Bocchi the Rock! Notes

Wrote all this as it was airing in Fall 2022, pasting it all here.

#1

a great blog post (JP only, sadly). It's specifically about the way the episode seamlessly transitions between the comedic and serious parts of the episode constantly throughout the episode, making use of desolate long shots & wide-angle lenses to depict that sense of loneliness and isolation, only to bring the camera back up close to the characters for the comedic moments, allowing for a much more lenient (and exaggerated) mode of expression. Then, in the later part of the episode when they enter the live house, those same wide shots are used, except this time, Bocchi isn't alone in them anymore. That change in her world is definitely the most important part of this episode, and Saito used all these flashy tricks, not just as window dressing, but as tools to actually depict that narrative. It all culminates in this shot:

where the same fish-eye lens is used, except in a much more exaggerated way than before to emphasize the emotional distance between Bocchi and the other characters, and the subsequent closing of that distance. Just an incredibly endearing way of portraying how someone could be pulled out of isolation by others, yet the subtle progressions of these techniques throughout the episode really shows that, for as much as Nijika and Ryo helped Bocchi, it was really all Bocchi's own will that allowed her to take those steps towards her new friends. These really subtle changes call into question whether it was even intentional or not, but they make the claim that the intent doesn't really matter, and that the feelings come through. When we put effort into noticing those subtleties and studying the ways the episode tells its story, it becomes that much easier to get in the character's own subjective headspace. Because from the outside, objective point of view, those changes may seem subtle/trivial, but to Bocchi, the very person who's undergoing these changes, those subtle improvements seem like drastic changes to her world; so those immersive layouts become that much more essential to getting us immersed in the show's narrative.

this is actually shown really well in the next episode, especially with all the imagination sequences that literally show us the absurd exaggerations Bocchi has going on in her head. every little thing gets turned into a huge thing for this ball of anxiety, so it makes sense that even the smallest step she's taken gets turned into the most massive hurdle in her head. don't worry, i'm so proud of you bocchi!!! 😭😭 and i know nijika and ryo are too!!!!!

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・these transitions 😭 having a common element that connect scenes together really sells the feeling of a cycle that lasts years and years that bocchi feels she can only sit back and watch her life pass her by (signified by a literal shot of a clock. lol. subtlety? what's that?)

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・continuing that theme of cycles, we see in a series of flashbacks bocchi trying to flaunt her interests at school, none of it really working until one day she decides to bring her guitar with her

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・she probably said this exact same inner monologue to herself so many times before. it was about to end the same as all the other times she tried until finally, just by chance, someone finally reaches out to her.

・she didn't do anything fundamentally different this time, she literally just got lucky and that's it. some may say that makes it feel like an unearned reward, but i think that it's genius. bc there really isn't a trick to this sort of thing, you just have to get out there and hope you find the right ppl. it can feel cheap, but what's important is that, even after bocchi failed so many times, she took the initiative & kept trying until she found that stroke of luck. while success is never guaranteed (in fact for ppl with social anxiety like bocchi, it never comes to you on a silver plate like this. this is still kirara, and some idealization needs to come into play if we want the story to begin), if she had spent that time shut-in at home, success would literally have been impossible. even though it's easy to view the show as cynical, it's because of the tenacious traits in bocchi (that probably wouldn't actually exist in people like her) that prove the power of this genre, that sometimes, all it really takes is to take that first step and try; the sheer optimism that's inseparable from these works, while i can see it being grating for some, can really have a positive effect on their audience. no show's going to suddenly cure social anxiety in someone, but when used in conjunction with other real, concrete methods of self-improvement, i really believe that shows like these can have so much value, and i'll always be grateful that i found my own niche within this genre😭

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・anyways, also on the note of cycles, the way bocchi constantly switches between being cocky about her skills and falling to the deepest depths of self-loathing at the drop of a dime.........i felt that. i felt that so hard. lmao

#2

this was definitely a boniji episode and im so happy..... nijika making those strides to include her, and how it's only with that act of kindness that bocchi can feel motivated to try her best,,,,,,😭😭 so cute......

#3

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bocchi made so much progress in this episode... 😭😭 the way she found ways to relate to both ryou's passion for her instrument (or at least kita's image of ryou lmao)

and kita's own self-doubt; bocchi realizes that she's not alone in feeling unworthy of other's kindness 😭😭😭 she's already finding ways to connect to others and aaaaa im so happy for her 🥺 the fact that she's the one that pulled kita back into the band is just so-🥺

🥺🥺🥹🥹😭😭😭😭♥♥♥♥♥

theres something to be said about how a hilarious payoff to a joke from way earlier in the episode could be sandwiched between two incredibly heartfelt moments and still feel less fragmented than most other 4-koma adaptations. the comparisons to k-on really do go deeper than them both being about music, because they have similar approaches when it comes to completely transforming their adaptation from the original, and my god it really flourishes as a result.

tho i feel like this probably sticks a bit closer to the general feel of the manga, esp considering krrr being a megafan of it is the reason it exists in the first place, whereas k-on is more like a complete deviation (and dare i say abandonment, esp by the end) of the original

