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Bocchi the Rock! is a Japanese anime television series based on the manga of the same name by Aki Hamaji. Announced in February 2021,[1] it was produced by CloverWorks and directed by Keiichirō Saitō, with Yūsuke Yamamoto serving as assistant director, Erika Yoshida writing the series' scripts, Kerorira designing the characters, and Tomoki Kikuya composing the music.[2][3] Bocchi the Rock! follows the socially anxious Hitori Gotō as she joins Kessoku Band and fulfills her dream of performing live. The main voice cast consists of Yoshino Aoyama as Hitori, Sayumi Suzushiro as Nijika Ijichi, Saku Mizuno as Ryō Yamada, and Ikumi Hasegawa as Ikuyo Kita.[3]
The series aired on Tokyo MX and other networks from October 9 to December 25, 2022.[a] It consists of 12 episodes,[5] with the episode titles being parodies of songs by the rock band Asian Kung-Fu Generation.[6] Crunchyroll licensed the series for streaming outside of Asia.[7] Plus Media Networks Asia licensed the series in Southeast Asia and released it on Aniplus Asia and Bilibili.[8][9] Kessoku Band performed the opening theme "Seishun Complex" (青春コンプレックス, lit. 'Youth Complex'), as well as the ending themes "Distortion!!" for episodes 1–3,[b] "Karakara" (カラカラ) for episodes 4–7,[c] "What Is Wrong With" (なにが悪い, Nani ga Warui) for episodes 8–11,[d] and a cover version of Asian Kung-Fu Generation's "Rockn' Roll, Morning Light Falls on You" (転がる岩、君に朝が降る, Korogaru Iwa, Kimi ni Asa ga Furu) for episode 12.[e][5][13]
The Japanese home video release of Bocchi the Rock! consists of six volumes in Blu-ray and DVD formats, released from December 2022 to May 2023.[14] The series was released as a single Blu-ray volume in North America by Crunchyroll on January 30, 2024,[15] and in Australia by Madman Entertainment on March 6.[16]
| No. | Title [17][f] | Directed by [17] | Storyboarded by [17] | Original air date [19] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Lonely Rolling Bocchi" Transliteration: "Korogaru Botchi" (Japanese: 転がるぼっち) | Keiichirō Saitō | Keiichirō Saitō | October 9, 2022 | |
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Hitori Gotō is an extremely introverted girl who has trouble making friends or working in groups at school. When she sees a rock band being interviewed on TV, she decides to start playing guitar, thinking it will make her more friends. Unfortunately, her social anxiety keeps her from making friends throughout middle school, but she finds some modest success playing covers of popular songs and posting them online under the alias "guitarhero". After struggling to be sociable during her first year of high school, a girl named Nijika Ijichi begs her to replace a guitarist who left the group before the band plays their show. Hitori follows Nijika to an underground bar and meets her other bandmate, Ryō Yamada, who plays the bass. Despite playing poorly at the live show, Hitori is glad that the others gave her the nickname "Bocchi," and that they are fans of her "guitarhero" channel (though they are unaware Hitori is guitarhero). However, Hitori races home shortly after the show, feeling exhausted from the various social interactions that day. | |||||
| 2 | "See You Tomorrow" Transliteration: "Mata Ashita" (Japanese: また明日) | Yoshiyuki Fujiwara | Keiichirō Saitō | October 16, 2022 | |
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Bocchi gets a quick lesson on how many clubs charge bands for performing depending on the number of tickets they sell. In need of money to make up for their poor performance, the band decide to get a job at the same club they just performed, as Nijika's older sister Seika is the manager there. Bocchi tries to make herself get a cold to avoid having to work and interact with people, but ends up healthy enough to go anyway. Despite her unease at pouring and serving drinks in a full club, she is able to get through the workday and get inspired by seeing another rock band perform. However, the next day, she suffers a cold for real. | |||||
| 3 | "Be Right There" Transliteration: "Hase Sanzu" (Japanese: 馳せサンズ) | Yūsuke Yamamoto | Yūsuke Yamamoto | October 23, 2022 | |
|
