Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d check in on the misadventures of Bocchi and the gang, as our crew settles back into their school routine after a semi-triumphant summer break. Bookended by the shining victories of Kessoku Band’s latest performance and their trip to the beach, Bocchi’s vacation was otherwise characterized by a retreat to Bocchi’s familiar bedroom hermitage, emphasizing how personal growth is never quite as easy or consistent as we might hope.

That said, Kita has promised she’ll be paying more attention to Bocchi at school, so I imagine we’re in for a fresh run of socialization immersion therapy as classes reconvene. Can Bocchi square her desperate need to be seen with her paralyzing terror of being known? Let’s find out!

Episode 10

We open in a moment of crisis, as a group of students hosting some event learn the band they’ve scheduled can’t perform. Whatever shall they do!?

And of course it’s a Bocchi fantasy, with our heroine stepping gallantly into the spotlight to save the day. Even in her fantasies, she’s still wearing her comfort tracksuit, and her classmates still can’t remember her name

And thus Bocchi arrives at Budokan. The stage boundary provides a handy hard line for creating a panning shot, by sliding the stage layer and background layer in opposite directions in order to create the illusion of moving into depth

I appreciate the unchained adoration of the crowd here. The greediness of Bocchi’s dreams is humanizing in its own way

She wakes up in homeroom, with her class having just decided to put on a maid and butler café for the school festival. Well, that’s one way to force her outside her comfort zone

“If anyone wants to perform on the second day of the cultural festival, make sure you put one of these forms in the box.” A school festival performance seems like an excellent way to bridge the gap between Bocchi’s two lives

Yep, this has been her dream since back in middle school. Bocchi has been able to gain confidence by essentially inventing a new version of herself for Starry and the band, but it is a separate emotional hurdle to carry that invention back to school and declare “this is my authentic self”

Bocchi’s hunger for this performance carries her all the way to the submission box before she comes to her anxious senses

“An unfamiliar ceiling.” A reference even more unescapable than dead Yamcha. Evangelion still casts a long shadow!

Kita comes to visit her in the nurse’s office. I like how every other member of the band has gained a healthy fear of Kita’s starry-eyed enthusiasm; she’s a Love Live heroine dealing with a bunch of K-On slackers

Love this slight design shift of Bocchi’s thicker, rounder lines and oversized head under the covers. This production often dazzles through its Nichijou-esque aesthetic commitment to bits, but even simple shifts like this can pack a lot of comedic and emotive punch

That style contrasts nicely against her exaggerated, elongated facial designs as she’s battered by enthusiasm from a concert video

“But a loner-type shining at the culture festival is a classic trope!” Shuddering with age wondering what percentage of this show’s audience have even seen Haruhi Suzumiya

Bocchi’s second fantasy of performance also involves her classmates forgetting her name. God damn, Bocchi

Once again, it’s Seika who gives Bocchi the push she needs. Seika has swiftly become Bocchi’s most reliable adult champion and confidant, gently leading her forward when she needs it

Ryo already performed in middle school. “I played obscure songs and totally bombed with the audience!” God I admire her confidence. Though I guess my own band was confident enough to play our lousy originals in high school, so I definitely have at least a touch of Ryo’s “if they can’t appreciate it it’s their loss” in me

This layout with the band and Starry employees all lounging around has a lovely sense of depth to it. Delightful to see a modern production still prioritizing that aspect of composition, when so many shows have embraced flat digital backgrounds

And then Ryo acknowledges she still has nightmares about bombing. Apparently I have even less shame than Ryo, a terrifying thought

Nice to see her bandmates advising her to think it over, offering encouragement but not pushing her towards anything

Aaand of course Kita picked the submission form out of the trash and handed it in. Well,

Bocchi going cubist in response is a good visual gag, made even better by the cut back to the show’s usual aesthetic with Bocchi still angular and flat

Then onward to The Scream

Love Kita wearing an “I’m a criminal” label at Starry, like she’s a dog who ate someone’s pasta

Then Kikuri stops by, handing out tickets for a performance by her own band. Damn, are we gonna get three separate performances across this show’s last act? 

Kikuri is shocked at their offers to pay for the tickets. Mooching off friends has to come organically, not as part of a con!

