BOCCHI THE ROCK! Episode 10 Recap & Characters (Spoiler-Free)

Episode Summary

After Dark

Bocchi is pressured into the culture festival performance: Class 2 plans a maid café, the application form is submitted despite her reluctance, and Kita and Nijika push her to prepare. A trip to Shinjuku's live house FOLT to see Hiroi's band SICK HACK follows, where Hiroi shares her background and the group plans its three-song set for the festival.

• Festival application pressure

  Bocchi's application for the culture festival is submitted despite her reluctance, and Kita reveals she had not turned in her own form.

• Shinjuku live house visit

  Bocchi and the band travel to FOLT to watch SICK HACK, and Hiroi's performance and background are shared.

• Festival plans over dinner

  At the restaurant the group plans fifteen-minute sets with three songs and a guitar solo for Bocchi in the setlist.

Character Graph

PA-san

STARRY staff

The PA (sound) engineer on the staff of the STARRY live house. Her gothic appearance initially frightens Hitori, but she is kind and easygoing.

Staff member who watches the band's audition performance alongside the manager.

• Appearance

  A member of the STARRY staff in charge of sound (PA), with a gothic-style appearance that frightens Hitori on first meeting, but who turns out to be kind.

• Early support

  Admitted the STARRY manager, Seika Ijichi, had liked the band from the start.

• Hitori (Colleague, Neutral)

  PA is the sound (PA) staff member of STARRY, whom Hitori meets at the live house. Because of her gothic appearance, Hitori is frightened of her at first, but PA turns out to be a kind person.

• Seika (Hierarchy, Neutral)

  The STARRY manager she works under; she teases her as a doting sister for having kept a slot open for her sister's band from the start.

Hitori (Bocchi)

student · Kessoku Band

A first-year high school student with severe social anxiety who secretly plays guitar and posts song covers online under the alias guitarhero.

Guitarist of Kessoku Band who is drawn into the group's summer outings and begins to open up to them.

• Secret identity

  Uploads song cover videos online as guitarhero and has many views and positive comments.

• Teaching

  Agrees to teach Kita guitar after work, despite fear.

• Ticket quota

  Must sell the remaining tickets and hands out promotional flyers to find buyers

• Family home

  Lives with her parents and younger sister Futari, and has friends over for the first time when Kita and Nijika visit.

• Nijika (Colleague, Friend, Affinity)

  Met when Nijika spotted her guitar and asked her to play; now her bandmate.

  Bandmate who identified her as guitarhero and supports her guitar playing.

• Ryo Yamada (Colleague, Friend, Affinity)

  Bandmate who suggested the nickname Bocchi. On the Enoshima trip she lends the broke Ryo money, and Ryo promises to pay her back next month.

• PA-san (Colleague, Neutral)

  STARRY's PA (sound) staff member, whom Hitori is frightened of at first because of her gothic appearance, though she turns out to be kind.

• Ikuyo Kita (Colleague, Friend, Affinity)

  Persuaded Kita to rejoin the band; becomes her guitar teacher and shares a sense of kinship about loneliness.

  Kita invites her to hang out and tries to draw her into the group's plans.

• Hiroi (Colleague, Mentor, Affinity)

  Senior musician who helped her sell tickets with a joint street concert; invited to a SICK HACK show, Bocchi is overwhelmed by her performance.

• Seika (Hierarchy, Neutral)

  Manager of STARRY, where she works part-time, and Nijika's older sister.

Ikuyo Kita

student · Kessoku Band

Outgoing first-year at Hitori's school and Kessoku Band's vocalist, who is learning guitar from Hitori; she secretly submits a culture festival stage application on Hitori's behalf.

• Past with Kessoku Band

  Had first joined Kessoku Band as its guitarist out of admiration for Ryo, but ran away before the band's first live because she could not actually play guitar and had been hiding it. She rejoined in episode 3 after Hitori invited her back.

• Ryo Yamada (Colleague, Affinity)

  A fellow bandmate she admires greatly; she originally joined Kessoku Band to get closer to Ryo, but hid that she could not play guitar and ran away before the first live, rejoining in episode 3 at Hitori's invitation.

• Hitori (Colleague, Friend, Affinity)

  Bandmate who asks about her school life and practices with her

  Keeps inviting Bocchi out and plans to bring her along to the beach and Enoshima.

• Nijika (Colleague, Affinity)

  Senior bandmate and drummer who leads the band; the two visited Hitori's house together to work on the live T-shirt design.

Nijika

student · Kessoku Band

A cheerful student who spots Hitori's guitar and recruits her to play for the band Kessoku Band.

Drummer of Kessoku Band who fits practice around her home chores and work at the live house.

• Recruiter

  Drags Hitori to the STARRY live house to perform with the band.

• Band management

  Takes over the band's finances and plans the job arrangement to cover concert quotas.

• Sibling at STARRY

  Is the younger sister of STARRY's manager, Seika. She is embarrassed by her sister's strict behavior at work, but the two remain close as family.

• Band role

  Sets the band's topics and plans, and assigns Bocchi to write the lyrics for the original song.

• Hitori (Colleague, Friend, Affinity)

  Recruited Hitori as the band's guitarist and comforts her after practice.

  Bandmate who discovered Bocchi is guitarhero and pins hopes on the band with her.

• Ryo Yamada (Colleague, Friend, Affinity)

  Her bandmate and close friend. She is always short on money because she spends it all on instruments.

• Ikuyo Kita (Colleague, Affinity)

  Younger bandmate on vocals and guitar; the two visited Hitori's house together to work on the live T-shirt design.

