Bocchi the Rock Ch. 84 + 85 - Interviews and Cars
Written by Rei Caldombra 3/22/25 Previous Chapter: Bocchi the Rock Ch. 83 - Ryo’s Reality Check — Blog Under a Log
Finally back to the Bocchi the Rock manga. Sorry for the delay on covering the most recent chapters and not posting for the past month in general. I was on vacation (in Japan actually, had an awesome time) and then needed time to catch up on everything. I’m putting chapters 84 and 85 together, though I’ll still be going by each chapter separately. Reminder that I these will have full spoilers for the chapter, and I write my chapter reviews with the assumption that you have read the chapter as well. It’s fine if you want to read this without reading the chapters but know I will not be going over every little detail, I am not trying to replace reading the manga for anyone.
Starting with 84, Akai Sato aka Poison Yami is interviewing the band to promote their new mini album! The chapter begins with Bocchi having a stupid fantasy about the interview. She’s being asked pretty normal questions in Japanese, but she is answering fully in English with what seems to be whatever English words she knows that very much do not answer their questions. Part of it could be that she still thinks of rock as an American thing in origin. Along with Bocchi seeming to think using English makes her cooler, this isn’t the first time she has tried to speak English to sound cool (like when she said a bunch of English words strung together to order something at a restaurant just because Kita did). One Japanese reference I was able to catch this time is her saying No More Movie Thief- this is a reference to a Japanese anti-piracy Campagne. no more movie thief - Search
Getting back to reality, Bocchi prepared a cheat sheet for the interview as she does not want to mess up during the interview and wants to improve her reputation and look cool. Jokes aside this is very understandable, apparently her efforts are not being acknowledged by a lot of the fans. I totally get Bocchi having a script for conversations. When I was in middle school and high school struggling very badly with social anxiety and holding conversations, I genuinely did try to prepare what I would say in a conversation I knew I’d be having. Even with friends and stuff like that, not just formal situations. I had a notepad on my phone for writing down things I thought about saying or talking about with people. I have no right to judge here, and I would even recommend doing this in a more realistic fashion. Do what you have to do to be social as best you can. But recognize that it should be to help you remember for later and be guidelines, not full scripts. In the best-case scenario, you would come across as robotic and in the worst, everything falls apart when something you didn’t prep for comes up (like what happened here). This should be considered for things like interviews too.
A lot of the interview is recap, which is fine for how little recap BTR has as far as I can tell and considering how many chapters we have at this point. I won’t be going over all the recaps. When it comes to new information, Kita got into music through listening to songs while enjoying drives with her dad, which is very wholesome.
My absolute favorite new piece of information is related to best girl and my waifu Seika. We have Seika doting on Bocchi again, one of my favorite running gags. It turns out that she has kept the mango box that Bocchi used in their very first performance at Starry. It’s not even just that she preserved it, she also ocasionally stares at it, getting lost in the memories I suppose. I think she’s the secret #1 Bocchi fan no contest, none of the fans or Kessoku members have a chance. Sorry Fan 1 and Fan 2 (reminder that yes those are their official names lol).
Yami is surprised that there’s been little drama in Kessoku Band. If she wants drama from a girls band I recommend she interviews Togenashi Togeari (Girls Band Cry) next, or interview Kitauji High School’s concert band (Sound! Euphonium). As much as I like good drama, I think Bocchi the Rock’s tone is fantastic the way it is. I’m happy with just the occasional moment of light emotional drama, like with Kita’s family and Ame. There have been so moments of inter-band drama though that is being left out when they say there’s been none. Like Kita ditching the band initially and Kita submitting the school festival application form without telling Bocchi. They do bring up Kita’s ditching before at least and consider that more of a trial than drama, but I guess the school festival mishap doesn’t really need to be brought up.
Another funny gag during the interview is that after hearing about Ryo being terrible with money, she thinks she can make this so dark that it’s too much for Kirara. If you don’t know, Manga Time Kirara (which people usually just call Kirara) is the magazine that Bocchi the Rock runs in (the Max line specifically).
The interview ends and we get a brief scene of Kita and Bocchi at school. Turns out that Kita is not in the same class as Bocchi anymore. This could just be a little thing, but knowing Bocchi the Rock this could very well play into some future scenes at the school in a meaningful way. Like Bocchi needing to be more independent. Multiple times in the interview Bocchi makes up lies to sound cool and impressive. This backfires on her, as most of what she said being nonsense got her entirely left out of the interview. So now it seems even more like she doesn’t contribute anything. I feel bad for her as I want her contributions to be realized, but it’s her fault she got left out of the interview. On a more positive note, it’s wholesome to see in this chapter that students at their schools are very supportive of the band.
The final joke of this chapter is Yami looking at online comments. I love the follower who is disappointed that Yami has been writing good articles and been less cringy recently. This is super funny as a joke but is also realistic to be honest, some people genuinely do follow things for the ironic enjoyment of them being bad. So if it gets good, then they can’t enjoy it in the same way. It’s a very specific type of love and enjoyment.
Now onto chapter 85!
I wanted to include the Kirara Max cover that chapter 85 came out in this time because 1. Bocchi the Rock was featured on the cover, and 2. because I actually bought it while on my trip! I’ve wanted to pick up a physical copy of one of Kirara’s magazines for awhile now since I’m a fan of a lot of their works, so I’m happy I was able to get one this time, and with one of my favorites on the cover no less!
This chapter is a pretty simple one, full of lots of jokes and points that don’t have as much to dig into, so this part will be a bit shorter.
The band has been having a lot of success recently. We mentioned previously that Bocchi’s reputation is in the gutter when it comes to fans, apparently most people think Kita writes the lyrics. They’ve been doing so well in fact that Kessoku Band will be going on a Toumeihan tour in the summer, which is a tour specifically doing concerts in the 3 biggest cities in Japan (Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya). This is a big deal for a band and is a big undertaking. As usual Nijika is the one who has to bring in a reality check for the others, as they won’t have time for having fun in those areas.
It’s not easy for a band to bring themselves, equipment, and merchandise across regions, so they’re gonna need a band van! This was set up for by Nijika getting her license and setting aside a lot of the band’s income in a fund. They don’t have a lot of money though, so they have to get a used van. They argue a bit over what kind of van to get. Kita wants a cute one, Ryo wants one out of Initial D, and Bocchi wants a cybertruck, which made me cringe more than anything else Bocchi has ever done. Even considering the ridiculous levels of cringe she displayed when Nijika and Kita visited her house for the first time. Nijika as usual has to be the responsible one of the band and ensure they get the type of van they need and ensure Ryo does not do any embezzling by having the loan debt in her name. Speaking of Ryo, she is continuing to be a disappointment. She did return after not attending for awhile because of Nijika, but she still quite because she couldn’t handle being taught and honked at. I want to respect Ryo being more sensitive than you’d respect, but as someone who does not like driving and did not have a super easy time getting my license, it’s a thing you gotta push through. Nijika also prompts Kita and Bocchi to get their licenses. I have full confidence in Kita’s ability to get a license. I think Bocchi has the competency too, but her anxiety will likely be an extremely high hurdle (I get it though, my anxiety is a big reason why I dislike driving). But in the end, what’s important is that they have a nice enough van and at least Nijika can drive!
Thanks for reading! By the way, I gave my thoughts on the announcement for Bocchi the Rock S2 if you’d like to check that out. I’m so excited for it! I assume you are a manga reader since you’re here, so you won’t have to worry about spoilers. Bocchi the Rock S2! - Discussion and Predictions — Blog Under a Log
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