It’s been forever since I first watched Bocchi The Rock! Although, between that time and now, I have rewatched this anime countless times. This story about a high school girl who has fallen into isolation and found her passion and self-actualization in music somehow resonates so much with me, a mid-20s male who basically can’t play any instrument.
Since my first time watching this anime, I knew Bocchi was going to both inspire and relate to a lot of people. She’s the ultimate “literally me!” anime girl of 2022. But, it’s not just the anime that inspired me to write this post.
Coincidentally, I also enjoy watching reaction channel on YouTube. There is something I like in listening to other’s perspective about an anime that I absolutely love. And after rewatching this anime through a certain reaction (or rather, an analysis) by a certain channel. I was left pondering about a lot of meaning in Bocchi The Rock!
Euro Brady And Narrative Therapy
A clip of Euro Brady’s analysis of Bocchi The Rock!
The channel that I’m talking about is Euro Brady. It just so happened that he’s also a practicing therapist and a twitch streamer. When I was casually scrolling, YouTube recommended his Bocchi The Rock! reaction, which goes up to two hours per episode!
How could a 20 minutes episode be analyzed to such depth that each becomes a two hours video? That’s what I thought.
Well, Euro Brady’s reaction not only covers what the viewers want to hear in a reaction video, but his professional insights also give a novel and deep perspective on each character of this anime.
Euro Brady’s method of therapy is called narrative therapy, which is a form of psychotherapy based on the patient’s narrative involving their identity and self-perception.
What drew me keen to it was back in my undergrad days, my professors introduced me to a research method called narrative inquiry.
Coincidentally, this research method is perfect when we want to do research surrounded by themes like identity, personal experience, and perception.
The way Euro Brady dissected Bocchi’s identity reconstruction was both entertaining and super insightful. Looking at the characters from the lens of an actual professional in the field of psychology surely felt like opening a new dimension from a known reality. I’ll link his analysis on the full series here.
Bocchi’s Narrative Of Identity Construction
Bocchi the loner
What’s unique in narrative therapy and narrative inquiry is how observant we should be to our subjects. In this case, looking at the first few scenes in Bocchi The Rock! made why Bocchi grew up to be how she is crystal clear. From the get-go, she set herself up as the one who has to question if it’s okay to join her friends.
For Bocchi, being the outcast or the outsider has been the norm for the majority of her life. However, her passion in music and guitar eventually gave birth to another identity, guitar hero.
Although, Bocchi keeps her online persona separate from her real life self, which I’d say will bite her back later. After binging Brady’s analysis on the entire anime, I think his description on Bocchi’s journey is pretty spot on.
From being the socially anxious Hitori, guitar hero, and finally combining the two of them into what he calls the “Bocchi the Rock” identity.
Bocchi pulling the bottleneck move.
Looking back, we might simply take Bocchi’s change as her character development. However, if we put her story under the knife of narrative therapy, she didn’t simply change. But, it’s more about integrating all her identities into one, as Brady put it.
Incidentally, identity construction is something that we all go through in our life, consciously or not. Most commonly, people differentiate between their “work” self and their “home” self. Similar to how Bocchi successfully created her guitar hero persona.
This take through Brady’s narrative therapy lens makes scene’s like Bocchi’s culture festival performance even more impactful. The time when her E string breaks is something that first episode Bocchi would overthink about.
However, instead of succumbing to the panic, her guitar hero persona “takes over”, and she pulls through by doing a sick bottleneck move, something a pro would do.
Immaculate Visual On Social Anxiety
Panicking so hard, she starts glitching
Bocchi’s frequent overthinking is one of the anime’s selling point. Let’s say CloverWorks animation studio gave the audience a telepathic ability and brought us how vast Bocchi’s worst situation scenarios played out.
Thanks to their creative liberty, this anime shows how it feels to have a social anxiety rather than what it might seem. And in Bocchi’s overthinking process, she often imagines what could happen or what could’ve happened, creating a narrative wrapped in vivid visual.
Oh, this is the worst imagination. Yet, how relatable!
My personal favorite Bocchi’s future dread is when she overheard a couple of office workers talking at a bar. Her imagination of underperforming in a fictional sales job hits too close to home.
Bocchi’s other scenarios are also equally horrible. Living as a dysfunctional drunkard, being burned alive by the entire school’s festival spirit, getting replaced by an extroverted guitarist version of herself, all of them induce unnecessary stress. Narrative is indeed a double-edged blade, you can wield it to imagine your success or your annihilation.
