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

May 18, 2025

wojiji

Recommended

I would recommend this to anybody because it really has it all.
Bocchi The Rock! is a CGDCT anime (on the surface) with 4 leader characters working together to grow their rock band together from nothing to something, but if you look deeper you can find a unique art direction that mixes different media styles for comedy bits, great animation, music (it is a music anime), compelling characters with realistic bonds and a wholesome narrative.

The titular character, Bocchi/Hitori Gotoh, is a girl with pretty bad social anxiety that can only be described as relatable, both to those who have not experienced severe social anxiety and ... those who have. In a bout of good luck, she joins a band and can finally use her guitar skills she developed because she stayed inside all of the time practicing. This amount of social interaction naturally leads to some exaggeration of her traits to sell the bulk of the comedy, but it is in relation to those who she is interacting with, and makes this show a wonderful mix between bits of comedy, building character relationships and driving the narrative of growing a band forward.

Speaking of the narrative, this show is incredibly well paced and includes a lot of Bocchi's personal struggles in the mix to help you feel as if you're in her shoes and relate to her. In addition, the accuracy to things like specific music references, equipment, realistic depictions of what it feels like to be in a band (many people can corroborate that they felt similar to the characters' thoughts and anxieties when it comes to being part of a band) and music jokes on top of the commitment to allowing each band member to shine in their respective moments shows just how much love, care and attention CloverWorks gave to this IP. Another thing to take note of is that while Bocchi seems to be described as a prodigy guitar player, but her effort put into becoming proficient is shown and the show makes sure not to jump from being a terrible band to immediately selling out large shows.

As a result, despite the relatively small 12 episode count, you can watch Bocchi, a compelling main character with relatable struggles (that are exaggerated a teensy bit, moreso in comedy bits, but its overall pretty accurate) work hard and gradually, not instantly, but gradually overcome her struggles with anxiety bit by bit. Lastly, the emotional moments are sold very well and are given time to shine in the slower scenes of the show. The buildup to those moments is also natural, not feeling forced at all, but most importantly feel very human, which is something you may not expect from a show typically described as a comedy.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jan 11, 2025

Mik0_o

Mixed Feelings

This is my first review. I used to think that writing reviews was pointless or logical only for shows you like, but I’ve come to realize that when you write a review, you truly reflect on what you’ve watched and it helps you process everything, including the emotions the show left behind. I want to try writing a review for everything I watch or read this year, and the first thing I watched was Bochi the Rock.

I'll start by explaining why I decided to watch the anime and what caught my interest. The main reason was probably its rating and the fact that it seemed ... like an easy watch. Lately, I’ve been watching One piece and reading Umineko VN, and I wanted something light and easy to watch. Bochi the Rock ended up in my hands—it's a 12-episode anime that’s in the top 45 on MAL, and I thought it would be simple and easy to follow.

Now, let me go through the pros and cons of various aspects and then I’ll evaluate it in more detail.

First, I’ll say that comedy, in general, doesn’t appeal to me, especially in anime. I don’t like Japanese humor much. I can recall a few comedic anime that I watched, like One Punch Man and Spy x Family. I’ll say that Bochi the Rock had more funny moments than I expected, and there were indeed some moments I genuinely liked. The concept itself was quite humorous—especially with a socially awkward rocker, which felt like a refreshing change from characters like Saitama who defeats everyone with one punch. But I’ll stop with the comparisons.

Despite that, even though the comedic aspect was more enjoyable than in other anime, it didn’t make me laugh much outside of a few moments. The anime also touched lightly on other themes and didn’t stir any emotional reactions in me. It didn’t leave a significant impact, and I didn’t feel any positive moods after watching it. There weren’t many memorable moments either, but one thing that sets this anime apart from other short 12-episode series is that it was easy to watch. The animation was quite good, and while the characters weren’t really standout, they were interesting at some point, and it was enjoyable to watch. The main character, while sometimes funny and relatable in some ways, was stuck in the same place every episode, and no real change occurred.

I forgot to mention that the music (OST) wasn't particularly memorable. I can't really point out any specific moment that stood out or that I particularly liked. As for a potential new season, I’m not sure if I’d be overly excited about it, but I’ll watch it if it comes out.

So, in conclusion:

An ordinary story that doesn’t stand out
A main character who is sometimes funny but doesn’t evolve
Good animation
Ordinary, yet easy-to-watch characters
Standard cliché dialogues
No memorable moments or episodes
Despite the criticism and flaws, I still enjoyed watching the anime, and some moments were genuinely funny and relatable.

My final rating is a mid to high 6/10.

I also realized that writing reviews is a great way to find people who think like you and engage in discussions with them, or, on the other hand, interact with people who disagree and have them prove you wrong, showing you things you might have missed.

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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