Bocchi the Rock is the epitome of a passion project; an exceptionally well-crafted and creative anime that goes above and beyond to create a unique viewer experience and which indicates not only love and appreciation for the source material, but for anime as a medium. The ability to allow extremely hyperbolic, surreal and at times even 4th-wall-breaking scenes to seamlessly take turns with grounded, wholesome and at times intricately complex character interactions is in my eyes a testament of masterful writing and direction skills.
Speaking of direction skills: Some days ago, I was reminded of the fact that BTR shares its director with the adaption of
...
Frieren which probably doesn't need an introduction at this point. Or to word this differently: Keiichirou Saitou is a genius.
Of course, we have to give credit to everyone involved, but is struck me that this man has directed two exceptionally impressive manga adaptations one of which jumped to rank 1 here in basically an instant.
CHARACTERS 9/10
The main aspect of the character formula for the four girls in the main cast is deceptively simple yet very effective: Each of them basically represents one of the four possible combinations of low/high extraversion and low/high neuroticism (Negative emotion).
- Bocchi represents low and high extremes respectively. She is what many would call an "unhealthy introvert" - One whose "introverted" behaviour mainly stems from crippling anxiety instead of a fundamentally rooted tendency to enjoy time alone more than the company of others.
- Ryou, on the other hand, is more of a "healthy" introvert. She is assertive and confident, but genuinely wants to be alone most of the time. Her capacity for negative emotions seems to be close to nonexistent, but she is by far the most flawed among the bunch when it comes to morality.
- Nijika is the epitome of a "healthy" extrovert: Friendly, assertive, confident, bubbly and grounded. Similar to Ryou, I would place her close to the low end of the neuroticism spectrum.
- Kita is extremely extroverted, but far more likely than Nijika to experience negative emotion and is way more volatile in general. I wouldn't necessarily describe her as an "unhealthy" extrovert though.
Of course, their personalities are far more complex than that, but I don't want to turn this review into a lengthy essay and will refrain from in-depth character analysis.
As the name of this anime suggests, Bocchi's character is intrinsically linked to the story and the way it progresses. We experience the story from her perspective almost entirely and dive deeply into her personality, motivations, challenges and at times arguably psychotic perception. In the real world, she would be considered extremely mentally ill and there probably wouldn't be as much to laugh about regarding the way she loses herself in fictional scenarios that her mind makes up and that frequently completely incapacitate her, but this is where the extremely hyperbolic and surreal nature of this anime comes into play that perfectly merges with the realistic and relatable aspects to create something that is considerably more than the sum of its parts.
The abstract analogies in Bocchi's head (mostly) in the context of her anxiety and fears are nothing short of brilliant and her reactions to them and her environment are often enough extremely funny, although they would be worrying or at least questionable in real life scenarios.
The other three girls in the band (especially Nijika and Kita) constantly push Bocchi to be the best version of herself while being extremely kind and respectful and it is just very satisfying to watch. The only real exception to this is probably Ryou's at times "quirky" and mildly machiavellian behaviour when it comes to money and the respect for other peoples' property. While I found this a little annoying when I was rewatching the anime, I won't deduct points out of respect for the author's decisions. Most of the characters' and almost all of the main cast's interactions are extremely wholesome and while this isn't necessarily realistic, it contributes to a perfectly well-rounded whole together with the moe art style.
I also love the way Bocchi's little sister Futari is written. At first glance, she might appear to be extremely obnoxious, but she is essentially just a child who has absolutely no filter and says whatever is on its mind. There's absolutely no malice behind her actions or words and contrary to what her extremely insensitive remarks might imply at times, she actually loves her sister and wants to see her succeed.
ART & ANIMATION 10/10
While I don't feel intrinsically drawn towards this extreme moe art style, it fits this show perfectly. At times, it appears a little simplistic as many different characters basically have the same face, but recurring characters are easily recognizable and that's good enough for me. After taking a peek into the manga, I can safely say that I like the style in the anime more and I actually find especially Bocchi really aesthetic.
The animation is where this anime really shines. The source material is obviously good - Good enough for the character designer of the anime to actively seek out and, if I am not mistaken, actually initiate the creation of the adaptation - But the anime elevated it to a level that probably even surprised the people working on it. The animation is phenomenal on every level: It's expressive, fluid, razor-sharp and remarkably creative. The backgrounds look extremely crisp and hyper-realistic and polished, yet blend in perfectly with the bright and simpler style of the characters and most objects in their proximity to create a beautifully surreal yet consistent look that once again fits in perfectly with every other aspect of this anime.
On many occasions, it seems like the animation team just did whatever the hell they wanted switching and mixing visual styles and going completely crazy with extremely absurd ideas and it worked out perfectly.
STORY 9/10
In this section, I'm not rating the plot per se, but rather the way the writing (and animation) decisions end up coming together to create the stunningly surreal experience that is Bocchi the Rock.
The story is pretty straightforward and while it flows very well, but it's somewhat one-dimensional and mostly devoid of any real tension. Since BTR can technically be classified as slice of life and clearly leans towards comedy, this isn't necessarily a bad thing - Especially since the extremely creative visual and conceptual analogies are by far this anime's biggest strength in my opinion.
VOICE ACTING 9/10
I was tempted to give this a straight 10 solely due to Yoshino Aoyama. This anime wouldn't even come close to being as funny (and as good in general) as it is without her exceptional performance. Every single scene - whether it's funny, emotional or straight up insane - is delivered perfectly.
I'm not a fan of Kita's and Nijika's high-pitched moe voices, but it fits the look and feel of the show and their performances are objectively good. While writing this sentence, I realized that it sounds a little psychotic, but I'll leave it this way in the hopes that the underlying thought process makes sense to you.
The acting in general is very good here, but Bocchi definitely stands out to me.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Since the TLDR section is basically in the introduction, I'll call it a day at this point. If you've made it until here, I hope that you were able to enjoy my review and if you actually read it to make up your mind whether you want to give Bocchi The Rock a chance or not, I genuinely hope that it convinced you to do so.
Jan 12, 2025
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Bocchi the Rock is the epitome of a passion project; an exceptionally well-crafted and creative anime that goes above and beyond to create a unique viewer experience and which indicates not only love and appreciation for the source material, but for anime as a medium. The ability to allow extremely hyperbolic, surreal and at times even 4th-wall-breaking scenes to seamlessly take turns with grounded, wholesome and at times intricately complex character interactions is in my eyes a testament of masterful writing and direction skills.
Speaking of direction skills: Some days ago, I was reminded of the fact that BTR shares its director with the adaption of ... 
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