reaching its intended finish line, cementing itself as the Pinnacle of the Best CGDCT of all time (if by MAL scores alone).

Anime of the Season and Year material? ABSOLUTELY.
Even better than Chainsaw Man? YOU BETCHA.

ANIME OF THE SEASON, if not THE YEAR. Words cannot express how much this show has grown into me. Like Hitori "Bocchi" Gotou is literally the most relatable character FR FR.

I'm guessing you have heard of the show by now, whether through memes, screenshots, recommendations from others, or simply by chance while looking for shows to watch. With that said, what makes this show stand out from the crowd is its sudden surge in popularity, whether you like it or not?

Point 1: Bocchi is literally me. (Insert Literally Me copypasta)

I'm sure you're wondering who Bocchi is and what makes her so special and unique ... that she stands out from the crowd. First and foremost, she is someone who suffers from social anxiety, as evidenced by her inability to make a single friend throughout her youth until one fateful day. Her internal monologues are hilarious to watch and allow us to get a better understanding of Bocchi's world, thoughts, and so on. Everything about her just seems relatable. Oh, and don't forget how well the VAs are portraying the characters they are assigned to, particularly Bocchi, as I'll explain in my next point.

Point 2: Excellent quality sounds and superb voice acting.

Sound quality can't really go wrong as this is a music show. The title "Bocchi the Rock!" implies that some of their songs incorporate some form of rock, which they did. Returning to the point, the show's OP is extremely addictive, with its rhythmic beat complementing the vibe and mood of the show. The accompanying visual is also remarkably good and entertaining to watch, fitting in with the overall tone of the show. The EDs have their own unique charm. The visuals don't have to be flashy as long as they complement the music well. Their songs are the real bangers here, fitting for their band and the title of the show. Basically, if you like rock or music in general, you'll love them. As for the VAs, I'd like to reiterate on how well they did their job, most especially that of Bocchi's VA. The transition from one mood to another was well done from one scene to the next, demonstrating how invested these VAs are in how they express the characters they play. One example is the supposed "Cyberpunk 2077" meme scene in which Bocchi is seen lying on the ground undergoing "cyberpsychosis" and screaming at the top of her lungs. One would think that the sound in this scene would be generated by a computer since it would be very taxing on someone's larynx or voice box, especially someone who spends countless hours doing voice-overs in presenting a character, but it was entirely voiced by Bocchi's VA, echoing my thoughts on how dedicated these VAs are. Not to mention that they are accompanied by eye-catching and unique visuals, which brings me to my next point.

Point 3: Art is visually appealing and distinct, with a good blend of different art styles. (CloverWorks never fails to impress in this regard.)

Art styles and animation, which are normally a source of complaint to viewers on a different themed or genre show, are a source of praise in this show. The animators' humor includes art style changes and mixed media, which highlights their creativity. CloverWorks did an excellent job of improving the overall viewer experience. One example of this again is the "Cyberpunk 2077" meme scene, in which the usual art style was shifted to a 2D paint-like style, which was praised by many viewers for its distinct and unexpected turn of events. This is one of many scenes where the randomness really adds extra spice; the animators did a very good job animating the show.

Point 4: It is appropriate for all audiences, regardless of whether you are a Slice of Life CGDCT fan or not.

The premise is actually quite simple, as with almost any other SoL CGDCT show. This show is simply about Bocchi's desire to make friends and make the most of her "seishun" or youth, which is why she began playing guitar in the first place. She was invited to join Kessoku Band after a chance encounter, and that's where it all started. It is nothing out of the ordinary, but it is surprisingly entertaining to watch, and you can't help but want more. Even after only watching one episode, I sensed something special about this show. The show is intended to be wholesome, family-friendly, and heartwarming, with no "deep" plot. It is directed for us to reminisce about our "seishun" days, and it did a good job of portraying the themes that the show is aimed to portray. As evidenced by the Kessoku Band and their excellent group dynamic, the characters each have their own personality and complement one another extremely well. Even the supporting characters are memorable and well-written, and you can't help but be drawn to them. There is never a dull moment in this show.

*Also, I'd like to point out that the names of the main cast have meaning / purpose, with their last name referencing Asian Kung-Fu Generation. There are other real-life Japanese band references, but this is just one of many. Another interesting fact is that Hitori (one person) has one small strand of hair sticking out of her head, whereas Futari (two people) has two small strands of hair sticking out of her head. Everything in Bocchi the Rock! is well-thought-out, and there isn't much to complain about.

If you're reading this and haven't watched the show yet, I strongly urge you to do so as soon as possible. It is one of your turn off your brain shows that you can watch whenever you want. And for those who have finished watching or are currently watching the show, I'm sure you feel the same way I do. My only gripe is that no sequel has been announced. Despite a stacked lineup this season, Bocchi the Rock! did not fall short of standing out from the crowd.

Believe or not, we may have the K-On! of this generation in your hands with Bocchi the Rock.

Story:

Like any slice-of-life and CGDCT anime, this one has a simple plot, but very relatable one (it's basically about a introvert girl trying to climb out of the cocoon through Rock, and her daily struggle to slowly overcome her social phobia). There is less music than expected yet (just 3 episodes), but it is still present.

Characters:

Slice-of-life usually don't have complex plots, so the recipe of the success is their characters, and they are very compelling in this show. Hitori, or Bocchi (such a cruel nickname...), is the type ... of character that can get annoying with the author go too far with her social anxiety (just take a look at Komi-san's too long first season), but the author manage it pretty well and make fun of her situations without being cruel with those types (again, take a look at Komi-san) and people can actually relate themselves with her and her struggles.

Kita is another character type that can be really annoying too if her passion goes to far, but again the author manage it well. Ryou is the eccentric with some cool jokes and Nijika is nice too (she is the normal one in the band). They look average at first, but their chemistry and how each of them intact with the other (Bocchi in particular) is what sparkles.

Animation:

Slice-of-life doesn't require a great animation quality, but that didn't stop CloverWorks. The animation is clean and very well done, there is some good meme templates here, and the instrument animation faithful to reality, at least according to people who also play those instruments.

Sound:

It's a music show, so of course there is some cool songs here. Not just musical performances but also some impromptus.

Veredict:

With you have ever played any instrument, or have/had social anxiety, this is a show you can identify yourself with. The characters are sweet, watch how they interact will give you joy and you will cheer for Bocchi as she slowly give one step at time towards the extroversion.

At the end of the first episode of *Bocchi the Rock!*, Kessoku Band has more or less bombed their first performance. Bocchi (née Gotou Hitori), who had been ready to announce her presence to the world as Kessoku Band’s last-minute fill-in guitarist, anxiously retreated into a mango box, hidden within it as the band lurches and stumbles their way through their music. But in the aftermath as her bandmates Nijika and Ryou remark on the atrociousness they just played, Bocchi throws the box off herself and stumbles her way down frame in a fish-eye lens style camera shot. She stands before the two and declares ... that she’ll muster the courage to talk to her classmates, which Nijika smiles at…and then Bocchi immediately heads out since she’s drained her socially anxious battery for the day, but still resolving to improve herself for their sakes.

If any scene could encapsulate what makes *Bocchi the Rock!* such a creatively-rich series, it’s this. This whole sequence is but the tip of the show’s iceberg. There is a chaotic beauty in the show’s reckless abandon, able to radically swing between whatever style it chooses to adopt at any given moment. And within it all, anxiety is presented as both comedic fuel and as a sincere obstacle towards one’s sense of personal development.

But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself, so let’s step back for a minute: headed by Saitou Keiichirou in the director’s chair, he was afforded the rare opportunity to more or less have any ideas that came to him be given the green light to work their way into the material itself. From a certain perspective, he was the perfect mind to entrust with such freedoms – with small involvement on *Heike Monogatari* and *Wonder Egg Priority* as a key animator, along with several larger credits for *Sonny Boy,* his 2021 was spent with some of the medium’s most artistically-interesting properties. Though each had its own distinctly visual-acoustic identity, the one thread that unifies all these projects is risk. Considering *Bocchi the Rock!’s* origin as a four-panel manga, he must have realized that great risks would need to be taken to make this project work in anime format.

And it starts with taking the generally-understood limitations of anime and throwing them away, both from the actual animation and the storyboarding standpoint. The show has visual styles aplenty, including the incorporation of live-action sequences, photographs, and deliberately-bad CGI. Evidently, the animators were given such a sandbox to play in that Christmas seemed to come a few months early. The impact of such an idea is that it creates a sense of unpredictability, that the series could reach into a metaphorical bag of tricks to pull out something new, seemingly at random. Whether it rest in stark colors or allowing the camera to step back and allow the depth of space to fill the frame, the off-kilter presentation itself becomes a feature of the viewing experience.

But a chaotic presentation is simply directionless and eye-candy without something to properly anchor it all. In *Bocchi the Rock!,* there is no greater person to serve that purpose that the titular Bocchi herself, as we’re brought into the lonelier world she resides in. Even if it can be said that she goes to class and spends a little time with her family, her realm is a small space in the corner of her house, a dark closet home only to her and the small recording equipment and software she has for her YouTube audience under the “guitarhero” moniker. All her aspirations to make friends and become more popular through her guitar playing have hit the impregnable wall of social anxiety she shoulders. As she takes her first steps into the larger world and she dwells on her anxious flights, many are tinged with an underlying dark comedy that punctuates itself with the visual styling. Stark colors, postcard memories-esque stillshots (Dezaki would be proud), and highly-expressive deliveries from Bocchi’s seiyuu Aoyama Yoshino make these moments land with hilarity, be they disbelieving shrieks or quiet laconicism.

Let us not kid ourselves, though; on the immediate surface, this treatment of anxiety appears distasteful. Anxiety is indeed a real problem for some people that, even now, we sometimes do not do the best job of properly navigating as either a conceptual issue or something being experienced in real-time. It’s by far the material’s greatest gamble, and a fumbling at any point may catastrophically collapse the entirety. However, Keiichirou takes great underlying care in how these moments are portrayed. Bocchi is always presented in a sympathetic light; when we laugh at an episode’s joke at her expense or see her wild catastrophizing, there always is a proper counter to any possible maliciousness or sleight, which ironically makes laughter one of the show’s primary vehicles for forming sympathy. The intended path for every gag or event that takes place throughout the series has always been to allow Bocchi’s world to gradually get bigger and more confident, even if her social tendencies or way of seeing doesn’t get remedied right away.

