Bocchi the Rock!

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Japanese: ぼっち・ざ・ろっく!

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Type: Manga

Volumes: Unknown

Chapters: Unknown

Status: Publishing

Published: Dec 19, 2017 to ?

Genre: Comedy

Themes: CGDCT, Music

Serialization: Manga Time Kirara MAX

Authors: Hamaji, Aki (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.30¹ (scored by 7,887 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #334²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #689

Members: 29,781

Favorites: 1,119

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Wikipedia

8.30

Ranked #334Popularity #689Members 29,781

MangaManga Time Kirara MAXHamaji, Aki (Story & Art)

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Bocchi the Rock!

Vol. 1
$6.99

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Synopsis

High school student Hitori "Bocchi" Gotou has no social life or any friends—unless you count her guitar. She dreams of creating a school band in the hopes that using her instrument will elevate her social standing. However, despite spending the last two years diligently practicing guitar, she is no closer to her goal.

Although she has gained a following online for her guitar covers of popular songs, Bocchi's lack of social skills means that her dream may ultimately be impossible. But one day, drummer Nijika Ijichi spots Bocchi with her guitar alone in a park. Desperately in need of a guitarist, Nijika quickly recruits Bocchi to the band that Nijika has formed with bassist Ryou Yamada—Kessoku Band. Though overwhelmed and left floundering at the sudden social interaction, Bocchi realizes this may be the start of something bigger.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Bocchi the Rock! ranked eighth in the Best Printed Manga category at the fifth Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Awards in 2019.

Kessoku Band is inspired by the J-rock band Asian Kung-Fu Generation, where the characters share surnames and instrument roles with their counterparts.

The series has been published in English by Yen Press since October 17, 2023.

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Characters

Gotou, Hitori

Main

Yamada, Ryou

Main

Ijichi, Nijika

Main

Kita, Ikuyo

Main

Hiroi, Kikuri

Supporting

PA-san

Supporting

Ijichi, Seika

Supporting

Gotou, Futari

Supporting

Gotou, Naoki

Supporting

Gotou, Michiyo

Supporting

Reviews

Oct 28, 2022

OG_Otaku

Recommended

Preliminary (7/? eps)

The new CloverWorks anime Bocchi the Rock! is a hit.

The original source is a 4-koma or four-panel comic strip collected into magazine "volumes" by Manga Time Kirara MAX. There is no official English translation that I can find, and English translations can be found on the usual websites.

I am not a fan of the 4-koma type of manga. The format looks like a cheap web 'toon or a story meant to be read on your smart phone. The four panel style limits the amount of information that can be included. It is a stripped down or spare manga. This is just my personal ...

Open

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Oct 14, 2023

baragon_enjoyer

Recommended

Preliminary (52/? eps)

*the mildest of spoilers for an early character's introduction scene, a different early character's primary motivation, and an off-hand mention to what chapter number a major arc ends on*

you ever watch a show on like, paleontology or something, dinosaurs, and the dude takes some animal’s partial skeleton, like just a small skull fragment, and half a jaw bone, and then somehow uses that to completely extrapolate an entire animal out of that? like full skeleton, muscle structure, organs, even like, behaviors and such?

“oh yeah, because it’s skull was shaped like this, we can figure out that it ate this and that and probably lived ...

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Oct 4, 2025

Nox---

Not Recommended

Preliminary (42/? eps)

It is not that often that i would actually resent a manga / anime. It can happen for three different reasons.

1) The thing is just that tragically bad and infuriating ("Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun", "Infinite Stratos", "Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de" are examples of this).

2) The thing was full of promises, but then undermined itself so tragically that i ended up resenting it for wasting so badly its potential (this applies to "Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai ", "Nijuu Mensou no Musume " (this one hurts), "Kore wa Zombie desu ka?")

3) Lastly, it can happen if i find the thing ... just plain disgusting ("Death Note", "Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!", and finally, "Bocchi the Rock").

Yes, this thing called "Bocchi the Rock" is the number 3 case. I will state it immediately for the sake of convenience: if you hated "Watamote" as much as i did, if you felt that a comedy manga meant to get laughs from showcasing a suicidal kid suffering is more disturbing than it is fun... then you should probably avoid Bocchi, too. I have read 42 chapters, then sort of understood that Bocchi wasn't evolving. All that 'humour' around her social anxieties and depression was getting repetitive. So i checked a few pages of chapter 85 in order to confirm or disprove my suspicions... Needless to say, they were proven right.

It became clear very early to me that "Bocchi the Rock !" suffers from the very same massive, central problem as "Detroit Metal City" and "Yowamushi Pedal". The so-called 'humour' takes a lot of place, and it almost integrally revolves around the MC being ridiculed for laughs. Think about this for one minute: why is this such a damning mistake? It is simple: because making a comedy manga where the MC is the comic relief means that you can't reach a point where the MC is not the comic relief anymore without throwing out your whole comedic set-up. And when said humour is about ridiculing or bullying said MC... well... you get what you would expect: NO character developement whatsoever, and the MC will get consistently put in the same embarrassing situations until the point where the author doesn't need to "sell" anymore (i.e: near the end).

