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Bocchi The Rock tells the story of an introvert finding her own path in life through music. Reminiscent of the legendary Slice of Life (SoL) anime, K-on!, it follows a similar setup but differentiates itself in it's characters, plot and presentation.

Character wise, Bocchi is a someone who needs support, while Yui is mostly portrayed as the X-factor of her band. The latter brings a much needed positive and hopeful vibe, while the former does anything but that. This results in K-on! having less progression in it's main character than Bocchi The Rock, as the namesake's purpose in the story is to drive the plot ... through her journey of learning to interact, appreciate others, and in turn discover her own self-worth. Yui, on the other hand, doesn't need as much help in that regard, because she does pretty fine by herself, and actually needs to be reprimanded at times for how cheerful she is. All in all, Bocchi's story has an upward trajectory, while Yui mostly remains where she is, albeit fluctuating depending on where the episode's plot wants to take her.

Before moving on, I'd like to state why I'm choosing to compare Bocchi and K-on! despite them being very different shows on the whole. Well, that's precisely the reason, their key differences are paramount to understanding why both of them have had such a large impact on the anime community, both past and present. So please understand that I am in no way belittling either title, even if it may appear so. I love both shows, in fact K-on! remains an all-time pick of mine, and Bocchi is a recent example of a show that managed to touch my heart deeply like very few have.

So speaking about the plot, Bocchi takes a much more traditional story-telling approach, while K-on! stays within it's Cute Girl Doing Cute Things (CGDCT) agenda. I love the route K-on! goes with it's reoccurring gags, episode plots and interactions, but I think it's fair to say that Bocchi tries much harder to make it's character stick with you in it's shorter timeframe. I felt a much greater sense of urgency in Bocchi's plot compared to K-on!, which should be obvious considering the nature of their main characters. Not to dwell too long on characters again, but it's certainly clear that Bocchi's obsession with her lonliness is a much easier plot driver than whatever the hell is going on in that Yui's brain. Nevertheless, my point in this paragraph is to simply highlight the difference in priorities for either story. Bocchi wants you to connect with it's characters quickly and deeply, as seen by Nijika's abrupt introduction, nearly rocking Bocchi's world to pieces right from episode 1. On the other side, Yui and co. simply lack the F's to give to actually work towards their "goals", and would rather sit around, eat cake and drink tea (which is precisely the point of the show and why I love it <3)

Now moving on to presentation, I'd like to split this section up into two parts. The first shall be about the visual, and the second about the audio. It should be obvious that music plays a huge part in these two anime, so I believe it's important to address both senses with equal importance.

Starting with visual presentation, I think the element that stands out the most is hair colour. Bocchi's characters have bright, colourful, even primary colours, while K-on! are more realistic. To me, this emphasises how much the characters stand out in each story. Think about it, everyone else in Bocchi's universe has normal coloured hair, yet our main characters are distinctly not the same. Why? Because they are distinctly not the same! Every one of them is weird in their own way, Ryo is a rich loner, Nijika is way too cheerful, Kita is overly cute and of course our dear Bocchi stands out the most in the fact that she has the least friends (Sadge). Point being, their distinct hair colours represent their distance from societies norms, in both "good" and "bad" ways. If you've seen the show, you know what I mean. So what about K-on? Well, it does the same thing, except the result is different because it's characters are different. Or rather, they aren't (XD). Sure, Yui is talented as a guitarist and a bit of an airhead, Mio is pretty and a good bassist, Ritsu is a ditz and Tsumugi has her goggles. However, they are never portrayed as being distinctly "different" from their peers. In short, they are just regular high schoolers, people you could meet in your own school or maybe you have. Not to say that you can't meet anti-social, popular, hyper-cheerful or loner people in real-life, but one show makes it a point to point it out, while the other just lets them be. This leads to the next point about...

Music! If you have been paying attention to what I have been saying about the visual presentation, you should already have realised that the music does the same thing! Bocchi's music is much more introspective, thought-provoking and dramatic while K-on has... Fuwa fuwa time... and My love is a stapler... yeah you see what I mean? Bocchi's music takes itself much more seriously than K-on, and that makes sense for all the reasons I listed before.

So now you might be wondering, how does all of this link to the title of this review. (Bocchi The Rock - The Introvert's Icon.) Well to be completely honest, not much. I thought it was a catchy title, that's pretty much it (LOL). Okay in all seriousness, what made me want to talk about Bocchi in the first place was the inconceivable reach that this anime has had, and I believe SHE plays a large part in that. Something about seeing a introvert try hard at something is just really fun and exciting. The struggles she goes through, the people she meets, I think make for really great lessons for anyone looking to get to know people better and enjoy life as a whole. That's been me, Sunray, signing off!

This might be the most wholesome manga I have read. The main gist of the story is the gender subversion of the male and female tropes in a romance story. Genrally, it’s expected that the man is who usually protects the girl. This time, the girl, while still being cute, has a cool side in which she protects her frail boyfriend from whatever misfortunes come his way. Before I go into details, I must say that personally, this is one of those ‘more than the sum of its parts’ type of stories. Despite its simple plot, very good but not outstanding art, and its use ... of tropes you see everywhere in media, it still stands as one of my favourite romcom manga.