• Seika (Family, Affinity)

  Her older sister and the STARRY manager. Her strictness at work can embarrass Nijika, but Nijika dreams of becoming a famous band in place of the sister who quit her own band for her.

Ryo Yamada

student · Kessoku Band

An inexpressive bandmate of Nijika and Hitori in Kessoku Band.

Bassist of Kessoku Band who is said to cram the night before exams and is always short of money because she spends it on instruments.

• Social circle

  Nijika is Ryo's only friend.

• Recruitment

  Wants Kita to join so the band pays only a quarter of studio and quota fees.

• Past band

  Was in another band in the past and then quit.

• Songwriting

  Wrote the song that the other members reacted positively to.

• Hitori (Colleague, Friend, Affinity)

  Bandmate who suggested the nickname Bocchi and praised her work. On the Enoshima trip she borrows money from Bocchi because she is broke, and promises to pay it back next month.

• Nijika (Colleague, Friend, Affinity)

  Her only friend and bandmate.

  Her bandmate and the only friend she has. Nijika manages her finances and keeps her in check.

• Ikuyo Kita (Colleague, Affinity)

  A girl who admires Ryo and joined Kessoku Band to get close to her, but hid that she could not play guitar and ran away before their first live; Hitori invited her back in episode 3, and Hitori now teaches her guitar.

Ginjiro Yoshida

FOLT

Manager of the live house FOLT in Shinjuku. Favorite genre is punk rock. Agreed to add 100,000 yen to Hiroi's tab to cover wall repairs.

• Hiroi (Hierarchy, Neutral)

  Manages FOLT, the live house where Hiroi performs, and adds the cost of the wall she damaged to her tab.

Hiroi

SICK HACK

Hard-drinking bassist-vocalist of SICK HACK who helped Hitori sell tickets with a street concert; before rock, she was a gloomy student who kept to the corner of the classroom.

• Street concert

  Sets up amps and performs a street concert with Hitori

• Backstory

  Was a gloomy loner in her school days; started drinking to calm her nerves before her first live performance.

• Hitori (Colleague, Mentor, Friend, Affinity)

  Helps her sell tickets.

  Invites Bocchi to her concert and asks her to drink; Bocchi is in awe of Hiroi's performance.

• Seika (Hierarchy, Affinity)

  Her college senpai and the STARRY manager, whom she visits at STARRY hoping for free drinks.

• Ginjiro Yoshida (Hierarchy, Neutral)

  Manager of FOLT, the live house where SICK HACK plays, who adds the cost of the wall she damaged to her tab.

Seika

STARRY staff

Manager of STARRY and Nijika's older sister, who quit her own band and opened STARRY for Nijika. She scolds her college kōhai Hiroi, who drops by for free drinks, and presses her about money she owes.

• Nijika (Family, Affinity)

  Her younger sister. Gruff on the surface, she kept a slot open for her sister's band from the start and quit her own band to open STARRY for Nijika.

• Hiroi (Hierarchy, Mixed)

  Her college kōhai, who drops by STARRY for free drinks; Seika scolds her and presses her for money she owes.

• Hitori (Hierarchy, Neutral)

  Part-timer at STARRY and the guitarist in her sister's band.

• PA-san (Hierarchy, Neutral)

  STARRY's PA (sound) engineer, who works under her.

Recent Timeline

• Friends visit Bocchi's home (Episode 7)

  Nijika and Kita visit Bocchi's house and meet her parents and her sister Futari. Her father is surprised that she has real friends over, and the visit becomes a shared evening that ends with the family enjoying the day together. Separately, the band wears the custom T-shirts after Bocchi's design was chosen over an earlier version, and Kita approves of the design, settling the group's shared outfit for the performance.

• Typhoon-day STARRY concert (Episode 8)

  During a typhoon the band performed at STARRY to a very small crowd, debuting their first original song, Guitar, Solitude, and the Blue Planet, and playing a second original, That Band. Bocchi and Nijika played off-sync and Kita's introduction was stiff, so the set fell short. The evening ended with an izakaya after-party where Hiroi caused a scene by spraying booze on the audience.

• Enoshima summer outing (Episode 9)

  The band takes Bocchi to Enoshima to make a summer memory together. They eat takosen at the beach and climb to the top of the island, then ride the escalator down as Bocchi tires out. Before heading home, Kita takes the group to a shrine and describes it as a goddess. Nijika wishes for the band's continued success, and Bocchi wishes hard too but does not reveal her wish.

• Culture festival application submitted (Episode 10)

  Kita reveals that Bocchi submitted the culture festival application form despite having thrown it out. As a result, the band's performance slot for the festival is confirmed.

• SICK HACK live at FOLT (Episode 10)

  Bocchi and Kessoku Band attend Hiroi's band SICK HACK performing at FOLT in Shinjuku, and Bocchi is left impressed by the performance. Hiroi shares her backstory of starting rock from a gloomy classroom corner and drinking before her first concert.

Music Releases

• Seishun Complex (OP)
• Nani ga Warui (ED)

Season Summary

Season 1 — Season 1

Episodes 1–10

Hitori's social anxiety still weighs on a season where the band's survival depends on STARRY, yet her bond with Nijika, Kita, and the group keeps growing from the Enoshima summer through the new school term. Pressed by her friends, she submits her culture festival application despite her reluctance, and Kita admits she had not yet turned in her own form. Their visit to FOLT to watch Hiroi's band SICK HACK shares Hiroi's background and sets the group's plan for a three-song festival set, pushing Hitori to face the stage alongside her friends.