Bocchi Hitori is about to enter middle school. Her one and only friend, Kai Yawara, is going to a different middle school, leaving poor Bocchi all alone. What's more, Kai tells Bocchi that she's breaking off their friendship— unless Bocchi can befriend her entire class before graduation. Can Bocchi, a girl so incredibly shy that talking to strangers makes her pass out, really fulfill her promise to Kai? Or will she end up, as her name suggests, all alone?
Hitoribocchi no OO Seikatsu note , also known as Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu, began as a comedic four-panel manga written and illustrated by Katsuwo (the creator of Mitsuboshi Colors), and was serialized in Dengeki Daioh "g" from 2013 to 2021.
An anime adaptation was announced at the end of the final episode of the Mitsuboshi Colors anime on March 24, 2018, and premiered on April 5, 2019. It is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll, and can be viewed here
. The Manga ended in 2021 with the 8th and final Volume released in June 2021. However Katsuwo has continued to draw Bocchi and friends in daily drawings on their twitter page
Compare to Komi Can't Communicate, a manga about a high school girl with similar anxiety problems and a communication disorder, and Senryu Girl, a manga about a high school girl who communicates exclusively through poetry. And also compare to WataMote, again about a socially awkward girl trying to make friends. Not to be confused with Bocchi the Rock!, a manga that also has a shy protagonist named Hitori and Bocchi (although in that case "Bocchi" is just a nickname).
Hitoribocchi no OO Seikatsu provides examples of:
- Adaptation Deviation: In the manga, Bocchi doesn't get a smartphone until the start of her second year. The anime has her mother change her mind and give Bocchi a smartphone at the start of Episode 12, which takes place shortly before the end of the year in March, with Bocchi mentioning that her mother decided it was cheaper to buy one a bit sooner than planned.
- Always in Class One: Bocchi and company are in Class 1-1, and become Class 2-1 when they go up a year; they also don't get shuffled with other classes due to them being in middle school.
- Angry Cheek Puff: Hitori ends up in a class group different from her friends, she gets so distressed she gets teary-eyed. When Sunao orders her to to quit it and put on a strong face, the best Hitori can do is puff up her cheeks while adopting a determined expression.
- Bilingual Bonus: In the manga's extra pages, Bocchi often speaks in Urdu, much to Nako's dismay.
- Birthday Buddies: Bocchi Hitori and Kai Yawara discovered they shared the same birthday at age 5. Kai was upset that Bocchi kept calling her "Yawara-San" and refused to let her leave until she called Kai by her first name. When Bocchi explained the next day that she didn't use Kai's name because she wanted Kai to stay with her, Kai promised to stay with her and that they would always celebrate their birthdays together. Kai was Bocchi's Only Friend from this point until the start of the series.
- Bittersweet Ending: The anime ends this way. Bocchi still has yet to befriend students like Kako, and at only six friends in her class of 29, she's behind schedule when it comes to fulfilling her promise to Kai. That being said, she's come a long way since the start of the year, and Kai has noticed it.
- Book Ends:
- The anime series begins and ends with Bocchi barfing.
- Episode 8 begins with Sotoka waking up and departing from an empty home. It ends with her returning to an empty home.
- Brick Joke:
- When Aru finally decides to be herself in chapter 66, a hanger somehow ends up in her shirt... 61 chapters and two in-universe years after the first one.
- When Nako gets a bad test grade, Bocchi and Sotoka both fixate on how she got a score of "meat"—29, which can be read "niku"—instead of "Nako," 75. After she retakes the test, she dramatically announces that she got "Nako" this time.
- Much later, Chapter 75 is Nako's A Day in the Limelight.
- Bocchi takes a picture of her friends which she decides to set as her home screen, and Nako wonders to herself if it's okay Bocchi's not in it as well. Bocchi only realizes she's not in it when she's checking her phone that evening, and she's most definitely not okay with it.
- Bocchi's last resort for dealing with the possible class shuffle is the same as her last resort for fulfilling her promise to Kai without befriending everyone- declaring that everyone in the world is her friend. Later in Chapter 42, Minagawa Rau is revealed to also believe this when Bocchi successfully befriends her.
