We watched Bocchi the rock and here are abunch of fun facts that you probably missed, including some surprising differences betweenthe anime and the manga, as well as her iconic glitching scene. So stay tuned! First off, let’s talk about the name ofthe band Bocchi is in. It of course is called Kessoku Band whichis the Japanese word for zip-tie. You probably knew that one, but did you alsoknow that “Kessoku” also means “Unity” so it's meant to symbolize the friendshipbetween the four girls. Another meaningful name is Bocchi’s realname Hitori which means “One Person”,.
Representing her shy nature. Her much more sociable sister, on the otherhand is named Futari which means “Two People”. We think Futari is a super cute characterand she also enhances Bocchi’s hilarious moments at home. But that’s not the only fun fact we haveabout Bocchi and her sister. Have you ever noticed that little dangly pieceof hair Bocchi has? That’s called an ahoge or, translated literally,idiot hair. It’s a common piece of character designin anime. But if you notice, Futari has two ahoge andHitori only has one, thus fitting their names.
Two more sisters with matching ahoge are Nijikaand her sister. The two of them have the exact same ahogethat fans like to compare to Doritos. It must run in the family! Also, if you look closely at Bocchi’s contactfor Nijika on her phone, the photo for Nijika is just a closeup of her ahoge which is superhilarious. One last fun ahoge fact is that Bocchi’sahoge and hair decorations stay the same no matter what. Even when she becomes a chibi or turns intoa pile of ash, her ahoge is always there. Which we think is super cute.
Right back to Bocchi’s family for a moment,another interesting fact is that we never actually see Bocchi’s dad’s eyes. There’s always something covering them whetherit’s his hair or a camcorder. The main reason for this is likely becauseBocchi the Rock runs in Manga Time Kirara, a magazine known for focusing solely on mangaabout girls. So his lack of a real face is sort of a jokeabout the lack of male characters. In fact, there are very few other boys inthe cast. To name some, the two punks from the maidcafe, the club owner at the venue Kikuri’s band performs at, and the tropical couplefeaturing a rare guy’s face.
Speaking of Kikuri’s band, remember Eliza? She’s part of the band and we couldn’thelp but notice how her voice actress does a great job at pronouncing English words. The way she pronounces her name is surprisinglysmooth. This is because her voice actress is actuallyan American who is also fluent in Japanese. Her name is Sally Amaki and fans of J-popmay know her as a member of the virtual idol group 22/7. Now, Bocchi the Rock likes to include somefake products that stand in for real-life brands sometimes.
Like the “Moffster” brand energy drinksfrom episode 3. Although something fun about that besidesthe obvious parody is that instead of being called Monster Energy they’re called “Hamagy”. This is a play on the name of the mangakabehind Bocchi the Rock, Aki Hamaji. “Hamaji” plus “energy” equals “Hamagy”? Go figure! It’s not all fake brands though. Did you know there are actually several realworld brands that appear in the show? That’s right, several real life musicalinstrument manufacturers like Yamaha, Gibson.
And Roland actually sponsored the anime. This means that all the instruments are drawnand branded accurately. Even the amplifiers are based on real brands. Speaking of which, the Yamaha company is actuallydoing a cross promotion with Bocchi the Rock where they’re promoting instruments thatlook just like the ones from the show. Specifically Bocchi’s guitar and Kikuri’sbass. Another real life thing that appears in theanime is Tokyo’s Shimo-Kitazawa district. Yes, Shimo-Kita is indeed a real place andis known for its local live music scene. In fact, several background scenes set inShimo-Kita are actual recreations of real-life.
Places in the district. Check out some of these real-life picturesof Shimo-Kita where the characters have been added into. Couldn’t quite tell the photos apart fromthe actual anime, did you? Also, did you know that this scene in Episode1, where Bocchi was trying to look like a rocker chick, is actually a real place? This is the supermarket and Lawson at Kanazawa-HakkeiStation in Japan. Of course the anime spells “Lawson” as“Lowson” for obvious reasons. But what’s more interesting is that thistrain station is the closest to Kanto Gakuin.
University. Yep, that’s right. It’s the university the main members ofAsian Kungfu Generation was from. While looking a bit into the background ofthis manga, apparently early in its development, Bocchi’s personality was supposed to bebright and cheerful which is the total opposite of her personality now. It’s kind of hard to imagine what a genuinelycheerful Bocchi would be like. This was part of a conscious effort to makeBocchi the Rock different from K-On, another Kirara series about cute girls playing rockmusic.
There’s even a bit of official art of whatthis cheerful Bocchi might have looked like. Honestly, it’s super weird to see Bocchilike that but we’re happy to see her smile. Let’s not forget about Kita. And this will be a crude one too. Fans have been quick to point out during thethird ending song that Chibi Kita appeared to give her imaginary audience the finger. We can’t help but think this could havebeen intentional, cause in episode 4 Ryo was telling Bocchi to trust her own lyrical styleand that Kita singing it would be more interesting. There’s only so much detail you can includein Chibi style….
