Bocchi the Rock!

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Bocchi the Rock!
File:Bocchi The Rock! volume 1 cover.jpg
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Hitori Gotō
ぼっち・ざ・ろっく!
(Botchi Za Rokku!)
Genre
Manga
Written by Aki Hamaji
Published by Houbunsha
English publisher
Demographic Seinen
Magazine Manga Time Kirara Max
Original run December 19, 2017 – present
Volumes 5 (List of volumes)
Anime television series
Directed by Keiichirō Saitō
Written by Erika Yoshida
Music by Tomoki Kikuya
Studio CloverWorks
Licensed by Crunchyroll
Network Tokyo MX, BS11, GTV, GYT, MRT, MBS, RKB, AT-X, Wowow
English network
Original run October 9, 2022 – December 25, 2022
Episodes 12 (List of episodes)
Manga
Bocchi the Rock! Gaiden: Hiroi Kikuri no Fukazake Nikki
Written by Aki Hamaji
Illustrated by Kumichou
Published by Houbunsha
Demographic Seinen
Magazine Comic Fuz
Original run July 9, 2023 – present
Portal icon Anime and Manga portal

Bocchi the Rock! (ぼっち・ざ・ろっく! Botchi Za Rokku!?) is a Japanese four-panel manga series written and illustrated by Aki Hamaji. It has been serialized in Houbunsha's seinen manga magazine Manga Time Kirara Max since December 2017. Its chapters have been collected in five tankōbon volumes as of November 2022.

An anime television series adaptation produced by CloverWorks aired from October to December 2022. The series has been praised for its writing, comedy, characters, and depiction of social anxiety, with the anime's visual creativity receiving acclaim.

Plot

Extremely anxious and socially awkward Hitori Gotō longs to become a rock musician in spite of her struggles, whilst fulfilling her desires to one day make friends. She is suddenly given a chance to do so after she is taken in by Nijika Ijichi to become a member of her newly formed Kessoku Band.

Characters

Kessoku Band

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"Kessoku Band" redirects here. For the album credited to the group, see Kessoku Band (album).

Kessoku Band (結束バンド Kessoku Bando?, lit. "zip tie") is the central band in the series, based in Starry, a live house in Shimokitazawa. The members' family names are derived from the real-life J-rock band Asian Kung-Fu Generation, with their instrumental roles matching as well (for example, the Yamadas of both bands play bass).[3]

Hitori Gotō (後藤 ひとり Gotō Hitori?) / Bocchi (ぼっち Botchi?)
Voiced by: Yoshino Aoyama[4]
Portrayed by: Mamo Mamono (stage play)[5]
The lead guitarist of Kessoku Band. An extreme introvert who has trouble with most social interactions. Having been inspired by her father, she learned how to play guitar in her first year of middle school, thinking this would help her make friends. Despite becoming incredibly skilled at playing guitar and having a small fanbase online (under the alias "guitarhero"), she still has not been able to make friends as easily until she was dragged into playing with Kessoku Band. Since then, Hitori has gained a few friends and is learning to interact with other people. She is usually seen wearing a pink tracksuit, which she even wears over her school uniform. Her surname comes from Masafumi Gotoh. Her nickname Bocchi is a reference to hitoribocchi (一人ぼっち?), a term for being alone.
Nijika Ijichi (伊地知 虹夏 Ijichi Nijika?)
Voiced by: Sayumi Suzushiro[6]
Portrayed by: Miki Ohtake (stage play)[5]
The drummer and founder of Kessoku Band. Her older sister, Seika, runs a live house where they often play. Nijika looks up to Seika, since they lost their mother at a young age and their father disappeared. She's very kind, cheerful, friendly and outgoing, and is the one holding the group together and helping Bocchi with her social anxiety the most. Her surname comes from Kiyoshi Ijichi.
Ryō Yamada (山田 リョウ Yamada Ryō?)
Voiced by: Saku Mizuno[7]
Portrayed by: Karin Osanai (stage play)[5]
The aloof, quiet and mischievous bassist of Kessoku Band with a cool demeanor and an androgynous appearance, to the point she sometimes attracts other girls (including Ikuyo) without intending to. She often spends what allowance she gets from her family on new music equipment, which leaves her with little money for anything else, to the point of eating weeds when she has no money for food. After having a falling out with her last band over creative differences, Ryo was convinced by Nijika to start a new one with her. Her surname comes from Takahiro Yamada.
Ikuyo Kita (喜多 郁代 Kita Ikuyo?)
Voiced by: Ikumi Hasegawa[8]
Portrayed by: Mirai Ohmori (stage play)[5]
The vocalist and secondary guitarist of Kessoku Band, who attends the same high school as Hitori. In contrast to Hitori, she is a cheerful, charismatic extrovert who has an active social life, to the point that her extroversion manifests as an overwhelming aura at times. She initially joined Kessoku Band to get closer to Ryo, whom she has a crush on, but fled after lying about her guitar playing skills. With Bocchi's help, she becomes a decent guitar player in her own right, and soon settles on playing secondary guitar and providing the band's main vocals. Her surname comes from Kensuke Kita.