But remedy herself she gradually does, and with the show’s brand of delightfully-chaotic tone, it should come as no surprise that the people who help her on her personal journey are themselves part of a motley crew. Roped into performing at Starry Club with the exaggerative Ryou and the cheerful Nijika, and eventually joined by the bubbly and highly-encouraging Kita, Bocchi is thrust into the deep end of social interaction. She got her wish to be in a band and interact more, but she’s now part of an active group that all have a prior history. Bocchi is the oddball out, especially given that the other three girls have their own personal histories with one another.

Yet it doesn’t matter whether their reasons for being in Kessoku Band are, be they for sentimentality or for pettiness. By every weird measure, the reality is that they came together in the here-and-now, and Bocchi is among them. Each member realizes in their own way that Bocchi needs encouragement of some sort, and all are given an appropriate spotlight to show not only how much Bocchi’s presence in the band is valued, but also that Bocchi herself can overcome the various worries that a band must wrestle with, even under the veneer of comedy. The apprehensions are in and of themselves perfectly understandable and relatable. The fear of performing poorly and having everyone watch you, having your band members replace you, needing to sell tickets for a gig, and the like are all thoughts that most people who have been in or teach the arts (particularly music) inherently wrestle with on a consistent basis. Especially since Bocchi has been within the shell of herself and her own anxieties for so long, it makes the triumphs all the more worth striving for and to see pay off in the end.

And nowhere else is this captured more eloquently than in the performances. When the moments arrive for Bocchi to step on that stage and play the first chord, we see how, even in the incremental ways she has changed, this is not the same Bocchi that we witnessed initially. Similarly, this is not the same Kessoku Band that we first saw that played so poorly. Bocchi has grown, and this is a band that has also grown. Both in and outside of practice, they worked and bonded in tandem. Each has evolved beyond the confines of what they once were, even if the gradual changes undergone don’t completely rewrite who they are now. But with these changes nevertheless visible, one cannot help but smile and want to stand in the crowd with the others, bouncing along or turning the gaze upward to the girl who has started to come into her own.

Beneath all its style, verve, comedy, anxiety-laden dread, and rockin’ music, *Bocchi the Rock!* is ultimately sweet. Life-affirming and charming, it demonstrates the ability for a skilled director to walk the fine line between having anxiety as a comedic device while also showing how human it is as well.

Rock on, Bocchi! You won’t be lonely with your guitar on that blue planet forever!

I'd like to first state that this anime is not targeted towards me, so I'm reviewing a show a little outside of my general tastes (never like to be that guy). This review is mainly for my own record, to write down my honest thoughts.

Don't get me wrong, I like a good slice of life where I don't have to care about good plot progression or intense fight scenes/mind games. I can just enjoy the characters, good animation, and the wholesome friendships they develop. But I am not a social outcast, I ... don't deal with social anxiety like (perhaps) a lot of people watching this type of show (sorry for assuming but I read a dozen or so reviews and many remark on how relatable the main character feels as a key factor in their ratings). I am an introvert and like quiet alone time as much as any other, but I have friends and can be outgoing when I want to. I don't feel lonely and I don't persistently fall into despair. I am not a highschooler anymore, so perhaps I have grown out of these types of shows and don't appreciate them as much as I used to.

Admitting my biases right out the gate, I'll present my poor opinion on this popular show. Sorry to be a Debby downer, I'm really not throwing slander at this show or trying to diminish the hype. According to so many, it is an objectively good show and I wholly appreciate the praise it gets.

So what do I like about the show?

First of all the animation is pretty solid, Cloverworks always does a pretty good job with that, love their adaptation of Spy Fam. The girls look cute, have distinct styles, and it's its clear a lot of charm has melded into even the tiniest of details. No complaints here, 8/10.

Second, the music for the performances were all pretty good. The op hits hard and is an absolute banger (although I can easily see it being an op for an edgy isekai like Arifureta, I like that type of music so doesn't bother me at all, in fact it gives Bocchi a nostalgic feel from the start). When Bocchi shreds it up on stage, I'm always cheering for her to break out of the mental prison she created for herself. An easy 9/10 as well.

Here's where the bad takes come in so if you don't want to hear Bocchi slander, you can just skip this part, again nothing I say here is anything I believe to be objective about the show, just my personal tastes.

My biggest issues with the show can be summed up in one expression: lack of endearment. Although at first I found Bocchi to be cute with her self-disparaging soliloquys, they eventually started to get on my nerves after only a few episodes which made her unlikable to me. Too much time gets spent stuck in her head and I kept having the thought, "Ok. I get it. But can we please move on already and get to more endearing character interactions." They started to become tedious to me and I can't help but feel that the time those scenes took up could have been used to strengthen the relationships between the cast and create more chemistry (I understand this is what the show is trying to explore, social anxiety issues, but this topic does carry a double-edged sword, the conversations felt stop-and-go making them drag on longer than the content they contained).

When Bocchi starts to develop, she becomes more tolerable, she can speak with words (sorta). But instead of finding her cute and endearing, I just found her to be...well...down all the time, kinda killing the fun vibe I was expecting from this show. The other mains were ok, I liked Nijika's kind extroversion and Ryo's blunt one-liners (easily the best part of the show for me). Both charaters were very likable. Kita-aura didn't really do it for me, but her personality is important for the casts chemistry. Because I couldn't get behind the main character I can't say the cast as a whole comes together to make anything special, 4/10.

The second major issue for me was, unfortunately, the comedic delivery. I simply didn't find this show funny. Not Bocchi's comically animated expressions, not the real life clips, nor the self-deprecating humor. I can see this style being funny, but for some reason the execution didn't stick the landing for me. The funniest parts were Ryo's snide comments, but even they only got a few snickers from me at best, and the joke towards the End of the first ep (you know what it is). Imma get a lot of flack for this but I think the underrated gem Girlfriend Girlfriend was comedy gold and had me laughing out loud every episode at its absurd parody of the harem genre (people misunderstand the premise of that show all the time, sadge, it's an anti-harem more than anything else, not another product of a low-quality genre.) I didn't expect Bocchi to reach this level, but I expected at least some jokes to land like the ones in KanoKano so I could have a couple laugh out loud moments. Maybe it was the jp dub or the (usually) monotone delivery of the jokes (exception being the kudere Ryo), but the comedic timing felt really off and not adapted well. Because a core part of the show fell flat for me I really couldn't appreciate it's more nuanced details and overall it just felt like a slug fest for me, I was frequently bored. The most I can give for humor is a 2/10.

Last complaint, a minor one, for a show that is based on music, the bgm for most scenes felt really generic and didn't enhance the comedic or wholesome scenes the way I expected. I could see a world where if the ost was more distinct and fitting for the scenes, I would enjoy this show a whole lot more, find it funny and endearing (I am a believer that ost and sound design can make or break a show).

Please don't direct hate towards me for this review as I'm genuinely not intending to direct any hate towards this show and its audience. I do like it when it shines. So I'll try to say this last point as neutrally as possible, so please view it in that tone. I have seen many reviews saying that this show is superior to Chainsawman this season, and I don't understand how people can come to that conclusion. The cinematography, background music (Kensuke Ushio is one of my favorite composers now), pacing, tone, characters, and more contemplative themes are superior in every respect. I felt more emotions for the wholesome scenes between Aki and Himeno than any of the interactions in Bocchi the Rock, and that's not the tallest order to reach. Maybe I like those kind of grim but hopeful stories more, but I also felt so much heart and soul were baked into every aspect of the show. I watched this series partly through a v-tuber Aliciaxlife who breaks down the cinematography choices that studio Mappa made and I was blown away with their direction and attention to detail. 12 different eds to catch the vibe of the episodes, with great visuals that immerse you into the events of the show even more, it felt like a full package. Not groundbreaking, but the peak of what future shonen (although it feels more like a seinen) should aspire to be.

I'll say this critique against myself courtesy of Toby Fox (read this unironically), "Mew Mew Two was SOOO much better than Mew Mew One! With darker, edgy themes and a more mature story, Mew Mew One can't even compete!" Great joke but now I am the meme, so feel free to laugh at this review lol. Maybe CGDCT is not my cup of tea. I don't feel close to the characters from Bocchi, they aren't relatable to me, for a cheery slice of life it has weirdly down moments which cut me off from the show. Honestly I'm contemplating on stopping after episode 9 but then I'd be the type of reviewer I don't like, not seeing the show through to the end to see if there isn't something else it could offer or contain development I wasn't anticipating to make me fall in love with it. I really hope it does and that I can amend this review to what Bocchi the Rock, in all honesty, probably deserves.

Edit: Just finished it. Decent ending and nice development in Kita and Bocchi's relationship. Just wish she became closer to the other characters they still feel detached from each other.

Final Rating: 6/10

[Originally posted on December 27th, 2022.]

I think little SingleH here is coming to a calm, slow, natural conclusion.

I think little SingleH here is becoming too much of a so-called “normie” to write like themselves anymore, or at least that of them you’ve come to know. I think little SingleH here is getting too much of a life, and I think that if left to continue on present course, the writing produced by this profile will increasingly lean towards the modern-day Hideaki Anno-style preaching and condescension. The writing output of an individual who was depressed and hyper-relatable at one point, but who got out of it ... and who, as a result, became out-of-touch and…I don’t know…old, for lack of a better term? Granted, I definitely continue to be depressed out of my fucking mind—no worries there, plus the fucking alcohol—but I’m still living WAY too much. I’m making too many real friends; I’m having to much success at work; I’m making too many connections; I’m having too much casual sex; I’m fucking around with things and aspects of people and society that, barely a few years ago, I couldn’t have ever possibly imagined. I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore, and as of the day in which I’m writing this, I hugged someone. A friend. Having a real, in-the-flesh “friend” is already fucking bizarre enough, but that I would be able to platonically and emotionally hug her??? Where the fuck am I? WHO the fuck am I??? She asked if I needed a hug during my lunch, and I just straight-up took it as a joke. When I was walking away to clock back in, I turned around and said, “You would hug me?” And she just laughed. Later, when I was getting ready to leave, she tells me to “check back in” with her before I left, and I was like, “Okay…? Am I in trouble?” To which the answer was no. She just wanted to have another impromptu therapy session to make sure I wasn’t collapsing completely, but at the end, I said, “Also, I take it back from earlier. Can I have a hug?” She puts on this big, stupid smile, and then we hugged, for like, a while.

