Bocchi the Rock!

Yearning to make friends and perform live with a band, lonely and socially anxious Hitori "Bocchi" Gotou devotes her time to playing the guitar. On a fateful day, Bocchi meets the outgoing drummer Nijika Ijichi, who invites her to join Kessoku Band when their guitarist, Ikuyo Kita, flees before their first show. Soon after, Bocchi meets her final bandmate—the cool bassist Ryou Yamada.

Although their first performance together is subpar, the girls feel empowered by their shared love for music, and they are soon rejoined by Kita. Finding happiness in performing, Bocchi and her bandmates put their hearts into improving as musicians while making the most of their fleeting high school days.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Gotou, Hitori Main

Aoyama, Yoshino Japanese

Yamada, Ryou Main

Mizuno, Saku Japanese

Ijichi, Nijika Main

Suzushiro, Sayumi Japanese

Kita, Ikuyo Main

Hasegawa, Ikumi Japanese

Hiroi, Kikuri Supporting

Senbongi, Sayaka Japanese

PA-san Supporting

Koiwai, Kotori Japanese

Ijichi, Seika Supporting

Uchida, Maaya Japanese

Gotou, Futari Supporting

Watada, Misaki Japanese

Gotou, Naoki Supporting

Majima, Junji Japanese

Gotou, Michiyo Supporting

Suegara, Rie Japanese

Umehara, Shouta Producer

Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Producer

Ishikawa, Tatsuya Producer

Saitou, Keiichirou Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Reviews

Dec 28, 2025

CyraStyle

Recommended

The first anime I watched after around 6 years of not doing so and it made me continue watching anime since. I'm trying not to glaze this anime but as an introduction to cgdct, I've fallen in love with this anime ever since then.

It's an anime with little plot but so much comedy for an anime with the mc having social anxiety and having fun with friends. Quite inspirational for me too if I say so myself. The music is so good I'm still listening until now and is also my introduction to Jrock and Jpop which I didn't regret, now I'm always listening ... to them. It's silly it's fun and It's watchable even though there's nothing really going on sometimes. I can't ever forget this anime after all the times I've spent watching other anime. It even serves as a return point sometimes if I'm looking for any other anime to watch.

I would recommend watching this If you're looking for an anime about music, comedy, and just them doing silly stuff. I can't wait for season 2

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jan 2, 2026

TheMistyUser

Mixed Feelings

Español:

No es la gran cosa, pero es competente como anime sobre música.

En comparación del bodrio inverosímil de Komi san, aquí logran retratar mejor la ansiedad y distanciamiento social, de hecho el personaje de Goto es bastante identificable en este sentido, con una meta creíble buscando destacar y no pasar desapercibida. El manejo de elementos como redes sociales como vehículo para darte a conocer, es otro acierto acorde a nuestros tiempos.
El doblaje latino eleva el carisma y la comedia de la obra.

La personaje principal igual goza de buenas interacciones con su grupo de amigas de Kessoku Band, la química con Kita me ha parecido muy agradable, ... digna de hermanas unidas: el progreso de una, anima a la otra. En cuanto a banda sonora, Bocchi The Rock no tiene nada que envidiarle a K-On o Full Moon Wo Sagashite, el anime presume de temas musicales memorables que permiten conocer un poco de la perspectiva de Goto sobre el mundo que le rodea.

La experiencia resulta en un show relajante y divertido, pero tiene inconvenientes. El elenco no es malo, para el tipo de serie que pretende ser está OK, son chicas buena onda, graciosas y bastante unidas como grupo, pero se siente que pueden dar más a nivel de escritura individual. Una de las más destacables es Ryou Yamada con su actitud seria, algo tacaña, pero responsable y empática con las demás chicas, casi como una hermana mayor. Su reflexión sobre lo que se necesita para escribir buenas canciones es bastante motivacional. Otras sin embargo como Nijika, son simples y no ofrecen mucho fuera de ser las amigas que apoyan a la prota.

Por otro lado, aunque la comedia es graciosa, viéndose reforzada por la dirección que representa la percepción bizarra del mundo de parte de Goto, el catalizador de las situaciones suele ser muy predecible. Siempre se pone nerviosa por cualquier cosa.

Otro elemento contraproducente para el manejo del aislamiento social son los padres de Goto, tan incompetentes que nunca se han dado la molestia de atender los problemas psicológicos de su hija, lo peor es que se toman sus problemas de ansiedad social más como un chiste de mal gusto. Obras de antaño como Welcome To NHK han manejado mejor este apartado.

Finalmente, Bocchi The Rock (por lo menos esta temporada) no es una serie demasiado catártica en cuanto engancharte con desarrollos de personaje. Lo presentado ayuda a conocer al elenco, y ver a la prota armar su grupo social, pero peca de redundancia en sus elementos, como el capítulo 12 donde a Goto le sigue dificultando entablar pláticas o hacer actividades normales.

Le veo potencial a una posible temporada 2.

English:

It's not groundbreaking, but it's a competent anime about music.

Compared to the terrible implausible mess of Komi-san, this one manages to portray anxiety and social distancing much better. In fact, Goto's character is quite relatable in this regard, with a believable goal of standing out and not going unnoticed. The use of elements like social media as a vehicle for self-promotion is another substantial strength, perfectly suited to our times.
The Latin American dub enhances the charisma and comedy of the show.

The main character also enjoys good interactions with her group of friends in the Kessoku Band. The chemistry with Kita was very pleasant, like that of close sisters: one's progress encourages the other. As for the soundtrack, Bocchi the Rock has nothing to envy musical anime such as K-On! or Full Moon wo Sagashite. The anime boasts memorable musical themes that allow us to understand a bit of Goto's perspective on the world around her.

