Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu

Many of us know what it is like to transition to a new school with few to no friends in a new environment, going through the arduous process of getting to know people again. Bocchi Hitori knows this struggle all too well, having just graduated from elementary school and thrown into middle school. Unfortunately, she suffers from extreme social anxiety: she faints when overwhelmed, vomits when nervous, and draws up ridiculously convoluted plans to avoid social contact. It does not help that her only friend from elementary school, Kai Yawara, will not be attending the same middle school as Bocchi. However, wanting to help her, Kai severs ties with Bocchi and promises to reconcile with her when she befriends all of her classmates in her new middle school class.

Even though Bocchi has no faith in herself, she is determined to be friends with Kai again. Summoning all of her courage, Bocchi takes on the daunting challenge of making friends with her entire class, starting with the delinquent-looking girl sitting in front of her...

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Edit

Background

No background information has been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding background information here.

Episode Videos

Edit

Related Anime

Adaptation:

Supporting

Mukai, Live
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Aoi, Hiroyuki

Producer

Isogai, Noritomo

Producer

Shimada, Yousuke

Producer

Nanbara, Mitsuhiro

Producer

Edit

Opening Theme

"Hitoribocchi no Monologue (ひとりぼっちのモノローグ)" by Hitori Bocchi (Chisaki Morishita), Sunao Nako (Minami Tanaka), Honshou Aru (Akari Kito), Sotca Luckythar (Yuuko Kurose)

Edit

Ending Theme

	1: "Ne, Issho ni Kaero. (ね、いっしょにかえろ。)" by Hitori Bocchi (Chisaki Morishita), Sunao Nako (Minami Tanaka), Honshou Aru (Akari Kito), Sotca Luckythar (Yuuko Kurose)
	2: "Bakushou Bocchi-juku Kouka (爆笑ぼっち塾校歌)" by Hitori Bocchi (Chisaki Morishita), Sunao Nako (Minami Tanaka), Aru Honshou (Akari Kito), Sotca Luckythar (Yuuko Kurose) (ep 6)

Reviews

Jun 21, 2019

TakaCode

Recommended

The Spring 19 anime season is now finally over and I can definitely say that the spring season wasn't too kind to anime.

We saw the fall of Shield Hero with its lacklustre second cour, as well the disastrous debut of Fairy Gone, we saw the over-saturation of anime seasonal showelware, and we saw the Isekai genre shit itself with the release of Wise Man's Grandchild as it showcased that stakes and tension don't matter when you can have sick self insert pandering to cover up your half-ass plot and characters.

That's not to say that were not good anime to come out from the season as ...

Open

Gift

Mar 14, 2023

Mythologically

Mixed Feelings

Before going into this show, I expected to watch a generic CGDCT—certainly not something that I would review. Yet, as I made my way through Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu's 12 episodes, I found myself more and more inclined to write the text you are now reading. While the CGDCT genre is normally as inoffensive as can be, Hitoribocchi was often a thoroughly unpleasant experience. How, and more importantly, why, did this happen?

The show follows Hitori Bocchi (English: "alone") as she struggles with social anxiety after entering her first year of middle school. As her misadventures continue, she becomes friends with characters such as Sunao Nako ...

Open

Gift

Jun 21, 2019

Fircoal

Not Recommended

When I first saw Hitoribocchi in the seasonal list I was excited. Being a big fan of CGDCT, and very much enjoying those CGDCT that focus on real, relatable problems, I was excited to see what Hitoribocchi had to offer. While the issue of low self-esteem and social anxiety is not new to CGDCT, I personally like to see what each take on it is, and to gleem whatever there can be from the situations that the characters get into. There is a lot of potential in the idea, as the wholesome friendly tone of CGDCT allow for these more serious topics to be covered ... without going too far down into the negativity spiral, and rather give hope, and show how one can be helped. Sadly, Hitoribocchi did not live up to this, and rather than use those factors to it's benefit, it ended up using them to its determent.

Most CGDCT shows are to an extent a comedy. While iyashikei CGDCT aren't so much, the general bread and butter CGDCT usually will have some level of comedy in them. And while some will pare down the comedy to focus on other aspects, others decide to go full into the comedy and let it be the main focus along with the cute girls themselves. For Hitoribocchi most of the focus is placed on the comedy. Most of the scenes are comedic scenes in nature and are designed to make the audience laugh. However this did not work as well for me due to the issues that lay in Hitoribocchi's premise, and their game plan.

