The Bocchi the Rock! Season 2 anime TV series will continue the story of socially anxious rock girl Hitori “Bocchi” Gotou and her friends Nijika Ijichi, Ryou Yamada, and Kita Ikuyo as Kessoku Band takes on rival band SIDEROS. But when will Bocchi the Rock! Season 2 come out?
It has been confirmed that the first season will receive a theatrical compilation that will be released in Spring 2024 in Japan.
Anime Geek is predicting that a 2nd season has a chance at greenlit for production, but it’s going to be an uphill battle since the first season had difficulty standing out in Fall 2022. (Please see the Bocchi the Rock! Season 2 release date predictions section below for more details.)
The returning cast, studio, and main staff making Bocchi the Rock! Season 2 hasn’t been announced yet.
For the first season, the Bocchi the Rock! anime was produced by the Japanese animation Studio CloverWorks. The company is known for producing the popular Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai anime and the anime original story Wonder Egg Priority. They also co-produced Darling in the FranXX with Studio Trigger, and SPY x FAMILY Season 1 with WIT Studio.
As for the future, CloverWorks will return to animate My Dress-Darling Season 2 and Rascal Does Not Dream Of Bunny Girl Senpai Season 2, which were both confirmed to be in production in September 2022. The SPY x FAMILY Season 2 Season 2 release date is in 2023. Shadows House Season 3 is also possible.
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Here was the Japanese dub cast:
- Yoshino Aoyama (Hitori “Bocchi-chan” Goto)
- Sayumi Suzushiro (Nijika Ijichi)
- Saku Mizuno (Ryo Yamada)
- Ikumi Hasegawa (Ikuyo Kita)
The first season was helmed by director Keiichiro Saito (ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. Regards). Writer Erika Yoshida (Lupin III: Part IV) was in charge of the series scripts.
Kerorira (Wonder Egg Priority animation director) was the character designer. Composer Tomoki Kikuya (Drug Store in Another World, Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World) created the music.
The Bocchi the Rock! Season 2 OP (opening) and ED (ending) theme song music hasn’t been announced yet.
For the first season, the Bocchi the Rock! OP “Youth Complex (Seishun Complex)” and ED songs “Distortion!!” and “Karakara” were all performed by the “Kessoku Band” with Ikumi Hasegawa (voice of Ikuyo Kita) providing the vocals. In reality, the OP lyrics were written by singer Ai Higuchi and the OP music was composed by Otoha. The ED was written and composed by KANA-BOON band guitarist Maguro Taniguchi.
The first season’s finale include three new songs, including an ED song by Asian Kung-Fu Generation. This was important since the Kessoku Band girls’ last names are based on AKFG members Gotoh Masafumi, Ichiji Kiyoshi, Yamada Takahiro, and Kita Kiyoshi.
All three songs from the final are on Spotify:
Korogaru Iwa, Kimi ni Asa ga Furu (AKFG Cover ED)
The first season of Bocchi the Rock! was streaming in Fall 2022 with English subtitles on Crunchyroll, VRV, and Netflix Japan (not Netflix USA, Disney+ USA, HIDIVE, Hulu, Funimation, or Amazon Prime Video). Crunchyroll’s Bocchi the Rock! English dub release date hasn’t been announced yet.
The first season’s finale, Bocchi the Rock! Episode 12, was released on December 24, 2022 (in Japan, it was released after midnight on December 25, 2022).
The 12 episodes were released as six Bocchi the Rock! Blu-Ray/DVD volumes that came out on December 28, 2022, January 25, 2023, February 22, 2023, March 22, 2023, April 26, 2023, and May 24, 2023, respectively.
This article provides everything that is known about Bocchi the Rock! Season 2 and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
Bocchi the Rock! Season 2 release date predictions: Is renewal likely?
As of the last update, Studio CloverWorks, producer Aniplex, publisher Houbunsha, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Bocchi the Rock! Season 2 release date. Nor has the production of a Bocchi the Rock! sequel been announced.
Once the news is officially confirmed this article will be updated with the relevant information.
In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when, or if, the Bocchi the Rock! Season 2 release date will occur in the future.
Bocchi the Rock! Season 1 would have easily been a contender for anime of the season… if only it had stood out in the crowd! Ironically, the first season was the dark horse anime of the Fall 2022 season. It was literally an anime about a girl who feels she is unpopular and doesn’t stand out that was released during an anime season where it was hard for the TV show to stand out and be popular…
If the first season had been released in Summer 2022 it would have stood out more in comparison to popular anime such as Lycoris Recoil, Overlord Season 4, DanMachi, Made In Abyss, or Call of the Night. Unfortunately for Bocchi the Rock!, Fall 2022 was crowded with big names like Chainsaw Man, SPY x FAMILY Part 2, Mob Psycho 100 Season 3, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, My Hero Academia, Blue Lock, The Eminence in Shadow, To Your Eternity Season 2, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun Season 3, and Golden Kamuy Season 4 among others.
