User Reviews

First off, let's just get this out of the way: this show is comedy gold. Each episode has me laughing often - mostly thanks to the ridiculous antics of the show's lovably reclusive protagonist, Hitori. As the audience follows her experience trying to form a band, despite having absolutely no social skills, we meet a variety of enjoyable characters, and the interactions between these characters are always consistently funny.

As for the production, it's easy to say that Studio Cloverworks nailed the animation - the characters move very naturally and fluidly, and the color palette and compositing makes the show feel alive and beautiful. When matched with great music and voice acting, the show is clearly very well produced.

Bocchi the Rock is a slice-of-life anime depicting the story of young rocker Hitori Goto, her artistic and musical journey, and most importantly, her difficulty in dealing with deep social anxiety. What makes the anime so special are primarily the handling of comic timing and the incredible use of animation to depict the protagonist's inner states. Script and creativity match perfectly in the realization of a multifaceted, entertaining show with whom to empathize. Good is also the handling of the entire cast of characters and their relationships, and excellent the handling of the theme at hand.

Super recommended, as this is an anime that many people will manage to find very relatable as well as inspirational.

Musically contagious, visually impressive and overcharged personality-wise. There's a lot of talent here!

But more than a successful little comedy, pretty animation and good use of different styles.. It is the excellent execution of a good emotional core, uplifting interactions and onlook on life that weights heavily on my heart, and the reason I can have this kind of connection. To me, it is more than just your average anime girls doing silly things together; but how it makes me think about myself and how things I wished were like for me and everyone around. I do feel my excitement peaked in the middle, leaving the ending to be lesser as a result.

But this studio knows how to tell a story through animation perfectly, and I wished to recommend this to everyone that has the time, and maybe a little doubt about anything. The feeling it leaves you with is how you finish with a "good day".

Bocchi the Rock is a masterpiece. I was raving to my friend about this show and begging him to watch it and he said he wasn't sure because he's not a Japenese teenage girl. I told him that didn't matter because anxiety and music are universal.

This show has one of the most relatable and realistic depictions of social anxiety I've ever seen in any show. There were many small, specific instances where Bocchi expressed anxiety in situations that I have personally experienced. Not just that, but it handles anxiety in a realistic way while also managing to be absolutely hilarious. In real life, anxiety is anything but funny. It can be crippling and debilitating. In Bocchi the Rock, anxiety is shown with respect and understanding while managing to make it laugh out loud funny. A very hard feat to achieve for a piece of fiction.

The music in this show is also very well done. The songs within the context of the show are excellent. The lyrics and sound almost perfectly reflect the characters who created them. Again, the artists struggle is very well done and covers a lot of very relatable and universal situations dealing with feelings of inadequacy, imposter syndrome, and the vulnerability that comes with releasing a piece of art for public scrutiny. But it goes even farther and manages to deliver an incredibly uplifting and inspirational story from a very grounded perspective of a fledgling and insecure artist.

The writing alone would be enough to elevate this show to exceptional status but the animation and production is also extremely well done and exactly on point. There's a lot of very creative animated scenes that I've never seen in an anime before. There's occasional cuts to live action, CG animation, claymation, and many other mediums. These unusual pieces of animation are extremely creative and it's not self indulgent. Every one of these scenes was done in a specific style for effect and they all land perfectly. Most of the show is animated as a traditional anime but I loved that they experimented with completely original mediums.

Bocchi the rock made me tear up in almost every episode while also making me laugh out loud in every episode. Personally, I rate pieces of fiction based on how strong of an emotional reaction I have. That's why I'm giving Bocchi the Rock a 10/10 rating. I don't give many pieces of fiction a perfect score but I truly believe this is a perfect show.

After it finished, I could only wish for more. More seasons are coming, I only wish they would come sooner. Very few shows have made me feel Bocchi the Rock's unique combination of cute, wholesome, touching, funny, and inspirational.

"Society is scary!!!" I get you Bocchi, you have no idea how much I get you. This anime takes the idea of "humour based on my pain" to another level. This anime takes a very satirical approach on social anxiety. It's somehow just so relatable and so hilarious at the same time. This is the most I've laughed watching an anime in a long time, ever since I saw KonoSuba or SaikiK. I'm a huge overthinker myself. So this anime just hits different for me. It's a very exaggerated approach on overthinking and anxiety but that's exactly why it works. There are scenes where Bocchi goes on this long path of thoughts while overthinking and ends up getting scared of something very unrealistic. And it's hilarious yes, but then I look back at times when I get anxious of something very irrational and I just don't notice it at that time. So the writers got it exactly right.