The experience results in a relaxing and fun show, but it does have its drawbacks. The cast isn't bad; for the type of series it aims to be, it's OK. They're cool, bubbly, funny girls, and quite close as a group, but it feels like they could offer more in terms of individual writing. One of the most noteworthy is Ryou Yamada with her serious, somewhat stingy, but responsible and empathetic attitude towards the other girls, almost like an older sister. Her reflection on what it takes to write good songs is quite motivational. Others, however, like Nijika, are simple and don't offer much beyond being the friends who support the protagonist.

On the other hand, although the comedy is funny, reinforced by the direction that portrays Goto's bizarre perception of the world, the catalyst for the situations is usually very predictable. She always gets flustered over anything.

Another counterproductive element for handling social isolation are Goto's parents, so incompetent that they've never bothered to address their daughter's psychological problems. The worst part is that they treat her social anxiety more like a bad joke. Older shows like Welcome to NHK have handled this aspect better.

Ultimately, Bocchi the Rock (at least this season) isn't a particularly compelling series in terms of engaging character development. What's presented helps to introduce the cast and show the protagonist forming her social circle, but it suffers from redundancy, as seen in episode 12 where Goto still struggles to start conversations or do normal activities.

I see potential in a possible second season.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jul 20, 2024

Chilicon_valley

Not Recommended

Bocchi the Rock fails at being both a good SoL and a good show about musicians. If you're coming to this show looking for one of those aspects (or both) then leave as I assure you there's plenty better than Bocchi, you can even stop reading here if you want. If you've already watched it or just want to see my reasoning then feel free to read on.

Plot:
Bocchi is a Slice of Life/Coming of age story about a girl who learns to overcome her shyness by playing her guitar. That might seem like a decent idea but that might as well be as deep ... as it gets as that's Bocchi's entire personality. She plays the guitar 6 hours a day because she wants to be famous and that's somehow the easiest way for her to become sociable/earn friends. Not only is that logic asinine but it's an incredibly shallow means of friendship to yearn for. It's also just bizarre how this laid back SoL/Moe tries to give some almost shonen-esque "I want to be the very best" goal for our MC. You can't even try and argue that the show doesn't pigeonhole itself to one genre as it very much does.

Bocchi:
Bocchi's portrayal of social anxiety is a joke and feels like the author just looked at memes on social media about how hard it is being an introvert and took it at face value. She automatically goes into spastic outbursts whenever confronted by anyone to the point to where it's a miracle that her friends keep her around given how uncooperative she is even with them. If Bocchi did exist in real life she wouldn't have any friends, but this show seems to favor Bocchi in a way that many self-insert anime do. Bocchi can never do anything wrong, she's always just a poor misunderstood musical genius and you have to bear with the fact that she shuts down like a damn computer at the mere thought of making eye contact with someone. Realistically Bocchi doesn't face any real trouble.

Characters:
The rest of the cast is as boring as it gets. We've got Ryo who was somewhat enjoyable at times but just a dick to everyone else for the most part. The Redhead who's the foil of Bocchi, and by that I mean while Bocchi's entire personality is being an introvert, her entire personality is being an extrovert and nothing more. The Blonde I don't even remember what her personality was or at least I don't even know if I could describe it. The main four feel so archetypal and boring that I can't really say anything more. A good SoL can take these character archetypes and make them feel very naturally fitting, Houkago Teibou Nisshi for example does a really good job at this. All the other side characters are again just reduced to one trait.
Another thing I find bizarre is how Bocchi's father in particular has his eyes censored out. I see that this trope seems to happen a good deal in a lot of newer Moe shit where they seem almost scared to even show a male character on the screen for some reason. I'm not saying that your primarily female cast show needs many male characters in it or anything but it's frankly weird when they go to lengths such as that.

Art:
I'll Segway from characters to character design for art, as it makes a good enough bridge. I think the character design is unimaginative and ugly. There is no balance as all the bright colored Power Rangers tastelessly leap in front of your face. I'm fine with bright colors after all this is anime we're talking about but please give good balance in relation to the characters they'll be around with throughout the show. Hidamari for example does a good job at this.
One thing I'll give Bocchi is that it's production is great. The weird animation sequences are neat and all but I think they were mostly made as internet bait, made with the intent get clips posted on the internet of how memeable this "Literally me" show is and so you can have at it with your twitter/discord reaction images. Not only that but the wacky animated segments are without fail always used on the same joke where Bocchi is in one of her free-form-freakouts over having to talk to a person or whatever.
The music is alright I guess, none of the songs ever stuck out to me. The one thing that did irk me in particular is that when Bocchi and her friends go to the psychedelic rock concert it didn't sound very psychedelic at all, just typical J-Rock. Maybe that's my own issue for expecting Hendrix or the Flaming Lips but it is what it is.

BOTTOM LINE:
Bocchi fails on all fronts that it tries to venture into and fails at nearly all of the basic fronts that a story/anime should be expected to meet. Funnily enough I went into this series thinking "wow it's going to be like K-On but they actually focus on being in a band" but I ended up appreciating K-On more, not only for having enjoyable characters but also for having better songs despite not nearly as much being about the music. And remember kids, your show is only so highly rated and popular because it meets a denominator so low and innocuous that it's serviceable for almost anyone. McDonalds may make the most dollaroos but it's miles away from being even close to the best food I've ever had.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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