Also forgot to mention how, despite Kita's personality (good with people, hopeless with music) seemingly being the exact opposite from Bocchi's, she's still able to see parts of herself in her because feelings of inadequacy & isolation are for more universal than they first seem. It's a different kind since her isolation is being viewed through the lens of an extroverted personality, but being an extrovert doesn't mean that they can't feel lonely (in fact, there's some unique ways that they can feel that loneliness. At least introverts like being alone, but extroverts crave that social connection most of the time, so when they're starved of it... I imagine they'd feel it even more strongly in that case).

so far, this is my favorite show of the season (and that's saying a lot), and while i've been able to talk about it a bit more than the others thanks to me already being a kirara fan, i still feel like it isn't enough,,,, i pretty much can never touch the animation side of things, even my thread responding to that JP sakuga blog post at ep 1 wasn't really about the animation. i dont think im equipped to talking about animation, which i guess is fine bc other ppl are more than capable of doing so.

#5

Blog post

no one involved, with Saito at the forefront, wanted to punch down on the likes of Bocchi. They were willing to turn up her dysfunctionality to eleven in spectacular ways, but only because that would increase the contrast with her quiet moments of solitude, because they’d make the rare instance where she gets to be proactive look more heroic. That’s how the only way they saw of selling a character like Bocchi, and I would say that they’ve been immediately proven right; you’ll struggle to find a single viewer who doesn’t think that the protagonist is an irreparable galactic mess, but also a single one who isn’t fond of her regardless.

I feel like this paragraph is the most important of the article, because keeping Bocchi's growth in mind, even throughout her most rock-bottom creepy moments, is really important to keeping it from feeling too mean. Those creepy moments are supposed to be funny at the end of the day, and the compelling depiction of Bocchi's growth is the perfect device to endear the audience to her character; where we feel like we're laughing with Bocchi instead of at her, because we've all been in the same position at some point. Though the subtlety of its quieter moments doesn't get as much attention as its flashy comedic ones, they're just as passionately inventive with the different techniques used to illustrate that growth.

isao hayashi handled this part, it was originally just going to be nijika making a fist, but he wanted it to be cuter while still portraying those frustrated emotions so kawakami changed the motion to scrunching up her skirt, and made this movement that much more expressive 🙏

this part as well, drawn by toshifumi akai (also from team imas incidentally, lol), has that same approach of cuteness working in harmony with that expressiveness. those pouts!!! those POUTS!!!!!! 🥺🥺🙏😭

also forever grateful to akai for yet another entry of bocchi suffering 🙏 someone pls save this disaster 😭

・The adaptation work is truly some of the best the medium has seen. Really the only K-On comparison that has meaning is just how much they enhance their source material. But even then, Bocchi is a modern kirara manga, and most of them in my experience have already been pretty damn good. Like, the overall story beats are nearly always so solid even in the original, it's just a matter of its execution being limited as a result of the 4koma format. So when we get an adaptation like this that prides itself in rounding out those rough edges with a creatively liberal adaptation.... mannn, we end up with some absolute peak fiction... it's a good time to be a kirara fan :')

I should really get to reading the manga for myself, but like, surely the absolute perfection that is this character/relationship writing isn't something that they added, right??? Especially with the way it connected to the boniji scene just before. Just... for as much as it's used as an escape from reality, it just... gets it. The value of human connection, and how the sudden gift of it after isolation is all you've ever known, can immediately make your life so much better, yet scarier at the same time. Bocchi is putting herself out there, and now that she's in a band, she has to carry everyone's dreams and ambitions with her, not just her own. It's scary, it's complicated, but god does it feel so validating. Because as Nijika made clear to her in ep 2, now Bocchi's dream is being shared with the others as well. Her dreams, her desires, her struggles, all of it is now being recognized by these friends that she could truly call her own... Everyone's individual & unique desires, all coming together to form a single tightly-knit group, with none of those desires being more important than the other... And with her connecting to Nijika with their shared fear that their sheer focus on their own dream is putting pressure on the others.

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That's what Bocchi was struggling with up to this point as a result of her isolation, to start fighting for her friends' dreams as well as her own, and she discovered with Nijika that she's not alone in that struggle. It's yet another small step in the grand scheme of things, but the amount of catharsis here with Bocchi making those genuine connections with others after a lifetime of isolation is so palpable... Even though Bocchi wrote those lyrics as a result of that isolation, it's Ryou who's putting them to music, Kita who's singing them out to the world, and Nijika who's keeping the song on beat, being the glue tying the band together with her own (as of yet unknown) dream 😭🥺 This... this is peak kirara. It's the adaptation I've been waiting for for years, and god I'm so happy to be alive to be able experience it... This is why I continue to live. I know it's unhealthy, that I'm just using it as an excuse to regress further into my shell, but the hope that it gives me to see a character that resembles me so much grab hold of a life and friends in that characteristically kirara idealistic way, is a value that nothing can take away. Especially in such an uncaring and capitalistic world, I'm truly and forever grateful to have found a niche that I could fully identify with. I love kirara, I love bocchi,,,,, so, so much.... 😭

The rest of this is mostly a response to this post, which is entirely about the vending machine scene

As the scene begins, Bocchi is still deep in thought about what "growth" means to her. Even though it's so obvious to the rest of us how much progress she's made, she still hasn't fully internalized it, nor does she know yet why she's working so hard for this. All the kindness around her, symbolized by the backlight of the vending machine, but all Bocchi could do is stay pent up in the shadow of her own anxieties.