These past few nights I’ve been religiously watching this trash, this gutter filth, perhaps the literal polar opposite of Bocchi the Rock!. It’s just twenty-year-olds, I mean totally teenage actors engagingly in endless sex and drugs. Sheer trash. Euphoria on HBO. But I like watching it at, I don’t know, what time is it? 3:37am? And the reason I do so is the same reasoning I gave for enjoying Kanojo, Okrishimasu. “I love allowing myself to get invested in trash like this just so it can frustrate me and force my cold, dead, icy heart to feel literally anything other than passivity and dejection.” And the scene I watched just a second ago, of this character texting her boyfriend while she was drunk? The manner in which her phone autocorrected certain typos and not others? That was EACTLY me. That scene, in this fucking braindead retard schlock teen melodrama, was without dialogue or music, deeply relatable. Ask any of these poor motherfuckers who talk to me via Discord regularly and who know how I type when I’m drunk, because that shit was precise. However, as much as I respect Bocchi the Rock!, and as little as I respect Euphoria, I’m fairly certain I can’t say anything like that about the former. This isn’t a disconnect exclusive to cute girl anime either. Like, if I were to throw on K-On!, a show to which this has seen much comparison, then I don’t think I would be saying this about any of their particular interactions. I don’t think I could see any of their particular moments and memories and think anything to the effect of, “I can’t see real girls doing this.” Because that was always the appeal of K-On! in the first place, their eccentricity almost paradoxically juxtaposed with the series’ realism. Maybe it was Yamada Naoko’s direction, maybe it was the super naturalistic color design, maybe it was something I can’t even put into words. But whatever it was, K-On! had it, and Bocchi the Rock! doesn’t.

You want a show about four or five cute moe girls with multicolored hair, multicolored eyes, and multicolored personalities? Because the anime community has a fucking ocean of options for you to choose from in that department. Some might argue a landfill to be a much more fitting analogy though, because, after all, quantity doesn’t always equal quality. There’s a lot of unexceptional sewage that flows through every season and every genre of anime, and Bocchi the Rock! is miles above any of that, but I’m quite positive we are not witnessing a modern classic in the making. The visual direction is impressive outright—no surprise considering the director’s association with Shingo Natsume, one of the industry’s currently active creative geniuses—but while it may be just enough to carry the series’ more unexceptional elements, it’s nowhere near enough to elevate it…which is kind of a picky distinction to make, but a distinction I would argue is more than a little necessary considering the wildly high mean score Bocchi the Rock! boasts as of time of writing. I apologize for failing to escape comparison, but keep in mind that from where I’m standing, you people started it, not me. You people were the ones talking about “the K-On! of our generation,” not me, and when I read proclamations such as these, I have certain expectations in mind, because the last time I heard such proclamations was in winter of 2018. A Place Further Than The Universe was a special anime. It had powerful performances, fantastic direction, a satisfying sense of progression and growth, and a heartrending emotional arc; it had a more-or-less high-quality production, a plethora of fantastic insert songs, and simply beautiful imagery. It at the same time, however, failed to hit that level of sheer believability and down-to-Earth realism that a K-On!-class masterpiece would, and if you ask me, Bocchi the Rock! falls even shorter.

“Wow, my latest video already has so many comments. [giggles] I’ve been racking up the views lately, too, and people are telling me I’m good… Yeah, maybe it’s okay if I can’t handle real life? There are tons of people cheering for me online!”

There’s a lot of blatantly obvious reasons why I, of all fucking people, would be compelled to call this series and specifically this character “relatable,” but relating to her isn’t my problem. My problem is believing in her. In winter of 2018, some anons on /a/ were criticizing a scene in A Place Further Than The Universe which they felt to have been a shameless rip-off of a scene from K-On!, and whether or not I agreed with their cynical assessment or not, I couldn’t help but entertain the comparison. The scene was in one of the earlier episodes, when the girls were training and first spending a night together outdoors, sleeping in a tent. As they laid back and tried to sleep, they kept each other awake with silly small-talk and dumb jokes, and this thread on /a/ had completely convinced themselves that the scene was attempting to directly mimic the scene from the Kyoto trip in K-On!, the scene after the pillow fight where Ritsu keeps trying to prod at Mio, scare her, and make Yui and Mugi laugh. If you read a text summary of both those scenes, they would seem to be fundamentally identical, but when you actually sit down and watch them, one feels ever so slightly fake (or perhaps “forced” is a better word), while the other feels deeply real. Bocchi the Rock! has cute character designs and good voice acting; it has a surprisingly consistent and well-balanced production considering the studio behind it; it has a clear sense of inspiration and emotion spearheaded by an up-and-coming director who clearly learned all the right lessons from mentors past; and it has dialogue, monologue, and audiovisual expression that will 100% make you feel at times emotional, be it for a second, a minute, or a while. It does not, however, have a scene of Tainaka Ritsu saying goofy shit to keep her best friends from falling asleep on their trip to Kyoto, because she loves them and doesn’t want the moment to end.

Of all the human, real-life person things I’ve been newly dabbling in lately, by far the most profound and telling has been my willingness and desire to take pictures. You see, I’ve never taken or had pictures. Pictures are friends, family, loved ones, memories. None of which I’ve ever had. But now that I think I’m starting to have them, I want to save these moments, these jokes, these things to think about later, to tell other friends about some other time, smiling, laughing, or simply reminiscing. The sense of belonging I feel when I see someone who missed out on something, turn my phone to face them, and see a smile on their face is one that I still haven’t comprehended enough to fully express the feeling of catharsis from which I receive. Memories I have of K-On! can stand emotionally on par with memories I now seem to be making at an increasingly rapid pace, whereas memories I have of this show and many others will likely not survive the alcohol, let alone the passing time. I would be very impressed with myself if I was still writing as SingleH this time next year, because I don’t see any of what I’m currently building crashing and burning anytime soon. I’ve fallen in love with these people, and I’ve grown addicted to the warmth they make me feel, even in this weather. It is fourteen fucking degrees fucking Fahrenheit in fucking Dallas right now, and as corny and stupid as it sounds, I’d say Bocchi the Rock! provided me with about as much warmth as this glass of Aberlour. I obviously first turned to my beloved rum to find some solace, but when it failed to do the trick and soothe my freezing body, I figured the time to stop being a dainty little bitch had finally come, and only the spice of whiskey could truly warm me up, but I appear to have underestimated the diversity of my options. The warmth of Bocchi the Rock! didn’t even need to be spicy either. It just needed to be warm. Like that hug from Ali.

Thinking back, I could hear her heartbeat. Hopefully she couldn’t hear mine…

Thank you for reading.

If Social Anxiety was in the form of a cute girl within an anime, then you've got it here and now.

Story and characters: 8
Picture it, you're stuck, alone, no friends, no real interaction besides the people online, behind a screen, so everything is just words, no need to use your voice, as your writing will do the talking for you. You are safe, you're sound at home. Or for the most part. You find a passion, and hope to fit in, but even that still doesn't work. Everything is helpless. Then a shot in the dark comes along, and despite your best efforts, you still ... wind up feeling like you have failed. But that shot, might be your ticket to where you want to be, or least the steps that you take, in order to not feel ever so alone and depressed. You'll gain friends, you'll make progress, it's up to you push on, and continue forward.

This is the story of a sweet girl in Hitori, trying to find a foothold in life. Only to find a miracle chance, of not only working at a bar, but to be able to perform in a band too. No matter the hardship, she's made a massive leap, and we can only root her on, to overcome everything that stands in her way. As let's face it. We all face these issues. communication is our worse enemy, and it'll haunt us all through life. This feels like what many of us have been feeling through our daily lives. With how well it's taken, it shows a well written character for sure. Not to mention the other characters, they each stand out on their own two foot, each having a different thing to them, which really bounce off one another. With good things like that, it'll make the show much more enjoyable to watch.

Bocchi reminds me of a few shows where a couple of characters with a wide range of personalities come together, for rime or reason, and really make for a good and entertaining product. This one, having a great showing, a serious showing of how this kind of behavior, condition etc truly is within a show. It adds that extra good element on top of what is a stella show.

Art and sound: 8
Bocchi really does reflect how one can feel in these situations, when the pressure hits at them, when it's too much for them to handle. Making every expression and detail count, and look believable, to really match the struggles one goes through. Hell, it's even seen within the start of the show, how gloomy it all looked, dark and depressing, When you have nothing, that is how the world can look to you. It'll look like nothing is reachable, nothing is worth it, and nothing fills your heart with joy. Only till a spark hits you like lightning in a bottle, and brightens your whole world. That's the level we're dealing with. It'll be bright in many sense of the world for sure, but to capture an emotion so well, deserves its own level of praise.

To top it off with great sound quality, and reactions, to really make everything not only mesh super well, but to also make it believable too. Some shows try so hard to get these two right, and this show has done it plenty, and it can only grow from here on, to be a real stand out.

Bocchi is an interesting concept, as it covers many grounds, but what it is, is a very cute and well thought out show, that deserve to be watched.

Bocchi the Rock! is quite possibly the best adaptation of any manga I've ever seen. You can tell it was crafted with passion and love, not just for the source material but for music in general.

I'd best describe this show as foundationally something akin to K-On!, mixed with the humour and production style similar to that of The Amazing world of Gumball; am i insane? Its really funny and relatable and it all works for me, mixed with various artistic styles that really enhance Bocchis "episodes" of anxiety. its just a joy to watch every week, Kessoku Band's Journey is one to watch.

Episode 8 ... in particular made this show my anime of the year, which is wild considering how stacked this season is. Bocchi 🤘🤘🤘>

“Hey, have you seen Chainsaw Man yet? That shit’s hype!”

“Huh? What’s Chainsaw Man??”

“..What? It’s literally the hottest and best anime this season!”

“Hm. Never heard. Were you perhaps referring to Bocchi the Rock?”

The queen is dead? What are you talking about, it looks like Bocchi the Rock is alive and doing well.

... Well, better than well. It’s the best, most creative, most funny, most relatable, and most heartwarming anime of this season.

“B-but it’s a music!!! Isn’t it just another K-ON?”
That’s where you’re wrong. Bocchi the Rock is FAR from being the next K-On. Bocchi is its own show, a show taking on new ideas and innovating some of the most creative visuals and productions of any anime I’ve watched. K-On was about their band going through high school together as a team, while Bocchi the Rock explores each individual character as they work together to help their band grow. Bocchi the Rock is a show about growing and learning to be the best version of yourself.

Social anxiety is not a light topic. It’s a disorder that affects your daily lives in conversations, tasks, relationships, and even self-confidence. A heavy topic such as this, in my opinion, was not done very well by Komi-san. While I’m aware Komi is a comedy centred around Komi’s “cute” social awkwardness, I think Bocchi did a finer job at showing how to show awareness of social anxiety and the thoughts that may go through a lot of people’s head, while still maintaining god tier levels of comedy, which I think is even funnier than Komi.

Now, what makes the comedy so special? What makes comedy funny?