As for competition in the CGDCT (Cute Girls Doing Cute Things) genre, Bocchi the Rock! Season 1 really only had Encouragement of Climb: Next Summit, Akiba Maid War, and the Do It Yourself!! anime to contend with during Fall 2022. Otherwise, there really wasn’t any notable CGDCT anime released during Summer 2022.
Regardless of the stiff competition, the Bocchi the Rock! reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. It’s no wonder since the execution of the story was a pitch-perfect rendition of comedic timing combined with a thoughtful presentation of the woes of societal anxiety.
Watching this introverted girl attempt to climb out of her social cacoon and overcome her phobias through rock-n-roll is entertaining on its own. She’ll seamlessly transition from a cute cinnamon bun to boxed creepypasta quivering on the floor. The humor is found in her quirky personality and visual gags but it’s done in a manner that isn’t cruel to those types of people, which means that audiences won’t feel bad about laughing at her antics.
Just the antics of Hitori alone could probably carry the show, but the interactions with Ryou, Nijika, and Kita only enhance the character dynamics. Ryou’s introduction even visually showcases the contrast between being an introvert and social anxiety. Nijika may be an outgoing free spirit but she’s clearly human as she suffers from flaws that hold her back as she rushes to throw the Zip Ties band together. Kita was another contrast as an extrovert, but even she struggles with her own worries and doubts based on inexperience.
While slice-of-life anime typically don’t have a complex plot, the story is less about music and more about a character-driven story that focuses on the daily struggles of Hitori and her friends. And that’s what audiences are finding compelling enough that word-of-mouth is spreading about the TV show’s virtues (even if it’s difficult to explain the appeal in a few words).
We can look to weekly anime popularity polls to see how this worked. At first, Episode 1 didn’t make it onto any of the charts, but then Episode 2 registered in the Top 20 for Fall 2022. By Episode 5, the first season had moved up into the Top 10 in the first week of November 2022.
Regardless of the great reviews and the relative quality of the anime adaptation, the biggest issue determining whether the anime production committee will have Bocchi the Rock! renewed is the financial success. Unfortunately, early word-of-mouth advertising wasn’t enough to give a huge boost to Bocchi the Rock! manga sales. For the months of October 2022 and November 2022, the series failed to make the Top 20. In fact, the estimated sales of Volume 1 were only ranked #264 in mid-October 2022!
Again, this “failure” can be attributed to stiff competition casting a long shadow, but only 5 competitors from Fall 2022 made the Top 20. Manga for SPY x FAMILY, Chainsaw Man, My Hero Academia, and Blue Lock dominated the Top 4 whereas Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun was ranked at #8.
As for streaming performance, the Bocchi the Rock! anime was often buried on Crunchyroll’s popular anime list during October 2022. It was often far below old anime from previous seasons even on days when new episodes were released.
So the chances of Bocchi the Rock! Season 2 being greenlit for production really depends on whether word-of-mouth is enough to increase the financial/streaming numbers over time from being almost completely unknown to relatively popular. In essence, the main plot will have to enact itself in real life. A similar scenario happened with Studio Bones’ SK8 the Infinity and SK8 the Infinity Season 2 is already in production.
In any case, a secondary issue is whether producer Aniplex planned out the production of a second season already. Even if the second season is farmed out to a different studio that has a gap in their production schedule, anime projects need to schedule out the studios, the main staff, and the cast (who are often all independent contractors) years in advance.
Therefore, in the best-case scenario, the wait for the Bocchi the Rock! Season 2 release date will only be several years.
Bocchi the Rock! manga compared to the anime
The story for the anime is based on the Bocchi the Rock! manga series by creator Aki Hamaji. Serialized in Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Max magazine since December 2017, it was originally a guest series but then it began regular serialization starting in March 2018.
The Bocchi the Rock! manga had more than 60 chapters by the end of Fall 2022. The Bocchi the Rock! Volume 5 release date was on November 26, 2022.
Unfortunately, no North American publisher has announced the Bocchi the Rock! manga’s English translation. There are unofficial fan-made scanlation projects but they had translated only part of Volume 3 by early November 2022, which was less than half of the chapters available in Japanese at the time.
The anime managed to capture the introverted heart of the story in ways that were even better than the source material. While the manga provided certain camera angles and the myriad of Bocchi meme faces, the directorial work only enhanced the scenes.
Real-life footage and uncommon camera angles combined with different animation styles were used effectively to make them more meaningful and impactful. For example, the fish-eye camera lens effect that was used when Bocchi approached the group showcased her emotional state.
The instrument animation was faithful to reality. The animation team even added little touches in their eye movements and interactions that conveyed more emotions than the static images of the manga.
The anime greatly also expanded on the manga by adding new visual gags and comedic scenes to elevate the script provided by the manga. Every single episode had at least several additions. For example, the anime shows the manager when she is sleeping with stuffed animals and Nijika playing drums while cooking at home.
