This Week in Anime
Why You Should Rock Out with Bocchi the Rock!
by Nicholas Dupree & Monique Thomas,
The "girls form a band" anime eschews the tropes of its predecessors by taking an honest look at social anxiety backed by some killer music.
This series is streaming on Crunchyroll
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.
Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead.
@Lossthief
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@BeeDubsProwl
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@NickyEnchilada
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@vestenet
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Nick
Nicky, I've got just one question for you:
Are
You
Ready
To
ROCK!?
Nicky, I've got just one question for you:
Are
You
Ready
To
ROCK!?
Nicky
As a person who gets severe bouts of stage fright, absolutely not. No.
But if you're asking if I'm reading to talk about an anime about an extremely skilled pink-haired guitarist who also happens to get extremely nervous doing anything involving other people, then yes.
As a person who gets severe bouts of stage fright, absolutely not. No.
But if you're asking if I'm reading to talk about an anime about an extremely skilled pink-haired guitarist who also happens to get extremely nervous doing anything involving other people, then yes.
That's right baby, it's time for a listening party, and the LP on tap today is the new EP by Bocchi the Rock! The anxious sensation that's sweeping animation. She's here to go big AND go home, preferably in that order.
Bocchi the Rock! stars Hitori Goto, a socially-anxious girl who just entered high school. She has been introverted her whole life. After a band interview caught her attention that rockers could be introverts too, she spent most of middle school learning how to play guitar and uploading covers to YouTube under the name "guitarhero'. Despite picking up a new skill to combat her inability to talk to people, she has yet to make any social progress! Can the power of music really save her from a seemingly inevitable never-ending existence full of loneliness?
The answer is no! It turns out that learning the guitar is not an acceptable or applicable substitute for learning how to talk to people. A lesson every single nerdy teen musician was horrified to learn growing up. At least Bocchi was born late enough to have SoundCloud fans.
Back in my day, the only people you could get to listen to your guitar covers were generous friends or extremely patient family members.
Back in my day, the only people you could get to listen to your guitar covers were generous friends or extremely patient family members.
I was hyped for Bocchi from the moment I saw the first PV. I love music, anime, and especially anime about music. Getting a new one, especially one focused explicitly on rock music, is about as close as you can get to making a show specifically for me.
I initially thought it would look cute and be a low-key thing in a season of heavy hitters. Still, I also remained skeptical about getting another anime in recent years that attempts to portray having social problems for comedy or moe points. Though, that's not to say I had negative expectations. However, Bocchi's debut episode rocks most preconceptions about itself.
It's easy to brush off Bocchi's cuteness as something soft and easygoing, but while that's not bad, the whole show goes really hard. The direction is expressive, the comedy is fast-paced, and Bocchi's portrayal moves between being sympathetic to brutally honest without ever feeling too mean or sad and the right amount of laughter for anyone who has "been there." Oh, and the music is pretty good too! I would love to see some "light music" girls approach something like this.
Oh, the music fucking rules. The last time a music-based show had tracks I liked this much was Anonymous Noise, a show nobody but me should ever bother watching. But Kessoku Band (the in-universe group Bocchi joins) lays down some fantastic tracks, as heard in the show's OP and EDs.
It's not quite as directly in my wheelhouse as, say, the mid-2000s jock jams and rock ballads of BECK, but these are excellent songs that you could easily listen to outside of the show's context and still love.
It's not quite as directly in my wheelhouse as, say, the mid-2000s jock jams and rock ballads of BECK, but these are excellent songs that you could easily listen to outside of the show's context and still love.
The OP visuals don't hold back, either. Though the EDs have immense charm as well. Whether they're drumming up the show's more upbeat tones or sounding out Bocchi's inherent sense of melancholy. There are a lot of different sounds packed in these.
It rules and is somehow just a small sample of how the show's visuals can get out there. It still seems crazy to me that in a year with Pop Team Epic and Kaguya-sama seasons, there's stiff competition from a newbie for the most experimental and visually inventive show of the year. They even do the Kare Kano thing!
Every episode contains new multitudes of face games whenever something triggers Bocchi's intense dissociative episodes. But the show has a lot of flare outside of Bocchi's Bad Brain. There are a ton of great visual gags, and the editing keeps the overall rhythm relatively quick.
Bocchi's flights of...well, not "fancy," but you know what I mean, are some of the wildest shit I've seen. It goes beyond face game to her physically disassociating from this dimension altogether.
In her defense, that is also how I feel when somebody tells me to sign up for Instagram.
