What could be a genuinely depressing wallow into some of the funniest anime of the year?

I have to admit. Bocchi the Rock may not be a masterpiece, but it is excellent in portraying its themes regarding social anxiety and lack of self-confidence.

Back in 2021, there was an anime titled, “Komi-san Can’t Communicate”. It tells about the social anxiety of the female heroine and how she deals with it. Portraying such things can be so hard because it has to be relatable and realistic. Did Komi successfully portray its theme? Heck, no. It’s more of a joke and offensive to me. I think it’s the same for everybody.

Then we had titles like 3-gatsu no Lion, Honey, and Clover, Uramichi Oni-san, Kara no Kyoukai, Colorful, Welcome to NHK, and the like. They successfully portrayed its themes from their own story. Finding a way out of that darkness is hard and it’s a challenge to get other people to understand what it’s like, much less help you through your tough times. Fortunately, there is much anime about social anxiety and others. No matter if you’re struggling through yourself or if you want to be able to better relate to something, sometimes these kinds of animes are great places to start.

Bocchi the Rock! is the new musical anime that came out after so many years. It talks about a girl who has social anxiety, yearning to have friends, and reaching a dream of creating a band. This might be the spiritual successor to K-On, which was released a decade ago. I’ve read some reviews that it’s somewhat similar to K-On and “better than K-On” or something. However, I shouldn’t compare this to other band music animes, especially to K-On. Yeah, they are the same genre/band/whatever, but they are different. K-On is a fun school slice of a live music band and their daily lives while Bocchi is the same, but the show is portraying different themes such as social anxiety and doubtfulness. Bocchi the Rock has obvious flaws but that doesn’t mean you can compare it to K-On. I’m saying all of this as a massive K-On fan. It is still a fun and enjoyable anime, filled with colorful animation and likable characters.

I will discuss the things I’ve liked and the things that aren’t or are insufficient for this show.
The show has the same formula as a live music band. The only difference is the approach. It’s like they used the “what if” situation. The main characters from music animes are mostly optimistic. The main character in Starmyu, Love Live!, K-On, and many more. They all had the same dream to show their talents and reach their dreams. But Bocchi the Rock is different. Instead of using an optimistic main character, the main character there is the opposite. Bocchi, the main character of the show, is having social anxiety and panic attacks. She yearns to have a friend, and a band to play with and to reach the hearts of many people with her voice and songs. But the problem is, she’s lacking self-confidence and succumbed to the depths of despair. That’s what I like about this show. The titular character is not optimistic, brave, perfect, or confident, but she’s a fun and relatable girl for everyone.

The story is solid and fun to understand. It’s like “the daily life of being an introvert” but in a musical way. This show has one of the best interpretations of social anxiety and being a person who lacks confidence as I said before. As studying in BS Psychology and am an introvert/social anxiety expert, I’m so related to the titular character and her daily antics. The portrayal of its theme is solid and so realistic. It would make you convince that Bocchi’s situation and mental health can be relatable for other people. When it comes to having delusions, panic attacks, overthinking, and the like, Bocchi the Rock nailed it. However, the exaggeration of its portrayal can be somewhat annoying. It’s like when Bocchi is having such little problems and she suddenly panics and started to overthink, it’s somewhat started turning to become pretentious. Yeah, it’s normal for that kind of person but little problems can be solved in no time so there’s no need to panic that much. The comedy in this show is a hit or miss for me. Some jokes are entertaining to watch, especially Bocchi’s reactions. It’s like I’m seeing myself in the situations she’s in. But some of them aren’t executed well or just fell flat. The punchlines are way too simple and stretched for too long. The interactions, especially in making or talking to her friends are nicely done. It would make you feel that you’re in the show. It’s nothing too complex or needs to be masterpiece-written. It's a solid, fun, enjoyable, and relatable kind of story that will make you entertain. Bocchi the Rock is a pitch-perfect story.

However, Bocchi the Rock isn’t perfect. There are obvious that I’ve seen from the show. As much as I hate to mention this one, it needs to be mentioned.