Even Hitori’s backstory was expanded by showing her preschool days and the Gotoh family taking a picture during her middle school graduation.
One standout change was to Episode 2. In the manga, an all-girl band called Colorful Radical performed live at the STARRY club, but the anime changed this scene to a boy band called Alexandism. It’s possible the band was changed to all boys since the cover song they played was from fuzzylogic.
Another nice emotional touch was in Bocchi the Rock Episode 11 when Hitori looks out into the audience. Originally, there was just the Kikuri gag in manga Chapter 20, but in the anime, Hitori was blessed by her family and fans cheering her on. Plus, the reference to Hitori’s guitar being worn out was anime-original foreshadowing to the guitar strings snapping in Episode 12.
The only notable scene that was cut from the anime was when the girls were doing the jump photo shoot together. The manga actually showed Bocchi’s pantsu whereas the anime only had her mention her worries about accidentally doing so without straying into ecchi territory. Ryo also had a stomach ache after eating too many weeds, which wasn’t mentioned, although the anime also added an extra scene with her munching down on grass.
Otherwise, the 2nd half of the first season skipped over most of Chapter 16. The composition writer worked the coffin scene and other gags from that chapter into the anime, but the majority of the story was about cramming for exams. Hitori and Ryou were desperate so they literally plotted on using morse code to cheat, but the other girls talked sense into them… and they barely passed.
Due to all these changes and enhancements, the adaptation pacing was very good, and didn’t rush through the source material. For example, by Bocchi the Rock Episode 5 the anime had only adapted up through Chapter 9, which meant that the anime averaged less than 2 chapters per episode in the first half.
All in all, the first season’s finale, Bocchi the Rock! Episode 12, found a stopping point corresponding to Volume 2: Chapter 21. (Chapter 24 is the ending of Volume 2 since Chapter 25 was a side story that was set before the cultural festival in the timeline).
It’s a decent stopping point since Hitori achieves her goal of becoming famous school-wide after the Kessoku Band plays at the 31st Shuuka high school cultural festival. In the aftermath of breaking her guitar, her dad reveals that she’s been making money via video streaming ads as guitarhero. She uses that money to buy a new guitar.
Warning: The following paragraph contains Bocchi the Rock Season 2 spoilers.
A better stopping point would have introduced Aika the cringy not-14-years-old reporter uncovering Hitori’s secret identity as guitarhero in front of everyone since that turning point leads to a satisfying ending for that particular character arc. Although the revelation by the loli paparazzi surprised everyone, the girls have come together and resolved to take the band to the next level.
Better yet, the final scene could have teased Bocchi’s future rival Yoyoko Ootsuki jealously checking out the performance festival while trying to act disinterested. (Yoyoko was actually briefly cameo’d in the first season.) Ending the first season like that would have been the perfect hook for Bocchi the Rock! Season 2.
Of course, moving the plot forward in that manner would have come at the cost of shortening the concert, so it’s arguably a fair trade. Still, it makes us wish there was a Bocchi the Rock Episode 13 just so the 2nd season could have been teased.
The good news is that there is already plenty of chapters available for making the anime sequel. Unfortunately, English-only manga readers who wish to read ahead of the anime will have to rely on fan translation projects.
Bocchi the Rock! Season 2 anime TV spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)
The secret identity of guitarhero has been revealed! The loli reporter lady insisted that Hitori was too good for Kessoku Band and that the other girls were just holding her back. But when Hitori thought back on her time with her friends she saw both the awkward moments and the times that made her experience real growth as a person.
Rather than causing a conflict or band split like Hitori had feared the girls came together in their resolve to compete in the teens-only Mikakunin Riot festival. Each member of the band will need to level up in order to win the grand prize so they’ll practice with street performances in addition to their monthly live performance at STARRY.
The Mikakunin Riot festival will stretch Hitori’s social anxiety to the limits since there’s a demo stage and then online voting during a live performance round. The final stage will have the band performing in front of thousands of people at a festival. Plus, they’ll have to come up with new songs for a mini album and record a music video for the demo stage.
But Aiko the reporter isn’t the only one who noticed Kessoku Band because of the online videos from the festival. There’s a metal band called SIDEROS that realizes that Kessoku is starting to become popular… which makes them a rival band.
SIDEROS has been around for 3 years and its leader Yoyoko Ootsuki is good enough as a guitarist and vocalist to hold a live solo performance. When Yoyoko first watched a video of the Kessoku performance she couldn’t stop thinking about them.
So Yoyoko decides to disguise herself and attend a live performance at STARRY where she has a face-to-face run-in with Hitori. Yoyoko tries to keep her identity a secret but it’s not long before she reveals herself and then kinda sorta declares war on her rival!
“Kessoku Band! I won’t forgive you if you ruin our lives! Especially you, Hitori Gotoh!” Yoyoko declares before storming out of the building in tsu-tsu-tsu-tsu-tsu-ndere fashion.
Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Bocchi the Rock! Season 2 release date to watch what happens next. Stay tuned!