- Butt-Monkey: Aru, despite her high opinion of herself, is always screwing something up. The first sign she's rather more of a failure than her helpful vice-class rep persona suggests is when she comes to school with her hanger still in her shirt.
- Chromosome Casting: The vast majority of the characters are female. A cursory glance at the class reveals a few boys in Class 1-1, but they're in the minority.
- Comically Missing the Point: A staple of Bocchi's antics. When Nako passes her a note in class, she decides to "treasure it" and doesn't even read it until Nako turns around and gestures at her. The note says to meet on the roof (after class), but because Nako also doodled an alpaca on it, Bocchi writes some fun facts about alpacas instead of responding to the intended message.
- Corner of Woe: When Bocchi first tells Sotoka she's not a ninja, her reaction is to collapse to her knees in deep gloom.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: A benign example happens in Mayo's arc. Bocchi is worried about a possible class shuffle undoing her efforts to befriend her entire class (since the friends she's made could end up in different classes next year), and tries to stop that from happening. Bocchi eventually finds out that the school doesn't shuffle classes around, so she had nothing to worry about. That said, her efforts helped Bocchi befriend Mayo and put her one step closer to her goal, so it's not as though it was a complete waste of time.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Kai only broke off her friendship with Bocchi because she wants Bocchi to conquer her social anxiety. Whenever Kai is around, it's clear that she's very cut up about what she did and even worries that Bocchi will hate her for it.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage:
- Bocchi is heard humming the opening at the start of episode 4.
- Sotoka is heard humming the ending theme while folding shuriken in episode 10.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Besides the opening theme, there's also the special ending song for episode 6, where Bocchi's "School Of Laughs" mini-melody gets expanded into a full song performed by the main characters.
- Double-Meaning Title: As mentioned in Lost in Translation, Episode 7's title either means "Gentle Tears" or "Kai Yawara's Tears." The former is the "intended" reading of it, while the latter is a pun that only attentive watchers will get.
- Early-Bird Cameo: For both anime and manga; a couple of Bocchi's classmates first appear in volume 1's bonus chapter before appearing in the main story, while the anime has more classmates appearing in the background and opening credits before Bocchi encounters them.
- Everybody Knew Already: Aru thinks she's kept her classmates outside Bocchi and company from finding out she's "unfortunate", but come their third year it turns out they all know, and it's part of why they like her.
- Everything's Better with Sparkles: While Sotoka's prone to sparkling when she's happy or enthusiastic (along with the occasional Bishie Sparkle), it pops up with the rest of the cast too, particularly Aru.
- Evolving Credits: When Bocchi establishes a relationship with the other members of the main cast in-story, they join the procession in the ending credits walking alongside her; each does so by leaving the scrolling manga panels above and in a manner fitting each character; Nako simply drops down in a straightforward way, Aru stumbles and nearly falls but strikes a pose upon regaining her composure, Sotoka ninja-poofs from her panel to the group, and Kako appears in a very proper manner.
- Face of a Thug: Nako looks intimidating and she often speaks rudely, to the point where even her teacher is afraid of her, but she's actually a very kind person and she's the first new friend Bocchi makes.
- Fist Pump: Bocchi often does this when she attempts to be more courageous.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the 4th episode, the ISBN of the Intro to Ninja's book that Bocchi is using as reference for teaching Sotoka is shown. Searching for that number reveals the 2nd volume of the manga, which is where the relevant chapter for that episode comes from.
- The Gadfly: Nako occasionally likes to tease those around her. In one instance, she tells Bocchi that the twins in their class won't want to be her friends if she can't learn to tell them apart, launching a mission by Bocchi to determine how to do just that.
- Genki Girl: Bocchi is surprisingly upbeat and cheerful for someone with crippling social anxiety, and she's often joyful about the small victories she makes. For example, when Nako calls her "Barf" (after she vomited during her introduction), Bocchi is ecstatic that someone actually talked to her.
- Giving Up the Ghost:
- Teruyo has an out-of-body experience after giving Nako a bad grade on a test.
- Bocchi doesn't take it well when Kako shoots down her attempt to approach her.