The specific vibe of this scenery (most definitely unintentionally) calls to the photography of Eiji Ohashi, who's dedicated a large part of his career to taking pictures of vending machines in desolate, dark environments, much like the one we see in this scene. The atmosphere of these photos have always captivated me, with how the light of the vending machine provides a safe haven from the world's darkness. Just as Bocchi's life up to this point has been stagnant and dark, Nijika and Kessoku Band's newfound presence changed her world, and provided the light for her to get up and run towards.

Even as Nijika enters the scene, the focus of the scene remains on the wall of vending machines behind them, with the two lights above them giving each character their own place in the scene. Immediately we're primed to pay attention to the environment—particularly the lighting—around the characters and how it reflects their emotions. During this time, neither of the characters are really saying anything of importance, because Kawakami instead chooses to elevate what could've been a standard dialogue scene, to nonverbally express emotion in a way that's only possible in a visual medium. In order to be immersed in the atmosphere of this tranquil moment of sincerity between Bocchi & Nijika before their big audition, the environment around the characters is just as important as the characters' movements and expressions themselves. Kawakami employed the realistic, yet no less expressive acting of Tomoki Yoshikawa, who, along with his Keisuke Kobayashi-influenced way of depicting everyday, mundane movements—realistic, yet subtly exaggerated in all the right ways—skillfully integrated the blinding backlight of the vending machines into his drawings. Once again another facet of the scene that puts the characters within and a part of the scenery around them. Just as the characters become part of the environment, so too does every shot seamlessly & naturally blend into one another, bringing a sense of wholeness to the scene. Just as the comedy scenes endear us to the characters, it's their complete opposite in scenes like these, depicted in a more objectively realistic manner, that is what makes us truly connect to them; and it's umeP & Saito's team's unending dedication to character acting/expression that is what bridges the two together.

The differences between Bocchi & Nijika are the foundations of this scene—with them obviously being complete opposites in personality, Nijika realizes that she may have pushed Bocchi into her band without considering that Bocchi may be into the guitar for a completely different reason to her (and she'd be right, lol) In the environment, that's depicted through the small barrier between the two vending machines that only Nijika crosses for Bocchi. But as I said, this facet of their characters is being depicted through their movements as well, with Nijika's subtle yet thorough movements contrasting against Bocchi staying still, and with the complete difference in energy levels in their waves to each other here:

Nijika, initially bathed in the light of the vending machines, slips for a moment into the shadows—the very same shadows that Bocchi has mostly been enveloped in for the whole scene. Though her movements are eager & energetic, Nijika is continuing to keep Bocchi at arm's length, suggesting that there may be a part of her that she keeps guarded from others, in a very similar way to Bocchi. Though their movements remain completely different, for a moment the way they integrated into the environment (being in the shadow, rather than the light) united together, and we're left with Bocchi contemplatively gazing at Nijika as she leaves the scene. That small similarity to Bocchi is something we've seen with Kita as well, and it's what pushed Bocchi to take that step to bring her back into the band. Though Bocchi doesn't truly know Nijika yet, nor her reason for being in the band, the fact that she cares so much about it that she can't bear to spill the secret to her is something that Bocchi can relate to. Bocchi, who up to this point has been completely alone, is now finding a connection, no matter how small, to someone who's the complete opposite of her. That similar passion for their own dreams & desires—just that alone is enough for Bocchi to put her all into this joint, group effort. Nijika cares, so Bocchi will too. That's all there is to it. That's what friendship is about. All this, conveyed in an otherwise completely normal dialogue scene in front of some vending machines. An ordinary, mundane moment, that Bocchi can only realize how precious it is to her in retrospect, after she's grown. This is the power of slice-of-life when paired with the boundless passion of one of the most prolific teams in the industry. #BOCCHISWEEP

#6

this moment was SO good with the way it misleads the viewer with the shot that looked like a Bocchi POV shot before revealing that she was talking to the statue. The perfect comedic timing of that really felt straight out of golden age dgkb, as expected of one of their leading directors at the helm of this episode.

I really really like how Bocchi's mom offered to invite her own friends, and how Bocchi refused to rely on her. Even if she did it because of her pride, if she were completely realistic (like me...) she wouldn't even have that pride and would've been completely fine relying on others, and as a result she wouldn't have been able to get this far in the first place. It's once again that kirara idealism that I so love, that even though Bocchi exemplifies a lot of our own anxieties, it makes sure to not lean too far into that, even within Bocchi's character. For as anxious and depressed as she gets, she never fails to get back up and try her best in her own way (even if most of the time it leads her back to that depression lol, I talked about that cyclical behavior in Bocchi here)

And then, we have the performance... the performance this week was meticulously directed & boarded, with all these shots framing Bocchi either in the shadows, contrasted against the passersby framed under the light. Most of the shots refrain from showing Bocchi's face—she's facing away from her literal audience, so it'd make sense to frame her facing away from us, her viewers, as well.

that last shot is especially evocative, where even though Bocchi is surrounded by the light & kindness of others, she's still too scared to face it as she's framed right in the corner facing outside of the frame.

