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Bocchi the rock is heartwarming, funny, relatable and immensely creative. I haven’t had this much fun watching an anime in a long long time. It took me back to the wonder of watching my first anime, discovering this new medium which allowed what seemed like almost infinite creativity and any story to be told. Cloverfield really struck it out of the park with this one. All from the perfect execution of so many different styles to the immensely likeable cast of characters make this anime a truly fantastic experience.

The show's main character Bocchi is extremely likeable and at many times very relatable to us ... who tend to struggle a bit with introversion and social anxiety. Bocchi is not the first and most certainly won’t be the last anime main character to suffer from social anxiety. Bocchi is a loner but not by choice it’s very obvious early on that she is very attentive and caring. She isn't alone because she wants to be, Bocchi is attentive and caring, she just struggles to show it, and she’s simply unable to make the first move. My favourite of Bocchi’s showcase of her social anxiety is her struggle to enter ‘Starry’, the club she works part-time at, performs at and practices at. As she spun around in front of the entrance thinking to herself ‘I’ll go in five minutes’... and as five minutes passed ‘I’ll go in 5 more’ frantically trying to force herself to enter but just she just couldn’t, I thought back to myself doing the same things in my real life. I’m pretty sure that I’ve said the exact same thing as Bocchi said to herself, to myself and it did make me laugh as well as a bit embarrassed. These moments of relatability and how genuinely enjoyable it is to watch Bocchi’s general antics make her one of the most likeable main characters I’ve ever encountered in any type of media. This likeability spreads to the rest of the cast as well. All of the other band members, Nijika who is an outgoing social girl (kind of Bocchi's opposite), Ryo who also is a bit of a loner, although willingly making her different from Bocchi and Kita who kind of is the stereotypical kind of popular outgoing girl are all exceedingly likeable as well. They aren’t wholly original characters as they all play on tropes that usually are present in the genre, this most certainly isn't the first show to partner introverts with extroverts to produce comedic results. But that doesn't matter as the writing doesn’t feel derivative because of the fact that the characters got just enough quirks and depth that it makes them play off each other in a wholly unique and special way. Their friendship feels natural and real, it doesn’t come off as forced at all as it often can in these types of series. The main girls’ relationship evolves in a very natural and subtle way, there’s never some melodramatic forced rift between them, never an all-out fight to force development in their relationships. It happens naturally, subtly and quietly and all of this pays off greatly in the last episode when Kita for the first time calls Bocchi “Hitori-chan”. I realize as I write it that it really doesn’t seem that big of a deal, and it isn't, even the show really didn't treat it as a big deal, it’s only a cute little character moment at the end of the season. But that only works to prove the point of how subtle and smart the character-writing is, that something as simple as a character calling another character by their name for the first time can make me smile from cheek to cheek.

The characters are great and all but at its absolute core Bocchi the rock is another slice of life ‘cute girls doing cute things’ anime, K-on walked so Bocchi could run. The original 4-Koma manga wasn’t necessarily bad but to be perfectly blunt, it really isn’t anything to write home about either. Sure the charming story and characters are there but that isn't what truly makes this anime shine. What truly makes this anime stand out in the crowd is its art direction and style. There was absolutely no need to put this much effort into the animation of this script, put this exact script in the hands of another studio, in the hands of another director and you would’ve gotten the most run-of-the-mill, boring, low-budget anime ever. Cloverfield put in tremendous effort to make this something special and I’m honestly thrilled that they did. This anime practically spews out creativity and imagination throughout every single episode and more or less every single scene. The passion that this anime was made with is almost palpable through the screen. The constant switching between art styles and animation techniques proves the effort that must’ve gone into making this anime. All from the regular cutesy art style, to a more traditional old-school anime style, to stop motion animation, to puppets, to claymation and even live-action clips. Not to mention the seamless integration of CGI. The director Saitou Keiichirou along with all the animators at Cloverfield really went above and beyond making this simple, cute and quirky story the absolute best it possibly could be. There are so many sequences in this anime that surely took a tremendous amount of time and effort to pull off. These changes in art style complement the themes of Bocchi's character wonderfully. Explaining visually as well and that she’s a bit of a weirdo that goes off on weird tangents. If these tangents weren’t accompanied by a change in art style they wouldn’t be as easily perceived as small escapes into Bocchi’s wild little fantasy world, as well as the fact that they wouldn’t be nearly as funny. The changes add a lot of humorous qualities and a lot of character to the scenes. My favourite of these tangents of Bocchi’s is the one about sports festivals. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it but for those who have, try to imagine that sequence in a more usual art style. I bet you can’t and even if you could it surely didn’t pack as much of a punch as the real one did. This weird little almost Masaaki Yuasa ‘Tatami Galaxy’-looking sequence just wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t look the way it does. These changes in animation also perfectly encapsulate how it feels to overexaggerate outcomes. Messing up in a school team activity? yes it does feel like being hunted by a bunch of puppets with spears and then being burned at the stake. Thinking about having to make a social media account when you've got no one to add? yea it totally feels like glitching out on the floor while having your soul leave your body. These little sequences add so much flavour, personality and uniqueness to the show. I’ve never seen anything quite like it in this medium. It’s more or less the perfect integration of different art styles. The art style and animation techniques and changes are integral to making this anime what it is. I’m sure it wasn’t easy to pull off, but that hard work and passion really paid off.