The studio Cloverworks has outdone itself. I'm not a fan of their work because they tend to pick up stories with great potential, and they utilize like half of that potential (Horimiya, Balance Unlimited, Shadows House). But they have completely proved me wrong here. The animation is absolutely gorgeous. The character designs are downright hilarious. The direction and editing is so funny, it's unbelievable. And the source material wasn't even that famous. Not many knew about Bocchi The Rock when it started. And now its one of the highest rated animes on MAL. So they've created this almost from scratch. Almost every episode is hilarious. And the band performance scenes gave me goosebumps because I really cared about the character Bocchi, and knowing her struggles, I wanted her to succeed. The side characters and the camaraderie between them is great too.

At first I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I started watching this anime. But wow, Bocchi the Rock absolutely amazed me! I feel like it accomplished everything it was meant to be. From Bocchi being a relatable character to the details of her music career being done in such a nice paced and detailed way. Something that I enjoyed was that the funny moments actually gave me some good laughs! I have seen so many funny moments in animes that are way too unfunny. But Bocchi the Rock changed that for me. I never thought I would become such a fan of this anime. I rarely give anything 10 stars. But Bocchi the Rock got me to the point in which I feel like it deserves 10 stars. This anime is a must watch!

Inspite others have mentioned almost everything, I really wanted to make my own review on Bocchi because at the end it became one of my favorite animes unexpectedly. (I wanted to watch a 'music anime' and it just happened, like how Birdie Wing got me which I didn't expect from a sports anime at the first place.)

Bocchi The Rock offers everything to be a great show. It starts slowly so you have to be patient and bear with Bocchi's character, because she is a borderline annoying introvert. Not saying she is unbelievably portrayed, but the way she is... well, that's the way she will be till the end, more or less. I would have given this show a 10 if she had been a bit less of an annoyance, but I understood the artistic exaggeration here, so for me it was okay. Maybe, not for you, check the first few episodes, she will change, but not too much. (At least she won't perform in a card box and becomes able to stand in front of a large audience which is a great achievement, now that I think of it.)

But then the other characters of the band get introduced and they are all lovely and provide a constant source of wholesome fun. And then they start playing music which is the real deal! In episode 5 they perform on stage which is super dope and the show starts to show its true merits. Later they perform in episodes 8 and 12 and it gets more and more awesome, I have watched episode 8 a few times because that's really the climax of the story.

So, yeah, there is definitely a nice story arc in the show and it's nice to see as they get together as a band, caring for each other and getting better and better by each episode. The in-between episodes do not feel filler at all, every single one tells a correct story. I would have appreciated a little bit of more drama and a less annoying Bocchi with some real changes in her personality, but it's great the way as it is and maybe I'm asking for too much. Music plays an important part of the show and it truly shines in that department! Kessoku Band has even released its real album which sold pretty well, check it out, cos it's good.

(Don't expect romance or yuri content here, even though there is a small hint in the beginning when Kita is joining the band - maybe in Season 2? Btw. The drunken girl was my favorite. Anime doesn't shy away to show some bad examples, does it? My soul mate.)

First couple episode I thought that anime as childish, but then my opinion turned almost to 180 degree! So it's just perfect for people who learn instrument and seek motivation or something for relaxing aside practices. It was really fun! I don't think that it deserved 10, but I hit it anyway, something in that title was close to my heart, so 10/10! Characters were also interestingly designed I think many can find yourself there, also characters have their own purposes, dreams, and that also gives food for thinking. So I'm playing guitar and I enjoyed by watching this, but I think even who not can also have a nice time by watching this, so I recommend Bocchi! Don't drop too early and you'll be pleased!

Bocchi The Rock! :

"Abandoning your uniqueness is equivalent to dying"

Every episode just feels so incredible. The staff understands this story and its sentiment at such a deep level it's incredible. They laid off the crazy visuals and overly creative aspects to make the buildup to their playing more grounded and the focal point of the episode rather than the visual aspect itself, and then brought it out once they were in the clear. They know exactly what they want to do, and how to achieve it and it's just so awesome. They mix and match and play with a back and forth of everything to establish the baseline for the creativity of the series, and depending and content and context, branch out from that where they can. The realism seems to be a pillar of the series at this point, alongside the aggressive camera angles, and the relative visual creativity with Bocchi. But they don't reach past that, they don't search for a stronger piece to cling to or make use of this episode until the very end, and it works wonders.

Regardless of the creativity of the staff for this episode, their execution was nothing short of stellar. Was it just CGI? Was it rotoscoped like Bocchi's run earlier in the episode? They chose relatively low detail designs for the characters so the line is so incredibly blurry between all the different modes that without a point of reference in the same scene it's impossible to tell. Even then, they've been massaging CGI and 3d work into the backgrounds and props of the series so far so the line gets blurred even further. Whether a creative choice or one to cut corners while providing the best possible execution of their music I've no idea, but the work done is incredible from start to finish.

