Bocchi the Rock
Bocchi is excited to attend the festival and hears that it will be a great opportunity to meet new people and see some of her favorite bands. She decides to go with her friends and take a walk around the city. However, on their way back, they are attacked by a group of thugs. Bocchi is able to fight off the attackers and saves her friends, but she is injured in the process. She is taken to the hospital where she meets her classmate, who tells her about the attack. Bocchi is devastated and decides to stay at the hospital until she can get back on her feet.
Bocchi is excited to have Kessoku Band perform at her middle school’s festival. It will help her achieve one of her goals and give the band more exposure. Suddenly, Bocchi finds herself at the booth where people can submit applications to participate in the festival. Bocchi is surprised by her confidence as she’s unsure why she applied and when she completed an entry slip for herself and Kessoku Band. ..
Kita is upset that Bocchi didn’t tell her about the cultural festival and how she feels like she’s been left out. Kita tells Bocchi that she’ll go hang out with her other friends and not worry about her.
Kita leaves as Bocchi grabs the slip. Bocchi wants to perform at the festival, but she has little concert experience and is scared. Bocchi says she shouldn’t worry much as people who perform at these events are amateurs. Bocchi checks her phone to research people’s excitement for the festival. Bocchi gets attacked by everyone’s hyped-up interactions online. Bocchi argues she’s too tired to get up from the bed. ..
She retracts her statement by arguing that loner types shining at events like the culture festival is a classic trope. After pondering it over, Bocchi ultimately decides against having her friends perform at her school’s culture festival. Bocchi heads to Starry Club to seek advice from Seika. Seika tells Bocchi she should have Kessoku Band play at the culture festival, despite Seika never caring for high school.
Pa-San admits to dropping out, making Bocchi wonder why she asked them for tips. Nijika and Ryo arrive and Seika informs them that Bocchi wanted to have them play at her school’s culture festival. Nijika and Ryo aren’t against it, unlike Bocchi. They tell Bocchi they’ve played songs at their middle school’s culture festival. Ryo admits to playing horribly at hers, though. Nijika says it would be great to have the band perform somewhere other than Starry Club.
It would help them grow from an advertising perspective if they could find a way to perform at the culture festival. Ryou understands Bocchi’s qualms with performing in front of a large audience, so she’s willing to abide by her wishes. Nijika understands and asks Bocchi to make a decision that she feels is best. Through various times of the day, we see Bocchi ponder about the culture festival. She thinks over the pros and cons at playing at this event. At school, Kita bumps into Bocchi and informs her that she went to the nurse’s office again yesterday but noticed Bocchi left.
Kita informs Bocchi that she found her completed slip for the culture festival and turned it in, shocking Bocchi. Kita can’t wait to play at the festival unlike Bocchi. Bocchi arrives at Starry Club and exhibits a position that makes her look like she’s in a casket. Kita apologizes for entering the slip as she didn’t know Bocchi was pondering about entering. Ryo asks Kita if it’s too late to back out, and Kita agrees they can’t.
Hiroi arrives to Starry Club in a drunken state. Seika and Nijika as for her to leave in a humorous manner. She spots Bocchi in her dead-like position and asks what’s wrong. Kita explains that she submitted Kessoku Band’s application to perform at the culture festival against Bocchi’s will. Hiroi thinks it’s a great idea. Bocchi argues against it as she can’t usher enough courage to perform in front of people who know her at schools. She cites large crowds frightening her too.
Hiroi hands Bocchi and her friends tickets to her band’s performance tonight. Nijika insists on paying Hiroi for them, but Hiroi’s against it. She doesn’t want to look like a broke rocker who begs teenage girls for cash. Hiroi praises her band for its popularity and wealth. Nijika’s not buying it because it makes no sense for Hiroi to buy cheap beer. Bocchi reminds Hitori that she never paid her back for the train fare.
Hiroi assures everyone that her bands make a lot of money. However, they tend to spend their money on replacing equipment because Hiroi breaks her instruments due to drinking. Seika asks Bocchi if Ryo paid her back, and Bocchi says no. She forces Ryo and Hiroi to give Bocchi her money back as they apologize. Seika notices Hiroi drinking another beer and advises her to cut back on them. ..
It’s revealed that Hiroi never used to drink before playing concerts. Meanwhile, the girls head for Hiroi’s concert, as they can’t believe they’re getting to attend it for free. We learn the name of Hiroi’s band. It’s called SICK HACK. The girls arrive as Hiroi gives them a tour of her home base called Shinjuku FOLT. They remark how it has a different vibe than Starry club. Hiroi introduces them to her friends Ginjiro (the manager), Shima (the drummer), and their England-based member Eliza.
Eliza has resided in Japan for three years and came here to learn more about Comiket. She dreams of entering an anisong cover band one day. Bocchi questions their SICK HACK’s balance. We see concert goers waiting for them to perform. Nijika, Bocchi, and Kita are astounded by the amount of people in attendance. Ryo informs the others that SICK HACK’s professional in psycheledic rock and goes on a speal about that music genre’s history.
After the performance, our girls head backstage to converse with SICK HACK. Hiroi notices something off about Bocchi and sits next to her to discuss things. Bocchi tells Hiroi she can’t ever see herself having as much charisma as Hiroi. Hiroi tells Bocchi that she was a gloomy person in high school.
Hiroi, a high school student in Japan, struggled with her drive to improve her life. She started drinking to help her relax before concerts because she was scared of them at first. However, Hiroi’s performance at Starry Night convinced her that she had talent and should continue striving for better. ..
Hiroi tells Bocchi that she should have faith in herself and drink when she’s stressed. Bocchi is against drinking but would love for Hiroi to attend Kessoku Band’s performance at the culture festival. Kessoku Band head to a cafe to discuss their culture festival plan. Nijika relays Kita’s intel about them having 15 minutes to perform which is three songs in total. Ryo gets out a sheet of paper and a pen. She tells the others that had their setlist planned for awhile. ..
Ryo and Bocchi say that they will have a guitar solo in their second song. Kita questions if they should go into it with full agression, but Nijika says why not. Ryo argues they could all split the blame if they perform terribly. While heading home together, Kita admits to knowing Bocchi threw out the culture festival application, and she apologizes for submitting it.
“Kita tells Bocchi that it’s alright and that she’s grateful Bocchi did it. Kita promises she’ll work harder in practice and hopes they can give their school the best showcase ever. In her mind, Kita admits that she did it because she wants Bocchi to perform at the festival.” “The next day, Kita asks Ryo to coach her on the guitar for extra practice. She also wants to give Bocchi time to practice alone. Ryo isn’t against it but tells Kita she must pay her for the lessons.” ..
The Episode Review
This episode was a lot of fun and introduced some new characters. I especially liked the wacky antics that Hiroi and Bocchi got up to. It was a great way to end the show on a high note.
The new obstacles troubling Bocchi seem to be a hindrance to her progress, but it’s understandable that an audience at a culture festival will bring in more people. ..
The final episodes of the show seem to be focusing more on Bocchi breaking free from her introverted shell. This could be because Kessoku Band is looking for her and they are not sure where she is. The next episode implies that Bocchi may have gone missing, leaving viewers to speculate what happened to her. While some may speculate she’s trying to find a way out of the festival, others may predict that something drastic has occurred with Bocchi.
This was an adorable and beautifully animated episode of Bocchi The Rock. I loved learning more about Hiroi’s passion for music and getting to see her bandmates. At the same time, I hope to see Bocchi grow and overcome her inner insecurities.
