Bocchi the Rock! releases new spin-off manga centering on a new character in the series

A brand new spin-off manga of Bocchi the Rock!, the series that took the anime community by storm last year, was released on July 9, 2023. Taking the spotlight in the spin-off is the alcoholic bassist of SICK HACK, Kikuri Hiroi, whose everyday life will be the focus of the new series.

The manga chapters will be released in Comic Fuz, and is later expected to arrive on Yen Press as well, which publishes the original manga.

Bocchi the Rock! is an ongoing four-panel manga by Aki Hamaji, which began publication from December 2017, in Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Max magazine. It currently consists of five tankobon volumes. The first season of the anime adaptation by CloverWorks ran from October 9 to December 25, 2022, for a total of 12 episodes.

The spin-off manga of Bocchi the Rock! will be released bi-weekly

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お待たせしました‼️
『ぼっち・ざ・ろっく！外伝　廣井きくりの深酒日記』
7月9日(日)0時より連載開始決定‼️😆

隔週で日曜日に更新します✨
更新日はCOMIC FUZに集合して一緒に酔いしれましょう🍶#ぼっち・ざ・ろっく pic.twitter.com/zJ4J9OQ3xO

— COMIC FUZ（コミックファズ） (@COMICFUZ) July 7, 2023

The spin-off has been titled Bocchi the Rock! Spinoff: Kikuri Hiroi’s Heavy Drinking Diary or Bocchi the Rock! Gaiden: Hiroi Kikuri no Fukazake Nikki, as it is known in Japan. It was released on July 9, 2023, by Houbunsha’s Comic Fuz website.

New chapters of the manga will be released on the website bi-weekly, on Sundays. Chapter 2 is scheduled to come out on July 23, 2023.

The official website of Comic Fuz has penned an exciting introduction to the new spin-off. It reads as follows:

“Kiku Hiroi (25 years old). She is a “genius bassist”who leads the indie band “SICK HACK”, and she loves alcohol. She often gets drunk and breaks the equipment of the live house, so she seems to be short of money. She lives in a 52-year-old apartment without a bath, and sometimes borrows showers from her friends and acquaintances. She is regularly attacked by anxiety about her future, which she counters with a “happiness spiral”that she forgets with alcohol. What is her daily life like…!?”

🍺hiroi kikuri#illustration #doodle #art #character #BocchiTheRock pic.twitter.com/dDXG82jsjM

— Jackburger__ (@Jackburger__) July 8, 2023

The arrival of a new spin-off manga was announced by Comic Fuz back in April of this year, but no further information was revealed at the time except for a teaser poster, featuring just the silhouette of the main character.

Kiku Hiroi also appears in the anime adaptation, and is voiced Sayaka Senbongi, who is known for her previous works in anime shows like Beastars, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Heavenly Delusion, and more.

About Bocchi The Rock!

Bocchi The Rock
Art by @/levinky_art pic.twitter.com/TQ5LGNtoFo

— AnimeArts (@paper_animes) July 6, 2023

Here is how Bocchi the Rock! is described in the official website of Yen Press, who holds the license for publishing the English translated version of the manga:

“Hitori Gotou just wants to make friends, but the thought of approaching a stranger on her own makes her so nervous that she’s spent the entirety of middle school teaching herself how to shred on the guitar—to moderately successful (albeit anonymous) YouTube fame—in the hopes of seeming cool enough for someone else to reach out to her instead.”

It continues:

“After bringing her guitar to school provokes zero interest, Hitori’s just about ready to shrivel up and die…which is when Nijika Ijichi comes across her moping in a playground and begs her to fill in for her band’s flakey guitarist for their first-ever live performance! It’s like her wish came true—but does this most antisocial of introverts have what it takes to perform in front of real people?!”

Although we still do not have any news regarding Season 2 of the anime, it has recently been announced by Aniplex that a compilation film of the series will arrive in the Spring anime season of 2024. While the fans wait for the renewal for the second season, the first season of the anime is available for binging on Crunchyroll.

Stay tuned for more updates on Bocchi the Rock! and other trending manga and anime shows like Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen, Oshi no Ko and more.