The problem with that is from episode 1. We noticed how Bocchi became an introvert and had social anxiety. I’m not convinced enough about how she became like that. Her backstory is that she locked herself in her room for her love of playing guitars and that because of that she simply never learned to socialize. Again, SHE NEVER LEARNED TO SOCIALIZE. There’s no specific reason why she became like that in the first place. Didn’t her parents teach her how to make friends or something? Engage in some kind of social activities or some sort of? Typically, people who completely isolate themselves from the world due to a hobby usually have an unhealthy relationship, sometimes even an addiction, to it. A normal person would do it, but really? It’s like Gojo Wakana all over again, where they suddenly both slapped the “social anxiety” label on their asses. And one more problem, I didn’t get the feeling that she wanted to play the guitar will all of her heart. She just saw a popular band member who said that being in a band is where introverts belong or some shit. It’s not she wanted to play the guitar because she wanted to play like she was inspired to do that.

The characters are more or less interesting. We got a confident introvert with blue hair, a confident extrovert with blonde hair, and an unconfident extrovert with red hair. The characters have mixed-up personalities which is interesting. Her friends developed realistic viewings and lessons that the audience might relate to. The comedy between them is still a hit or miss for me, but Ryou Yamada is the funniest one from the group aside from Bocchi. I like those kinds of characters, which can be blunt yet sarcastic. Her hilarious dialogues about introversion teach the contrast between being an introvert to social anxiety. Nijika enlightens others about extroverts or outgoing people, their struggles, and their resolves. Kita views the other point of view of social anxiety which is inexperience for Bocchi. Their dynamics are somewhat entertaining because their personalities contrast with each other. It’s a solid nostalgia for many people because this is what exactly of having a conversation with a circle of friends. The character development is solid too but sometimes I’m annoyed at Bocchi’s development. Some parts from a certain episode develop but after an episode, she suddenly reverted from who she was. It’s tripping all over again at some point.

The animation and art style are so beautiful. I hate CloverWokes when it comes to their animes because the story and animation aren’t balanced. But this is the first time this studio gave me a really good impression of how these two elements can balanced with each other. The art style is really beautiful and cute at the same time. The animation sequences are pretty amazing especially when they play together as a band. You can see the amazing lighting, background images, and camera panning. What I like about the show is when they use different kinds of art. They aren’t just using traditional hand-drawn animation, but they also used toys, clays, real-life arts, and absurdity art styles when Bocchi loses her mind and goes into Cyberpsychosis mode. It’s so unique and majestic at the same time. It reminds me of the OP of Honey and Clover, and some scenes from 3-gatsu no Lion. They took the advantage of the other forms of art, except the traditional chibi or comic relief of hand-drawn animations. Even the meme faces of Anya couldn’t possibly be superior to this.

The music is fantastically well written too as a musician and a sound producer. It gives me a chillax vibe of every character and their daily antics. The songs that were played when they are performing on stage are catchy and can make you feel rock-n-roll at the same time. However, there’s this one problem. It isn’t sound live enough. I mean, they are performing live on stage, but it doesn’t sound like they are making a live concert at some point. It’s like they recorded themselves and they lip-synced the songs. Take a comparison from Bocchi’s live performance to K-On’s. You will see the comparison because, in K-On, the voice, the music, and the whole performance sound like you’re in a live concert. Even the concert part in the third season of Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai is sound like a live performance. This is the only problem that needs to be addressed for this show. The seiyuus are amazing, especially Bocchi’s. Her voice makes me entertain every scene and laugh at the same time, especially when she’s having hypertension. The OP and the EDs are great enough, even though I listened to it once. I admit, the songs from this show aren’t solid and iconic like from K-On, but it’s still pretty good.

I have a solid blast while watching this show to the point that I consider this as one of the great animes that released these years. It’s a show overflowing with love and care, and CloverWorks did a solid one into this. To top it off with great sound quality, and reactions, to make everything not only mesh super well but also make it believable too. Some shows try so hard to get these two right, and this show has done it plenty, and it can only grow from here on, to be a real stand-out. It is quite possibly the best adaptation of a 4-Koma manga, aside from K-On. It is a fun-to-watch show, with lively characters and colorful animation, and most importantly a great portrayal of social anxiety. I’m glad I followed this train, a train fused with anxiety, absurdity, and excitement.

___Story: 9/10
Animation: 10/10
Characters: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Entertainment factor: 10/10
Enjoyment: 10/10___