And then, at the peak of Bocchi's anxiety we enter Bocchi's headspace. The show's creative approach to depicting that headspace in a more abstract way isn't something that's only useful for the gags, it can also serve to make the serious moments all the more cathartic. Lit by a haunting blue light, Bocchi's eyes continue to be covered, either by her hair, the camera placement focusing on her feet instead, or by the incredible framing of this third shot that has bars that box her in, made to look like a cage for the faceless crowd in front of her to gawk at.

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But of course, Hiroi said earlier in the ep about her audience not being her enemy, that no one would go out of their way just to laugh at her, and that's reaffirmed to Bocchi with our first real look at an audience member when she cheers for Bocchi and breaks that barrier

And with Sakura Watabe's stunning sequence, every progression in the ep reaches its moment of catharsis. The side-angle shots we've been mostly seeing rotates around in the most energetic cut of the performance, framing her directly in front of the audience, facing them proudly. And this time, her eyes are emphasized as she finally opens them.

The shadow that previously served as the barrier between Bocchi and her audience disappears with the streetlights

From here, lights play a much more positive role to match this catharsis. Like in Bocchi's blue headspace, it serves to emphasize her presence, but it's no longer the isolating kind of presence, it's an actual spotlight now. The flash of the streetlight matches the energy in her performance, with Bocchi's guitar playing becoming the main focus of the shot for the first time, the payoff of the tension from the visual cutoff at the beginning of the performance.

And finally after the performance, all these elements merge together, with the streetlight framed right in front of Bocchi's eyes.

Entering her headspace again, gone are the haunting blue lights and isolating staging, and what replaces it are visions of those spotlights shining down on their performance, where she can revel in the love of the people around her, as opposed to their scorn that she was so afraid of. The visual storytelling in this ep is unmatched, bringing both the limitless creativity and meticulous subtleties of its production so far together into what may be my favorite performance of the show so far. As if that was even possible. I should've expected no less from this show. 😌

#7

responding to this blog post

The bit about "why doesn't bocchi just get a therapist lol" is great, because... yeah, she could, but if she did, then we wouldn't have a show to watch. It's once again some of that abstraction that's inherent to kirara, and it goes very underappreciated in the community because everyone views the genre as so "mundane" and "normal" compared to the rest of the medium. Slight diversions from reality for the sake of the story are seen all throughout this show, and there's no better example than the whole concept of Bocchi's character. If Bocchi were a real person, would she have the motivation to stick to learning the guitar for two whole years? And even if she did, would she be open to the idea of going out in public and flaunting her interests around? And even if she were, what are the chances that she'd stumble upon the exact right person that would be compatible with her? It's not impossible (tho that last one may be, lol), but you can see how even that would require some suspension of disbelief.

By the way, another element of all this that didn’t really fit into the rest of the discussion is the question of how seriously, or perhaps how literally, we interpret comedy. As I see it, Bocchi the Rock! deliberately exaggerates (often visually) Bocchi’s mental state and reactions for the sake of humor. Bocchi ends up on the floor quite a lot, but I don’t think that means we’re supposed to believe that Bocchi is constantly collapsing and glitching out on the sidewalk.

This abstraction is something we see in this episode as well, with Nijika and Kita being "infected" by Bocchi's self-worthlessness and passing out. Obviously they didn't literally pass out, and its debatable how much of that was from Nijika/Kita's POV, or if it was just another one of Bocchi's projections on what she thinks they were feeling at that time. Considering how they immediately forgot about it the very next scene, I'm inclined to believe the latter, lol, or at least a mix between the two.

And this bit says a lot about the show actually commenting on social anxiety/mental health more than just the shallow interpretation of "haha funny relatable anime girl is relatable":

Although her social anxiety has a clear impact on her life, she’s still able to eat, go to school, pursue hobbies she enjoys, and has a positive support structure in the form of her family (and, increasingly, her new friends).

In addition, Bocchi has both a clear desire to change her situation and overcome her social anxiety as well as the capacity to do so (even if its difficult for her). This isn’t to downplay her struggles, but simply to point out that Bocchi’s mental health issues aren’t all encompassing. They may define her life to a great degree, but they don’t entirely dominate it.

