The Best Slice of Life Anime: Bocchi the Rock

WAIT! Before you comment it, I know that's Yamcha and not Goku. Don't type it! I see you. I know you want to type it, but nooo you mustn't. Also editing this comment to put in that I have been told many a-times in this comment section that Hitori actually writes all the lyrics, not just the one song so that was an error on my part. Now, some of you might be getting a notification for this video and thinking to yourself: "Wait, didn't he upload this a few days ago?" And if you thought that, you would be right! The part where Bocchi does her solo was claimed for copyright, so I put more edits on that clip to hopefully keep it copyright free. Sorry for the ping! I just really want to make this video stick, I put a lot of heart into it. In other words, its good to be back! The response for the first time this video was live was so positive, and it made me very happy to have made it. If you haven't watched Bocchi the Rock, please go do so. It's so, so good. Happy New Year! And have a wonderful day :)

If an anime can convince thousands, probably tens of thousands of people to grab a guitar and start learning, then it’s probably a good anime

bocchi the rock unironically made my life better by motivating me to continue my passions in the new year

(Everyone on stage but Bocchi is succumbing to stage fright) “Why isn’t the stage fright affecting Bocchi?!” “That’s my secret. I always have stage fright.”

This show made me, a 30 year old man, change something I recognized I was doing to myself. The introduction of Hiroi, the "Happiness Spiral", and Bocchi's dark potential future helped me realize I needed to cut back on my drinking. I started drinking for the exact same reason as Hiroi, to overcome my introversion and anxiety but it had started following me home. I started waking up and feeling like I wanted a drink. Anyway, this silly magnificent show helped me realize that's not who I want to be going forward.

when the string broke on the last episode. its crazy how much i relate to the scene since im a guitarist and musician myself. when hitori tried to tune her 1st string it made a noise, and it look hard to turn the peg, in that instance i thought to myself ( oh, is the string gonna break?) and it did. that attention to detail is fantastic. this happen to me on multiple show and it always panic inducing every single time. but like hitori, you'll learn how to handle the situation in multiple ways.

All the other newer anime struggling to do literally anything to gain popularity then bocchi just appears with 0 start up and just takes over the #1 anime role in two months. That's insane

You can really feel the passion that went into this anime... absolute gem this is.

This show was so good glad I watched it before it slipped my mind. The animation style reminds me of Courage the Cowardly Dog and Gumball with how it enforces several styles like claymation, 3D modeling, and surrealism. Bocchi is painfully accurate to how socially awkward people act but you want her to break free of it. She has a good support group for friends who try to make her comfortable. Best girl is probably a tie between Hiroi and Ryo. Ryo's probably my spirit animal.

6:26 Yamada didn't write the lyrics for the band, that's Hitori. Episode 4 is about her trying the write lyrics for the band. Thats why most of kessoku band's songs lyric is kinda dark. Yamada compose the songs for the band.

I can’t express how much I love this anime. I literally lived the same highschool life as Bocchi, was inspired to play the guitar, and I managed to play with a band in a school festival, I even played lead guitar like Bocchi. LITERALLY EVERYTHING except working in a live house and the 30k subs… Now that I’m in college and seeing this anime brought me to tears almost unlike any anime I’ve watched so far. Thank you for the video man and I agree that this is anime of the year.

I relate not just to Bocchi's anxiety, but to her tendency to catastrophize situations, to imagine the worst that could happen, and her neurotic tendencies to see the negative rather than positive in a situation. and also to performing best when shit hits the fan, while otherwise being a disaster. it's too real. And sometimes I do feel, metaphorically, like I could dissolve into dust, or pop like a balloon, after doing something particularly embarrassing or being in a strange and unfamiliar situation. And I think here it's important to talk about subject vs object, when it comes to storytelling. Bocchi is consistently a subject rather than an object, someone whose feelings we feel - whose mood literally warps the reality of the show. She isn't just the main character - she has heavily defined wants and ideals and fears. now, and this is a really low hanging fruit for comparison, but I can't help it, Komi from Komi Can't Communicate is by and large an object. Like, yes, we know she wants friends, but we don't hear her inner monologue, and both the writing and the shot framing put her up on a pedestal, and sort of otherize her. While a lot of what her classmates believe about her isn't true, it seems like it's only natural for them to idolize her and obsess over her. which, no? That's fucking weird. but that's beside the point. The subject of Komi Can't Communicate, in most cases, is Tadano. Sometimes it will be one of the side characters interacting with Komi. But it's not Komi. Seeing Bocchi's anxieties dramatized, and her panic attacks cartoonishly warping her, not only reinforces her subjectivity, but even creates a sort of 'hypersubjectivity' where the viewer's ability to feel empathy for the character skyrockets. She Just Like Me, FR. The visual gags have a conscious, holistic purpose - to put us in her headspace. The mixed media and the art style shifts are jarring, and that draws the viewer's attention more than something done closer to the show's 'standard' style. That further reinforces the subjectivity. In general, nothing in moving pictures, be it live action or animated, series or film, works better to enhance a main character's quality as a subject than to have everything warp around them. This is much easier in animation, but it's done quite a lot in live action. If the character's mental state affects what we see and how we see it, it affords them a certain status they wouldn't so easily have if we were just looking at them from an objective lens. Bocchi the Rock fully exploits the unique potentials of the medium of animation to do this in ways I've only otherwise seen in a couple of things, off the top of my head I can only think of the Monogatari series anime. And by making her subject rather than object, Bocchi the Rock portrays social anxiety much better than anything else in anime. We're not watching her fail. We're sitting with her in the failure. We're not laughing at her stressing out - we're laughing a bit nervously as her freak out cuts a bit too deep and maybe reminds us of that one time. also, I love Kikuri Hiroi more than is reasonable, Questionably Functional Drunk Adult Woman is literally my favorite anime character type.