Comedy is never an objective subject. You may find the Minion memes your grandma posts the most unfunny thing you’ve seen, but maybe other people find it hilarious (extra fries, am I right?). The same goes towards comedy shows. Some may find it funny, some can find it cringe, some just find mild amusement. However, it feels like Bocchi is a laughing medicine. Bocchi’s social awkwardness always leads to sad and sometimes cringe moments, or Bocchi overthinks things and other awkward moments happen. Usually, that is a huge turn off for many people, but CloverWorks really put effort into the comedy.
Instead of the sad and cringey scenes that we would usually see, the anime uses visual gags and phenomenal voice acting to make it the funniest thing you’ve seen. The timings are on point, the voice acting is believable, and you won’t feel an ounce of cringe. Her overthinking is absolutely ridiculous and absurd which makes it so funny (the attention-whore monster!) with some of the best animations ever produced by CloverWorks, with different camera angles, metaphors, visual gags like explosions, all that, and to top it off, many references to different anime including Evangelion, Dragon Ball, and so much more it’s uncountable. The comedy never went stale, never in this show have I thought “Hm. They could’ve made this comedic scene a little funnier, it wasn’t that funny and they should’ve added something to get a laugh out of me”. You can see that the animators don’t see this as a half-assed project, they are putting their hearts and souls into this beautiful anime.

Now, what’s the most important part of an anime? Animation, of course. It’s obvious.
As I have previously mentioned, Bocchi the Rock gives some of the best animations from this year with animation that is smooth and expressive. Heck, this makes Chainsaw Man look like Chainsaw Boy.

“Should I watch it then?”

Yes.

“But what if I don’t like it?”

If you’re not interested, drop it and move on with your life. Nobody is forcing you to watch Bocchi (though you should).

“I don’t have time, I won’t watch it.”


Watching anime isn’t a chore, if you have free time and you feel like watching some anime, Bocchi is a great show to pass the time and forget all your worries. Besides, anime is a hobby.

“The plot doesn’t exist. It’s just girls forming a band and that’s it.”

Not true. Bocchi the Rock also tells the story of how Bocchi grows through her failures and learning to get through the world. She really is trying her best and the story puts an emphasis on how hard she’s trying to improve. Sure, it has many Cute Girls Doing Cute Things elements, but at its core, Bocchi the Rock is a down-to-earth and moving show.

Of course, characters are a vital part in anime. One bad character who annoys you or is written poorly can impact your opinion on the whole anime. Most authors have to spend a lot of time thinking about their characters. Are they likeable? Are their designs memorable/cute? Do they actually have a personality?
As you may notice, many shows lack these qualities, which leads to a negative view on the show overall. Even if the plot is good, why would you want to watch it if it has annoying and dumb characters? (see Munou na Nana)
Bocchi the Rock seems to be aware of this, as the characters are all likeable, well-written, and have personalities. Each character’s character designs are iconic and you will surely recognize their unique designs just from the colours of their hair. Voice actresses fit and do excellent jobs. Even characters that don’t show up much (PA-san) are pretty loved by the community.

Now, I’m going to go deeper into each of the major characters. Expect a long one.

Hitori, aka Bocchi, is your typical slice-of-life protagonist who isn’t interesting and is super bland. “Haha, you must be joking!” Yes, I am. Bocchi has to be one of the best characters from this year. She is funny, relatable, cute, and all of the good qualities of a character.
What makes Hitori so special is her social anxiety. I know, we’ve seen it so much like in Watamote (another great one), Komi-san, Welcome to the NHK, HitoriBocchi, MMO Junkie, the list goes on. While I haven’t seen the last 3 shows and I don’t want to assume things, I know that Bocchi has to be one of the best socially anxious protagonists ever. Not only because she gets into hilarious situations where she reacts amazingly, or how she overthinks situations and somehow predicts her life as a miserable adult, but how she isn’t trying to be better in some half-assed way (“I’m going to improve myself!” *does one nice thing and calls it a day). We can see Bocchi genuinely dislikes her social anxiety and is trying to overcome it. Like she said, there is a difference between the loner (Ryo) and the lonely (Bocchi). Let me do a little explanation on that.
Ryo is the loner. She enjoys being alone and has no problem with it. She finds fun in being by herself without anybody around her. While of course enjoying spending time with others, she doesn’t feel lonely by herself.
Bocchi is the lonely. She still likes being alone but constantly wants to be with others. She feels lonely without the company of others and often feels lonely by herself. Bocchi usually has more fun doing things with other people.
There is a giant misconception that Bocchi is a hardcore introvert. Bocchi is NOT an introvert, I believe she is an extrovert that has social anxiety. Extroverts aren’t always loud and outgoing, they prefer spending time with other people and tend to share their thoughts more. Bocchi is, in my opinion, what I described. Introverts get motivation by themselves while extroverts get motivation with others. As we can see in the anime, Bocchi feels drained and wasted alone but feels happy and comforted with her band members.

Nijika is an excellent character. At first, she seems to be a Ritsu Tainaka clone (tomboy drummer) whose entire purpose is to just be there. Nijika looked like she had no importance and was just a character tossed to the side. Boy, I was so wrong. Nikia is an amazing and inspiring character who took me by surprise. Nijika is the group’s motivator, someone who is able to support others while going through her own struggles. All I can really say about her now is, yay! Nijika! Oh and also, she has one of the best character animation scenes where she says “it’s a secret!”. I also really like her dynamic with Ryo.

As I cannot reuse my joke about the queen near the start of my review, let me just say Ryo is a queen. She has a chill attitude, though she’s definitely not a perfect person. She’s one of the funniest characters and her personality stands out a lot. She reminds me a lot of Shima Rin from Yuru Camp (the best girl of all time). She is very poor though, mostly because she spends a lot of money on guitars. She likes to bug Bocchi for her money a lot, which I find really funny (poor Bocchi though). The way she tries to beg for stuff is very funny and overall she’s a great addition to the show. I literally cannot imagine this show without her. Not to mention how carefree she is. If I were to be friends with anybody from the show, it would be her.

For the final band member, Kita (aura)! Kita has to be my favourite character in the show, and I can sorta explain why. Kita is basically the polar opposite to Bocchi: has friends, is socially active, not scared to interact with others, etc, and she is also very kind and clearly looks out for Bocchi more than Nijika and Ryo. Like Bocchi says, Kita has this shining aura around her that makes her stand out a lot and attracts everybody to her. A lot of scenes she’s in steals the show and it’s really fun to watch Kita’s moments. Her dynamic with Bocchi is very sweet because of how she cares for Bocchi and makes sure she’s alright at school, while Bocchi is envious of her naturally good social skills. Kita even almost went out of her way to cancel all her plans with friends to help Bocchi, something Ryo and Nijika may not do. Overall, Kita is my favourite character from this show and she’s such a joy to watch.

There aren’t many side characters to the show but I personally think they all contribute to the show immensely.

Kikuri, aka the drunk mentor/supporter of Bocchi, is a very nice character that I enjoy seeing her on screen. Although her drinking habits are very worrying, I like how the anime parallels her to what Bocchi could become: an outgoing person with some godly music skills. The similarities between the two are astonishing and I think the author wrote her character very well. I very much enjoyed her song performance and would love to see a spin-off of her band.

Nijika’s sister is basically a Tsuntsuntsuntsundere, who is mostly Tsun but less Dere. She barely has shown up much but I like her as a character. She clearly is also socially awkward and it’s funny to see her do things in a roundabout way instead of being honest about her feelings to Nijika and the rest of the characters.

Now that’s basically all of the characters worth talking about, and as you can see I view all of them in a positive light. Bocchi the Rock has an excellent cast and has a huge variety of different types of people you can relate to.

And of course, the music. My favourite song has to be ED3, Nijika’s “What is wrong with”. The song is so touching and I cannot stop listening. I’m a huge fan of the other songs too, especially Guitar, Loneliness, and the Blue Planet. Music is another great aspect of Bocchi and it made the show so much more memorable.

This Fall, Bocchi caught many of the community by surprise. Myself included. What I thought would be a K-On clone turned out to be a beautiful, hilarious, and touching show.
Bocchi the Rock is a work of art. It’s something I believe everybody in the world should experience. It is a masterpiece, wait no, calling it a masterpiece would be an understatement. It is something beyond a masterpiece. Something that I truly think is perfect. An anime worthy of going past the limits of 10/10. After all, Bocchi managed to go past the standard anime tropes and turn it into something creative and engaging. Bocchi took advantage of the anime medium. It took everything good from an anime and expanded beyond that. What I’m trying to say is well, Bocchi really ROCKS!

Bocchi the Rock is the latest in the neverending stream of cute girls doing cute things show that come out each season. When people cry over how repetitive the anime industry has gotten, the main culprit everyone points to always happens to be isekai, yet slice-of-life comedy shows like Bocchi the Rock have stuck to the same formulaic and repetitive storyline and main cast for the better part of the last decade or two, with, most of the time, nothing but praise coming their way.

Yet, once again, BTR is said to be a breath of fresh air for the industry, promising a deep and ... meaningful characterization of the main protagonist and cute girl in question - Bocchi.

I don't often watch anime, but when I do, I watch lots of it. When I found myself once again scrolling through the MyAnimeList top anime section for the first time in what felt like ages, there stood Bocchi the Rock, firmly cemented at #23, to me, a magical number; Last time I went through the usual cycle - don't watch anime for 6 months, come back and binge watch 20 shows in a week - I found a very special show called Link Click at the #23 mark, which caught my attention and turned out to be one of the best shows I've ever watched. I thought to myself that this must be fate, and that this, too, will become a classic that stands the test of time and proves to be groundbreakingly innovative in the stale anime industry - however far that compliment goes.

Unfortunately, I stand corrected.

Bocchi the Rock is not exactly seasonal garbage, in fact it is unique in its ability to lead on the viewer and garner the sympathy of the average anime watcher despite being of little substance. One of the main points of appeal of this show, is, of course, the relatability of Bocchi's character. From that perspective, she is well-written, and her portrayal of social anxiety strikes just the right chords to get the viewer to care and relate to her. Of course, if you can't empathize with a socially anxious person, much of the comedy falls flat - but despite BTR being a comedy show, that surprisingly doesn't really take away from its overall enjoyability.

For starters, the production of the show is immaculate - sure, the level of smoothness a blockbuster shounen like attack on titan sees isn't really present, but the direction is top notch, and the creativity levels are there, from the wacky facial expressions to the shots of real-life action that are very tastefully strung into the artwork - and to that end, I applaud Bocchi the rock. As far as slice-of-life shows go, it's presented beautifully, and the passion the animators and director had for the project is tangible - not entirely unexpected work from Keiichirou Saitou, who worked on shows like Sonny Boy, Mob Psycho and Wonder Egg Priority in recent memory, all deeply charismatic and atmospheric in their own ways.