Bocchi The Rock just casually shows up each week to prove that it's even or better at basically everything than all the other seasonals out there right now, and then walks away as if nothing happened just so they can get ready to show up for next week too. It's incredible. They excel at 2d, 3d, rotoscoping, environment and background work, camera angles, art styles, animation styles, lighting and shading, just every step in the visual process is dominated by the staff at Cloverworks right now. And that's not even adding on top the creative work for things like the dialogue and interaction, the amazing efforts from the VAs, and so on and so forth. Just sort of incredible to experience this level of polish and passion each week.

Obra Maestra...

I'm not doing a spoiler review because to do that would ruin it, but Bocchi the Rock is one of the single most perfect examples of passion in media I've seen in a very long time. Nearly every single frame of animation in this gloriously beautiful show is done with such care and detail that it screams the staff working on this both loved the work they did on this and love the source material involved.

I won't detail anything, but in three examples the staff made a player piece for the Game of Life that is shaped like Bocchi herself, filmed themselves playing the game with the Bocchi player piece for a total of about 30 seconds of footage.

They also built a stop motion animation of a circular running track with about a dozen moving characters in it.

They also also made KNITTED slime Bocchi for a total of 2 references.

They also also also filmed an actual band playing the music from the series, rotoscoped over that, made it into 3D models of the characters, then drew over that in a second rotoscope just to get the correct hand placement, body movements and weight distribution with instruments for the band playing scenes.

That alone should be enough to tell you the love put into this glorious piece of media that's a love letter to the anime community, the story of Bocchi herself and animation in general. But I'm not even done.

The Voice Acting (Seiyuu) is beyond perfect in such a way that the actresses playing the characters are doing such a good job in portraying this story that I'm always astounded at their performances, from talents that can play ranges from an adorable cute Chuuninbyou in other series to a tough and serious older sister in this to Bocchi's Seiyuu herself, I only learned today that there's less effect put into her voice scenes than you'd think, that one glitch scene...yeah that's all Yoshino Aoyama.

It's rare when I can sit back and say to myself there's no bias in my giving this 10 out of 10, it deserves it and it's a landmark piece of Anime for the 2020s.

Following in the footsteps of K-On and enhancing on the genre, Bocchi the Rock! Recreates what it means to make something enticing for the audience without needing much emphasis on animation. The plot keeps you on your toes and delivers a strong performance by the VA and has an amazing soundtrack and album songs. Dealing with social anxiety, Hitori Gotoh gets dragged into playing for a band and embarks on a journey of her dreams fulfillment. Supporting Characters don't intrude too much into her character development but provide stepping stones for her development. The animators have done an amazing job of bringing this anime to life and the comedic aspects of the anime haven't been lost by overcompensation. Providing quality content, i hope that this anime is not crushed under its own success and keeps developing upon its own genre. 10/10 can't wait for newer seasons to be announced.

'Bochi the Rock!' tells the story of the absurdly introverted Hitori Gotoh who wants to become a rock star. She is as talented at playing the guitar as she is introverted, so her first step at becoming an outgoing extrovert is joining the high-school band 'Kessoku Band'.

The show's greatest strength lies in its characters, who are all likeable and memorable, and the emotional connections they form. 'Bocchi' quickly becomes a thoroughly positive and uplifting show about a shut-in forming her first friendships while making excellent music on the way.

The soundtrack, while not exactly filled with masterpieces, is pretty neat, joining the pretty animations and solid voice acting in a generally high production value.

Personally, I found the humour a tad too overdone and silly at times. It's also very much a slice-of-life show, so there is generally fairly little suspense and not all that much of an overarching story. The exception to this are the last few episodes, which are continuous and, in a few scenes, oddly intense. It does feel like the show peaked more around its middle than at its end, though.

I wouldn't mind watching a second season of 'Bocchi the Rock!', and can certainly recommend it to anyone who isn't turned off by slice-of-life all-girl music animes. It's perfectly kid friendly, except for the notorious drunkard... ehh.

You know, I love when an anime reminds me why I even like anime in the first place, as 'Bocchi the rock' is honestly the perfect comfort show, it's actually funny, (albeit a little weird sometimes), it got lots of references to other anime, great animation, and it's super relatable to its target audience too, socially awkward weebs who smell like crap and never leave their room. (Which I'm allowed to say, since I'm one and no... I'm not proud of it)

It's basically 'K-on!' If Tomoko from 'Watamote' was the main character of that anime, but in my opinion, 'Bocchi' is better than both of these anime combined, and I do like the other two but 'bocchi' is just the funniest anime out of the three (and also it has way better social anxiety representation than 'Watamote'), and while 'Bocchi' is very much a comedy anime, it got it's slower moments (in a good way), and it's just a lighthearted and comforting watch all around.