Sick Hack

Sick Hack is a psychedelic rock band based in Folt, a live house in Shinjuku. The members share their last names with those of the real-life band 88Kasyo Junrei.

Kikuri Hiroi (廣井 きくり Hiroi Kikuri?)
Voiced by: Sayaka Senbongi
The bassist and vocalist of Sick Hack. An alcoholic who spends most of her money on booze, particularly boxes of Onikoroshi brand sake, and calls her bass guitar "Shuten-Dōji EX." She was formerly a classmate of Seika in college. She finds kinship with Hitori after coming from a similarly reclusive childhood. Her surname comes from Margaret Hiroi.
Eliza Schmitz (清水 イライザ Shimizu Iraiza?)
Voiced by: Sally Amaki[9]
The guitarist of Sick Hack. Her surname comes from Katzuya Shimizu.
Shima Iwashita (岩下 志麻 Iwashita Shima?)
Voiced by: Maki Kawase[10]
The drummer of Sick Hack.

Sideros

Sideros is a metal band based in Folt. The members share their last names with those of the real-life band Kinniku Shōjo Tai.

Yoyoko Ōtsuki (大槻 ヨヨコ Ōtsuki Yoyoko?)
The guitarist and vocalist of Sideros. Her surname comes from Kenji Ōtsuki.
Akubi Hasegawa (長谷川 あくび Hasegawa Akubi?)
The drummer of Sideros. Her surname comes from Kōji Hasegawa.
Fūko Honjō (本城 楓子 Honjō Fūko?)
The guitarist of Sideros, whose surname comes from Toshiaki Honjō.
Yuyu Uchida (内田 幽々 Uchida Yuyu?)
The bassist of Sideros. Her surname comes from Yūichirō Uchida.

Other music-related characters

Seika Ijichi (伊地知 星歌 Ijichi Seika?)
Voiced by: Maaya Uchida[11]
Nijika's older sister and the manager of Starry. Professional, serious and aloof with a soft side, she is described by Nijika as a tsundere.
PA-san (PAさん PA-san?)
Voiced by: Kotori Koiwai[12]
The unnamed public address system engineer of Starry. Her intimidating goth style and piercings belie her kind nature.
Ginjirō Yoshida (吉田 銀次郎 Yoshida Ginjirō?)
The manager of Folt.
Poison Yami (ぽいずん♡やみ Poizun Yami?)
A freelance writer who contributes to music information websites.
Miyako Shiba (司馬 都 Shiba Miyako?)
A manager of Stray Beat, a record label. She is in charge of managing Kessoku Band.
Fan No.1 and No.2 of Kessoku Band (結束バンドのファン1号・2号?)
Voiced by: Kana Ichinose (No.1), Miyuri Shimabukuro (No.2)
Two girls who bought tickets to Kessoku Band’s show at Starry after listening to Bocchi's impromptu street performance in Kanazawa Ward, Yokohama. After that, they have attended several of Kessoku Band's performances. Their real names are unknown; the one with long hair is known as No. 1, and the one with short hair is known as No. 2. They are students of the film department of an art university, and Kessoku Band let them assist in the shooting of their music video.

Gotō family

Michiyo Gotō (後藤 美智代 Gotō Michiyo?)
Voiced by: Rie Suegara[13]
Hitori's mother.
Naoki Gotō (後藤 直樹 Gotō Naoki?)
Voiced by: Junji Majima[14]
Hitori's father, whose face is never shown. Hitori's first guitar was originally his.
Futari Gotō (後藤 ふたり Gotō Futari?)
Voiced by: Misaki Watada[15]
Hitori's younger sister.
JimiHen (ジミヘン JimiHen?)
Voiced by: Kotori Koiwai[16]
The family's pet dog, named after Jimi Hendrix.

Production

File:SHELTER.jpg
Shelter, the live house located in Shimokitazawa upon which the fictional Starry, a primary setting of the series, is based.