Bocchi tries to work up the nerve to ask her classmate, Ikuyo "Kita" Kita, to be the vocalist and backup guitarist. Kita wants Bocchi's help in learning how to play the guitar to get closer to her senior bandmate. However, as the two of them travel to Shimokitazawa, Kita panics after seeing Nijika and Ryo, as she was the guitarist who fled before their previous live show. The manager convinces Kita to work at the club, and she immediately makes a good impression on the others, though Bocchi feels jealous. Kita does not think she can join the band after running away before, but after working the show, the other girls convince her to try again. | |||||
| 4 | "Jumping Girl(s)" Transliteration: "Janpingu Gāru(zu)" (Japanese: ジャンピングガール(ズ)) | Nobuhide Kariya | Nobuhide Kariya | October 30, 2022 | |
|
Bocchi is tasked with writing lyrics to a new original song. She even tries to put herself in the mindset of a party girl, but ends up frightening her family. The next day, the band decides to go out to a park for inspiration and to increase their online social media presence with some group photos. However, Bocchi has a breakdown at the thought of turning into an "attention whore" online. Later, Bocchi meets Ryo in a small café, and learns that Ryo used to be active in another band but left after she felt they were selling out to chase popular trends. That night, Bocchi finds the inspiration to write a new song, and hopes to take more photos with her band. | |||||
| 5 | "Flightless Fish" Transliteration: "Tobenai Sakana" (Japanese: 飛べない魚) | Yūsuke Kawakami | Yūsuke Kawakami | November 6, 2022 | |
|
Nijika is shocked to find that Seika will not let them back on stage for the club's next live show without auditioning first. The band decides to focus on practicing their new original song over the next week. The band manages to pass the audition, with Seika quietly telling her friend that she initially blocked Nijika's band to motivate them to work harder. Bocchi is wracked with fear after hearing she will have to sell at least five tickets to help the band break even with the venue's reserve fee. | |||||
| 6 | "Eight Views" Transliteration: "Hakkei" (Japanese: 八景) | Yoshiyuki Fujiwara | Yoshiyuki Fujiwara | November 13, 2022 | |
|
Bocchi faces a difficult task after realizing that the only people close to her who can buy her tickets are her parents; her pride prevents her from asking for their help to sell the others. As she sits in a park in a state of melancholy, an alcoholic woman, Kikuri Hiroi, stumbles by; in the conversation that follows, she reveals that she plays the bass for another band and, as a thank-you to Bocchi for buying her food, sets up an impromptu live show on the street with her to help her sell her remaining tickets. After the performance ends, a couple of girls buy two of the tickets from Bocchi, and Kikuri buys the third and last one. While watching a fireworks show, Bocchi responds to her bandmates that she sold all her tickets, but they assume she's lying to save face. | |||||
| 7 | "To Your House" Transliteration: "Kimi no Uchi Made" (Japanese: 君の家まで) | Keisuke Shinohara | Janchiki Amata | November 20, 2022 | |
|
Nijika and Kita decide to come to Bocchi's house to consider designs for the T-shirts they will wear at the concert. Since this is Bocchi's first time inviting someone to her house, she goes overboard with her decorations and confuses her bandmates; her parents, despite not believing that Bocchi actually has friends, spend time with the group. At evening, they realize they have spent the whole day without coming up with any designs and decide to use Nijika's initial simple T-shirts design. Unfortunately, a typhoon abruptly changes course, coming near Tokyo on the date of their live performance. | |||||
| 8 | "Bocchi the Rock" Transliteration: "Botchi Za Rokku" (Japanese: ぼっち・ざ・ろっく) | Takeshi Seo | Keiichirō Saitō | November 27, 2022 | |
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Despite the typhoon cutting down the expected attendance rate, Kessoku Band moves forward with their concert. Seeing the smaller crowd and hearing their less-than-excited comments on the show, the band members, save for Bocchi, take a huge hit to their morale and make several mistakes in their opening number not present during their audition. Unable to accept this, Bocchi plays out a spur-of-the-moment guitar solo, snapping the girls out of their slump and letting them play out the rest of the concert successfully. At the end of the day, Nijika tells Bocchi that she has deduced her identity as "guitarhero". Bocchi apologizes, stating that she wanted to reveal her identity after she improved herself so as to not disappoint her fans. However, Nijika states her belief that with Bocchi by their side, her dreams to follow Seika's footsteps and make her live house famous will come true, as long as she keeps showing her bandmates and audience how "Bocchi the Rock" rocks the stage. | |||||
