Bocchi the Rock! Movie

TLDR; it is quite literally a theatrical compilation i.e. a sped-up version of the TV series with lots cut out and essentially nothing new. Too fast for newcomers and disappointing for old fans.

I am a huge BTR fan and ever since the first season aired, I have been deeply involved in BTR-related online campaigns and IRL events etc. and I would say that it is my favorite series of all time. I went to watch it on release day in Japan with high expectations. That being said, or rather that being the case, I was quite disappointed by this theatrical compilation of the first half ... of the TV series. Simply put, the pacing was way too fast, and it didn't really feel like it honored the TV version. I imagine most people who watch it will know the story of the TV version, just as I do, but even for me I feel like they skipped way too many details to try and cram everything in. In the case of someone who doesn't know BTR at all, I cannot imagine how they could follow what was happening. Somehow within the first few minutes, three of the main characters have been introduced and the story is already going at full speed. There were also times when they chose to play songs in the background while showing a montage of a key event in the story, instead of letting viewers enjoy it. I can also probably count on two hands the number of new "scenes" that weren't in the TV version (by scenes, I mean literal frames added to make pre-existing events look fresher, not even side interactions). I would say to give it a watch if you're a true BTR fan just for the heck of it, but I would not recommend someone unfamiliar with BTR to watch this.

This is for the first half as the second half has not released at the time of writing.

This is a summarized cash grab designed solely to make money without any real investment. Shueisha actually went through with this, and the fans made it top the charts with a historic weekend.

I'm a fan, but this kind of sleaziness shouldn't be rewarded.

The movie is just a sped-up version of the anime with no new content. They could have added something fresh to reward the FANS UN KNOW, but they didn't.

It feels like this IP is being milked to cover losses from other Shueisha projects that flopped due to terrible adaptations. This movie offers nothing new except the chance to see the anime ... on the big screen. It's simply shameless.

And I'm a fan.

To those who enjoyed it in theaters: I'm happy for you. Thats the only positive

For starters, it is an abridged compilation of (roughly) the first 8 episodes of the main show. The movie makes it very clear that this is a compilation by the Japanese title calling it 総集編 and Re: (the next movie is also a compliation called Re:Re: lol), but for whatever reason it was not translated into the English title. Cramming 8 eps into a 90 min film makes the story less impactful and detailed, but that's to be expected. (So the 2nd movie is just gonna be 4 episodes worth of plot??) There's also a new original song as the ending theme. That being said ... it does have very little new animation even compared to other compilation movies.

Animes make compliation movies for a lot of reasons - some fans just wanna watch it again in theatre, some people wanna watch(or rewatch) the anime but don't wanna go through all the episodes, etc. There's for sure money reasons, but I wouldn't call it a cash grab because the title (at least in JP) makes it pretty clear this movie is a compilation and popular animes getting compilation movies is nothing out of the norm.

Idk if the two movies are building the foundation for a second season (tbh frieren, also directed by Saito, is more likely to get a 2nd season than bocchi, but also I'd argue bocchi needs Saito less than Frieren). Kamisama lease gimme 2nd season.