To me, reading this becomes tantamount to reading psychological torture masturbation porn. And i can't imagine how anyone can take joy to the end in reading this, unless they are bullies themselves. Watching a MC character suffering, getting mocked and ridiculed, fighting her condition, but never getting rewarded for her efforts, is just depressing and sick after some time. Even more so when you understand that it is not about what the story is like. It is just as gratuitous as maintaining the original comedic set-up in order to get more laughs over the years. It is important here to consider that the author simply genuinely believed that making her MC a shut-in and then torturing her in every way possible in her 'comedic moments' was simply the way to go to craft good fun. If you disagree with this stance as much as i do, simply avoid this. There is no revenge to be had, or justice to be found. It starts and will probably reach near the end with Bocchi being severely embarrassed by situations at all times, and it being supposed to be fun, even by chapter 90 or so. I know that in Japan, there are actually cases of people and celebrities that have been cancelled for bragging about bullying others at school, because they genuinely thought this actually made them part of the group of the 'popular' kids. Like a badge of honor, maybe? Even some teachers have been known for actively participating in said bullying of students. In some cases, under the pretense of "it is their own fault, it is what they get for not fitting". I even saw once an interview of a japanese on YT, by a japanese, and it was necessary to see the face of his girlfriend when he started to brag out of nowhere about this... She was sick, and i was, too. But he didn't realise it. And then, this is a society where something like "Watamote" is actually popular. You don't need to look for explanations that far, sometimes.

Still, the whole thing still could have worked here, if only the author had actually accepted to throw out her premise midway through and made Bocchi actually evolve, become more socially apt, and actually reap the rewards of her hard work. It wouldn't have been a problem to make Bocchi such a character if the author was committed to tell her story. But this doesn't happen, and won't happen. "Medalist" does that, too. Inori is basically the same as Bocchi. But it works. Why you ask? Because in "Medalist", Inori evolves. Her suffering and lack of self-esteem mutate into something close and different at the same time: the absolute need to assert her value in her own yes, and in the eyes of others. But Inori is not the central comic relief of the story, as opposed to Bocchi... Because again, making a manga where your MC is the central comic relief is the best way to make sure there is no character development to be found. From a wimp, Inori turns into a somewhat disturbed but strong character, and continues to evolve organically little by little, once she found the way to give her life value and meaning. Bocchi found this way, too, through music. But she NEVER evolves. She is the "guitar hero" adulated by everyone on the internet. But she will remain the loser she always was in life, no matter how much her band becomes successful. She will never learn how to look people in the eyes, and not to stammer when saying "hello", because the author wouldn't have anything fun to do with this manga if her MC actually made some progress.

The number of disastrously embarassing situations Bocchi finds herself in, in this manga... This is so over-the-top. I have read comments of people saying how reading was painful. DARN IT IS indeed. This is a normal reaction from an actually somewhat empathetic human being. I can't even begin to fathom what kind of people can actually wholeheartedly love that kind of thing from beginning to end, when they know that the character will never be redeemed. Makes me think of these people who slow down to see if someone is dead when they come across a car accident. Or those who pro-activey enjoy looking for gossips about this celebrity or this one, that is going through hell in their life. Is watching human misery that satisfying and funny? Who has never met a kid like Bocchi and still can't relate?

This is, again, the heart of this manga. In the backdrop, you have the musical career, that somehow makes progress. But Bocchi's status and mindset and fears never truly change, even after 7 or 8 volumes. Bocchi is a character that can manage to play guitar somehow before hundreds of people, but can't even enter a random shop. This is obvious contrivance. Obviously, her social phobia is again used as an excuse by the author to explain why she actually sucks at playing guitar, despite Hitori being the genius "Guitar Hero". You know, this whole.... 'but i can't play well if there are people around, even after dozens of concerts'. Because yes, she doesn't get used to it, either, beyond the plot-necessary "the band needs to make progress for the story to make progress too". That would destroy the never-changing comedic set-up, after all... You can tell from all this that the author won't let go of her 'lame Bocchi that gets laughs' even if her life was at stake. This is once again a case of a MC that has to be lower than everyone, a hero who, no matter how skilled or special, will be ignored for life by society. All the other group members will be adulated, celebrated, but Bocchi will likely remain in the closet, just because she is the MC, and MCs pertain to the closet. Yet again, the 'invisible hero trope' at its very worst.

See? The whole thing is throughly contrived by the author to somehow manage to further her musical story without compromising the nature of the laughingstock that is meant to be her MC. The humour actually works in the beginning: it is visual, imaginative and while the base of the jokes is the same, they come in all sorts of shapes and forms. But by chapter 30, even this stopped being enough, and it started to feel repetitive. Because ultimately, it is. It only worked in the beginning, as long as i thought the character would be redeemed, as it was in "Medalist". It was my mistake for believing that something as fetid as "Watamote" had to be an exception.

And i am sorry to say that, despite this review tackling mostly Bocchi herself, i feel like i truly adressed most important aspects of this manga. I mean, that is truly the bread and butter of it all. The manga's title is the character's name after all. The anime wasn't so bad because there were music scenes (even more than one song at times, which was great), and they extended many scenes. Utimately, it only adapted 21 chapters. So, the whole season 1 doesn't have time to turn rank and remains a decent watch. But one thing is for sure, after reading the manga, i removed Bocchi Season 2 from my 'plan to watch' category on MAL.

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Poll: Bocchi the Rock! Chapter 92 Discussion TheSelleri - Oct 31	3 replies	by LyanHS »» Dec 8, 3:55 PM
Poll: Bocchi the Rock! Chapter 22 Discussion OG_Otaku - Oct 12, 2022	3 replies	by Relampago1995 »» Dec 2, 5:56 PM
Poll: Bocchi the Rock! Chapter 21 Discussion luinthoron - Oct 26, 2022	2 replies	by Relampago1995 »» Dec 2, 5:20 PM
Poll: Bocchi the Rock! Chapter 93 Discussion TheSelleri - Nov 17	1 replies	by Dumb »» Nov 17, 10:56 PM
Poll: Bocchi the Rock! Chapter 6 Discussion Karva1 - May 3, 2023	1 replies	by Relampago1995 »» Oct 7, 5:56 PM

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