- Nako gets stressed out by Bocchi's struggle to pin a corsage on her.
- Gratuitous English: Bocchi's "Sleep x Sheep" and "Go Go Goat" pajama shirts.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: This is Bocchi's biggest goal she wants to achieve.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each manga chapter is called Bocchi.
- Irony: For various reasons, Teruyo is scared of Nako as a supposed delinquent, despite the fact that Nako's one of the only students who shows her the proper respect owed to a teacher.
- It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: Bocchi's final strategy for befriending her class, which she thought up when she was worked up one night:Notebook: ALL OF HUMANITY IS MY FRIEND!
Bocchi: I'm finished. - Letting the Air out of the Band: At the start of the class's second year, Teruyo insists that she's become a Stern Teacher this year, but Aru casually says that she's seen through her bluster. The soundtrack fades out as Teru-chan is embarrassed.
- Limited Lyrics Song: The special ending for the 6th episode consists only of three lines, repeated twelve times. It's an accurate adaptation of its source.◊
- Little "No": Though less dramatic than most other examples of the trope, this is the only response Bocchi can muster, in Gratuitous English, when trying to communicate to Sotoka that she's not a ninja.
- Loophole Abuse: Bocchi hopes that she'll be the only student in her class, so she can say that she's befriended her entire class despite not having befriended anyone. As you might expect, it doesn't work that way, and she ends up in a class of 29 people.
- Lost in Translation: Episode 7's title is "Yawarakai Namida," which can be translated as "Gentle Tears"(the official English title), or "Kai Yawara's Tears," the latter of which isn't conveyed in English.
- McNinja: Sotoka's entire reason to come to Japan was to get ninja training. She interprets Bocchi's Shrinking Violet tendencies as ninja stealth skills.
- Meaningful Name: Almost every named character is named after a phrase or term that describes them. The most obvious one is of course Bocchi Hitori, whose name is derived from hitoribocchi (all alone). In keeping with Japanese wordplay, they also double as a Punny Name.
- Mood Whiplash: In Episode 7, after Bocchi encounters Kai, and they both leave the meeting in tears, they both comically Stress Vomit.
- Non-Uniform Uniform: Several of Bocchi's friends wear their own variation on the uniform, such as Aru wearing a cardigan rather than a blazer. Averted when they take their high school entrance exams, when they, except for Bocchi(who applied for a recommendation and successfully got in) wear their uniforms properly.
- Oblivious to Her Own Description: When Nako starts talking about the weird girl who's been following her around, Bocchi doesn't realize she's talking about her, instead thinking she means someone else.
- Overly Prepared Gag: Bocchi's "Oha-Yogurt" gag where she brings an empty cup of Yogurt with her. Aru doesn't think it's that funny at first, but then ponders that the effort to bring a cup of Yogurt and wash it might make it pretty funny after all.
- Phenotype Stereotype: Sotoka's a blonde, blue-eyed foreigner.
- Pool Episode: Chapter 16 in the manga, which was adapted into the pool segment of episode 7.
- Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: While reading her own instructions for interacting with Kako, Bocchi says "nod firmly" out loud before doing it. Kako points out that she probably wasn't supposed to do that.
- Running Gag:
- Bocchi has a tendency to faint from happiness every time she officially makes a new friend. Eventually Nako makes a point of explaining to said new friend that this is normal.
- Aru headbutts Nako every time she pisses her off. Usually because of the related running gags where Nako keeps calling her "omae" (impolite form of "you") instead of her name, or "zannen" ("unfortunate").
- The teacher's over-the-top fear of Nako, expressed in increasingly ridiculous ways every time they interact. Not only is Nako not a delinquent, but she's also nicer and more respectful of the teacher than most of the class.
- Sotoka obliviously freaking Bocchi out by picking her up, and Nako scolding her for doing it (again).
- Sensei-chan: Bocchi's homeroom teacher, Teruyo, is called "Teru-chan" by her students. She's actually unnerved at how Nako calls her "sensei," even though she prefers that her students call her that.
- Shout-Out: A "Mitsuboshi Bakery" makes a cameo in episode 2.
