Do you think Bocchi the Rock is a slice of life anime? (It doesn't have the tag)

Do you think it's a slice of life anime?

Yes

I don't know

Feb 10, 2023 2:50 PM

fluffycow17

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Dec 2019

2864

Bocchi the Rock is the highest rated CGDCT of all time, but MAL doesn't consider it to be a slice of life anime. I have seen people argue that it isn't a slice of life, and to be fair, it isn't completely episodic, but my gut tells me it's a slice of life anime.
So, I'm asking you guys. What do you think it is? Why or why not?

Also, how do you feel about me asking about slice of life a lot? I haven't seen any complaints about my threads, but I haven't seen any praise. So, I have no idea what people think of this.

fluffycow17Feb 10, 2023 2:54 PM

Feb 10, 2023 2:55 PM

DarkLeafNinja

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Oct 2014

363

Isn't slice of life more aimless and mundane? While BTR has a goal? Idunno tbh, some might see it as SOL others as a comedy show with music in it.

It's Morbin' Time!

Feb 10, 2023 3:05 PM

Gollo_1

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Jul 2022

317

fluffycow17 said:
Bocchi the Rock is the highest rated CGDCT of all time, but MAL doesn't consider it to be a slice of life anime. I have seen people argue that it isn't a slice of life, and to be fair, it isn't completely episodic, but my gut tells me it's a slice of life anime.
So, I'm asking you guys. What do you think it is? Why or why not?

Also, how do you feel about me asking about slice of life a lot? I haven't seen any complaints about my threads, but I haven't seen any praise. So, I have no idea what people think of this.

Well, in my opinion it really seems to be a slice of life so I can’t even explain why I don’t consider it as it

Feb 10, 2023 3:14 PM

FilipeMR

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Feb 2018

In my concept, slice of life is an anime that shows a normal everyday life of one or more characters, and it doesn't necesserily have to be moe or a comedy.
In Bocchi the Rock, bocchi gets out of her normal life of hikikkomori and starts a band with new friends. A lot of things that happens on the show are new to her, and the anime uses the idea of "new things" to move on the plot and make jokes.
It is confusing about being or not a SoL, because BtR has a lot of common characteristics of others slice of life animes, but, actually, it doesn't really matter if it is officially called SoL or not. (For me it's not a slice of life, but still a moe comedy)

Feb 10, 2023 3:18 PM

TeRaPeVt

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Jun 2022

Maybe I am crazy, but I think it should have something like Psychology in tags. Because it has an impact on me. I looked in a mirror while watched Bocchi acting in everyday life. Now I am trying to change something in my personality to be more socialised

Feb 10, 2023 3:27 PM

not_a_dog_woof

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Jan 2017

201

To me a slice of life is a realistic depiction of mundane everyday life. By that personal definition I would classify Bocchi as SoL. I think CGDCT already implies that it’s a SoL so the later tag isn’t entirely necessary. For example If it were a fantasy or isekai or any other genre while also being SoL it would warrant the tag to clarify that it isn’t an action, thriller, etc. that’s how I look at it at least.

As for the SoL discussions I see no issue with it. I think it’s a good topic as SoL can be quite broad and subjective in its definition.

Feb 10, 2023 3:29 PM

not_a_dog_woof

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Jan 2017

201

TeRaPeVt said:
Maybe I am crazy, but I think it should have something like Psychology in tags. Because it has an impact on me. I looked in a mirror while watched Bocchi acting in everyday life. Now I am trying to change something in my personality to be more socialised

Bro same I have not been the same since I watched bocchi ;-; her struggle, though exaggerated at times hit home for me. I wish this anime was around when I was still in school.

Feb 10, 2023 4:13 PM

Nirinbo

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Sep 2018

4464

I'd say no, because every single scene that could be classified as slice of life revolves around delivering a joke. Comedy basically overwrites slice of life. However, unlike MAL's definition, I'd have considered it both slice of life and comedy if it had a balanced mix of SoL scenes with comedy and SoL scenes without comedy (like K-On!, if I remember correctly).

Feb 10, 2023 4:36 PM

ryzxgum

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Apr 2022

6369

pretty sure a subjective reason like that is not what makes an anime psychological since it didn't have any impact on me. psychological anime delves deeper into the human psyche, includes heavy internal monologue which touch on deep seated insecurities. in bocchi, her thoughts only reflect the current situation she's in on a very surface level, followed by "comedy."

