Bocchi the Rock! Movie

(Minor spoilers ahead)

It's Bocchi the Rock, but this time it's a movie. What more is there to say?

In all seriousness, the two films (Re: and Re:Re:) are worthwhile viewings for any fan of the series. If you can catch them in theaters, it is a wonderful experience, watching Bocchi on the big screen and hearing the music over loud theater speakers. If you can't, it's still a worthwhile watch for a few new scenes and songs, and the movies' unique framing of the story.

The movies (especially Re:) are framed differently from the series, and it was interesting to see how they were compiled for a ... theatrical experience. A few of the moments that are less central to the overall story were relegated to montages featuring some songs from the Kessoku Band album that previously weren't featured in the anime. One episode, however, was totally cut (the one where they go to Bocchi's house).

I didn't feel like these changes hurt the experience, as the movies clearly were meant to focus more on Bocchi and Kessoku Band's overarching story and less on the fun slice of life moments (of which there are still plenty in the movie), and I feel they succeeded in that. That being said, I'd recommend that someone new to Bocchi the Rock watch the series first before watching these movies.

The final scene of Re:Re:, where (spoilers incoming) the entire series is rewinded back to when Bocchi was an elementary school child, was very touching as a Bocchi the Rock fan. We see Bocchi's growth in reverse, which makes you really realize how far she has come. A perfect ending to a movie all about Bocchi and her growth as a guitarist and as a person.

Let's hope that, following the success of these films, a Season 2 is announced soon!

TLDR; first half is a waste of time/money to watch, second half is somewhat worth watching and comparatively better than the first half. But I still recommend watching the TV series first. I give the first half a 7, and the second half a 9 (because the second half was more or less the same as TV series episodes with a few scenes cut out and several seconds of new ones), averaging the overall score to 8.

(First half review)
I am a huge BTR fan and ever since the first season aired, I have been deeply involved in BTR-related online campaigns and IRL events etc. and ... I would say that it is my favorite series of all time. I went to watch it on release day in Japan with high expectations. That being said, or rather that being the case, I was quite disappointed by this theatrical compilation of the first half of the TV series. Simply put, the pacing was way too fast, and it didn't really feel like it honored the TV version. I imagine most people who watch it will know the story of the TV version, just as I do, but even for me I feel like they skipped way too many details to try and cram everything in. In the case of someone who doesn't know BTR at all, I cannot imagine how they could follow what was happening. Somehow within the first few minutes, three of the main characters have been introduced and the story is already going at full speed. There were also times when they chose to play songs in the background while showing a montage of a key event in the story, instead of letting viewers enjoy it. I can also probably count on two hands the number of new "scenes" that weren't in the TV version (by scenes, I mean literal frames added to make pre-existing events look fresher, not even side interactions). I would say to give it a watch if you're a true BTR fan just for the heck of it, but I would not recommend someone unfamiliar with BTR to watch this.

(Second half review)
I have now watched the second half on its release day. It had some new scenes that weren't in the TV version, which was nice, but not that many. I do think that it was a much better compilation of the last episodes of the TV series, but to be fair, it had less to compile and so they could keep more content. I was really hoping for a second season announcement at the end, but there wasn't. There were two new songs: the opening and ending songs. The ending song was written by two members of Asian Kung-Fu Generation, which is the band that the members of Kessoku Band have the same surnames as, so that was a nice touch. The way they ended the movie was also kind of interesting (it was a new "scene" that was not in the TV version), and it also made me think that a second season would be coming (like I said, there ended up being no such announcement). Other than that, there wasn't much of note.

Overall I think the second half compilation is more worth watching than the first half, if you've watched the entirety of the TV series before. If you've never watched the TV series, then I don't recommend watching these compilation movies: I suggest to watch the TV series first, and then skip the first half compilation movie and go directly to the second half compilation if you really want more BTR. But again, there wasn't that much new stuff, so the TV series alone is all you really need.

For starters, it is an abridged compilation of (roughly) the first 8 episodes of the main show. The movie makes it very clear that this is a compilation by the Japanese title calling it 総集編 and Re: (the next movie is also a compliation called Re:Re: lol), but for whatever reason it was not translated into the English title. Cramming 8 eps into a 90 min film makes the story less impactful and detailed, but that's to be expected. (So the 2nd movie is just gonna be 4 episodes worth of plot??) There's also a new original song as the ending theme. That being said ... it does have very little new animation even compared to other compilation movies.

Animes make compliation movies for a lot of reasons - some fans just wanna watch it again in theatre, some people wanna watch(or rewatch) the anime but don't wanna go through all the episodes, etc. There's for sure money reasons, but I wouldn't call it a cash grab because the title (at least in JP) makes it pretty clear this movie is a compilation and popular animes getting compilation movies is nothing out of the norm.

Idk if the two movies are building the foundation for a second season (tbh frieren, also directed by Saito, is more likely to get a 2nd season than bocchi, but also I'd argue bocchi needs Saito less than Frieren). Kamisama lease gimme 2nd season.