Kita Anxiety, Behind All The Kita-aura
Kita-aura!
Speaking of anxiety, it’s nice that this anime doesn’t single out Bocchi as the only one who has it. The fact that someone as extroverted as Kita can be anxious is fascinating, despite for a couple of very different reasons.
First, Brady pointed out in his analysis of Kita is how anxious she is about her name. Yes, Kita Ikuyo wants to be known as Kita Kita. Apparently, Kita Ikuyo is a pun that translates to “I’m here, let’s go!” ironically a very outgoing and energetic phrase, fitting perfectly to Kita’s personality.
Some of us have a friend who is a victim of their parents’ silliness when naming them, and they have to live their whole lives with it. When this happens, the person often has to create an entire identity separate to their name or make their skin thick enough to deter mockery and bullies.
And in Kita’s case, she surely made sure everyone knows her by “Kita” only. Sure, in the anime, it’s played as a comedic gag. To be honest, it’s only Ryo and Nijika’s sister who I noticed calling Kita with her “Ikuyo” name, both nonchalantly and jokingly, which has no harm intended in their delivery.
“Runaway guitarist!”
Second, and this anxiety I found to be more profound in Kita. It’s her creative anxiety. At first, I thought it’s only natural for Kita to feel inferior to Bocchi in terms of guitar skills. However, after watching Brady’s analysis, being worse at something and sitting next to someone who excels way beyond your ability sure does give an existential crisis.
Come to think of it, Kita’s anxiety about her guitar skills must be through the roof at the beginning of her appearance. After all, she was the runaway guitarist of Kessoku Band, which then got replaced by Bocchi.
However, it’s nice that she doesn’t succumb to the same level of overthinking as Bocchi does. Imagine if we have two equally vivid display of internal stress, this anime would be even trippier than it already is.
Nijika Is A Cookie Cutter Formula For A Shonen Protagonist
Nijika simply radiates positivity with the power of a thousand suns
Aside from our two anxious girls, Bocchi the Rock! also has two of the most stable supporting characters. Let’s start with Nijika. My first impression of Nijika was she is the perfect friend.
Caring, enthusiastic, and immensely encouraging. If you think about it, Bocchi would never be at where she is if she never meet Nijika.
In Brady’s analysis, he pointed out something about her that I’ve never thought about. Nijika has a strong preservation for Kessoku band, both because she is the leader and also because of her dream, which we’ll talk about in a second.
But first, Brady pointed out that Nijika’s shortcoming is that she actually pretty controlling. It could be a good thing, but also not immune from going downhill. She’s the one who scouted all the band members, the one who handle the band finance, the one who designed their shirt. Basically, all major decision falls down to Nijika.
Nijika on her quest to search for a new guitarist
The reason for her seemingly tailored destiny for the band is tied to her dream of making Starry a famous club. Starry was established by Nijika’s sister, Seika, who sacrificed her career in her own band.
The story of Nijika’s family isn’t as wholesome as Bocchi’s. Her mother passed away a long time ago, her father isn’t around much because of work, leaving the two sisters practically alone.
With a background this harsh as this, no wonder Seika turned to be a tsun-tsun-tsun-tsun-tsun-tsun-tsundere. Now let’s see, a tragic family story, a personality full of energy, a big dream to fulfill, and a personality of a leader. If this anime isn’t titled Bocchi the Rock! I swear Nijika would be the main character, and it will easily become a shonen.
Ryo Is A Flawless Goddess Of Personality, Confirmed
She genuinely has some profound takes
Now, on the subject of Ryo’s psychology, there’s not much for me to unravel. However, after a couple of rewatch and now added with Brady’s analysis, she has grown to be my favorite character in the anime.
At first, Ryo came off as the typical aloof and quiet character, just like any token introvert we have in pretty much any anime. However, there are two qualities which I’ve come to deeply appreciate from her, Ryo’s free spirit and authenticity.
She is a person who is very comfortable in her own skin. Not a bit of self-consciousness, and proud of her weirdness. Plus, as Bocchi herself stated, they are pretty much on a very different level. Ryo is someone who enjoys her alone time, and Bocchi is someone who is suffers in her loneliness.
Considering the heavy emphasis on conformity in Japanese culture, Ryo is simply a nail that refuses to be hammered down. It is reflected in her background story, which might not as dramatic as Nijika’s or Bocchi’s, but it’s the one that sticks to me the most.