Feb 10, 2023 5:11 PM

#10

Phantom_Siren652

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Aug 2022

1499

FilipeMR said:
In my concept, slice of life is an anime that shows a normal everyday life of one or more characters, and it doesn't necesserily have to be moe or a comedy.
In Bocchi the Rock, bocchi gets out of her normal life of hikikkomori and starts a band with new friends. A lot of things that happens on the show are new to her, and the anime uses the idea of "new things" to move on the plot and make jokes.
It is confusing about being or not a SoL, because BtR has a lot of common characteristics of others slice of life animes, but, actually, it doesn't really matter if it is officially called SoL or not. (For me it's not a slice of life, but still a moe comedy)

Not all slice of life’s depict your average typical life. A good example of that would be SCHOOL-LIVE

Feb 10, 2023 5:23 PM

#11

Hexer_Gene

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Mar 2017

Slice of life has always been associated with cute girl doing cute stuff. Usually the anime doesn’t have any endgame, its just different stuff they do each episode. Basically following the daily life of a normal cute anime girl. There is other type of sol that involve male too, but cute girl doing cute stuff is more closer to btr than the rest.

Bocchi the rock on the other hand, i hope this is not wrong, started as a 4koma manga. And a 4koma manga is usually in the neighbourhood of slice of life.

Now is BTR a slice of life anime? I think not, sure its cute anime girl doing cute stuff, and its a 4koma manga which is usually a material used to make sol anime.

Why do i think its not a slice of life anime? Simply because they have goals, each and everyone of them strive to achieve their dream no matter how grand or petty their dream is. Each episode is a continuation of story instead of a usual reset like how sol is usually made. There is character building and story telling method that sol anime dont use.

From what i have heard, the anime is totally different from the manga. I will not elaborate more on this since I didn’t read the manga.

Now what do i think the genre is? I’d say its closer to a shounen anime than a slice of life. The anime is not a fighting anime with hype sakuga action and what not to make it a shounen anime, but i think BTR is the closest to a shounen than a slice of life.

Take the shounen formula and paste it on top of BTR and you will see what i mean. Take you usual shounen mc group and replace it with kessoku band, instead of hype sakuga action replace it with live stage performance. Instead of saving the world replace it with becoming a very popular band. Instead of a powerful villain replace it with social anxiety, bad weather and broken instruments. Training arc? We have practice sessions. I can list more but I’m just going to mention the core factor.

And so that is, the reason why i think Bocchi The Rock is closer to a Shounen anime than a Slice Of Life.

Feb 10, 2023 5:48 PM

#12

Haylen

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Jun 2021

294

MAL is weirdly selective with what it gives the slice of life tag. I’ve noticed that recently

Feb 10, 2023 6:08 PM

#13

ThatGuyAgain777

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Dec 2020

I think it's close to a slice of life, but not quite there. Like most other people said, it has a progression in mind while most are just a lot of the same sort of thing.

Also, I don't mind your polls. I think they make some interesting discussions. Better than a lot of the other threads I've seen.

Feb 10, 2023 6:31 PM

#14

lixiuyue

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Aug 2022

380

idk we saw their life a little bit (school and stuff) but i think we saw the studio and music parts more

Feb 10, 2023 6:49 PM

#15

LostSpectre

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Jan 2013

6351

If your life is a black hole of existential dread, then yes.

If you reply back to me and I never respond, I lost interest and don't care. Sorry about that.

Feb 10, 2023 7:05 PM

#16

FilipeMR

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Feb 2018

This case is similar to Shoujo Shuumatsu (Girls last tour), where the Slice of Life tag enters when this is their "new normal life" , not related to our everyday life. Both in gakkougurashi (school-live) and shoujo shuumatsu, the girls are inserted into that new situation of their world that they have no control and just have to live with it, so the animes show us their new living, which includes travel throughtout the world and discover what happened (in the case of shoujo shuumatsu) or just survive (in the case of gakkougurashi).

Other characteristic of these two shows is that they are slow paced and the characters don't have a clear and strong objective in mind in which they try hard to achieve. What they are doing is not unusual anymore, everyday the characters have to get resources, food and water (both animes), everyday they have to travel further (girls last tour), everyday they have to secure the area (school-live), and so on.

Even though bocchi the rock has a lot in common with others slice of life comedy shows, in this anime Bocchi leaves her comfort zone, her hikikkomori life, to achieve what she considers a "normal life", and maybe even be popular. From the moment she joins a band with new friends, is everything new for her, and the anime uses the situation of bocchi overcoming her problems of comunication to move the plot, or makes fun about her failing and her social disability.