This is very important in making Bocchi feel like an actual three-dimensional character and not just a caricature of social anxiety, that she has a whole personality outside of her mental disability—her passion for the guitar blossoming outside of just her desire to make friends being chief among them. Bocchi making genuine strides in connecting with others, not as tools to get over her anxiety, but as actual people that she's coming to love. Whether it be Nijika who opened up these opportunities for her, and how Bocchi wants to repay her by making her dream come true, whatever that dream may be. Or Bocchi finding the Extrovert of the group, Kita, surprisingly relatable in the way her self-loathing is exacerbated by her being deprived of the connection that she desires, and how Bocchi came to want to offer Kita the same opportunities that Nijika offered to her. Or how Ryou taught her the lessons she learnt from her old band, to accept herself for who she is, to believe that there are people out there who would love her all the more for being her gloomy, but genuine & honest self, and no one more than Ryou herself (her "ぼっち、面白いのに…" last ep was just so- 🥺). All of these genuine connections, while they're all related to and affected by her anxiety, aren't defined by it. They're all relationships built upon each person getting to know the others for their genuine selves. As she said in ep 6, Bocchi isn't in it just for herself anymore—in the process of getting to know and love the others, her newfound desire to make everyone happy as opposed to just herself is just so inspirational. Especially when contrasted against the beginning of the show, where Bocchi is coming from that place of isolation.Those solemn moments of isolation and bordering-on-meanspirited humor both work in tandem to make Bocchi relatable to an almost unbearable degree, but they're always made sure to be in service of making those aspirational moments like ep 5-6 all the more of a cathartic accomplishment. And in turn, those accomplishments make the more meanspirited humor of ep 7 more sympathetic.

Also, as someone who's made it a (probably more-than-slightly unhealthy) coping mechanism to laugh at my own social anxiety it was very easy for me to adjust to this show, but now that I look from the perspective of someone who doesn't have the same struggles as Bocchi, I can see how they could feel uncomfortable about laughing at Bocchi's struggles in the same way. Still though, like they said and how I think I demonstrated, the empathy the show has towards Bocchi easily pulls it through all its potentially problematic elements.

I think it sets out a particular portrait of a young woman who is struggling, but neither hopeless nor helpless. I think it uses comedy to portray her struggles in a way that facilitates great humor and great compassion side by side. You can’t help but love Bocchi, just as you can’t help but root for her.

What they describe is an inseparable tenet of moe, that desire to simultaneously laugh at her struggles while still cheering her on, and all the abstractions and diversions from reality we've seen so far are all specifically tailored to manufacture that reaction. And that word, "manufacture", is a good way to describe it, because yeah, it can feel manufactured/artificial, it can feel manipulative, and these are all things to take into account when thinking about these shows and the impact that they have. But just as it can be problematic, there's an equal or greater possibility of it having a positive effect on its audience as well. Seeing the process of Bocchi slowly open up to the love of others, as well as the possibility of loving herself, and all the while not taking herself too seriously, is a story few people would object to. And, to me, the fact that her struggles are constantly made into a joke just makes those rare bits of respite and Bocchi's genuine appreciation of how far she's come all the sweeter. This whiplash between the 苦笑 いs at these reflections of my own faults and those sweet moments more reminiscent of kirara is a weird mix of painfully relatable and aspirational. The fact that it doesn't shy away from those feelings of self-loathing makes Bocchi's journey to self-actualization feel all the more feasible for me to mimic in my own life (as hopeless/fleeting as that feeling may be).

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anyway, the rest of this is my own thoughts on the ep

more callbacks to ep 1 showing how far bocchi has come 😭😭😭

cute,,,,,cute,,,,,CUTEEEKHJGFDKJLH

BOCCHI IN CASUAL CLOTHES (courtesy of kappe, to the surprise of no one)

#8

wayyy better analysis of the concert scene here

The live scene...... a lesser show would've skipped over the worse performance and just told us through dialogue that it was bad. but NOPE. not this show! they not only showed this performance and made it noticeably worse both in its visuals and audio, they immediately contrasted it with the best performance of the show. It's comprised mostly of shots of the uninterested audience (or the lack thereof), and while the animation in the few instrument shots that we got is impressive, the way it's put together is in no way the perfect & complete package that we got in #5. Shots from that performance, as well as the smiles Bocchi got from her street performance rapidly fly by in contrast before Bocchi gets serious. And my god, what a performance it was...

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Starting it off with Bocchi's stomp on the foot pedal, it immediately calls back to her same motion at the drop in #5's performance. Bocchi's killer guitar solo cuts straight through the awkward emcees, and she let's the music speak for itself as we finally bring our full attention to her guitar playing. Every character in the room can't tear their eyes from her performance, including the camera's.

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As everyone else joins the performance, the lighting goes to overdrive with Takashi Sakuma's stellar lighting direction (who was also in charge of the compositing in Kisekoi's firework scene). We get layout after layout showing the band as a cohesive group, but everyone holding their own place; especially Bocchi, whose presence is always emphasized and placed in her own corner.

And that approach of separating Bocchi from the others on-stage does an amazing job of selling this moment of getting into Bocchi's headspace, where she truly becomes one with the guitar (especially in that POV shot godddd 🙏)

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tl;dr of the boniji scene here

After some HILARIOUS jokes in the izakaya, we get to the long-awaited boniji content... The embracing of the mundane is a recurring theme here, with the conversation literally starting with talks about the weather, along with the extended moments of silence between them, to really set in how comfortable they feel around one another now, which is very important as they start opening up to each other here.

Saito also immediately calls back to their scene in #5 with the backlighting of the window, so you can bet that the lighting and shading on the character's faces are going to be important in this scene as well. As the shadow overtakes the light, you really feel that they're entering into their own vulnerable, safe spaces with each other.