The band performances feel like they're live performances because they basically are. They took a real band, filmed that band playing the songs, then drew the 2D stuff on top. That's why the performance scenes are so absurdly realistic. As for Hitori feeling so relatable to people regardless of gender, that's because Hitori isn't written as a girl with social anxiety, but as a person with social anxiety, who just happens to be a girl. It's a subtle difference, but it makes a huge difference. Also, the two moments when Hitori takes a chance and does something nobody expects, risks embarrassing herself but instead earns the band a bunch of fans just give me goosebumps every time I see them. Both times, she takes a huge chance, and she saves the day. Funny enough, they're also the only guitar solos we ever hear in the show, and they're saved for those real climactic moments, the way guitar solos honestly should be.

Once you pass the mark of 500+ animes watched, there's never a season with a lot to offer. In that regard, Bocchi has that weird 2000 - 2010 energy but with todays resources, put that together with amazing ost, sound design and seiyuus, and It really feels like something special.

I was reluctant at the beginning watching this anime, but as you did seeing it in the top anime lists made me begin it. I fell in love with this anime, it reminded the myself of 10 years ago, now im 25, i was like her in middle and beginning of high school but with the time passing i changed because society imposed it. I was and always be an introvert, i never totally lose my social anxiety i just learned to deal with it and eventually got groups of friends and life went on. Last year i lost my only and younger brother of cancer, and my anxiety came back again as a giant a rock on my head. But this anime, i want to believe changed something in me, like accepting that i am not alone in the world. Thank you bocchi.

"Couldn't get the cover out of my mind" Well, the key visual is good, right? It perfectly captures what kind of show it is and very inviting. Sometimes key visual is what make or break for anime, and most of the times anime only got 1 KV. If they got popular, the more KV are produced for BD covers . But did you know that Bocchi the Rock has total 15 KV produced before airing, during airing, and after the last episode? Plus BD covers another 6, and there is Yamaha collab +1. 22 KV These are all drawn by one person, the character designer and chief animation director Kerorira. The guy who asked around about Bocchi adaptation to all producer he met. The KV are used for song cover, single cover, album cover, promotion material, etc. They are all good looking

amazing video, I had no idea i was going to love bocchi as much as i did i hope we get a season 2! also keep using your OC/Avatar i like know this is your video it reminds me who you are :D

I thought I'd mention that some people do actually use jars as "bottlenecks" or what we often refer to as slides. In fact Steel Guitars are often played with slides including jars. Loved this video. Really loved your analysis of how the band evolves. And Episode 8 made me cry. Exactly the same moment you refer to. There is also another moment that stood out. When Bocchi performs on the street, the drunken bass player gives her advice: "Don't treat the audience as the enemy". When one of her future fans calls out support during the performance, Bocchi changes her performance and she recognizes that the audience isn't the enemy. I came close to tearing up when she gets so much fulfillment from the smiles and joy she has given in the street performance. I totally agree. This was the best anime of 2022 and the best slice of life anime I've ever seen.

Bocchi the Rock is to me the best anime I've ever seen. I cried, I laughed, I was in shock, I was sad, I was rejoiced, I cheered, I did it all for Bocchi. It was so deep that I fell into what felt like a soul-crushing depression after watching it... but a week later, after a good night of sleep, I woke up to having what felt like an endless amount of energy, joy and positivity and I just couldn't stop laughing at anything for two days, all the while listening to Kessoku Band. Then I did what any weeb would rationally do: I went on AmiAmi and bought all the merch. Thank God for this show, man. Boot up the computer and watch it multiple times.

Great to see this video back up! I especially liked how in-depth you were with the rock influences of BTR (being a huge rock fan myself, that's what drew me into the series, so seeing how Bocchi shares many of those influences was a highlight in this already great video) btw, you have some really great musical taste (props for having the courage to say that Weezer is your favorite band)