The cast, although not much more than the sum of its parts, is quite charming; and cute! Which, as you might guess, is kind of important for a cute girls doing cute things anime - and cute things, they are doing as well, playing some kick-ass music, which, once again, I have to give credit to. Both the opening and ending sequences are spectacular, and the OSTs are even better; the first track the girls write in the show, entitled "Guitar, Loneliness and Blue Planet", is, as far as J-Rock goes, one of the best songs I've ever heard in anime. But this isn't a music review.

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I have a very strong dislike for shows like Re:Zero and Koe no Katachi, which despite being wildly different in almost every aspect of their conception, share one thing in common - apart from their incredible commercial success - in the way that they emotionally manipulate and string along the viewer into caring for shallow, cheaply written characters. For Subaru's Re:Zero, that's in the form of killing off the entire (incredibly obnoxious) main cast in increasingly gruesome and brutal ways to little purpose other than shocking the viewer into tears. For Koe no Katachi, it's using Nishimiya's entire character as a glorified cardboard cutout to plaster a disability onto and get the audience to cry over it, which is a lot more evocative of what BTR attempts to do with Bocchi's social anxiety.

It's cheap writing and emotionally exploitative. Although Bocchi the Rock doesn't abuse this trick to the same extent as the anime I previously mentioned, it doesn't mean it's in good taste, either. Crippling social anxiety that impairs someone from even the most basic human functions, is, more or less, the running gag of the show, which sure, fine, it's a comedy, and I'm a strong believer in being able to make jokes about anything and everything, but there's two issues I still have with it.

Obviously, this is a cute girls doing cute things comedy, so I can't bring myself to do a psychological analysis of Bocchi; that's just as in bad taste as the show itself and entirely missing the point. Still, social anxiety is a mental health issue that has a root cause - abusive household, severe bullying, lack of human interaction, poor upbringing, a track record of being constantly mercilessly rejected, or whatever else you might think up. Yet Bocchi lives in a nice big house in a nice neighbourhood, she has a nice little sister and two supportive, able-bodied parents, was never bullied (or at least, the show never mentioned it), and just in general is a really cute anime girl who plays guitar and runs a youtube channel in her spare time, so really, her character is reduced to little more than a device to get the audience to think "she just like me fr" instead of a genuine, real, believable human being with feelings and motivations beyond what the writers tell us her feelings are. Although the show narrates mostly from the view of Bocchi, making all encounters into a deeply intimate experience, she remains shallow, written solely to make the audience empathize with her because of her situation, instead of her character.

But again, analyzing Bocchi is senseless since this is a comedy, not a drama, so I can't discredit it for using a character as a running gag - it's something many other superb comedy shows do regularly. Still, AS a comedy, BTR entirely misses the mark, simply because its jokes aren't that funny. To some people, they're very relatable situations, and therefore mildly funny, but to the viewer without social anxiety, who can't empathize with Bocchi, every. single. damn. joke. falls flat in its face. Its comedy is entirely reliant on getting the viewer to sympathize and relate to Bocchi, which brings me back to how her "she just like me fr fr!" writing is cheap, and to how distasteful it is to use mental health issues as a device to sell jokes for the entire runtime of the show.

This feels like a great time to mention a show I've recently watched - Hinamatsuri. Hinamatsuri is a comedy show, yes, and it has a side character called Anzu. Without spoiling too much, Anzu's character approaches a pretty serious theme - homelessness, yet never does the show try to make you cry just because oh, poor Anzu she's homeless, nor does it tastelessly poke fun at homeless people. Homelessness isn’t exactly something relatable to most people, it's a topic that's not as easily exploitable as social anxiety, so the writers turn Anzu into more than a social anxiety bag or a disabled damsel-in-distress (cough, koe no katachi, cough) through believable characterization and a great story arc.

Quickly going through the plot, Anzu has great magical powers and has come to Earth to fight the titular protagonist, Hina. She is introduced as impulsive, aggressive, and unrelenting in her egocentrism. She fails to beat Hina, and also finds out she’s unable to return to the world she came from; Now stuck on earth, she steals to get by until she meets a homeless guy who teaches him that’s wrong, and Anzu joins his community of homeless people.

Over the course of the next few episodes, Anzu learns the ins and outs of homeless life - picking up cans off the ground to sell to the scrapyard and getting 500 yen for a whole day of backbreaking work. Slowly, Anzu learns the value of money and the importance of sharing moments with others, thanks to her new living environment; The other homeless people in the community teach her other things too, anything from building a house to crocheting rubber bands, and when the time finally came for her to split apart from the rest of the homeless group - they arrange for her to be adopted -, she feels incompetent and powerless in her inability to be anything more than a bother for the nice people who helped her.

Obviously, since Hinamatsuri is a comedy, sometimes it’s all exaggerated for comedic effect - when she first starts working for her adoptive family’s ramen shop, she asks a customer how he’s so wealthy after ordering an 800 yen dish - but her character arc and development is genuine, the lessons she learns are genuine, and the social issues tackled by the writers are approached with tact and care in order to build a story that doesn't make you cry because "Oh, crying reason spotted", but because you genuinely believe in and care for the character who makes it all happen. That, right there, is tasteful, good writing, and something a show like Bocchi the Rock simply lacks.

Still, I do have one concession to make. I've written this review so far in such a way that Bocchi has been put in a bad light and portrayed as a weak character, which she isn't completely. She is cheaply written, yes, but her portrayal of social anxiety - although exaggerated for comedic purposes - is believable at times, which is probably why so many people who also struggle with similar troubles in their daily lives love the show. In fact I'll add one more - her character development is genuinely well written, particularly in episode 6, where Bocchi meets Hiroi, a bassist from another band randomly out on the street, and Hiroi convinces Bocchi to do a street performance - which she absolutely kills. By the end of the episode, Bocchi makes a new friend and achieves her goal for the episode, which involves talking to and convincing a whole three people, probably something even an adept social butterfly would struggle to do effortlessly.

Unfortunately, the comedic nature of the series means that much of this character development is often reverted and forgotten by the end of one episode, but still, it's easy to tell that by the end of the show, Bocchi was a completely different, far more approachable person than she was at the start of the season, and the journey she goes through to get there is not just believable but also entertaining.

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In one of the earlier episodes, the blonde haired manager - whose name I forget - mentions how she was, at one point, part of a very popular band, that changed their sound into a more commercial one to get more sales, forgetting the passion of writing true music, which, in hindsight, is quite ironic. Every action a character takes and feeling they feel are not reactive to their environment, but pre-scripted and carefully designed to serve the purpose of the story - and it seems to me like the purpose the writer(s) behind BTR strived for was more about making their show a commercial success rather than writing what could really have been a great series and character.

Bocchi, to be frank, makes you feel good, maybe has you laughing, maybe has you crying, which is really the point of a comedy and of a CGDCT show. How successful the show is in achieving its loftier goals might come down to whether you can or can't tolerate the exploitative nature of its titular character, who, more than a believable and meaningful portrayal of social anxiety, chooses instead to be an "oh she just like me frrrrrr!!!!!!" character.

If that pulls on the right strings for you, then you'll certainly enjoy this show, and I can't blame you for it - a comedy serves solely to entertain, and Bocchi does that quite well so long as you don't look past its appearances; but if you do, then, much like a parent who tries to force their introverted kid out of the house, you'll find that a show that tries to force you into laughing and crying for its shallow relatability, probably won't succeed in doing either.

There is much to be said about this year's fall lineup. After years of waiting for it to be adapted, the near legendary Chainsaw Man was finally adapted into an anime. Many, including myself, have been eagerly waiting every Tuesday for a new episode, and so far it has been an amazing experience. This month has had some other great seasonals as well, including Eminence in Shadow, Do it Yourself, To Your Eternity S2, More than a Married Couple, which have all been quite fantastic. Now how does all of this relate to Bocchi. I have been most looking foward to new episodes for this ... series more than any any other seasonal this Fall. There are reasons behind this, both on the anime itself and through personal connections, so here they are.

The anime itself is nothing we haven't seen before. Music focused CGDCT is something that we have all seen plenty before with shows like K-On!. The main catch with this is that the main character is a extreme social anxiety ridden guitarist who tries to join a band. Hitori Gotou (nicknamed Bocchi, her name literally means "alone") is set up as a character to relate to. Her struggles with school and social ineptitude are things that a lot of past and present students can relate to. Her mannerisms and her personality really drive this series, which makes her very likeable. It's not like her supporting cast aren't well rounded as well, all three of her bandmates all have their quirks and interests that make them stand out and add much needed diversity.

The art style is more unique than what you'd think at first. It has a mix between actual realistic depictions and absolute absurdity, making the whole anime have a quirk to it that I find really appealing. Mixing that with each of the characters really creates a funny disposition. For real, this show is hilarious. In regards to the realistic depictions (basing this off of my own musical knowledge), the instrument playing is spot on. It isn't going to be put on a new Stevie T guifaker video anytime soon. The instrument companies and instruments themselves are also picture perfect to their real life counterparts. Actual attention to detail is put into the presentation, which adds nicely to the experience.

Music focused anime must have a good soundtrack, and Bocchi does not let up at all. The songs created for the band are all really good. There's not much to say in the way of this since it's up to personal preference, but it is all well produced and is actually released under the in-universe name (Kessoku, or "ziptie" in Japanese). The performances in the anime that the band does perform are expertly crafted in terms of animation and music, which makes them a treat to listen too.

Overall the anime is a great entry on it's own. It's funny, it's entertaining, and it's relatable. What sells this anime more for me is through personal connections. As a fellow social anxiety ridden bedroom guitarist, this show panders to me in a way that is almost uncanny. It touches on subjects that I myself struggle with, which really makes it that much better. Through these liaisons and the show's great content, I find myself earning for more.

From a simple 4-koma manga adaptation to the solo overtaking of Chainsaw Man, this anime surprised me and many others who didn't even know of it's existence. This is a definitive anime of the season for me, and potentially the anime of the year. I am very excited for the future of this project.

I originally posted this a week or so, but I wanted to add a bottom part here to address what is undoubtedly the worst part of this show. This isn't within the media itself, but what it has brought upon it. I'm talking about the fans. Look, I love this anime. It really is a contender for best of the year for me, and the fact this is almost neck and neck with Chainsaw Man is nothing short of mind blowing. But I have noticed that those who rank this highly are way too outward about it. I'm guilty of it too, but I can tell when people go overboard on it. The top review for this show as of now is a negative one, and the person who posted it has had his comments spammed with hateful messages. I personally don't agree with it, I think comparing K-On! to Bocchi is a poor way of judgement, but do they really have to harass him. I get pretty much any anime fanbase has these issues, but due to Bocchi's relatively small viewer base, it's more prominent here. Ranting aside. I hope the fanbase doesn't deter, because Cloverworks really has something special here, and I'd hate for anybody to miss it because of other's problems.