After finishing with her first title in Manga Time Kirara Max (Kirari Books Meisouchuu), which was mainly about young girls dealing with moe things, Aki Hamaji considered doing a manga about bands next, as listening to bands is one of her favorite hobbies. However, she did not have any actual experience being in a band or playing an instrument prior to the making of the series, so she conducted extensive research by doing things like asking an acquaintance more familiar with the indie band scene, listening and reading more about the culture, and visiting places that are prominent to the scene (like the live house Shelter in Shimokitazawa, which would end up being the model for the live house Starry).[3]

Being aware of the popularity of K-On!, also a Houbunsha-published series with a band setting, Hamaji intentionally set the story around a live house instead of mainly in school to differentiate it. She also admitted using Beck as a reference in making the series as well.[3]

File:Danelectro Twin Twelve & Les Paul Custom.jpg
A Gibson Les Paul Custom, the guitar chosen as the initial instrument of main character Hitori "Bocchi" Gotō

Most of the chapter covers have references to the music videos of Japanese rock bands; most of them would be songs that she liked to listen to, while some others were instead relevant to their respective chapter stories. She also avoided using onomatopoeia or creating lyrics for any of the performance scenes, leaving the finer details of the band’s performance to readers' imaginations, although some of the songs do have names originally mentioned in the manga. While the manga is mostly in a four-panel format, in serious moments she intended to have it follow a conventional manga format as well.[3]

In an interview published shortly after the anime finished airing, Hamaji revealed that the designs of most of her characters in the series were purposely done in a simple way; commenting about Bocchi's design specifically, she said she intentionally created a character who doesn’t have any fashion sense, and her pink hair color may have been inspired by Kaoruko Moeta from Comic Girls (also a Kirara Max series), although pink-haired characters are common in Kirara titles. She also said that she decided on the color of Bocchi's guitar to be black because of how it made a good balance with the color scheme of her design, but chose a Gibson Les Paul Custom as the exact model of her first guitar because it was the first result when searching for a guitar with that specific color on the internet.[17][18] She also admitted that Bocchi's personality is a projection of hers and that she relates with Bocchi the most among all characters.[17]

Anime adaptation

File:Bocchi-the-rock-expressions.webm
A scene from the anime showing the surreal presentation of Hitori's social anxiety and other characters' reactions to her

Prior to the greenlighting of Bocchi the Rock!'s anime adaptation, character designer and chief animation director Kerorira was a fan of the manga for its comedy, art style, and characters, and in particular Hitori's "unhinged" nature.[19] While meeting with animation producer Shouta Umehara at an illustrator exhibition, Kerorira brought up Bocchi in conversation and expressed a desire to work on an anime adaptation of the series. As it so happened, Aniplex had just recently proposed such a project to CloverWorks, as Umehara learned when he inquired to his superior, Yuichi Fukishima, about the possibility.[20][19] Kerorira joined the project (becoming the first to do so) as its character designer after expressing his enthusiasm for the series and presenting his drawings of the characters. In addition to the character designs and animation supervision, Kerorira also contributed a significant amount of key animation to the project[20] (estimated by Umehara to amount to somewhere between 500 and 600 cuts of animation,[19] around two episodes' equivalent),[21] which he stated was done in order to provide the other animators with an understanding of the "platonic ideal" of the anime's production value.[19] Kerorira felt that providing such a baseline as the chief animation director would allow for smoother collaboration, as it would lead to a creatively unified end product while allowing the animation staff to incorporate their own individual expression, and limit the amount of corrections that would need to be made after the fact.[19]

Series director Keiichiro Saitō, who previously served as episode director on The Idolmaster SideM and Sonny Boy, came to work on the anime adaptation of Bocchi the Rock! after Kerorira recommended him to animation producer Shouta Umehara.[22][20][19] As Umehara was familiar with Saitō's work having served as an episode director for The Idolmaster, he considered Saitō to be an ideal choice, and Saitō joined the project as director a few days later after discussions with Umehara and Kerorira.[20][19] Erika Yoshida, the screenwriter in charge of series composition, was recommended on referral from a colleague of Umehara's at Aniplex, who had previously collaborated with Yoshida on Love Me, Love Me Not.[19] As he was aware of Bocchi's similarity in premise and genre to K-On!, Umehara spoke to Kerorira asking him what unique qualities Bocchi had which would distinguish it from K-On!, and worked to help ensure that capturing those aspects of the series was a priority of the production.[19]

In reading the manga prior to production, Saitō was attracted to the relationships between Bocchi and the supporting cast, which were not as intimate as relationships depicted in similar works and gave Saitō the impression that "they respect each other’s individuality and personal space." He found this quality of the story to be both personally relatable and distinctive.[20][19] Saitō also liked the ways in which Hitori's expressions were often exaggerated to perceptibly disturbing extents in contravention of moe conventions.[19] This aspect of Hitori's characterization was expanded upon in the anime, as Saitō believed that "girls who are flawlessly beautiful aren’t as cute as girls who are a little mysterious or sometimes make weird faces."[19] Kerorira additionally said that Hitori's withdrawn nature made it more difficult to depict her emotions visually compared to those of the other characters. As such, her basic facial expressions were limited, while the animation relied on the more "slapstick" scenes of exaggeration to depict her emotions.[19] Although consideration was taken to ensure Hitori was consistently cute, even when the animation was exaggerating her facial features, the comedy of such exaggeration was generally prioritized.[19]