Nijika's face is half in shadow here, as she's confronting Bocchi on this and inviting her to open up. To which Bocchi follows suit as they both face away from the light and open up to one another. Their self-doubts and their most personal passions, and how much their self-worth is riding on this band thing going well... All these things they normally keep hidden from the light, is out for the other to see, now that they're in the safety/secrecy of the shadows.

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With Nijika revealing her past as well (her smile.... HER SMILE...... THANK U KRRR), these low and high angle shots positioned in front of the light (that make it really easy to picture angel wings on her back... truly, the nijika angel agenda is real 🙏🙏)

And then, the scene starts changing... Nijika's face is suddenly pulled into the light by Bocchi's performance, the real impact that the previously-a-loner Bocchi is having on her friends' lives 😭

And here's the real kicker... This time, it's Bocchi whose face is the first to get shone in the light as she opens up about her true desires to Nijika... leaving that vulnerable & safe, but lonely & isolating place in the shadows—just like in their performance, she's baring her entire self to another and letting it proudly shine in the light. And is likewise inviting Nijika to do the same as the light starts encroaching on her face as well…

and also her going back into the shadows momentarily as she gets into the more shameful part of her dream lol

And then this final part... Nijika, with them both now fully opened up to each other and encouraged by Bocchi's dream, is now facing the light, ready to step into it and intent on bringing Bocchi with her... and then that same light starts to fully envelope Bocchi's face... before cutting to the pitch white light... you can really feel here that Nijika's pulling her into the light, which is just ABSOLUTE PEAK FICTION POETRY when contrasted with the vending machine scene in #5...

The live show was only in the first half, but this whole scene, and by extension whole episode really felt like a performance in and of itself; with the way Nijika and Bocchi showed their more vulnerable sides to each other, and how they both took that bold step into the spotlight by the end of the scene. Just... perfection... This episode is so, so good... 🙏🙏

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With this ep, Sakugablog published an interview with Saito, Krrr, and UmeP, and I wrote responses to some parts of it.

Saito: I personally really like that the characters aren’t overly reliant on each other in their relationships. Usually in works starring girls of that age, there are lots of scenes where they’re very intimate, or where they go off and enjoy the latest trends as a group. But the characters here aren’t really seen doing that, and it feels like they respect each other’s individuality and personal space.

This is interesting, bc I definitely see that with this show, but at the same time... that intimacy is exactly what I come to this genre for—it's why K-On is still my favorite show of all time, no one can do intimacy like Yamada. That's probably why they chose this different approach here, and it really works. Despite this distance between characters, you can tell that it's done out of respect, and that these characters care about each other so much. That slow, gradual process of seeing Bocchi and Nijika in particular grow closer to each other over these last few episodes is exactly what I wanted from this show—to see Bocchi improve slowly, at her own pace.

This tidbit definitely adds to that as well, that it wouldn't make sense for Bocchi to so suddenly get all intimate with others when she has all these eccentricities, coming out of a life of isolation. If you ask me, it only makes those rare times when she gets serious all the more effective—the contrast between them and the wacky moments really communicates how much Bocchi cares about the band and her new friends that love her for who she is, and that she'll do anything to return that love no matter how hard it comes for her 😭

I love this part, because I feel like this is a relatively new thing in Kirara. Machikado Mazoku, Bocchi, Slow Start, and Matazoro, to name a few, all have this emphasis on the character's flaws, and the series's primary focus is those character's journeys of self-improvement. That's not to say this kind of stuff didn't exist before, but this focus on character flaws is something people don't usually think of when they think of the "cute girls doing cute things" genre. The constant melting faces of Bocchi isn't what you expect when you go to a bishoujo manga, and that's what keeps it feeling fresh in a genre that's (falsely) viewed as "if you've seen one, you've seen all of them"

Kerorira: For the scenes where I draw the key animation, my intent is to show the platonic ideal for the Bocchi the Rock! anime, so that the staff animators can easily understand along which lines they should be drawing. With my drawings as the standard, it becomes easier for the staff to visualize things when they have trouble in areas like drawing comedic faces or trying to simplify forms. My role is to guide the way with my drawings as a model case. This is probably a slightly different process than what an ordinary chief animation director would do. But instead of achieving unity across the board by making a large number of corrections afterward, if everyone uses me as a standard to create drawings that properly feel like Bocchi the Rock!, they can show off their individuality, and the animation becomes more varied and expressive.

love love loveeee thattt,,,, I imagine he does correct stuff as CAD, but probably way less than normal, and he substitutes that with the absurd amount of KA work that he does that's still somehow good & consistent enough to serve as the standard for the rest of the team. Basing their drawings off Kerorira's work, it allows their art to go uncorrected, where their individual styles can come through that much more, which in turn adds to how stylistically varied and off-the-wall this show is. how... how is this man real...

