Bocchi the Rock! is a funny and heartwarming anime, but it also has it's sad moments.
- While Bocchi's social anxiety is played for laughs, there are moments where it's portrayed in such a realistic way that it's no longer funny and you want to hug the poor girl. Here some examples
- In the first episode, we get a glimpse of her life before she joined the band. From a very young age (the opening shot implies she's in kindergarten), she was a lonely girl who never had any friends whatsover, and the only reason she decided to learn the guitar was because she just wanted to be noticed. Fortunately for her, her family does genuinely support her despite who she is.
- When she believes that she has failed to find a female vocalist, she sings a very depressing song where she calls herself trash.
- While the Imagine Spot sequences of Bocchi ending up as an alcoholic NEET Hikkikomori are Black Comedy - the first time, it's at an age at which Futari is a wife and a mother, and the second time, it's after washing out of a sales job for a company - it's rather depressing that this is how Bocchi thinks her life will turn out.
- Nijika and Seika's flashback chapter has them lose their mother. During the funeral, Nijika is bawling, while Seika only stands by without any expression on her face, neither willing nor able to comfort her much younger sister.
- Prior to her death, Seika and Nijika's sisterly bond wasn't in a good state, as Seika made Nijika cry by ignoring her in favor of hanging out with her friends and moving away from home, making her resent Seika's band. Noticing this, her mother goes to Seika's place to confront her, however, Seika becomes defensive believing her mom doesn't support her dream of having a band, until her mother bluntly states that while she's okay with her making her and her father mad, she should stop making her little sister cry with her neglectful attitude.Mrs Ijichi: No, Seika. You don't get it.Seika: I do get it.Mrs Ijichi: No, you don't get it at all.Seika: And I just said I do!Mrs Ijichi: Then stop making Nijika cry already.
- Seika's last interaction with her mother, Her mother asked her if she could invite Nijika to the live show, and Seika just says "If I feel I like it, I guess". Shortly after, her mother passes away, and during her mother's funeral, Seika laments that it was the last thing she said to her mother.Seika: I wonder why I couldn't have just told her "yes" back then.
- To deal with her mother's passing, Seika fully devotes to her band and tries to act like nothing happened in an attempt to avert her eyes from the reality of her passing.
- At least Seika has support from her friends. After the funeral, Nijika was left alone to deal with her mother's passing, as her dad is busy at work and Seika is far away with her band, leading to her breaking down emotionally and choosing to stay home forever and not go to school anymore, forcing her father (yes, the same one who's never home) to call Seika and ask to help her sister. Small wonder Seika is hit as hard when she finally realizes that she's been neglecting her sister and running away from her mother's death.
- Prior to her death, Seika and Nijika's sisterly bond wasn't in a good state, as Seika made Nijika cry by ignoring her in favor of hanging out with her friends and moving away from home, making her resent Seika's band. Noticing this, her mother goes to Seika's place to confront her, however, Seika becomes defensive believing her mom doesn't support her dream of having a band, until her mother bluntly states that while she's okay with her making her and her father mad, she should stop making her little sister cry with her neglectful attitude.
- Despite being somewhat Played for Laughs, the first glimpse we get of sober Hiroi in Chapter 69 is rather sad. She's implied to be suffering from withdrawal, rather subdued, and the noisy party girl has been replaced with a shy, awkward woman who barely does any more talking than necessary. Despite it being Heartwarming that she was willing to deal with sobriety like that for Kessoku Band, it shows that beneath her drunken bravado she's still a nervous wreck inside, and a reminder of what Hitori could be if she took the same easy road Hiroi did.
