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

Sep 6, 2024

kivnaa

Recommended

"Bocchi the Rock!" started off as the quiet underdog amidst the roaring hype of Chainsaw Man, Bleach, and the fading glow of Spy x Family Part 2. But much like Gotoh Hitori herself, it steadily carved out its own niche, winning hearts one viewer at a time. With stunning visuals, an electrifying soundtrack, and jokes that land with the precision of a guitar solo, it’s the kind of storytelling that doesn’t scream for attention but pulls you in with its sincerity.

Our protagonist, Gotoh Hitori, is the poster child for extreme social anxiety. Her dream? To overcome her fears and be part of society. Her reality? ... Staying at home every day with no friends, just the usual routine of school, home, food, and TV.

One day, while mindlessly zoning out in front of the screen (like you) , she sees an interview of a guy from a popular band who had the same social struggles that she has. Instant role model. He was cool, he was popular, and most importantly, he was once just like her . It was as if The God of Rock'n Roll himself descended to impart his sacred teachings, enlightened, Gotoh decides to pick up the guitar, not as a hobby, but as a lifeline to the cool, popular, future rock star persona that she now seeks.


The guitar was a way of escape for her in some way and a ticket to stardom. Practicing the guitar everyday for years did make her really good at it but she lacked.....lacked behind important life skills —like talking to people without wanting to curl up inside a dark room or a box and vanish, she tries to prove herself many times but fails , and all she needed was a little push to become from 0 to 1. And thats where Nikija comes in , she pushes Gotoh Hitori to play for her band , Gotoh tries to bolt but Nijika's persistence has more stamina, Gotoh agreed to come with her and meets Ryo, and then eventaully she meets Ikuyo , each one of them makes up a part of Gotoh a part of her which she doesnt have and with them she became a whole , they make up for her shortcomings . From an outside perspective Gotoh seems to be riding on the band's coattails, but in reality she is gluing the band together. Her weakness turned into a form of strength in some way.

The character development that Gotoh received, Made this anime from good to great , , the dynamics between the cast and its deceptively simple yet engaging storytelling . The way the characters are portrayed.....I certainly am a fan of CGDCT!

Personally, i think the most talented people are often those who work the hardest, but might fall short in areas where the average person excels.

And did i mention the jokes and memes which got into the community because of the anime.
In my opinion, Bocchi the Rock! is a fantastic anime.

although i think i can go more in depth to the characters but this is a show review not a character review

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by kivnaa (3)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Aug 13, 2024

DevSeeMorth

Mixed Feelings

I will get straight to the point, Bocchi the rock is the most overrated anime I heard of to this day, the only good thing about this anime is the music 8/10 and the animation but sometimes it slacks off 8/10.
The character designs are so basic and boring, thier personalities are non existent and you can't attach or cheer for them 5/10, the humor is so bad and it made me want drop the anime multiple times and everything about this show is cringe and corny af, some of the scenes are so unrealistic..., the mc is the reason it wasn't that enjoyable because everytime ... i started to like it, she was annoying the shit out of me, it doesn't deserve all the praise it gets, just because the Mc is an introvert and many people can relate to it doesn't make the anime a 10/10 lol, by that logic every anime is a 10/10...
The anime overall is ok/fine, enjoyable if you dont mind the cringe stuff, nothing special to it. This is not meant to hate on it but is just so overrated...to the point where they call it a masterpiece omg..

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by DevSeeMorth (1)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

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

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Chilicon_valley (2)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Cozy & Enjoyable Anime

by nth4

41 Entries · 53 Restacks

Highest Scores Ever Reached on MAL

by ooReiko

50 Entries · 44 Restacks

Niche Themes, Drama, & Performing Arts

by metalrain_15

30 Entries · 54 Restacks

'Bocchi the Rock!' Gets Compilation Movie in Spring 2024

The Kessoku Band Live: Kousei event announced a compilation movie for the Bocchi the Rock! anime series on Sunday, revealing a key visual (pictured) and an announcem...read more

May 21, 2023 4:20 AM by Vindstot | Discuss (21 comments)

PV Collection for Sep 26 - Oct 2

Here is a collection of promotional videos, television ads, teasers, and trailers that were released last week. This thread excludes videos that have already been fe...read more

Oct 3, 2022 5:43 AM by Snow | Discuss (2 comments)

	4 new songs from the new EP animelatonina - Sep 5	9 replies	by ChallengerUPC »» 25 minutes ago
	Poll: Bocchi the Rock! Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) KANLen09 - Oct 15, 2022	313 replies	by topfloorboss45 »» Yesterday, 4:29 AM
	Poll: Bocchi the Rock! Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) KANLen09 - Oct 8, 2022	468 replies	by topfloorboss45 »» Yesterday, 3:58 AM
	Poll: Who is the best musician in Kessoku Band ? LampWork - Aug 26	21 replies	by mallerschwab »» Sep 2, 2:14 AM
	Poll: Bocchi the Rock! Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) KANLen09 - Dec 10, 2022	240 replies	by dagmartoons »» Aug 31, 7:22 PM