Bocchi the rock could genuinely be considered a masterpiece and had I seen it only a few years ago I’m sure that I myself would’ve considered it one. I can see how Bocchi’s heartwarming story of breaking out of your shell could inspire many an introvert. I hope this show does well because it just truly is such a damn good time. I binged a large part of this show in one sitting and by the end, my cheeks were hurting with how much I was smiling. I could not wipe the grin off my face even if I so wanted to while watching this anime. Bocchi the rock is an anime with a tremendous amount of effort put into making it as good as possible, all from the animation to the voice acting and it most definitely is noticeable. Even though it isn’t laugh-out-loud funny most of the time, it’s constantly so quirky, cute and humorous that it genuinely doesn’t matter at all. There isn’t a dull moment, this is the most fun I’ve had with an anime in a long long time. Bocchi the rock gets a big thumbs up and a glowing recommendation from me. Hopefully, there’ll be a season 2 soon where Bocchi can keep on showing us how she rocks!

(Slight spoiler warning in the third paragraph)

“There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.”

When season 2 of mob psycho 100 got announced it would be an understatement to say that I was excited. I was brimming with excitement to see the continuation of Reigen’s, Mob's and all the other characters story. But now after it’s release and I’ve watched all the episodes of my oh so awaited season 2. I’m honestly not feeling it, and I’m very disappointed.

I’m in no way saying that mob psycho 2 is a bad show. Not at all. The animation ... is stunning, the direction is phenomenal and the voice acting is as good, if not even better than the first season. It’s noticeable that a lot of care and effort has been put into making Mob Psycho 2. But despite all of these amazing features it has, I feel as if Mob Psycho has lost what made it unique and fun. What made the first season of Mob psycho great in my opinion is three points: the lightheartedness, the sense of humor and the characters. Season 2 only hits one of these points, but actually improves upon it. The characters. Mob and friends have never been better. Mob actually has an arc spanning over the whole season, not one forced into the last few episodes (as in season 1). Mob wants to improve as a person and actively makes an effort to do so. Something you really can’t say he does in the first season. Reigen also has an amazing arc this season. I won’t talk much about it because it would be a shame if I spoiled it for someone. Reigen was more or less the same person at the end of the first season as he was at the start. In season 2 tho, he’s a changed man at the end. It’s not only Mob and Reigen that’s gotten better, but all other characters also stepped up in season 2. They all changed so much that some felt out of character. But I don’t mind since the most of the characters are very well written. And that’s the part of Mob I adore. The rest of it kind of sucks.

The two other points that season 2 doesn’t get is the lightheartedness and humor. Which mostly goes hand in hand. Mob psycho season 1 is a lighthearted slice of life anime about a boy with psychic powers that despite his lack of emotion tries to live out his normal life as good as possible. Mob psycho season 1 never gets serious and dark. It has its emotional moments but never something too serious. In season 2 mob literally comes home to find his house on fire and sees what he believes to be his family burning. Mob Psycho 2 is one of the darkest and most serious shows I’ve seen in a while. And I don’t understand why, Mob Psycho was funny because of how lightheartedly these situation that would be handled totally different in other shows. That’s why it’s funny. When the most serious thing ever happen and Reigen then laughs about it later isn’t funny. It seems more like a flaw in Reigens character. I feel weird saying this but Mob Psycho season 2 isn’t funny at all. Season 2 abandons the concept of the first season and it makes me really disappointed. The first season of Mob Psycho was an analysis of manchildren and more or less a parody of shounen animes. But the second season isn't a parody anymore. It’s turned into what it made fun of in the first place. I find it very hard to even call it a slice of life anymore.

To further prove my point that Mob psycho isn’t a slice of life anymore is the frequency and lengths of fights. There are few fights in the first season of Mob, meaning that when Mob went 100% and the fights broke out, it felt Impactful and epic. But in season 2 there are fights more or less every episode. The fights are longer, some spanning over something like 10 minutes. The animation might be great, but it gets overwhelming. I was finding myself sighing and thinking isn’t this fight over soon? Rather than being amazed by them as I was in season 1.
The most stupid thing ever happened as well. You know how the show is called Mob Psycho 100. Well suddenly mobs emotions can get ever 100% and he grew even more powerful. The point of the WHOLE show is that once the emotions get to 100% they overflow and Mob can’t control them anymore. But what’s the point of that if he suddenly can get 200%. It breaks the concept season 1 put up. Season 2 takes everything season 1 does good and throws it in the trash can.

What was once fresh and amazing is now just another My Hero Academia, and it’s a real shame. I had high hopes for this anime and I was let down big time. I would honestly rather watch the worst anime ever than rewatch this. The animes I feel the least from are the ones that are mediocre, the animes with extreme wasted potential. And Mob Psycho has sadly become one of them. I was expecting greatness and when what I got was very mediocre. It hit hard and my rating off this season of Mob Psycho suffered.