In adapting Bocchi the Rock! from its original 4-koma format, Saitō and Yoshida introduced numerous substantial differences from the source material, such as rearranging events and altering some jokes in order to aid the anime version's pacing and surreal presentation.[20] Saitō and Yoshida added more of a surrealist bent to the anime as they wanted to prioritize comedy and emotion over a wholly realistic depiction, and felt that the choice of cutaway gags to the anime allowed them to better convey the story while ensuring that every episode had a clear focus.[19] In integrating these cutaways into the anime, Saitō chose to contrast main character Hitori's thoughts during her instances of introspection and "strange" behavior with the external reactions to and conversations about Hitori among the supporting cast. This was done both for storytelling considerations such as the direction and pacing of certain scenes, and also to present Hitori more empathetically by showing that the supporting cast did not regard her as pathetically as she would be wont to believe.[19] Saitō said that whether or not a conversation between the supporting cast occurring during these moments needed to be depicted in detail or not was one of the most difficult aspects of the production.[19]

In order to create the live concert scenes of the anime, the production team recorded physical actors playing the concerts. The recording was then adapted into a computer-generated previsualization so that the animators could establish their preferred shot direction for the scenes using a virtual camera system. The previsualization was then used as the basis for the final animation. In order to ensure that the characters were portrayed accurately in these scenes, the actors were given information about the characters and advised on how to convincingly physically act as them.[19][20] The music production team at Aniplex were consulted by Saitō to ensure that the ambient noise in the concert scenes was accurate to reality, although it was sometimes omitted when Saitō deemed that it would detract from an important dramatic scene.[19]

Media

Manga

Bocchi the Rock! is written and illustrated by Aki Hamaji. It was initially serialized on Houbunsha's Manga Time Kirara Max magazine on December 19, 2017, as a guest work.[23] A full serialization started in the same magazine on March 19, 2018.[24] It has been collected into five tankōbon volumes as of November 26, 2022. A spin-off anthology comic is also being released, the first volume on October 27, 2022, the second on August 25, 2023.[25] A spin-off manga series illustrated by Kumichou, titled Bocchi the Rock! Gaiden: Hiroi Kikuri no Fukazake Nikki, began serialization on Houbunsha's Comic Fuz website on July 9, 2023. It features supporting character Kikuri Hiroi as the central protagonist.[26][27]

During their Sakura-Con 2023 panel, Yen Press announced that they licensed the manga for English publication.[28] The first volume is scheduled to be released on October 17, 2023.

The manga also received localisation in Korean by Daewon C.I, in Traditional Chinese by Tong Li Publishing,[29] in Vietnamese by Kim Dong Publishing House and in French by Meian.[30]

Volume list

No. Original release date Original ISBN English release date English ISBN
1 February 27, 2019[31] ISBN 978-4-8322-7072-5 October 17, 2023[32] ISBN 978-1-97-537800-4
2 February 27, 2020[31] ISBN 978-4-8322-7170-8 January 23, 2024[33] ISBN 978-1-97-537802-8
3 February 25, 2021[31] ISBN 978-4-8322-7252-1 — —
4 August 26, 2022[31] ISBN 978-4-8322-7388-7 — —
5 November 26, 2022[31] ISBN 978-4-8322-7419-8 — —
6 August 25, 2023[31] ISBN 978-4-8322-7477-8 — —

Anime

An anime television series adaptation was announced on February 18, 2021.[34] It was produced by CloverWorks and directed by Keiichirō Saitō, with Yūsuke Yamamoto serving as assistant director, Erika Yoshida writing the series' scripts, Kerorira designing the characters, and Tomoki Kikuya composing the music. The series aired from October 9 to December 25, 2022, on Tokyo MX and other networks.[4][35][lower-alpha 1] Kessoku Band performed the opening theme "Seishun Complex" (青春コンプレックス?, Youth Complex), as well as the ending theme "Distortion!!".[37] Crunchyroll licensed the series outside of Asia.[38] Plus Media Networks Asia licensed the series in Southeast Asia and released it on Aniplus Asia and Bilibili.[39] Several web series featuring the voice cast were also produced alongside the anime as cross-promotion.[40][41][42]

Many of the anime's episode titles come from songs by rock band Asian Kung-Fu Generation, such as "After Dark" and "Korogaru Iwa, Kimi ni Asa ga Furu", with the final episode ending with a Kessoku Band cover of the latter.