Umehara: I’m not an active slice-of-life 4-panel manga reader, so instead of imposing my own impressions and opinions, I asked Kerorira what aspects he enjoyed. I learned what aspects the fans took to and what they would want to see, and tried to leverage that for the anime production.

as expected from an animation producer... you can tell he loves and has a passion for anime, but knows that his job is just to find and contact the staff who know how to make the anime great

Umehara: This is less a one-sided request and more a mutual understanding we established (with Hamaji Aki), but we agreed on guidelines such as avoiding disparaging portrayals, not perpetuating harmful stereotypes about groups such as extroverts or introverts, and not making anyone out to be villains.

yessss, incredibly based 🙏🙏

Umehara's part about the voice auditions really brought me back to Shirobako, lol. The only factor in their selection was how they'd fit into the characters, and the differentiating factors between Nijika and Kita's performances must've been so difficult to figure out.

Kerorira: Also, I made sure the designs weren’t too 3D, and felt uncanny in their depiction. The easiest example is probably the hair. Nijika’s antenna, for example, is a simple triangle, and Hitori’s tied-up hair isn’t actually connected. I wanted to depict anime-like designs that aren’t possible in reality. I felt it was more important to create character designs that look appealing at first sight than those that conform to reality.

it really does feel like a return to golden-age dgkb 😭😭🙏 just that approach to wild, off-the-wall comedy that's inseparable from the cartoony animation that embraces the joy of animation rather than trying to emulate realism. It's an approach that feels so distinct for that era, and one that I feel has been lost up to now. (aninabe pretty much never doing his cartoony animation anymore and sticking with the albeit pretty, but comparitively boring arknights aesthetic is one such sign of this change for me) Everything in this show, from the designs, to the philosophy of the animation, is tailor-made for that lost era that I've missed so much. The fact that this was a deliberate return to form for umeP's team is something I am eternally grateful for 🙏🙏🙏

#9

In the guidebook, Saito highlighted what this episode meant to say about Kessoku's relationships. Even though they didn't invite Bocchi to hang out at all over most of the summer, that doesn't mean that their bonds have broken over that time. In their trip, along with all the usual fun shenanigans they got up to, the big differences between each member of the band was emphasized in this episode. Mainly the difference in energy between the outdoorsy Kita and indoorsy rest of the band (including Nijika, surprisingly). But at the end of their trip, we get a heartfelt scene between Bocchi and Kita, two of the most polar opposite members of the band, and Bocchi makes it clear how much she's changed & how much she wants to continue spending time with the rest of the band, as exhausting as it may be keeping up with their (mainly Kita's) extrovert energy. That change was only possible because of how different everyone is from Bocchi, and this is the perfect idea to keep in mind as we start preparing for the culture festival that Bocchi has wanted to perform in since the start of the series.

#10

the bocchi hiroi scene god,,,,,, after being swept up by their performance, it's easy to forget that performances like that don't come easy to anyone, and Hiroi is quick to tell Bocchi that she was just like her back in high school, and that Bocchi's doing so, so well 🥺 Even Hiroi had to rely on alcohol to get through the lives (even at Bocchi's age lol), so the fact that Bocchi is doing it pretty much all on her own is something Hiroi wants Bocchi to recognize too.

Or well... mostly on her own, because earlier in the episode, Kita claimed to have turned in their application on accident, when in reality she knew the whole time that Bocchi was uncomfortable with it. This further expands on the dynamic between Bocchi & Kita last episode, highlighting the big differences between the two of them, but also showing the many ways that they're actually the same under the surface. Even though this was an extremely extroverted thing to do, I feel like it was actually motivated by Kita's own anxieties, that she was too scared to ask Bocchi directly, just like she was too scared to come out to Ryou & Nijika before about not being able to play the guitar. A lesser show would have brushed over this, but in this show, where the distance between the characters is so important, a scene like this is really important to have. It's acknowledged as the manipulative act that it is, and having Kita be genuinely remorseful for it just makes her that much more lovable.

Ofc, at the end of it Bocchi is grateful for the push, but the acknowledgement and touching display of vulnerability from Kita (not too dissimilar to how Kawakami portrayed Nijika's vulnerability in #5, as well as Saito/Seo's #8) is something that feels very unique to this show, yet still so quintessentially kirara in its love for the characters and understanding of their emotions. And just as we as the audience come to understand Kita's feelings on the matter, so too does Bocchi begin to understand her as well. Kita wants to put Kessoku Band in the spotlight and show the world just how cool Bocchi really is; and Bocchi herself just came to that same realization in the audition and their first live. None of them are in this just for themselves anymore, they all want to show on stage how cool everyone else in the band is just as much.