So, because of that i understand why MAL doesn't put bocchi the rock in the SoL tag, but for example if someone talks to me asking a good slice of life to watch i would still reccomend BtR. I world not correct someone who says BtR is a SoL, if a person likes the way that a comedy SoL works, they probably would like bocchi the rock too, I think this anime is right at the border of the concept of SoL.

(Making it clear that it's just my point of view, and this is a good discussion and good thing to think about)

Feb 10, 2023 7:43 PM

#17

Vludi

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Dec 2017

SoL is too broad of a term, but it's convenient for shows like Bocchi which kind of mix different things in a daily life setting (comedy, coming-of-age and music), it's neither a "pure" linear drama nor a pure comedy show.

ryzxgum said:

Many "psychological" anime just focus on the shock value or cool aspect without being too realistic. Psychological is more of a narrative resource rather than a genre imo, and I'd say Bocchi has plenty of it (for the MC at least), many of her internal monologues and actions are dramedy rather than pure comedy.

VludiFeb 10, 2023 8:21 PM

Feb 10, 2023 8:27 PM

#18

Jay_Burson-510

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Nov 2020

213

OK Lets get somethings clear first. A slice of life story with a plot or goal does not disqualify it as a slice of life. Another thing, I think fantastical shows could still be categorized as slice of life. An example of this being shows like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and The Eccentric Family as while both shows have plots and are fantastical in nature, you're typical episode surrounds a slice of life WITH the story's twists to make it more intriging.

Now, Bocchi the Rock I think is a slice of life anime and I think its more slice of life than comedy because the jokes typically happen infrequently and the story's scenarios themselves are not based, surrounded by, or meant solely for a joke. We can compare it to something like Joshiraku, an anime more comedy than sluce of life because the topics are typically for comedic purposes, the characters more so acts and reacts upon it instead of leaving it there, and each segment has a joke ending to it that has been properly set up. Bocchi The Rock occasionally has these aforementioned traits too but on a toned down fashion and its more so about them interacting with each other flavored by Bocchi's personality whereas Joshiraku's cast are made to interact and bounce off one another in context of the joke that was set up already.

TL;DR for the second paragraph Bocchi is more slice of life than comedy because it only makes jokes while they are doing day-to-day activities. Pure comedy shows are built up by jokes.

I'd say the show is 40% slice of life 28% comedy 32% music.

Feb 10, 2023 8:34 PM

#19

Jay_Burson-510

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Nov 2020

213

Yeah... that is not what the psychogical tag is meant to be. The tag is meant for shows that try to attack and twist the viewers perception of the show or the reality they are in by posing questions and revealing uncomfortable truths. Either that or traumatizing shit. What you just described is literally just what a slice of life anime is for. An anime reflective of day-to-day life so you could examine life in a third person perspective typically as comfort but can also be sometimes used to motivate the viewer to doing something with their lives too.

Feb 10, 2023 8:52 PM

#20

zombie_pegasus

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Oct 2014

15437

I think it is. Having progression doesn't exclude an anime from being slice of life. The other bocchi anime, Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu, has the slice of life tag and it's also about a girl overcoming her social anxiety and making new friends. Heck, even Romeo no Aoi Sora has the slice of life tag and it is very plot heavy and drama focused (I honestly thing the tag is on that show in error, but I think it's still important to mention it).

Bocchi is about a girl's daily life in trying to get out of her comfort zone and become better at social interactions in addition to collaborating on music rather than sticking to doing it solo. I know MAL will sometimes use "drama" to refer to more plot focused slice of life shows, but I don't know if that tag really fits with Bocchi either. Slice of life is a confusing tag, though, and can sort of describe any or no anime depending on where you put the parameters. Sora Yori is an anime that when judged objectively is not a slice of life anime, being an adventure anime about going to Antarctica, but it still has the same energy as a lot of slice of life anime do and a lot of people will recommend it when asked for slice of life anime.

Whether you classify Bocchi as slice of life or not really depends on your experience both with Bocchi and with the slice of life genre.

Feb 10, 2023 8:56 PM

#21

RandomWanderer52

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Feb 2021

Bocchi the rock is defiantly a slice of life but for some Reason mal doesn’t label many slice of life’s as slice of life’s.