On May 21, 2023 it was announced that a compilation film of the series will open in spring 2024.[43]

No. Title [44][lower-alpha 2] Directed by [44] Written by [44] Storyboarded by [44] Original air date [46]
1 "Lonely Rolling Bocchi" Keiichirō Saitō Erika Yoshida Keiichirō Saitō October 9, 2022 (2022-10-09)
Hitori Gotō is an extremely introverted girl who has trouble making friends or working in groups at school. When she sees a rock band being interviewed on TV, she decides to start playing guitar, thinking it will make her more friends. Unfortunately, her social anxiety keeps her from making friends throughout middle school, but she finds some modest success playing covers of popular songs and posting them online under the alias "guitarhero". After struggling to be sociable during her first year of highschool, a girl named Nijika Ijichi begs her to replace a guitarist who left the group before the band plays their show. Hitori follows Nijika to an underground bar and meets her other bandmate, Ryō Yamada, who plays the bass. Despite playing poorly at the live show, Hitori is glad that the others gave her the nickname "Bocchi," and that they are fans of her "guitarhero" channel (though they are unaware Hitori is guitarhero). However, Hitori races home shortly after the show, feeling exhausted from the various social interactions that day.
2 "See You Tomorrow" Yoshiyuki Fujiwara Erika Yoshida Keiichirō Saitō October 16, 2022 (2022-10-16)
Bocchi gets a quick lesson on how many clubs charge bands for performing depending on the number of tickets they sell. In need of money to make up for their poor performance, the band decide to get a job at the same club they just performed, as Nijika's older sister Seika is the manager there. Bocchi tries to make herself get a cold to avoid having to work and interact with people, but ends up healthy enough to go anyway. Despite her unease at pouring and serving drinks in a full club, she is able to get through the workday and get inspired by seeing another rock band perform. However, the next day, she suffers a cold for real.
3 "Be Right There" Yūsuke Yamamoto Erika Yoshida Yūsuke Yamamoto October 23, 2022 (2022-10-23)
Bocchi tries to work up the nerve to ask her classmate, Ikuyo Kita, to be the vocalist and backup guitarist. Ikuyo wants Bocchi's help in learning how to play the guitar to get closer to her senior bandmate. However, as the two of them travel to Shimokitazawa, Ikuyo panics after seeing Nijika and Ryo, as she was the guitarist who fled before their previous live show. The manager convinces Ikuyo to work at the club, and she immediately makes a good impression on the others, though Bocchi feels jealous. Ikuyo doesn't think she can join the band after running away before, but after working the show, the other girls convince her to try again.
4 "Jumping Girl(s)" Nobuhide Kariya Erika Yoshida Nobuhide Kariya October 30, 2022 (2022-10-30)
Bocchi is tasked with writing lyrics to a new original song. She even tries to put herself in the mindset of a party girl, but ends up frightening her family. The next day, the band decides to go out to a park for inspiration and to increase their online social media presence with some group photos. However, Bocchi has a breakdown at the thought of turning into an "attention whore" online. Later, Bocchi meets Ryo in a small café, and learns that Ryo used to be active in another band but left after she felt they were selling out to chase popular trends. That night, Bocchi finds the inspiration to write a new song, and hopes to take more photos with her band.
5 "Flightless Fish" Yūsuke Kawakami Erika Yoshida Yūsuke Kawakami November 6, 2022 (2022-11-06)
Nijika is shocked to find that Seika will not let them back on stage for the club's next live show without auditioning first. The band decides to focus on practicing their new original song over the next week. The band manages to pass the audition, with Seika quietly telling her friend that she initially blocked Nijika's band to motivate them to work harder. Bocchi is wracked with fear after hearing she will have to sell at least five tickets to help the band break even with the venue's reserve fee.
6 "Eight Views" Yoshiyuki Fujiwara Erika Yoshida Yoshiyuki Fujiwara November 13, 2022 (2022-11-13)
Bocchi faces a difficult task after realizing that the only people close to her who can buy her tickets are her parents; her pride prevents her from asking for their help to sell the others. As she sits in a park in a state of melancholy, an alcoholic woman, Kikuri Hiroi, stumbles by; in the conversation that follows, she reveals that she plays the bass for another band and, as a thank-you to Bocchi for buying her food, sets up an impromptu live show on the street with her to help her sell her remaining tickets. After the performance ends, a couple of girls buy two of the tickets from Bocchi, and Kikuri buys the third and last one. While watching a fireworks show, Bocchi responds to her bandmates that she sold all her tickets, but they assume she's lying to save face.
7 "To Your House" Keisuke Shinohara Erika Yoshida Janchiki Amata November 20, 2022 (2022-11-20)