| 9 | "Enoshima Escar" Transliteration: "Enoshima Esukā" (Japanese: 江ノ島エスカー) | Yoshihiro Hiramine | Yoshihiro Hiramine | December 4, 2022 | |
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At the end of summer vacation, Bocchi is utterly depressed and disappointed over the fact that none of the bandmates invited her out like typical high schoolers should, so they invite her to the Enoshima coast out of pity to make memories. But their excursion leads to several mishaps that include being hit on by strangers, losing more money to Ryo, being attacked by black kites, and developing several muscle aches the next day after climbing the long stairs to the Enoshima shrine. Despite this, Bocchi has fun to the point where she wishes she could go back to the first day of summer. | |||||
| 10 | "After Dark" Transliteration: "Afutā Dāku" (Japanese: アフターダーク) | Yūsuke Kawakami | Yūsuke Kawakami | December 11, 2022 | |
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Bocchi hears that her school is accepting bands to play at their upcoming cultural festival, but can't bring herself to actually turn in the application form for Kessoku Band. Kita submits the form for her, but later feels guilty after seeing Bocchi's reaction. Kikuri later shows up at Starry and invites Kessoku Band to see her band "Sick Hack" perform live at a Shinjuku club called Folt, where they play a more psychedelic rock style. After the show, Kikuri tells Bocchi that she was also a reclusive loner throughout school who thought playing guitar would make her popular, and she drank to deal with her nerves the day of her first live performance. Kikuri then promises to come see Bocchi's next show at her school. Bocchi later tells Kita that she's looking forward to the festival. | |||||
| 11 | "Duodecimal Sunset" Transliteration: "Jūnishinhō no Yūkei" (Japanese: 十二進法の夕景) | Yūsuke Yamamoto | Yūsuke Yamamoto | December 18, 2022 | |
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During the first day of the cultural festival, Bocchi hides in a secluded corner of the school, and realizes that she hasn't updated her "guitarhero" video account in a while, fearing her online fans will leave her with nothing if she doesn't post soon. Bocchi's bandmates manage to find her, and the four enjoy touring the school before taking her back to her class, as she was trying to stall to escape her maid café duties. While Bocchi struggles to do the bare minimum as a maid, her bandmates find more success when Bocchi's classmates dress them up as maids and Ryo as a butler. Later, Kessoku Band takes a look at the gym where they will be performing, and Bocchi talks about how she borrowed her old guitar from her father. The next day, Kessoku Band's family and friends, plus Hiroi, show up in the audience as they take the stage to play an original set. | |||||
| 12 | "Morning Light Falls on You" Transliteration: "Kimi ni Asa ga Furu" (Japanese: 君に朝が降る) | Keiichirō Saitō | Keiichirō Saitō | December 25, 2022 | |
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During the concert, Bocchi's guitar sounds out of tune and one of the strings even snaps before her solo, but she manages to pull through thanks to Kita's improvising plus using one of Hiroi's glass sake containers as a makeshift bottleneck slide. After finishing the song, Kita tries to let Bocchi have the spotlight, but Bocchi panics and tries to stage dive into the crowd, falling flat on her face. After recovering from the concert, Bocchi's father reveals he secretly monetized Bocchi's "guitarhero" account and gives her the money from the channel's ad revenue, telling her to buy a new guitar with it. Bocchi goes shopping with her bandmates, and despite being scared of interacting with the staff inside, finally settles on a new guitar with Kita's help. | |||||
Japanese-language releases
English-language releases
- Ikumi Hasegawa, as the character Ikuyo Kita, provided the vocals for "Seishun Complex" and "Distortion!!".[10]
- Saku Mizuno, as the character Ryō Yamada, provided the vocals for "Karakara".[11]
- Sayumi Suzushiro, as the character Nijika Ijichi, provided the vocals for "What Is Wrong With".[12]
- Yoshino Aoyama, as the character Hitori Gotō, provided the vocals for "Rockn' Roll, Morning Light Falls on You".[5]
- All English titles are taken from Crunchyroll.[18]
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