Next, we’ve got a few facts about one ofthe most iconic scenes. That’s right, it’s Bocchi’s famous glitchingfreakout. To start off, in the lead up to the sceneBocchi compares herself to a tsuchinoko. The tsuchinoko is something that’s fairlywell known in Japan but less so in other parts of the world. So, what is it? It’s a Japanese cryptid described as a snakethat’s wider than it is long. Basically, a fat snake. It’s also the inspiration behind the PokemonDunsparce.
The reason Bocchi compares herself to a Tsuchinokois because the Tsuchinoko is a bit like bigfoot. People claim to have seen it but nobody’sproven that it exists. Bocchi is worried that she will essentiallybecome invisible to the world. After the whole Tsuchinoko bit, Bocchi’sanxiety gets worse when her friends suggest that she should get Instagram. This causes Bocchi to freak out and let outa horrific scream. Believe it or not, this scream was not edited. The original idea was to edit the screamingin post production to make it sound like an audio glitch.
But Bocchi’s voice actress Yoshino Aoyamaactually got her voice to do that. Honestly, major props to her for pulling thatoff. The last fact we have is about how the glitchingwas invented for the anime. Everything before it with Bocchi talking aboutbeing a Tsuchinoko is the same and so is everything after it with Bocchi’s “Attention Godzilla”fantasy. But in the manga, Bocchi’s reaction is muchcalmer and she actually manages to sit up after Nijika suggests that she get an Instagramaccount. We’re happy for this change though, it’seasily one of the best scenes in the show! The writing team seems to have had a lot offun expanding on scenes from the original.
Manga. One of the most memorable things about theanime is how it mixes in other styles like stop motion and CGI in certain segments. But they also like to extend and add on tojokes from the manga. For example, in the manga that Godzilla sequencewe’ve just mentioned was just a single panel and the scene of Bocchi trying to act extroverteddidn’t originally have all the fun visuals that the anime version did. However, there is one thing from the mangathat didn’t make it into the anime. That being, the fanservice.
Yes, believe it or not there was a surprisingamount of fanservice in the original manga. The best example of this change is the scenein episode 2 where Bocchi intentionally tries to catch a cold. In the anime Bocchi is wearing a one pieceswimsuit while in front of a fan while the manga shows her in her underwear. The anime even cut out a joke about Bocchiconsidering uploading a video where she plays guitar in her underwear. Some fans may be annoyed but we honestly don’tmind. The toned down fanservice does make Bocchithe Rock a good anime to watch with family.
Or friends. Moving on, remember how Ryo used to be ina band before joining Kessoku Band? Well this does seem to be referenced in thebackground. In several scenes we see a poster advertisingmultiple bands. In one, on the bottom left clearly shows Ryoas part of a different band which we think is a neat easter egg. It was really interesting how Ryo didn’teven flinch when Kita suggested taking their band photos at the old CD store as the posterwas on there as well! Some of you who are less familiar with Japaneseculture may have been a bit confused by the.
Little ghost dolls that Bocchi and the girlsmade. These are called “Teru Teru Bozu” andthey’re thought of as a charm meant to help ward off bad weather. Another neat thing about this scene is thatwe can kind of guess which girls made which of the Teru Teru Bozu. The one with the sad face is definitely Bocchi,the one with the blank expression is probably made by Ryo and the happy looking ones weredefinitely made by Kita and Nijika. One more cool thing we found is that the titlemay actually have a double meaning. Bocchi the Rock is the nickname Nijika givesher after hearing her guitar solo at their.
First real performance as a band. But it’s not just a reference to Bocchi’samazing guitar skills. The “Rock” part of the title may alsobe talking about Bocchi’s loneliness and how it’s hard for her to talk to people. Rocks and stones have been used as metaphorsfor loneliness in plenty of famous rock songs too. Like the Simon & Garfunkel Song “I Am aRock” or the Bob Dylan song “Like a Rolling Stone”. Finally, we’d like to take a moment to compareBocchi to two other famous socially awkward.
Anime girls. Those two girls being Komi from Komi Can’tCommunicate and Tomoko from WataMote. And so begs the question. Which of these girls has the best social skills? And surprisingly, it might just be Bocchi. Komi is barely able to talk most of the timewhich always leads to misunderstandings between her and her friends. Meanwhile Tomoko probably is the worst outof all three of them. She’s constantly worried about not havingany friends and comes off as creepy to most.
People she meets. Bocchi has three close friends who all genuinelycare about her and even though she’s insecure, Bocchi is able to follow her dreams of being a musician. So, what are your thoughts on Bocchi the Rock? Are you hoping it gets a second season aswell?
We hope you in point of fact liked about a of these Easter eggs! Which Bocchi The Rock truth did you ride most?😍
This anime is a masterpiece of tantalizing studio crews. They expanded 6 panel manga into one thing it is doubtless you’ll under no circumstances put out of your mind
One other fun truth is each and each the speak actors and animation crew are all unique to this. That by myself speaks for his or her passion and im certain we are able to clearly witness they loved making this.