Nijika and Ikuyo decide to come to Bocchi's house to consider designs for the T-shirts they will wear at the concert. Since this is Bocchi's first time inviting someone to her house, she goes overboard with her decorations and confuses her bandmates; her parents, despite not believing that Bocchi actually has friends, spend time with the group. At evening, they realize they have spent the whole day without coming up with any designs and decide to use Nijika's initial simple T-shirts design. Unfortunately, a typhoon abruptly changes course, coming near Tokyo on the date of their live performance.
8 "Bocchi the Rock" Takeshi Seo Erika Yoshida Keiichirō Saitō November 27, 2022 (2022-11-27)
Despite the typhoon cutting down the expected attendance rate, Kessoku Band moves forward with their concert. Seeing the smaller crowd and hearing their less-than-excited comments on the show, the band members, save for Bocchi, take a huge hit to their morale and make several mistakes in their opening number not present during their audition. Unable to accept this, Bocchi plays out a spur-of-the-moment guitar solo, snapping the girls out of their slump and letting them play out the rest of the concert successfully. At the end of the day, Nijika tells Bocchi that she has deduced her identity as "guitarhero". Bocchi apologizes, stating that she wanted to reveal her identity after she improved herself so as to not disappoint her fans. However, Nijika states her belief that with Bocchi by their side, her dreams to follow Seika's footsteps and make her live house famous will come true, as long as she keeps showing her bandmates and audience how "Bocchi the Rock" rocks the stage.
9 "Enoshima Escar" Yoshihiro Hiramine Erika Yoshida Yoshihiro Hiramine December 4, 2022 (2022-12-04)
At the end of summer vacation, Bocchi is utterly depressed and disappointed over the fact that none of the bandmates invited her out like typical high schoolers should, so they invite her to the Enoshima coast out of pity to make memories. But their excursion leads to several mishaps that include being hit on by strangers, losing more money to Ryo, being attacked by black kites, and developing several muscle aches the next day after climbing the long stairs to the Enoshima shrine. Despite this, Bocchi has fun to the point where she wishes she could go back to the first day of summer.
10 "After Dark" Yūsuke Kawakami Erika Yoshida Yūsuke Kawakami December 11, 2022 (2022-12-11)
Bocchi hears that her school is accepting bands to play at their upcoming cultural festival, but can't bring herself to actually turn in the application form for Kessoku Band. Ikuyo submits the form for her, but later feels guilty after seeing Bocchi's reaction. Kikuri later shows up at Starry and invites Kessoku Band to see her band "Sick Hack" perform live at a Shinjuku club called Folt, where they play a more psychedelic rock style. After the show, Kikuri tells Bocchi that she was also a reclusive loner throughout school who thought playing guitar would make her popular, and she drank to deal with her nerves the day of her first live performance. Kikuri then promises to come see Bocchi's next show at her school. Bocchi later tells Ikuyo that she's looking forward to the festival.
11 "Duodecimal Sunset" Yūsuke Yamamoto Erika Yoshida Yūsuke Yamamoto December 18, 2022 (2022-12-18)
During the first day of the cultural festival, Bocchi hides in a secluded corner of the school, and realizes that she hasn't updated her "guitarhero" video account in a while, fearing her online fans will leave her with nothing if she doesn't post soon. Bocchi's bandmates manage to find her, and the four enjoy touring the school before taking her back to her class, as she was trying to stall to escape her maid cafe duties. While Bocchi struggles to do the bare minimum as a maid, her bandmates find more success when Bocchi's classmates dress them up as maids and Ryo as a butler. Later, Kessoku Band takes a look at the gym where they will be performing, and Bocchi talks about how she borrowed her old guitar from her father. The next day, Kessoku Band's family and friends, plus Hiroi, show up in the audience as they take the stage to play an original set.
12 "Morning Light Falls on You" Keiichirō Saitō Erika Yoshida Keiichirō Saitō December 25, 2022 (2022-12-25)
During the concert, Bocchi's guitar sounds out of tune and one of the strings even snaps before her solo, but she manages to pull through thanks to Ikuyo's improvising plus using one of Hiroi's glass sake containers as a makeshift bottleneck slide. After finishing the song, Ikuyo tries to let Bocchi have the spotlight, but Bocchi panics and tries to stage dive into the crowd, falling flat on her face. After recovering from the concert, Bocchi's father reveals he secretly monetized Bocchi's "guitarhero" account and gives her the money from the channel's ad revenue, telling her to buy a new guitar with it. Bocchi goes shopping with her bandmates, and despite being scared of interacting with the staff inside, finally settles on a new guitar with Ikuyo's help.