Bocchi the rock is one of if not the best anime recently, if this anime isn't anime of the season or of the year I'm losing hope in humanity.

The jokes are on point, the studio gets very creative with the animation and the art style is very cute.
Characters are likeable, Hitori is very relatable. Nijika is a national treasure. Kita is cute as hell. Ryo is someone you wish to be.
Music is awesome, even if the genre is not your thing I would recommend still watching this show and give it a listen.
It gets emotional when it wants to be, this genre of anime being ... emotional is expected but damn man its good, plus its in the cute girls doing cute thing and slice of life genre, what else could you ask for.

10/10 would recommend, this show makes me happy and it will do so for many other people also.

“If I were to write a review for Bocchi the Rock, I would become an upvote seeking monster! Like my review!”
- Hitori “Bocchi” Gotou.

Bocchi the Rock is a master class of visual comedy. At first glance, this show looks like a fairly typical CGDCT comedy, without much of a budget at its disposal. Yet CloverWorks and the BtR team scraped together its resources and went absolutely sicko mode, turning it into something truly special. It is easily a contender for Anime of the Year and one of the greatest anime comedies of all time.

Bocchi the Rock is about making social anxiety funny. Some of ... you might say, “Yuni, isn’t social anxiety a serious topic? Lots of people suffer from it, isn’t turning it into a joke kind of offensive?” To that I say “haha don’t worry, laughing about ourselves is our specialty.”

A big part of Bocchi the Rock’s charm comes from how the main character, Hitori Gotou (nicknamed Bocchi) is a “she’s just like me fr” character. She is immensely relatable to us social outcasts, and we get a really good look at her mentality as most of the show’s script is her inner monologues. Despite focusing so much on the main character, the show is not a one trick pony. The comedy isn’t reliant on being relatable and is presented in a way that even extroverted social butterflies can understand and laugh at. The supporting cast of characters are equally charming and contribute to the comedy in their own special ways, meaning the show isn’t being carried on one character’s back. Not all of Bocchi’s relatability is confined to people with social anxiety either. For example, there is a scene about cringing at one’s own past actions. We’ve all done cringeworthy things that our brain constantly reminds us about when we’re trying to sleep, right? Saying that one cringey thing to a crush, waving back at someone who was waving at the person behind you, writing a review on MyAnimeList, we’ve all done highly regrettable things. The joke is then executed with energetic and creative visuals, crisp and clean animation, as well as fantastic voice acting performances.

Bocchi the Rock isn’t afraid to completely change its animation style to emphasize its jokes. You could almost argue adding an Avant Garde tag to this show with how often it will utilize art style changes, live action, strange psychological glitchy effects, and other tricks to support its weird and wacky comedy. They are willing to reject high quality animation and return to MS Paint just cause they can. Perhaps its strongest trick is actually one of its simplest; character facial expressions. What makes this trick work so well in Bocchi the Rock is that not only are the facial expressions incredibly lively and creative, but the low budget actually helps in making them funnier. Deformed face puddles actually look better with less detail and purposefully scuffed. They can then focus on animating those face puddles in humorous ways. Whenever Bocchi is reduced to a pile of incoherent scribbles it makes her freak outs that much more entertaining. This is truly how you play things out with the hand you’ve been dealt. The voice actors did a splendid job in supporting the wacky shenanigans on screen. Bocchi’s voice makes her sound straight up deranged or even insane at times, the raspiness of her voice during her anxiety attacks breathes so much life into the jokes.

A return to the cast of characters, the other main characters are surprisingly lovable and held their own in the spotlight. First things first, the nod to Asian Kung Fu Generation in the cast’s names is cute. As characters, the cast may be quite simple but each of them feel integral to the group’s dynamic. Ryou is probably the most standout of the other main characters, as Nijika and Kita are fairly typical straight man and extrovert characters respectively. Ryou’s aloof nature makes her seem constantly out of it, which makes her a bit unpredictable. She is silly but oddly quick witted, and comes up with a lot of weird shit to help out the band. Her occasional meta commentary helps add some spice to the comedy routine, such as when she talks about characters jumping in anime openings. Nijika and Kita, while being more straight forward characters, act as a very good reprieve and balance for Bocchi and Ryou’s more chaotic antics. Nijika is the only one who truly has a head on her shoulders, many jokes are set up by her suggesting something or announcing something, and then the rest of the cast proceeds to spread chaos. Kita is also a bit of a weirdo, but is overall probably the least interesting of the bunch. She still fulfills her role well and acts like a bright light that Bocchi ends up chasing after in terms of social adeptness.

Behind all the jokes, Bocchi the Rock does tell a simple but heartfelt story about coming out of one’s shell and finding a place to belong. It’s hard not to root for Bocchi as she constantly tries her best to shed her awkward self, with varying degrees of success. Her friends are patient with her and accept her for who she is, even if they don’t necessarily understand her circumstances. They are truly a great group of friends. Bocchi’s development is slow and often at times it feels like she doesn’t change at all, but that’s because she is often subject to completely new experiences one after the other which causes her to panic and reset a bit. Even so, the change is there, and is especially present in her interactions with her friends and her performances. What makes Bocchi’s development feel so satisfying is that it exhausts the shit out of her, and she is also extremely happy with herself whenever she feels like she improved. Part of the social anxiety experience is that you overthink everything, making otherwise simple things a mentally exhausting exercise. Bocchi wanting to go home and sleep after seemingly minor events is super in character because for her, it was a major event. It’s these simple and subtle quirks that truly make this show standout from the other “haha shy girl try to do something” comedies like Komi-san, who borderline fetishize social anxiety as something exotic and cool.

By the way, this is a music anime. Much like most music anime nowadays, the musical elements mainly serve as a backdrop for the comedy and story. However, there is enough musical cache in the writing to give musicians an upgraded experience, even when it’s very minor. For example, when Bocchi starts teaching Kita how to play guitar, the script goes out of its way to make Kita complain about the F chord. For people who never played a guitar before, this scene would just gloss over their heads as something meaningless, but for people who play guitar it’s hard not to smirk at this scene. The F chord is infamous for having an obnoxious finger placement, and someone complaining about it in a music anime was something I wanted to see for the longest time, and Bocchi the Rock delivered. Truly a masterpiece for the ages!

There isn’t much else you can say about Bocchi the Rock in a review. Perhaps a minor gripe with the comedy would be how the joke where Bocchi goes “IF THIS WERE TO HAPPEN, MY SOCIAL ANXIETY WOULD MAKE ME DO THIS” is used quite repetitively. However, even though the setup is used multiple times, the punchline ends up being different enough to combat the staleness. It is a fairly ignorable flaw if you watched the show while it was airing, but it can easily feel like a much bigger deal if you binge the show. Also, even though we see Bocchi’s development progress quite naturally, the development of other characters, predominantly Kita and her guitar playing, either happens quite fast and mostly off screen or they just don’t get any development. As much as I praised the show for not being a one trick pony, it is still not a more balanced character experience like K-On.
It was simply never intended to be one. Bocchi also has moments where she acts extremely cringey, which may put off some viewers, but these moments are honestly some of the best parts of the show because it actually enhances the realism of this otherwise extremely over exaggerated depiction of social anxiety. Those who know will know. Overall, Bocchi the Rock is a heartful show full of equal parts charm and soul, and a weekly experience I will miss dearly.

A 4-koma adapted into an anime by studio CloverWorks, known for their work on My Dress-up Darling and Wonder Egg Priority, among other illustrious projects. The story follows Hitori Gotoh finding herself entangled in a mesh of new relationships with members of a newly-formed rock band.

Beginning from a chance encounter in a park between Hitori Gotoh and Nijika and continuing from there, Bocchi the Rock’s story follows the slice-of-life format like a blueprint. There are occasional dramatic moments, but for the most part episodes keep themselves grounded in the peaceful, mundane reality of every-day life, dealing with small-scale plots like designing t-shirts for the band ... to wear, or visiting the beach for the day.The occasional dramatic moments come in the form of the live performances, where the band members get together to play an original song on stage. These performances are the show’s highlights. Filling the gap between these live performances are the slice-of-life segments, which are boring. The dialogue that dominates the slice-of-life portions is a forced sort of banter between the band-mates that relies on a lot of nonsensical statements and pointing out said nonsense as its source of comedy. Consider yourself fortunate if you find this funny, because this is a good third of what comprises the show. There are also occasional moments of reflection from our main character Hitori Gotoh, christened “Bocchi” by her band-mates, giving her unique perspective on the events transpiring on screen, among other miscellaneous topics.

Including Bocchi, four people make up the group Kessoku Band. The remaining three members are Nijika Ijichi the drummer, Ryou Yamada the bassist, and the lead singer Ikuyo Kita. Nijika is an upbeat, ordinary girl whose sister runs the club that their band practices at. She plays the straight-man, meaning that in the conversations between the group members, she’s the one pointing out the obvious. These are usually comments revolving around Bocchi, or contradictions to some absurdity stated by Ryou. Ryou’s traits are that she is quiet and has a very high opinion of herself. Her over-confidence is meant to be funny, is mostly inoffensive, but can be obnoxious. Kita is supposed to be what introverts think an extrovert is. Lastly there is Bocchi. She is very self-conscious and anxious to the point of being irritating. She’s an intriguing person at the start of the show, but her personality becomes noticably more one-note when the other three members of the band are in the picture. The bulk of Bocchi’s reactions consist of panicking over doing anything concerned with anyone. These portions where Bocchi agonizes over tasks involving basic human interaction lie in an awkward middle ground, in that they are not short and sweet enough to be funny yet not deep or interesting enough to provoke any feelings of sympathy either, unless you happen to already be on the same wavelength as the character herself.

There are moments where it is hinted that there is more than meets the eye with some of them, but for the most part, Nijika, Ryou and Kita all operate within the limits of their narrowly defined personality traits. They’re fine individually, but any originality vanishes as soon as these four get together in a scene, the dialogue grinding out a series of exchanges that serve only to pass the time. The show fares better when its focus is strictly on Bocchi, but these moments aren’t as commonplace as you would imagine. Even when Bocchi is in the spotlight, these moments aren’t praiseworthy enough to carry the deadweight hanging from the group sections, since the show opts to present lighthearted and inconsequential plot-lines that treat Bocchi’s problems as a joke, rather than tackling Bocchi’s problems head-on with any relevant seriousness. This is a blessing in a way, since it makes the show easy to watch, but as a result, there’s never anything substantive being said that rises beyond the level of a truism. It also isn’t funny – the jokes don’t quite go far enough, so what you’re left with while watching is a sort of lukewarm feeling, like getting into a bath that isn’t quite hot enough.