- Shrinking Violet: Bocchi fits this to an extreme T.
- Sick Episode: Bocchi's off ill in chapter 8 (the last part of episode 3), so the main focus is on Nako, Aru and Teruyo.
- Spoiler Opening: The opening shows the main cast before Bocchi meets them all in-story.
- Stress Vomit: One of Bocchi's typical reactions to social situations is to vomit, which is how her first interaction with Nako ends. Nako even calls her "Vomit" ("Barf" in the anime) for a while afterward.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Zig-zagged when Kako, a morals committee member, takes Bocchi to task for not wearing her uniform's ribbon. It's a realistic enforcement of the dress code that doesn't often happen in anime, but Kako goes after Bocchi while ignoring more flagrant rulebreakers (e.g. Nako, who not only doesn't wear the ribbon but wears a slipover sweater in lieu of the winter uniform's blazer). The reason for the latter is because Kako was disappointed that Bocchi, who'd consistently followed the dress code, didn't do so that day. In the manga, Aru is given cleanup duty as punishment for showing up to class in her elementary school uniform.
- Tender Tears: Both Bocchi and Kai break down in tears inconsolably the first time they see each other after their "break up" during a karaoke outing with their respective groups of friends, Bocchi out of pain for not being able to be with her best friend Kai, and Kai out of relief that Bocchi is making an effort to make friends.
- Those Two Girls: Kurie and Peko are always seen together.
- 1000 Origami Cranes: Bocchi gets a part-time job from Mayo to make senbazuru for other people, in order to earn enough money to buy the school and prevent a class shuffle. Even though it turns out the school never shuffles its classes, Bocchi and friends still made one for Kako when the latter collapsed while running a high fever.
- Title Drop: The title of Kai's prize-winning poem in Chapter 63 of the manga, "Living Alone With (Blank)" has the same title as the manga- Hitoribochi no Marumaru Seikatsu.
- Untranslated Title: The anime's title wasn't translated at all when licensed in English by Crunchyroll.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Nako and Aru form this dynamic. Even Bocchi can look at them "arguing" and conclude that they get along well.
- Vomit Discretion Shot:
- In episode 1, poor Bocchi winds up puking when trying to give an introduction of herself to the class. We cut to the show's Eye Catch just as she pukes. (The manga cuts away to the classroom door.)
- In episode 6, Bocchi ends up puking while trying to present her haiku. We cut to the school's exterior just as it happens.
- In episode 7, as both Bocchi and Kai puke after their encounter at karaoke, we cut away to the outside of the karaoke place (in the manga, we see both of them kneeling but not puking).
- Wacky Homeroom: As Bocchi discovers in her quest to befriend her classmates.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 75; Nako is informed she will have to leave Bocchi behind and change schools before her graduation.
- Wham Line: In Episode 11/Chapter 30, after all of Bocchi and Mayo's efforts to prevent the class shuffle fail, Mayo makes the following confession, which comes as a surprise to Bocchi and her friends.Mayo: To be honest, I tried to use my influence on the issue of changing classes, but... This school... doesn't change classes.
- Wham Shot:
- During the visit to karaoke in Episode 7/Chapter 14, Bocchi spots Kai's ahoge over the door to her stall, and immediately recognizes her old friend.
- Episode 8 begins with Sotoka getting ready for school and saying her goodbyes to a completely empty room. She did say that she was having family problems after all...
- On chapter 68, the flashback when Aru sees Kai's dirty and swollen face after crying, after meeting Bocchi during the karaoke session.
- In Chapter 93, Bocchi faints under her kotatsu waiting for her high school admittance results. A few panels later, her smartphone's screen is shown saying, "Congratulations. You have been accepted."
- Whole Episode Flashback: In the manga, volume 1's bonus chapter takes place before chapter 1. In the anime, however, it becomes the first part of episode 1.
- Wrong Assumption: Teruyo concludes Bocchi is a secret gang leader, of all things. Sotoka, meanwhile, thinks Bocchi is a ninja despite her attempts to deny it - after all, a real ninja wouldn't easily reveal they were a ninja, would they?