Music

The opening theme of the anime series is "Seishun Complex" sung by Ikuyo Kita (Ikumi Hasegawa), and the anime has four ending themes: "Distortion!!" also sung by Ikumi Hasegawa from episodes 1–3, "Karakara" sung by Ryo Yamada (Saku Mizuno) from episodes 4–7, "Nani ga Warui" sung by Nijika Ijichi (Sayumi Suzushiro) from episodes 8–11, and "Korogaru Iwa, Kimi ni Asa ga Furu", a cover of the Asian Kung-Fu Generation song of the same name, sung by Hitori Gotoh (Yoshino Aoyama) in episode 12. The series also had a number of insert songs, including "Guitar to Kodoku to Aoihoshi" in episode 5, "Ano Bando" in episode 8, "Watashi Dake Yuurei" in episode 10, and "Wasurete Yaranai" and "Seiza ni Naretara" in episode 12. Each of these insert songs were also sung by Ikumi Hasegawa, except "Watashi Dake Yuurei", which was sung by Kikuri Hiroi (Sayaka Senbongi).

Most of these songs had a digital single released individually on various streaming platforms on the same day as their anime debuts: "Seishun Complex" and "Distortion!!" on October 9, "Karakara" on October 30, "Guitar to Kodoku to Aoihoshi" on November 6, "Ano Bando" and "Nani ga Warui" on November 27, and "Wasurete Yaranai", "Seiza ni Naretara" and "Korogaru Iwa, Kimi ni Asa ga Furu" on December 25, 2022. A full single of Seishun Complex, including the B side track "Hitoribocchi Tokyo" (played in the teaser video of the series) and instrumental versions of both songs released on October 12, 2022 on digital platforms and in physical stores.[47] However, the song "Watashi Dake Yuurei" was only released alongside the fifth volume of the anime in Blu-Ray on April 26, 2023.[48]

A full album of songs by Kessoku Band, named Kessoku Band, was also released digitally on December 25 and later physically on December 28, 2022. It contained 14 songs, nine of them originally featured in the anime as opening, ending and insert songs, while the rest were original songs exclusive to the album or not featured in the main series, like "Hitoribocchi Tokyo" and "Flashbacker" (the former was used in the teaser video and the latter was used in a post-premiere PV). The original soundtracks of the anime were released as two volumes, each included in the first two Blu-Ray releases of the anime on December 28, 2022 and January 25, 2023, respectively.[49]

In April 2023, it was announced that Kessoku Band would be releasing a new single on May 24, 2023 called "Hikari no Naka e". A live event to celebrate the release featuring the main voice cast will be held at Zepp Haneda three days prior to the release.[50]

Games

The main characters from this series were added to Manga Time Kirara's mobile RPG game Kirara Fantasia shortly after the first anime episode premiered.[51] All characters are voiced by their respective anime voice actresses.

Stage play

A stage play adaptation at the Theater Milano-Za in Tokyo, titled Live Stage "Bocchi the Rock!", is set to run from August 11–20, 2023.[52] The play is written and directed by Akira Yamazaki.[5]

Reception

Critical reception

In Anime News Network's Fall 2022 Preview Guide, the anime received acclaim from most contributors. In general, the anime received praise for its writing, characters, animation, and portrayal of social anxiety.[1] Caitlin Moore praised the realistic depiction of Hitori's guitar playing, as well as the "slightly acerbic" comedy which in her opinion helped avoid the show becoming "too gentle" and contributed to Hitori's relatability. James Beckett similarly complimented the anime's attention to detail regarding the musical activity, in contrast to other similar anime which he felt were generally not attentive to such logistical elements. Nicholas Dupree opined that Hitori's character felt "authentic" to "the kind of introverted kid who would wear band merch and carry their guitar to school in a bid to seem interesting," and was particularly enthusiastic about following the show, saying it was "so laser-targeted at my tastes." Rebecca Silverman's response, in contrast, was middling, as while she agreed that Hitori was relatable, she believed that the anime "seems to conflate introversion and social anxiety," and did not like the visuals. In spite of these criticisms, she called the first episode "engaging." Richard Eisenbeis said that the story had "solid lessons being told" but said that the humor (which he called "cringe comedy") was not to his taste, but acknowledged that others who enjoyed the jokes would find the anime more palatable.[1]

In a review for IGN, Rafael Motamayor strongly praised the anime for its story, themes, and visual creativity, comparing it favorably to K-On! and Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!. Motamayor also highlighted the similarity in the premise between Bocchi and Komi Can't Communicate, and opined that the former improved on the latter by not "making light of" Hitori's personality for the sake of its humor. The diversity of the anime's visuals and inclusion of CGI and stop motion sequences was also praised.[53]