Story: 7/10
It’s a slice of life. Either get with it, or get out. If you aren’t familiar with slice of life, I recommend this highly as one to get into. But if you already know it’s not your thing, while I’d urge you to give it a shot because it’s definitely one of the best, it’s up to you. Generally yes, this is a typical slice of life. Most chapters are disconnected from each other, each telling their own individual slice of the main leads’s blossoming romance. I’d agree that the characters definitely carry the SoL portions of the story, which I will explore later. However, once in a while, the story will move into a structured arc, in which I think the story really shines. They are definitely still centered around the characters heavily, but as a whole, these arcs are the true peaks of the story. The generally Center around one to two characters, and really dive deep into their emotions and thought processes, which surprised me at first. There is wonderful development to be seen in some of these arcs, and while nothing super crazy ever happens plot wise, the care the author takes into really endearing you to these characters is quite impressive. But yeah, let’s move onto the characters while I’m talking about them eh?

Characters: 9/10
In dramas, the conflict is generally going to be external, with characters colliding with one another through their ideals or even physically. Most conflicts in this story however, are internal, in which characters are prompted by a certain action in the plot to become more contemplative and question themselves. I think it’s a really great way of creating tension without risking it feeling melodramatic. And the way the other characters around them help to resolve their troubles in the heart of the story. Whether it be the male lead, Izumi, wanting to appear cool for his girlfriend and failing. You know his girlfriend Shikimori will have something to say to assure him of his worries, often appearing cool herself. I will say this, every side character introduced has their moment to shine, and some shine so bright it will tear a hole in your heart for how wholesome it is. To furthering my point, there is a completely conflict-less love triangle which gets resolved in 3 chapters, THREE. It’s incredible how the author manages to craft these characters in a way which you cannot help but smile when take a step forward to improve themselves and be happier. The supporting cast is really amazing for what they are, not the focus of the story most of the time, but really shine when they have to. As for the main leads, their relationship is as wholesome as it gets, without feeling like pandering at all. That’s all I have to say, although I could talk about these characters forever.

Art: 8
Nothing much to say here, very solid art throughout. The author is really good at expressing subtle emotions in serious scenes, and also making funny or cute faces to lighten the mood. There are certain scenes with 0 dialogue, in which the art conveys all the writer needs on its own, which is astounding play impressive for a slice of life. Shikomori gets most of the high quality, line art panels with her badass faces and poses striking an arrow through your chest. I don’t rank t higher despite saying this, because it’s really only a handful of moments in which the art blows you away, but most of the time it’s what you would expect in SoL manga, minus the Single panels every chapter which all the effort is put into in order to deliver the most impact possible.

Enjoyment: 9
Basically what I have said above, character interactions are always either funny, striking or heartwarming. It’s a serious feel-good story, and will keep you reading more and more.

Overall: 9
True ranking is probably an 8, but I was genuinely so surprised at how well written some of the climactic moments are that I had to put it at a 9. So yeah, nuff said. Read Shikimori isn’t just cute if you want see two teenagers’ puppy love romance, and their friends shenanigans too.

Expectations and prerequisites matter, thats what I learnt after finishing Mob Psycho 1 and 2.

To preface, I heard of Mob psycho a lot in the community and was looking forward to watching it. Everyone I saw discuss it stated that s2 was better s1, like a lot better. However in the end, I believe this expectation I went into the series with hurt my opinion and kind of invalidated it. I don't feel good making this review and I want to re-watch the show eventually and give it another shot.

On to the actual review. I will be comparing S2 to S1 here

The story was very ... mediocre, especially in the latter half of the 12 episode season. Events that unfolded didn't feel impactful as Mob, our main character, isn't there for a majority of the time. This wouldn't be a bad thing if the other characters were interesting to watch as well. Individually they are great and when they are just talking its fun to see their dynamics. But when shit hits the fan, it doesn't really feel like shit is actually hitting the fucking fan even though shit is definitely hitting the fucking fan. Gonna be honest for one of the arcs I was half asleep not because it was boring but because it was like 3am I should have gone to bed. I wont comment on it here but it was from episode 4 to 6 I think.

The art and animation are gorgeous as always but I think they used it a bit too much and too often. Fights in S1, especially when Mob hits 100%, Ooh its bouta get real. But expectedly, as he gets stronger he is gonna have to fight stronger opponents more frequently. This lead to each fight having less impact, namely the last fight which was awesome, but was mediocre compared to the finale of S1 in my eyes, although this wasn't the animations fault which was better in S2. All in all nothing to complain here, I loved the art style in S1 and its even better here.

Sound is not something I'm too familiar with but it was good, accompanied the art well.

More characters develop way more in s2, but something about the themes portrayed through our 4 psychics (including Reigen) in s1 will always have a special place in my heart. Obviously Mob and Reigen are awesome and go thorough an amazing arc but they do drop a few characters to accomodate for the larger cast. It honestly felt more like an Avengers movie than an Action shounen. Wow that is a great analogy i just came up with good job me.

The story didn't feel like it complimented the characters well and characters I loved suddenly were completely out of the picture. Again, I do feel obligated to rewatch the series to fully grasp the themes and messages, as well as appreciate the animation fully. Watching s2 right after s1 blew me away just didn't surprise me. I firmly agree with anyone who might rate this season higher as a 8 or 9 but I can't lie to myself. This is because like I said, I think my expectations that s1 was was worse and s2 was going to be better ruined it for me, it was my fault though. S1 surprised me a ton so my expectations for S2 were way too high. I kept waiting for some mega epic twist or revelation or development, without paying attention to what was in front of me.

So, if you do plan on watching this show, which I do reccommend, maybe wait a few days to rid yourself of any major expectations and go in looking for a good time, with an open mind.