For as bad as CloverWorks usually are, they’ve done a good job at fleshing out the source material. The concert scenes in particular do a very good job of capturing the energy and magnitude of a live performance.There are also some great scenes of experimentation and many different uses of many different artistic mediums that liven things up, though the experimental nature of these scenes is undercut by how ordinary the rest of the show looks.

There’s nothing egregiously wrong with Bocchi the Rock, it's just that the story is formulaic, the dialogue between the group members isn’t the best, and for a comedy it isn’t really that funny. That being stated, in the limited scope of the slice-of-life genre the show pushes the envelope more than I expected, and while I wasn’t really enjoying most of the episodes at the start, my opinion improved as the show as it went along, and the characters naturally grew on me. Still, it’s an average show, which I doubt will be remembered for anything other than character of Bocchi.

"Whenever the word masterpiece comes into mind, never once did I thought that a CGDCT show is worthy of one"

Bocchi the Rock is undeniably the underdog coming into this season with seemingly zero talks about it with the likes of Chainsaw Man, Spy x Family, Mob Psycho, Bleach etc... up until recently.

So what's the big deal you ask?

To put it simply, it's a show that goes further and beyond your expectations. A show that is willing to take risks in pursuing its artistic creativity. A show that truly understands the creator's vision without deviation. A show that is without a doubt brim with passion ... and love from the studio.

Bocchi the Rock is not just an adaptation, it’s a work that truly exceeds its original source material. It captures not just the essence of what made the original great, but also adding touches and refinement in both its storytelling and presentation. To put into context, the series as a whole originated under the 4-koma format to which as one would expect to be... limiting. A lot of the scenes has to be filled in by Cloverworks, yet the show never once fails to translate the in between context featured in the 4-koma manga. In fact, some of the scenarios are either improved upon or changed entirely to fit into the context better as an anime.

I will spare with the story details as it is as simple as one can get. However, execution is what truly matters when it comes to presentation. What makes the show a step above the rest under same genre is its smart delivery in its narrative during key moments to create story progression and character development whenever necessary while simultaneously pushing its comedy to its peak. As a fellow manga reader, every episode felt like a breath of fresh air, never once did it stood out to me that it is wasting my time on unnecessary shenanigans. In fact, I appreciate the added context to better represent the characters I love from the manga. Kessoku Band feels even more real than ever before!

Bocchi the Rock has every right to be just another anime airing this season, but Cloverworks clearly outdid themselves into giving the best version they possibly have. It changes my perspective about the genre, every show can be its own light given the right pieces and Bocchi the Rock is truly a masterpiece in its own right.

(If the quality are to be maintained until the end, this can be potentially AOTY)

10/10

Fall 2022 is one of the most incredibly stacked seasons in... perhaps not that long, but so many shows this season have been an absolute treat to watch. With that said, Bocchi the Rock for me, came out of absolutely nowhere. I hadn't heard much of the manga, besides that it exists, nor had I seen any of the marketing. I happened to pick it up when doing my usual pre-season screening of upcoming shows and it has been an absolute joy to follow. From absolutely charming characters, to creative visual gags to just great music, the team behind this show has knocked it out ... of the park for me. I love K-On! I have a deeply personal relationship with the show due to when it came into my life, I love its music, as cheesy as it is, its cast and its relaxed pace. Bocchi, while perhaps nowhere near as laid-back as K-On! is, is certainly incredible in many other ways.

Bocchi, or Hitori Gotoh herself is a character whose expressions ooze with creativity, who's flaws strike in some ways a personal chord with my own, I have looked at somethings she's done and genuinely laughed remembering times my dumb-anxiety ridden ass has done exactly that. Nijika, Ryou and Kita each wonderfully complement Bocchi as a character. They function in different roles to play off her anxiety and gags, gradually building from confusion at how to deal with her breakouts to just understanding her well enough to know how to supportively get her out of her shell.

At its core, it is a show about acceptance and care. To say that the only focus of the show is to struggle against anxiety would be to ignore the broad cast of characters who go out of their way to try to understand Bocchi and support her. Bocchi herself grows from her general panicky self to someone confident enough to stand by her bandmates and perform. Given that the show is still ongoing I can't fully comment on where the characters and plot will end up, but it has been a heart-warming and hilarious journey so far.

In terms of production, I have no words. The music is great, the opening is great, the performances of the band are phenomenal. The visual gags, my words fail me. It almost feels like a throwback to something like Chowder, definitely not as drop-dead hilarious as the show, but that's beyond the scope of this show anyway. There's so much inventiveness in the gags and confidence that it can pull it off that it does without any of it really falling flat. There's such a wide range of expressions for each character to take on, it's almost like I see a new face every episode. Even simple things like running away from embarrassment are elevated in their depiction in this show. You'll see comparisons to K-On! around, even previously in this review, the music here in Bocchi is definitely grungier and leans more into Bocchi's personality. K-On! was primarily focused on keeping things light and fluffy, and at points had an idol-esque tone to the music, while this feels more traditionally like alt rock, and why wouldn't it, as people have pointed out the cast is loosely inspired around Asian Kung-Fu Generation.

Bocchi the Rock is a warm, hilarious, gorgeous, inventive and deeply layered show. It is definitely a contender for anime of the season, perhaps for the year in my book. While some might find Bocchi a bit too much for their taste, you don't even have to be a fan of cute girls doing cute things to find things to love in this show. I highly recommend it.

I want to add, none of what I'm saying is to detract from the other huge shows this season, there's genuinely so much to love in what is airing right now, I'm struggling man.

If a show tries to be ambitious or grandiose, there is a good chance you will notice flaws and inconsistencies. But if the work is simplistic, it might be a lackluster experience. This series falls in the middle due to its creative yet uncomplicated nature without the bad apples I mentioned.

Bocchi the Rock is one of the best music band/slice-of-life comedy anime that has come out in years and is a cut above the rest. If you are looking for a slice of life, comedy, or music anime worth investing in, you have come to the right place. This anime has set a new standard ... for its mix of genres, bringing more than the usual comedy moe you see just about everywhere, and by the cover art, one might be quick to judge, therefore sleeping on what is potentially a modern classic. Studio CloverWorks outdid themselves on this project by a large margin, and it is a great introduction for an audience unfamiliar with this kind of anime. It also satisfies the fans by being innovative in certain aspects that anime of the same kind should have expanded on.

Bocchi the Rock showcase things that most introverts or socially inept people would find relatable, such as social anxiety and the oddly specific awkward habits we often find ourselves doing. The audience follow the journey of the main character Hitori Gotou, and the show manages to make it so the audience can see themselves in her shoes yet view her separately. It makes Hitori's progress and effort to do her best inspiring for many people that can relate to a degree. This show is full of emotions, and the team behind Bocchi the Rock adapted it with such passion. The characters are likable; their dynamics make for excellent balance, avoiding a lackluster cast. Seeing their bonds develop is indicative of their band name "Kessoku" meaning zip tie and unity. The formation of this band also manages to bring out the authenticity of the four. I would say it's challenging to choose a single favorite out of them since they each bring their distinctive vibes which provides an accessible experience.

When it comes to animation, there’s a great blend of 3D and traditional 2D, which made for such fluid animation. They can incorporate multiple styles while making it appeal to most viewers so that it doesn't become a matter of preference. The use of CGI is so smooth that it's hard to notice, but you can still discern it in a good way because instead of replacing 2D, it serves more like an added layer, and I think that's something worth mentioning. The framing of Bocchi The Rock is exceptional, and it flows well in its sequence of shots. It’s a refreshing anime to watch because it creatively presents jokes through its animation and dynamic art style. The humor primarily revolves around the characters for the sake of familiarity. Yet, they can introduce new elements that build off the previous jokes for consistency but avoid repetition, which is a green flag for any anime with the comedy tag. The comedic timing is nothing short of impressive, and they manage to make each shot not overstay its welcome.

It accurately portrays music and musicians, but not to the extent that you are unable to follow if the subjects are foreign to you. There is so much attention to detail, whether it's the movements on stage, improvement in handling an instrument, case in point Kita’s development in strumming her guitar, and the small adjustments on stage which highlight the band’s synergy. Bocchi the Rock is show don’t tell when it comes to its music, and you can appreciate the subtleties so much more when you spot them during the exhilarating performances. The anime has a lush sound design, and the choice of SFX complements its visual comedy. The voice acting brings life to the cast of characters, especially Hitori's voice actor Aoyama Hoshino, who adds more weight to her dialogue, and expressions due to the creative ways she voices her character. In fact, the voice acting from the cast is so good that they barely need any editing.

This anime makes one smile, whether it’s comedy, music, characters, interactions, dynamics, and development. You will find something to love in this anime even if your taste is not fond of its other elements. I believe that recency bias was never the reason why it landed with such high ratings. It was due to how well-animated and how good the show was for its kind. I don't think it'll be prone to becoming outdated years after it aired or maybe even a decade. As someone who researched the source material beforehand, the adaptation brought out its full potential in anime form. Each episode does not miss, and the sheer consistency is a factor as to why this show is pretty engaging and rewatchable. There were even tons of fan edits or meme mashups of the anime as it aired. Being shown lots of love quickly despite not garnering any hype before its release says a lot about Bocchi the Rock. Returning to the aspects of this show, however, do bear in mind that while they can include the core elements in every episode, that doesn’t mean it has an equal balance of seriousness and lightheartedness. The anime actively leans toward the latter, but if anything, it only amplifies the great moments. The directors do a splendid job setting them up, leaving you with memorable scenes that make it pretty hard not to root for Hitori and the band.

Whether the anime captured the audience with its characters, relatability, comedy, the portrayal of music bands, or the music itself, this show exceeded expectations. I forgot the last time I was this committed to an ongoing anime. The first season paved the way for a second season, and left me wanting more of this show. Hopefully, this review feeds your curiosity about Bocchi the Rock! I highly recommend it as it is not only a good adaptation, but I also enjoyed it, and maybe you will too. I rate it an 8/10, and I can see its potential growth if they were to follow up with another season or two.

An Inspiring Journey - Bocchi the Rock

Introduction:
Bocchi the Rock is an anime that brings forth an exciting and inspiring journey of perseverance, friendship, and music. With its unique story and charming characters, this series captivates viewers and leaves a lasting impact. Let's explore the reasons why Bocchi the Rock is a remarkable anime and deserves to be appreciated.