#12

First impressions of this episode are really really good! It's a great Bocchi episode, possibly one of the best of the entire season! It's just... it's a very standalone, bokita-centric episode. And I'll get to why that's not a problem exactly, since that's one of the show's best parings, but it does leave something to be desired when it comes to the other aspects of the show. Conceptually, especially in this ep's stellar ending with Bocchi stepping out of the house and showing the previously desolate, darker layouts shone in a more comforting, warm light, they nailed the most important part of a great finale in showing the impact the band as a whole had on Bocchi. But still... this is the season finale we're talking about here, and I would've liked to see at least some acknowledgement of the individual impacts Bocchi's had on Nijika and Ryou, and vice versa. Granted, we already got that on their own dedicated episode(s) this season, and the statements the team had to say about those relationships have already been said and done in those episodes. Plus, they only had 22 minutes to cram as much content in as possible, including the performances of two whole songs, while still keeping it a light & breezy watch filled with the gags that define Bocchi's identity as a show & production (seriously, some of the most gut-bustingly best gags of the entire show... the headbanging gag, jesus CHRIST that was good, lmao)... No matter how you spin it, this is one of the most impressive and well-managed episodes of the season, both compositionally (thank you, Erika Yoshida :pray: Her contribution to this show's identity in assisting Saito's narrative goals has gone vastly understated) and production-wise. But still... It's all of these things outside of the episode itself that takes away from that impact just enough to keep it from being an all-time favorite season finale. Just thinking about how there won't be any more Bocchi to watch next week—or for years at the very least—it... hurts. It hurts so much, especially after one of the most fun seasons in anime I've watched in a long while. At the end of the day, here's the situation—if we get a season 2, then the problems I outlined here will be completely negated since they'll have the opportunity to get that focus on Nijika & Ryou once that second season comes out. And even then, that's ignoring the multiple years long wait since UmeP and his team need their well-deserved break. Plus, it seems like Saito is moving on to another project so they'll either have to wait for that to finish or swap him out, along with much of the core staff that would stick with him for his next project (Kariya...)... Neither seem all that desirable to me. But this is the dilemma we have to grapple with as fans. For as much as I desire more Bocchi, more content for my emotional validation-starved brain that Bocchi was so perfectly tailored & pandered exactly to me to feed—good art takes time to create, even more so if we want it to be done ethically, and I wouldn't want anyone to sacrifice their health more than they already have (not that that's gonna stop them from doing so to themselves anyways... looking at you, krrr, umeP.), and more honest to my selfish, otaku-trash desires, I wouldn't want the quality to suffer by a rushed production or any swapped out core staff that wouldn't do justice to the identity that Saito's team set out for Bocchi as a show. So, at the end of it all, all I can do is to wait. Wait and cry, until a sequel arrives. (and it definitely will imo, bc bocchi has become the most popular thing since sliced bread in the kirarasphere, so there's no way the overproduction-obsessed aniplex won't take that bite)

・also, bocchi's parents may still kinda be dicks to bocchi, but they definitely redeemed themselves a bit in this ep. them applying for monetization and giving it all to bocchi rly shows how much they believe in/are proud of her as a guitarist at the very least. The way they merged the Cool Guitarist Bocchi and the Disaster Loner Bocchi throughout the show has been great, and the fact that it was all those years of dedication that Bocchi kept at under guitarhero that ended up buying her new guitar and opened up the next step of her journey in Kessoku. Even though it started as a coping mechanism, it was her taking those steps to dedicate herself to something (even if it was in the comfort of her closet), that she was able to persevere and push herself today. Bocchi's stage dive was a hilarious gag, and seeing the stunt fail spectacularly is made all the better when you know it makes sense for her as a character. Bocchi's incredibly misguided, as to be expected, but that doesn't matter—when she has an idea, whether it's a bad idea or not, she fully leans into it and always does her best, none of that 中途半端 shit here when it comes to Bocchi. Nothing more "rock" than that! That really is what makes Bocchi's Rock so great. Bocchi The Rock, if you will. (sry njk, stole that from you lol)

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making an addendum after reading Saito's comment on this ep in the guidebook.

Particularly with the final line of the season 「今日もバイトか」 being the defining line of the show. Despite all the changes Bocchi went through this season, it was never his interest as the director to try to "fix" Bocchi or completely revert the loneliness she felt in all those days in her closet. That loneliness is the core part to which he felt connected to Bocchi, so despite the growth we see and the new connections she's made, that loneliness will never fade away completely. Kirara fans are acquainted with the bright and relentlessly cheerful depictions of friendship that K-On defined, but even in that show, it was often met with moments of extreme melancholy and transience—levels of genuine poignance that many of its derivatives failed (or haven't even tried) to capture. Saito said that solely depicting that cheerfulness we associate with Kirara is simple, but with nothing underneath that cheerfulness to contrast against it, makes the work subsequently feel shallow to the audience.

So even with sequences like this, with Bocchi contently walking with her new band, Saito knows that that's only one side of her, and by accepting her gloomy side just as much as her cool "guitarhero" side, just like the rest of Kessoku Band has, that's immediately way more validating (and interesting) than the alternative that we normally see.

And so, Bocchi's everyday routine continues on like normal, and with the season's final shot, Saito sought to capture a neutral look into Bocchi's psyche.

One side of her is her newfound side, the one she's facing towards as she walks to STARRY: the side where the sunset lies, and where the lamp post stands (remember that lamp posts were used as a symbol of her growth in episode six? fucking GENIUS).

And the other is the side she's facing away from: the gloomy side of her that still hides in the shadows—undoubtedly brighter than before as a result of these changes, but still a side of her she'll return to at the end of every day. This particular idea in depicting mental health isn't anything new, but this level of genuineness isn't something you see everyday—and in such an ambitious show no less. Unequivocally kirara yet always striving to do something more & unique; it really is my dream show