In a feature for Crunchyroll, Adam Wescott praised the narrative and character of Hitori, comparing both positively to Watamote, and also praised the visual inventiveness of the "anxiety attack" sequences.[22]

Accolades

In 2019, the manga series ranked eighth at the fifth Next Manga Awards in the print category.[54]

In the ninth Anime Trending Awards on 26 February 2023, the anime series was crowned as "Anime of the Year" per highest popular votes gained and also won seven more categories such as "Best Original Soundtrack", "Best of Adapted Screenplay", "Comedy Anime of the Year", "Music Anime of the Year" and "Best in Voice Cast". The Episode 8 of the series also won "Best in Episode Directing and Storyboard". The anime won eight awards overall, the most in the awards history so far.[55]

The web radio program of the series, Bocchi the Radio! won three categories in the eighth Aniradi Awards on 29 March 2023 which is Best Comedy Radio, Best Female Radio and the grand prize Radio of the Year. Yoshino Aoyama was present in the event to receive the award and gave a speech.[56]

Popularity

File:Cosplay of Hitori Gotoh at Cosplay Mega Gathering 2.0.jpg
Cosplay of series protagonist Hitori "Bocchi" Gotoh

The anime was not as highly anticipated by audiences as many more previously established series airing at the same time, such as Chainsaw Man and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. However as the anime progressed, it gained a larger audience due to clips from the anime going viral online.[57]

The series' sudden growth in popularity following the airing of the anime prompted an unexpected influx of fans who formed an excessive line at mangaka Aki Hamaji's booth at Comiket 101 on December 30, 2022, prompting event organizers to direct Hamaji to a different location. Consequently, Hamaji moved her booth outside of the event hall and published a map directing fans to its new location. Wares at Hamaji's booth were exhausted by 12:51 pm that day.[58]

The manga had also reportedly been sold out in various bookstores both during and after the anime's broadcasting, prompting Houbunsha to announce three rounds of reprints of all of the manga’s volumes, including the Anthology Comic, one month after the final episode aired, with added copies printed for each of those rounds.[59][60] The magazine the manga is published in, Manga Time Kirara MAX, had also reportedly sold out of its January and February issues on their first days of circulation, helped by the January issue featuring a guitar pick as a bonus to celebrate the anime's airing.[citation needed]

The popularity of the anime also led to skyrocketing demand for musical instruments, especially guitars, where instrument shops recorded a spike of instruments being sold right after the anime ended. Models used specifically by the characters (like the Gibson Les Paul and Yamaha Pacifica guitars used by Bocchi) went out of stock, with no definite restock date. Sales of instruments to beginners also increased (with stocks being depleted in some cases), as many people started to pick up instruments to play due to the series.[61]

Shimokitazawa, particularly the Shelter live house that Starry is based on, also recorded an increase of visitors making pilgrimages to places appearing in the series. However, uneasiness and worries from others, including Shelter management, resulted after obtrusive behaviour by visitors (which included attempted unpaid viewing of live performances). The official website of the series subsequently issued a reminder to fans to behave properly when visiting such places and support paid performances.[62]

Sales

Blu-ray and DVD sales reached 14,821 and 1,972 copies respectively in the first week of release of the first volume, and placed second for the most Blu-ray sales that week.[63] The second volume records 16,205 and 588 copies sold respectively for Blu-ray and DVD in the first release week.[64] The third volume records 17,856 Blu-ray and 1,535 DVDs and the fourth records 17,196 Blu-ray and 1,451 DVD on their first week sales.[65][66]

The anime's popularity boosted manga sales as well, as the whole series recorded 202,481 copies sold, earning it 12th place for most manga sold on the month of December according to Oricon.[67] Lack of stocks later hampered January sales, but as large reprints replenished stocks in most storebooks, the manga recorded another big sales on February with 193,348 copies of the whole series sold, seventh most for that month.[68] Increase of demands and reprints also surged numbers of circulations of the series, as in January 2023, Houbunsha announced the series marked one million copies in circulation, not including the digital versions, and subsequently hit 2 million copies in circulation in March.[69][70][71]

The album Kessoku Band sold 36,530 copies on release day and subsequently 72,533 copies in the first week, charting first place in Oricon and Billboard Japan for the top album that week and continuing to maintain its performance in the weekly top 10 album sales.[72][73] It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) after it reached more than 100,000 physical sales in January 2023.[74]

Notes

  1. ↑ Tokyo MX listed the series premiere at 24:00 JST on October 8, 2022, which is effectively October 9 at midnight.[36]
  2. ↑ All English titles are taken from Crunchyroll.[45]

References

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External links

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