In her defense, that is also how I feel when somebody tells me to sign up for Instagram.
That's not even mentioning the joke that follows her where she imagines herself as an attention-whoring social-media-fed kaiju. Can we say #relatable? Reminder to follow me on all my platforms!
Though it's not just the big, attention-grabbing moments that make this show funny. It's also incredibly good at kicking you in your kidneys if you were an awkward kid trying to compensate for social skills with band merch and accessories.
Pictured: me whenever I remember things that happened in middle school (and also anything before or after).
That's the power of Bocchi at its core: making you cringe and laugh at all the embarrassing shit that your brain makes you remember as you're trying to fall asleep at night
Bocchi's thoughts are exaggerated for comedy but in a way that feels authentic to how an anxiety-riddled brain spirals to make mountains out of molehills with the obvious intent that these bad vibes are unfounded. It's an interesting portrayal for an anime because her situation is not as light or cathartic as something like Komi-san, but I also wouldn't call it as agonizingly real as something like WATAMOTE!
But also, it's just solid delivery that never makes you feel like you're laughing at Bocchi for feeling that way.
But also, it's just solid delivery that never makes you feel like you're laughing at Bocchi for feeling that way.
It is firmly in Bocchi's corner, urging her to overcome her internal struggles and build the connections she so desperately wants to build, but it's also got just enough bite that you can tell it comes from an authentic place. This is being created by someone(s) very familiar with brain poison.
It helps that the rest of the cast/bandmates are great too. While moping around with her guitar, Bocchi gets spotted by a girl from her school and swiftly recruited into a band after their previous guitarist hit the bricks. Bocchi goes from only being able to play hiding in a closet to rockin' out live!
Well, "live."
I can't believe we got tickets to see Solid Snake live in concert!
I can't believe we got tickets to see Solid Snake live in concert!
Baby steps, Bocchi. It's also good that Bocchi's new bandmates are pretty understanding despite not getting her. So not only is she getting help coming out of her cardboard shell, she might actually be making real friends.
That's not something to take for granted! Ask most musicians how their first band turned out if you think otherwise. Having regular friends who are understanding and happy to accommodate the kind of stuff Bocchi deals with is rare, let alone friends who you also spend hours trying to play music with.
To Nijika and Co's credit, while they don't always "get" what Bocchi is freaking out over, they treat her with compassion nonetheless.
To Nijika and Co's credit, while they don't always "get" what Bocchi is freaking out over, they treat her with compassion nonetheless.
They all have their quirks, too. Nijika is the peppy leader and drummer trying to tie the "Kessoku Band" together, but her efforts don't always work. Ryo, the group's bassist, is extraordinarily aloof and fits the image of an eccentric musician. Together they work at Starry, a live house owned by Nijika's older sister. They all play off each other well, making good banter even when Bocchi isn't great at conversation.
They also go well into detail about what a band has to do to be successful, of course.
They also go well into detail about what a band has to do to be successful, of course.
That's the other thing I really dig about this show. It's not just about music in the abstract but in the nitty-gritty details of being an independent band. Booking shows, doing auditions, needing to make quotas, and performing to hostile or disinterested crowds. The Love Live! girls never have to deal with all that stuff. Heck, they even dip briefly into the melancholy of a death scene in one episode.
One of the first hurdles is figuring out that playing music costs money because unless you've already got an audience, you have to make up the difference out-of-pocket, so the venues aren't working at a profit loss.
Also, while Bocchi is lucky enough to inherit her dad's guitar, usually burgeoning musicians have to buy their instruments too. And when you're a know-nothing teenager, that usually means buying the wrong thing.
Don't worry about it too much, Kita. Sometimes these are happy accidents! Like how Peter Hook buying a shitty amp gave Joy Division their distinct sound!
Don't worry about it too much, Kita. Sometimes these are happy accidents! Like how Peter Hook buying a shitty amp gave Joy Division their distinct sound!
Oh yeah, this is Kita, the guitarist who fled because she didn't actually know how to play guitar and just said she did because she admires Ryo after she, in her own words, "fell head over heels." Her pure bubbly aura makes her pretty much the opposite spectrum of Bocchi, but she's good fun too.
Kita is also a disaster, just in the opposite direction. Where Bocchi stresses herself out by constantly overthinking every interaction in her life, Kita brings chaos by never thinking about much of anything. She's a delight and has great taste in girls.
For those watching at home, please note that joining a band to get a date rarely works out this gracefully.
For those watching at home, please note that joining a band to get a date rarely works out this gracefully.