While I was hoping to be able to relate to Hitori and feel for her situation, the show's focus on comedy nipped that hope in the bud. Rather than get a character who felt down to earth, even if moeified, Hitori feels like a personification of r9k or r/meirl. She acts like a meme in the idea that she can't do literally anything without tripping over herself. And while to an extent that is understandable, the things that she does to avoid these situations that she doesn't want to be in are so comedically stupid that it's very hard to take her seriously. Her whole character is so overdone that it ends up being frustrating rather than enderaing. It feels not only played up for laughs, but existing purely for laughs. And while shows like Comic Girls can also play up the main character's issues for laughs, they make sure to put lots of care into her issues and don't have them exist just for jokes. This happens with more than just the main character too. While the show does try for more heartfelt moments with some of them, many of them are very gimmicky, and feel out of range when they try to hit more emotional moments despite most of their character being designed for comedy. Overall it feels like its trying to hit both the more emotional elements while also being a complete comedy but ultimately the two work against each other rather than with each other.

Furthermore the background of the show also messes with the general wholesomeness that I usually find in CGDCT. Even in the most comedic CGDCT there is a fiorm friendship that exists between the cast, one that hammers home the friendliness and fun that exists all throughout. And while Hitoribocchi has its moments that show this, it also has other moments where that feels completely absent. The biggest issue leading to this is the set up. Hitori starts making friends in order to live up to a promise she had with an old firend of hers to make friends with everyone in the class. In many cases there is less care put into the friend that Hitori is making and only into having a friend in name. And while I do believe the friendships do grow with time, there are certainly moments that just aren't enjoyable when it feels like the friendship that is there is a shallow vechine for Hitori to live up to her promise. Add to this the constant tired jokes that cylce throughout the show, and the friendship ends up feeling like an afterthought.

All things said I do think Hitoribocchi has it's moments. And there are characters in it that are cute and likeable. But frankly I don't like the comedy style at all, and the show is so heavily focused on comedy despite its premise. And while there are moments where it tries to live up to its premise, ultimately the show's focus on comedy hinders those moments and the overall fun feeling of the show. If you like the style of comedy bertter than I do then it's likely that you'll enjoy it more than I did. But I feel like if you're coming in here after reading the premise and hoping for a nice blend between social anxiety and cute fun, then you're likely in the wrong place. Personally even for comedy I feel like there are better comedic CGDCT that have more fun premise and that use it better. Ultimately I don't think the show is very good, and fails at the different types of CGDCT it tries to be.

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

4 main girls

by leprocrastinator

17 Entries · 4 Restacks

Relaxing Anime Edition [PART 1]

by verimpa

50 Entries · 119 Restacks

Four Simple Girls

by MissMisu

43 Entries · 5 Restacks

More recommendations

Recommendations

View All

More news

Recent News

Spring 2019 Simulcast List [Update 4/28]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of anime acquired for simulcast release during the Spring 2019 season. Anime series licensed for home video rel...read more

Apr 2, 2019 10:31 AM by Snow | Discuss (77 comments)

Spring 2019 Preview

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of Spring 2019 titles with an accompanying promotional video (PV), commercial (CM), or trailer. This post will ...read more

Mar 16, 2019 11:38 AM by Snow | Discuss (47 comments)

More discussions

Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Jun 21, 2019	147 replies	by astrovoiiid »» Mar 24, 8:43 PM
Poll: Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - May 17, 2019	104 replies	by Forum »» Feb 8, 11:30 PM
Poll: Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 ) -Akirion- - Jun 14, 2019	73 replies	by WELLERM »» Dec 4, 2023 7:46 PM
Poll: Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jun 7, 2019	67 replies	by WELLERM »» Dec 4, 2023 7:45 PM
Poll: Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - May 31, 2019	62 replies	by WELLERM »» Dec 4, 2023 7:44 PM

Recent Featured Articles

In Numbers: The Best and Worst Anime of Spring 2019

Scores, members, favorites — everything you need to know about who won and lost Spring 2019.

by Shymander

72,937 views

Shows to Watch (and not Watch) in Spring 2019

We went and watched the first episode of nearly every single anime this season so you don't have to!

by MAL_Articles

189,042 views

Spoiler

Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Hitori, Bocchi

Sunao, Nako

Honshou, Aru

Rakita, Sotoka

Kurai, Kako

Oshie, Teruyo

Yawara, Kai

Ojousa, Mayo

Nakanai, Karane

Minagawa, Rau

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-