Development:

Narrative and Plot:
The narrative of Bocchi the Rock is engaging and exhilarating. The story revolves around Bocchi, a young individual who dreams of becoming a rock star but faces various obstacles along the way. From the very beginning, we are captivated by Bocchi's determination and passion to pursue ... their dream despite the hardships. The plot delves into themes of overcoming challenges, self-discovery, and the power of music as a form of expression. The unfolding of the story is captivating, with exciting twists and impactful moments.

Charming Characters:
The characters in Bocchi the Rock are endearing and well-developed. Bocchi, as the protagonist, is a lovable and inspiring character, showcasing their determination and indomitable spirit. Following their journey is an emotional experience as they face challenges and grow throughout the anime. In addition to Bocchi, the supporting characters are also intriguing, each with their own stories and ambitions. The interactions between the characters are authentic and filled with moments of friendship and mutual support, adding an extra layer of depth to the narrative.

Soundtrack and Musical Performances:
Being an anime centered around music, Bocchi the Rock has an exceptional soundtrack. The original songs are energetic, engaging, and perfectly convey the emotion and energy of rock music. The musical performances are well-executed and captivating, providing exhilarating moments throughout the anime. Music plays a crucial role in the story, highlighting the importance of artistic expression and how it can impact people's lives.

Inspiring Messages:
Bocchi the Rock conveys inspiring messages throughout its narrative. It reminds us of the importance of persisting in our dreams, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. It also addresses the significance of mutual support and friendship in the pursuit of our goals. The anime inspires us to believe in ourselves, embrace our individuality, and confront our fears head-on. These universal messages make Bocchi the Rock a powerful and motivating story.

Conclusion:

Bocchi the Rock is an anime that surpasses expectations, offering an inspiring and thrilling journey. With its engaging narrative, charming characters, captivating soundtrack, and inspiring messages, this anime leaves a profound impact on the hearts of viewers. If you're in search of a story that combines music, friendship, and overcoming obstacles, look no further - Bocchi the Rock is a must-watch.
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(personal)
sheeeeeeeeeesh
bocchi is cool asf

damn, honestly this anime is underrated asf, at first my expectations were broken, but the anime is perfectly built as far as everyone expects, just give it a chance and enjoy the anime.

bocchi the rock is a unique and captivating anime to watch and enjoy, all factors and points make this anime one of the best anime i have ever seen;

if you are a person who doesn't have the patience to wait for things to happen, I kindly ask you to be patient, because it really is a magical thing to see the trajectory of kessoku band.

other than that we have impeccable animation (10/10), surreal music, and a fucking awesome storyline.

i love this perfect anime anyways 🤘

Bocchi The Rock! :

"Abandoning your uniqueness is equivalent to dying"

Every episode just feels so incredible. The staff understands this story and its sentiment at such a deep level it's incredible. They laid off the crazy visuals and overly creative aspects to make the buildup to their playing more grounded and the focal point of the episode rather than the visual aspect itself, and then brought it out once they were in the clear. They know exactly what they want to do, and how to achieve it and it's just so awesome. They mix and match and play with a back and forth of everything ... to establish the baseline for the creativity of the series, and depending and content and context, branch out from that where they can. The realism seems to be a pillar of the series at this point, alongside the aggressive camera angles, and the relative visual creativity with Bocchi. But they don't reach past that, they don't search for a stronger piece to cling to or make use of this episode until the very end, and it works wonders.

Regardless of the creativity of the staff for this episode, their execution was nothing short of stellar. Was it just CGI? Was it rotoscoped like Bocchi's run earlier in the episode? They chose relatively low detail designs for the characters so the line is so incredibly blurry between all the different modes that without a point of reference in the same scene it's impossible to tell. Even then, they've been massaging CGI and 3d work into the backgrounds and props of the series so far so the line gets blurred even further. Whether a creative choice or one to cut corners while providing the best possible execution of their music I've no idea, but the work done is incredible from start to finish.

Bocchi The Rock just casually shows up each week to prove that it's even or better at basically everything than all the other seasonals out there right now, and then walks away as if nothing happened just so they can get ready to show up for next week too. It's incredible. They excel at 2d, 3d, rotoscoping, environment and background work, camera angles, art styles, animation styles, lighting and shading, just every step in the visual process is dominated by the staff at Cloverworks right now. And that's not even adding on top the creative work for things like the dialogue and interaction, the amazing efforts from the VAs, and so on and so forth. Just sort of incredible to experience this level of polish and passion each week.

Obra Maestra...

Bocchi the rock is heartwarming, funny, relatable and immensely creative. I haven’t had this much fun watching an anime in a long long time. It took me back to the wonder of watching my first anime, discovering this new medium which allowed what seemed like almost infinite creativity and any story to be told. Cloverfield really struck it out of the park with this one. All from the perfect execution of so many different styles to the immensely likeable cast of characters make this anime a truly fantastic experience.

The show's main character Bocchi is extremely likeable and at many times very relatable to us ... who tend to struggle a bit with introversion and social anxiety. Bocchi is not the first and most certainly won’t be the last anime main character to suffer from social anxiety. Bocchi is a loner but not by choice it’s very obvious early on that she is very attentive and caring. She isn't alone because she wants to be, Bocchi is attentive and caring, she just struggles to show it, and she’s simply unable to make the first move. My favourite of Bocchi’s showcase of her social anxiety is her struggle to enter ‘Starry’, the club she works part-time at, performs at and practices at. As she spun around in front of the entrance thinking to herself ‘I’ll go in five minutes’... and as five minutes passed ‘I’ll go in 5 more’ frantically trying to force herself to enter but just she just couldn’t, I thought back to myself doing the same things in my real life. I’m pretty sure that I’ve said the exact same thing as Bocchi said to herself, to myself and it did make me laugh as well as a bit embarrassed. These moments of relatability and how genuinely enjoyable it is to watch Bocchi’s general antics make her one of the most likeable main characters I’ve ever encountered in any type of media. This likeability spreads to the rest of the cast as well. All of the other band members, Nijika who is an outgoing social girl (kind of Bocchi's opposite), Ryo who also is a bit of a loner, although willingly making her different from Bocchi and Kita who kind of is the stereotypical kind of popular outgoing girl are all exceedingly likeable as well. They aren’t wholly original characters as they all play on tropes that usually are present in the genre, this most certainly isn't the first show to partner introverts with extroverts to produce comedic results. But that doesn't matter as the writing doesn’t feel derivative because of the fact that the characters got just enough quirks and depth that it makes them play off each other in a wholly unique and special way. Their friendship feels natural and real, it doesn’t come off as forced at all as it often can in these types of series. The main girls’ relationship evolves in a very natural and subtle way, there’s never some melodramatic forced rift between them, never an all-out fight to force development in their relationships. It happens naturally, subtly and quietly and all of this pays off greatly in the last episode when Kita for the first time calls Bocchi “Hitori-chan”. I realize as I write it that it really doesn’t seem that big of a deal, and it isn't, even the show really didn't treat it as a big deal, it’s only a cute little character moment at the end of the season. But that only works to prove the point of how subtle and smart the character-writing is, that something as simple as a character calling another character by their name for the first time can make me smile from cheek to cheek.

The characters are great and all but at its absolute core Bocchi the rock is another slice of life ‘cute girls doing cute things’ anime, K-on walked so Bocchi could run. The original 4-Koma manga wasn’t necessarily bad but to be perfectly blunt, it really isn’t anything to write home about either. Sure the charming story and characters are there but that isn't what truly makes this anime shine. What truly makes this anime stand out in the crowd is its art direction and style. There was absolutely no need to put this much effort into the animation of this script, put this exact script in the hands of another studio, in the hands of another director and you would’ve gotten the most run-of-the-mill, boring, low-budget anime ever. Cloverfield put in tremendous effort to make this something special and I’m honestly thrilled that they did. This anime practically spews out creativity and imagination throughout every single episode and more or less every single scene. The passion that this anime was made with is almost palpable through the screen. The constant switching between art styles and animation techniques proves the effort that must’ve gone into making this anime. All from the regular cutesy art style, to a more traditional old-school anime style, to stop motion animation, to puppets, to claymation and even live-action clips. Not to mention the seamless integration of CGI. The director Saitou Keiichirou along with all the animators at Cloverfield really went above and beyond making this simple, cute and quirky story the absolute best it possibly could be. There are so many sequences in this anime that surely took a tremendous amount of time and effort to pull off. These changes in art style complement the themes of Bocchi's character wonderfully. Explaining visually as well and that she’s a bit of a weirdo that goes off on weird tangents. If these tangents weren’t accompanied by a change in art style they wouldn’t be as easily perceived as small escapes into Bocchi’s wild little fantasy world, as well as the fact that they wouldn’t be nearly as funny. The changes add a lot of humorous qualities and a lot of character to the scenes. My favourite of these tangents of Bocchi’s is the one about sports festivals. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it but for those who have, try to imagine that sequence in a more usual art style. I bet you can’t and even if you could it surely didn’t pack as much of a punch as the real one did. This weird little almost Masaaki Yuasa ‘Tatami Galaxy’-looking sequence just wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t look the way it does. These changes in animation also perfectly encapsulate how it feels to overexaggerate outcomes. Messing up in a school team activity? yes it does feel like being hunted by a bunch of puppets with spears and then being burned at the stake. Thinking about having to make a social media account when you've got no one to add? yea it totally feels like glitching out on the floor while having your soul leave your body. These little sequences add so much flavour, personality and uniqueness to the show. I’ve never seen anything quite like it in this medium. It’s more or less the perfect integration of different art styles. The art style and animation techniques and changes are integral to making this anime what it is. I’m sure it wasn’t easy to pull off, but that hard work and passion really paid off.

Bocchi the rock could genuinely be considered a masterpiece and had I seen it only a few years ago I’m sure that I myself would’ve considered it one. I can see how Bocchi’s heartwarming story of breaking out of your shell could inspire many an introvert. I hope this show does well because it just truly is such a damn good time. I binged a large part of this show in one sitting and by the end, my cheeks were hurting with how much I was smiling. I could not wipe the grin off my face even if I so wanted to while watching this anime. Bocchi the rock is an anime with a tremendous amount of effort put into making it as good as possible, all from the animation to the voice acting and it most definitely is noticeable. Even though it isn’t laugh-out-loud funny most of the time, it’s constantly so quirky, cute and humorous that it genuinely doesn’t matter at all. There isn’t a dull moment, this is the most fun I’ve had with an anime in a long long time. Bocchi the rock gets a big thumbs up and a glowing recommendation from me. Hopefully, there’ll be a season 2 soon where Bocchi can keep on showing us how she rocks!