Feb 10, 2023 9:04 PM

#22

HigherLvLThinker

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Dec 2021

857

It's a unique Anime like Place further than the Universe

If you want to reply to my posts, come up with valid arguments instead of ad hominem HIGHER LEVEL THINKERS ONLY

Feb 10, 2023 9:06 PM

#23

ryzxgum

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Apr 2022

6369

Vludi said:
SoL is too broad of a term, but it's convenient for shows like Bocchi which kind of mix different things in a daily life setting (comedy, coming-of-age and music), it's neither a "pure" linear drama nor a pure comedy show.

ryzxgum said:

well, i'm not sure if i'd use the word "cool" but rather way too deep. which would then lead me to agree on the point that it's unrealistic. after all, the entire mediums known for being unrealistic. but yeah i agree, it's a common misconception that 'psychological' is a genre, it's a theme to be precise.
and i learned in a different thread some time ago that the "comedy" in bocchi is known as cringe comedy. the name and the definition does make a lot of sense.

Feb 10, 2023 9:40 PM

#24

Vludi

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Dec 2017

It has its cringe moments but I'd say it focuses more on her mental struggles rather than the social ridiculing/uncomfortable watch aspect.

VludiFeb 10, 2023 10:35 PM

Feb 11, 2023 3:24 AM

#25

I_ManOfCulture

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Mar 2019

Personally I don't consider it to be one.
It may seem to be SoL, seeing as it has a lot of similarities to K-On, but the difference is that K On focuses more on just the daily and slow part of their lives and the music part is like added on.
But in bocchi, the music and the band and the anxiety jokes take the forefront, and every scene seems to highlight those the most.
Bocchi does have scenes that are definitely SoL though, like the one where they go the beach, or the cultural festival part other than the concert

Feb 11, 2023 3:28 AM

#26

Pitto_

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Jan 2020

622

Faxtual_Ghoul said:
It's a unique Anime like Place further than the Universe

Lmao what's so unique about this anime?
I'm not even sure people are being objective when they say it has special art direction, let aside when someone calls it "unique". It's a CGDCS with a social freak as a protagonist, what's so special about it? I can name about 100 anime with the same premises.

Location: Turin, Italy

Feb 11, 2023 3:35 AM

#27

HigherLvLThinker

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Dec 2021

857

Pitto_ said:
Lmao what's so unique about this anime?
I'm not even sure people are being objective when they say it has special art direction, let aside when someone calls it "unique". It's a CGDCS with a social freak as a protagonist, what's so special about it? I can name about 100 anime with the same premises.

Probably, the frequent artstyle and on top of that I want to ask what are those 100s of those Anime that I have not watched because I would have found it riveting then it would've been scored higher in my list

If you want to reply to my posts, come up with valid arguments instead of ad hominem HIGHER LEVEL THINKERS ONLY

Feb 11, 2023 3:39 AM

#28

Pitto_

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Jan 2020

622

Faxtual_Ghoul said:

The artstyle surely is good but I won't say it stands out so much to the point you can call the whole show unique just because of it. It reminds me of a normal slice of life anime, nothing less, nothing more. Bocchi's faces and movements are funny and I like how they animated it, but it's nothing you can't see in other anime, really.

Location: Turin, Italy

Feb 11, 2023 11:50 AM

#29

kessokuband

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Jun 2022

i mean it got that focus on music and all so i’d say not

Feb 11, 2023 9:20 PM

#30

Dracus

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Apr 2008

No, it's not a slice of life show.
It is a dark, but deeply sympathetic comedy with clear episode-to-episode plot progression and character development, using CGDCT as a framing device.

Feb 12, 2023 12:17 AM

#31

JessicaKari

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May 2021

701

i’ve always said how much i love slice of life shows but i guess my definition of that is much more broad than it probably should be, i thought for sure bocchi was a slice of life

My 2024 Malloween Candies:

Mar 26, 2023 4:46 PM

#32

kebenaj

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Aug 2020

it's pretty sure slice-of-life kind of anime; but the realistic type. it looks like an alteration of genre, and i hope we will see more things like this in future.
some realistic sols for comparison: 'shirobako', 'tsuki ga kirei', 'genshiken nidaime', 'planetes'

Nov 23, 2023 5:48 AM

#33

Ipponijika

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Nov 2023

To me its a slice of life because its a short self improvement anime of bochi with social amxiety but able to show his guitar passion and poeple are shocked with it and its has a big impact to me who also has social anxiety. Bochi practiced 3 years of guitar everyday 6 hours (episode 1 3 years later scene), so yeah definitly a sol anime

Mar 27, 12:22 AM

#34

mirage_noscope

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Mar 2024

Technically, any anime could be a "slice of life" anime. It's not like we're watching inanimate objects!

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