Just a brief comment before I start, the top negative reviews are only placed so high on MAL because they're flooded with hundreds of "Confused" reactions (which places them higher on the list), since me and many other viewers are legit confused at wtf they were snorting to give this show such a bad review. One of them is legit a wall of text simping over Mio from K-on and how it's better than bocchi the rock, but I digress, this isn't K-on so let's move on with the review.
--As for the visuals, they are gorgeous and quite diverse. The visuals can be divided in 2 parts: when they play on stage and the regular daily life. As for the daily life, there's a lot of visual comedy in this show, and you can see how much effort they put into it with how smooth the animation looks. A single comedy sketch from bocchi has more frames and better artistic style than the entirety of season 3 of The Seven Deadly Sins. After all, Bocchi's reactions are a big part of this show and they went all in on it. There's even stop motion with dolls and real life shots. The creativity is really out of the roof
As for when they play on stage, man I absolutely love it. They actually filmed the band playing the song and used it as a reference for the animation. And man, the "camera work" is incredible. When I first saw the first person POV shots that they do from the guitarist's point of view, and even from the POV of the headstock of the guitar, as a musician I nearly *rgasmed.
--OST is a banger. At the start, I expected some cute kawaii~ songs with high pitched singers that would make my ears bleed - fortunately I was proven completely wrong. The songs are great and most of all, the guitar solos and riffs slap hard, which makes sense since story-wise Bocchi is the best out of all the band members. The hardest part in making a music anime about a good guitarist is making said musics have a guitar that actually sound cool. And they nailed it. During certain solos, I actually thought "Dayum girl, Bocchi slaps hard!". Even during the songs' verses and bridge, the guitar is still slapping hard (e.g. in the songs "Guitar, Loneliness and Blue World" and "That Band"). Just search the full version of them on youtube and especially the instrumental versions of the songs are so nice.
And the attention to detail is fantastic. There's this one concert where they played subpar due to being extremely nervous, and you can actually hear it subtly on the song and the instrumentals/vocals. The sound department legit recorded that song a second time and asked the musicians to purposefully play/sing worse than usual - and it's so incredibly nostalgic as someone who played in bands, because I experienced the same situation in the past when I was a newbie. It encapsulates really well how out of sync you become and what happens when you're really nervous on stage and lose your focus. This whole show is a nostalgia bomb for people who played music in bands during high school/college
--The voice acting is pretty nice; there's not much to say. The main cast is made of the new generation of VAs, and they're good, especially Bocchi. I think she transmits well the anxiety vibes of the character. They have chemistry and are overall likeable and unique
--The plot is quite unga bunga simple, yet some of the negative comments somehow failed to understand it - I'll explain it without spoilers except for episode 1 obviously. Bocchi the rock is the story of a girl with social anxiety who wanted friends. She started learning the guitar with the purpose of making friends, she ended up falling in love with the instrument and became really good at it but still remained alone because she didn't change as a person over those 3 years. Change comes from within - instead of using the guitar to meet more people, she kinda used it to escape her problems. Eventually, she ends up joining a band due to circumstances, but once again she's forced to face her social anxiety since she has to interact with her band members and also her stage fright makes her play really poorly. Due to her band and the need to play publicly, she's forced to very slowly grow as a person (main character has actual growth, wooow I know, pretty shocking nowadays, am I right?). It's a simple but relatable coming of age story
Some comments mention how it's BS that she starts playing so poorly due to stage fright, but it's a real thing. One of the best pianists I've met always messed up during live shows, especially during her solos, due to stage fright. One of the singers with the most amazing voice I've heard during vocal lessons was an absolute mess when singing in front of a live audience - her voice would become muffled and squeaky like a mouse
--No senseless fan service, thank god. I'm not against ecchi, but damn, the number of shows with great potential that are ruined by out of context panty shots, gravity defying boob physics, yada yada. This one is completely safe
In conclusion, Bocchi the Rock is the dream adaptation of any mangaka. The studio managed to grab a mediocre 4-koma and turn it into something really special, so I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did
