REVIEW: ‘Bocchi The Rock!,’ Episode 2 – “See You Tomorrow”

Bocchi The Rock is a slice-of-life anime produced by CloverWorks. With their first gig behind them, the band has to look to the future so they can plan how to grow and be successful. But Hitori isn’t sure if she is ready for everything that entails. Luckily for her, she has some understanding help coming from her new bandmates in Bocchi The Rock Episode 2.

This week’s story opens with Hitori standing outside of the club as she tries to mentally prepare herself for the meeting she is there to attend. While her attempts to psych herself up end up inflicting far more panic in her than confidence, this sequence goes a long way to highlighting just how much Hitori wants to do the things most people just walk through. After all, if she didn’t care, she wouldn’t be there at all.

Once the meeting begins, the girls settle into an icebreaker game so everyone can get to know each other. This functions as an entertaining way to build up Hitori’s new friends. But when the fun is done, the meeting moves to the big focus, the band’s financials.

Bocchi The Rock Episode 2 does a great job of highlighting how much more there is to being in a small-time band than simply practicing and performing. With little to no crowd draw expected for their shows, if the band wants to keep playing, they’ll have to be able to compensate the club for the lack of ticket sales. Which means jobs. As one might expect, this concept terrifies Hitori. Luckily, she can work at the club with Nijika and Ryou, so how bad could it be?

After an attempt to give herself a cold fails, Hitori must confront her fears and shows up for her first shift of work. While it largely consists of sight gags featuring Hitori in various states of panic, it also does a great job of showcasing some important elements of the series.

The first element that shines in this sequence of Bocchi The Rock Episode 2 is Nijika. As someone who was terrified of new experiences as a teen, and still finds them intimidating to this day, I wish I could’ve had a friend in high school as patient and understanding as Nijika. While she does everything she can to accommodate Hitori’s awkwardness, she never stops gently nudging the girl toward improvement. When Hitori does manage even small steps, Nijika is more than willing to praise the girl’s accomplishments.

The other aspect of the first day of work is how well it dives into Hitori herself. Through various internal monologues, the show does a terrific job of highlighting just how hard these new experiences are for her. But while the show frequently goes over the top with her personality, it shows an excellent sense of when to tone it down and allow a more realistic expression of her personality to shine through during key moments.

Bocchi The Rock Episode 2 builds up the series’ look into Hitori through some great visual designs. During the episode, we get a couple of looks at Hitori through how her imagination captures moments for her. Flaming chasms and blossoming flowers are brought skillfully to life to augment Hitori’s rollercoaster of emotions.

When all is said and done, Bocchi The Rock Episode 2 continues to do a superlative job of exploring its lead character and building up those around her. With every step Hitori takes I find myself compelled to root louder for her thanks to the wonderful way the series presents her struggles and successes.

Bocchi The Rock Episode 2 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.