Never abandon your uniqueness
Ryo’s blatant refusal to make mainstream songs led her to depart her old band, deeming them to have lost their originality. Quoting the lady herself, “Abandoning your uniqueness in equal to dying.”
All creative creators, including writers, might struggle in sales or traffic if they don’t somehow conform to what is currently trending. But, if we simply let the mainstream devour our authenticity, then there’s nothing for our potential audience to remember from us.
Even outside of creative world, the push on conformity can be felt almost everywhere. If we don’t appear a certain way, society might reject us.
If we don’t live a certain way, most people would avoid us. And most dangerously, if we don’t think a certain way, we’d be in trouble. Ryo really did give me something to think about.
Brady pointed out that Ryo’s stubborness is a poignant application of terror management theory. For Ryo, leaving her unique mark to the world through music might symbolically immortalize her, even if it means only for a niche demographic.
Still, Ryo Is One Silly Girl
The size of this girl’s brain
However, Bocchi the Rock! is still an anime and not a full on essay about human’s psyche. Naturally, there are a few gags that make Ryo a tad bit silly.
Ryo’s tendency to appear mysterious and cool doesn’t always comes from a genuine “kakoii” energy. Sometimes, she just does’nt really care about anything around her, like her personal finance, Bocchi’s lonesome summer break, and being a pathological liar whenever she needs an excuse.
And this very thing is what makes her dynamic with Kita hilarious. As most of us know, Kita has a big crush on Ryo and we can imagine what that does to Ryo’s image in Kita’s mind. This where Brady introduced me to a new term, parataxic distortion.
Parataxic distortion is a tendency to perceive others based on fantasy, often times applies in a relationship where one person is being a “simp” for the other, exactly what Kita is when it comes to Ryo. I’m sorry Kita, your favorite bassist girl has a brain the size of a peanut.
Honorable Mention, Kikuri Hiroi!
Bocchi’s drunk senpai
Kikuri Hiroi might not be a member of the Kessoku Band, but I think she deserves a spotlight in this post. I simply think her story is the most relatable for someone in the mid-20s age range in general.
Euro Brady might or might not mentioned this in his analysis videos. But, Hiroi really embodies a lot of young adults’ crisis. Being unstable financially, not having a 9-5 job, and deep into their creative works. Also, don’t forget about a sprinkle of addiction, and in Hiroi’s case, it’s her “cycle of happines”, alcoholism.
We can toss away her character into the “unemployed friend on Tuesday morning” stereotype. I genuinely can’t remember a moment where she’s sober in the entire anime, not even one.
Even more so, the very reason she fell into chronic alcoholism was to supress her nervousness before her very first performance. A coping mechanism, I’d say.
We’re all aware she’s day drinking in the middle of Bocchi’s school, right?
Yes, she is a comically drunk character. Yes, in real life, she would frequently have the cops called on her. Despite all that, Kessoku band members, especially Ryo and Bocchi, look up to her.
Is it her mastery in music that makes them think highly of her? Is it simply the Japanese culture at work again? That might be the case. But, I think there is one quality of Hiroi that surpasses all her shortcomings.
In my humble opinion, the way Hiroi has become appreciative towards talent and hardwork within anyone, including herself, makes her an inspiring character.
Our flaws don’t deprive us of our creativity, they don’t stop us from giving our passion for the things we love in this world, and most importantly, it’s still up to us to give it all. I think this is how Hiroi sees Bocchi, and how she finally saw herself after a few chugs of liquor, haha.
A Short Closing
Thanks for reading!
We’ve touched a lot of things from five characters in Bocchi the Rock! And if you reach until the end of the post, I seriously feel honored that you’ve given your time to read. Writing this honestly didn’t feel lengthy, and I’m sure we can go deeper. Like, what does Jimihen symbolize exactly?
Joking aside, I still can’t believe, even after many times of rewatching, there are still a lot of meaning we can draw from an anime that only has twelve episodes.
I don’t know what the mangaka was thinking when they first thought of the storyline and the characters’ nuance. Bocchi the Rock! is truly an outstanding work of art that we’re blessed to have.
https://seinenrider.com/2024/05/18/deeply-contemplating-the-psychology-of-bocchi-the-rock-characters/
#2022 #Anime #AnimeReview #BocchiTheRock_
El Mundo de Óscar
Seinenrider