“All my money goes to paying for the equipment I break while playing drunk.” God, what a way to live. Well, it worked for The Replacements, until it swiftly stopped working for The Replacements, who could likely have been one of the biggest bands in history if not for self-sabotage. Seriously, songs like “Unsatisfied” and “Left of the Dial” both predated and surpassed the output of ‘90s alt rock

With Seika’s insistence, both of our delinquent bassists at last pay Bocchi back

Excellent character animation for Kikuri even in these mid-distance shots, as she playfully sways her body with drunken confidence, her movements conveyed through careful changes in the shading of her dress

Also more excellent interior layouts. The combination of background clutter and characters standing across multiple layers of depth gives this venue a sense of personality and presence, an effect that seems uniquely important for this show that is both so invested in club culture and so focused on finding a place you can call home. Starry is as much of a character as the rest of the cast, a personal friend to Nijika, Ryo, and Bocchi

They meet Gin, Kikuri’s club manager, and learn the secret truth that most punk rockers and metalheads are actually big softies once you look past their aggressive aesthetic

They then meet Kikuri’s far more respectable bandmates, Shima and Eliza

“Eliza’s always saying anisongs are Japan’s bleeding-edge sound!” I’m not so sure I can agree with that one. The best anime soundtracks tend to impress through their divergence from anisong music convention, generally through the work of a single composer like Yoko Kanno or Yuki Kajiura

Interesting choice for conveying the crowd here, depicting them as unique outlines with full gray color fills. It’s not exactly convincing, but it’s certainly better than CG spectators

Kikuri’s band SICK HACK plays psychedelic rock. I was sort of expecting punk rock given you can still play that while drunk, but this is a nice surprise

“It’s best for a beginner to start with their second album.” That does not surprise me at all. Many bands suffer a “sophomore slump” because they spent their entire existence as a band carefully developing the tracks for their debut, and are then forced to rush out a second album in twelve or eighteen months. In contrast, more live- than studio-oriented bands often develop their sound through active play, put out a dubious first record, and then lock into place with their second. Kikuri would obviously be the second type

Their menacing opening track is echoed by appropriately psychedelic color design

“The emotional yet overwhelmingly logical playing of the guitar.” That description basically sums up math rock, a genre to which this overall show owes a tremendous debt

Aw dang, it’s over so quick. I wanted to hear another song!

Another excellent depth-rich layout in the green room, with the blocking of the characters creating an arrow leading our eyes straight towards Bocchi in the back

“I guess it’s true what they say: gloomy people attract.” The club scene is absolutely brimming with introverts who see the stage as the one place where they can truly shine. You’re among good company, Bocchi

Kessoku Band convene at one of those Japanese diners that apparently serve anything. I always wonder how good the food at those places could possibly be, given how thinly the kitchen staff’s being stretched

“The three Bs to avoid in a boyfriend are ‘bassist, ‘bassist,’ and ‘bassist,’ after all!”

“But isn’t going all-original at the cultural festival a bit aggressive?” It is, but fuck ‘em. My band would generally throw in a few covers, but they’d never be hits. Lemme think… we did Slow Show by The National, Nothin’ to You by Two Gallants, Kiss the Bottle by Jawbreaker, Boomboxes and Dictionaries by The Gaslight Anthem, and the Dino Jr. version of Just Like Heaven, among others. All very fun songs, but no one was ever lighting up in recognition

On their way back, Kita admits she knew Gotoh threw out the application, but submitted it anyway. Nice to see a bit of an edge from Kita, who’s otherwise so bright and positive

And Done

And so our gang marches bravely forward, buoyed up by their reliable allies as they approach their next performance! It’s always a pleasure to see more of Kikuri, and actually catching part of a performance was even more special. I would have loved to just spend an episode watching SICK HACK perform, but this episode was otherwise chock full of subtle reflections on the evolving relationships of our main cast, from Nijika and Ryo’s careful negotiation of Bocchi’s anxieties to Kita’s unexpected and welcome flash of greediness in pushing for this concert. All of these major events would have overwhelmed our initial Bocchi, but with mentors like Kikuri and Seika supporting her, she’s finally learning to embrace the spotlight. Onwards to the school festival!

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