Watching Bocchi struggle with Kita's whole glow is pretty funny but her being a little too thirsty, on top of being a bit of an honest airhead, makes her just as weird as the rest of them.
And that's not even getting into some of the adults!
And that's not even getting into some of the adults!
Ah, I see it's finally time to introduce my wife.
Who did you and Steve talk into letting there be an adult alcoholic rocker chick with shark teeth in this inspirational coming-of-age story? That's the only explanation for how she's so good.
Let's pretend it was a bargaining agreement with Kadokawa, even if that doesn't technically make any sense. Either way, Kikuri is as perfect as she is drunk, meaning she is an immaculate creation too pure for this earth.
Though in tune with how this show works, she's not just chugging down sake because she likes to party. She's coy about it, but it's clear Bocchi's inadvertent mentor is dealing with her shit, and the booze is her own...let's say "questionable" means of dealing with it.
Though in tune with how this show works, she's not just chugging down sake because she likes to party. She's coy about it, but it's clear Bocchi's inadvertent mentor is dealing with her shit, and the booze is her own...let's say "questionable" means of dealing with it.
This isn't portrayed as healthy, but it is, again, genuine without ever getting to the depressing part.
Even if Bocchi doesn't see it that way.
Kikuri as a character kind of hits a similar vein as Welcome to the NHK, where there is some dark subject matter peeking out from underneath the already black humor, but that's thankfully balanced by her being a genuinely helpful mentor to our anxious inchworm of a heroine.
We have yet to mention that, like some of the best shows around a skill or talent, Bocchi the Rock! does tackle the creative issues musicians face head-on. Earlier, Bocchi struggled to write between lyrics that were true to herself with her gloomy outlook versus lyrics that would be popular and land well with an audience. Here, Bocchi struggles to fill her ticket quota for the concert but doesn't know anybody to give tickets to. She finds a spiritual mentor in Kikuri who pushes her to do an impromptu street performance.
It's one of the show's (many) standout moments, letting all the self-doubt and fear that's always crowding Bocchi's head fade into the background for a few precious seconds, allowing her to realize that the people around her aren't constantly judging or looking down on her. And it hits all the harder knowing that, more than likely, Kikuri had to learn that same lesson at some point.
Bocchi is growing. She's supported not just by this random adult she found on the street but by her bandmates too. Ryo gives her honest opinion on Bocchi's lyrics, and Nijika tries to get Bocchi to think about what she wants from the band. Seika, Nijika's older sister, gives the band some tough love but forces them to establish their own identity. They all have their flaws, but it feels like they're making progress without losing what makes each unique.
And, of course, mixed in among all the heartfelt character work and empathetic exploration of anxiety and depression, there are some of the best god damn animated concert scenes in anime. There have only been two full performances, but both have been fan-fucking-tastic.
Her brain may be full of poison and vinegar, but Bocchi can fuckin' shred.
Her brain may be full of poison and vinegar, but Bocchi can fuckin' shred.
There are a few cheats here and there with CG models, but lots of the actual instrumentation is implemented very well. It's another way you can feel the outpouring of love from the production.
That is to say, besides all the joking around and the focus on Bocchi in her adolescence, the show does love the genre. There's so much fun seeing all the WacDonalds versions of other bands or learning that all the members are based after Asian Kung-Fu Generation. Even just from the fandom perspective, it's been great to see all the fanart and parodies of albums or music videos featuring Bocchi characters
I know Twitter is falling apart at the seams, but you owe it to yourself to check out the #BTRBandParody tag on there. It's been the best part of that entire site for months.
Though, what I love most about the show's musical performances is how they capture the feeling of it all. Live concerts are some of the most fun I've ever had, and something I've been aching to return to in the wake of gestures at the world. So Bocchi has been touching, nostalgic, and a way to reconnect with something that means a lot to me. It rules.
Overall, Bocchi the Rock! isn't just a regular show; it rocks. It could've easily gone with something more unambitious and still be a decent story about a bunch of girls strumming instruments. Still, its unique identity plays extremely loud and clear throughout from its animation, humor, and characters. An anime that demands to be seen and heard among all the other shows that might attempt to drown it out. Everyone should try hopping on the Kessoku Bandwagon!
Give it a watch, not just because it's possibly the best anime of the year, but because if you DON'T watch it, you're killing Bocchi. You wouldn't want to do that, now would you? You're not a monster, right? RIGHT????
Please prevent Bocchi from dying. They're an endangered species and must be protected. Let the Bocchi in your life know you love them, and share their SoundCloud in the comments.
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