Over the past few episodes of Bocchi The ROCK!, Bocchi and her new bandmates have been trying to get the admin out of the way and figure out the band's future. They've come up with a name, have decided on roles for each member, and are slowly working towards cementing their band identity.
However, if they are to really make it, there are a ton of costs involved with being involved with the band that go beyond music composition. Hitori and her fellow Kessoku Band members earn some money from their work at Nijika's sister's café, but in order to keep up with the aforementioned costs, they brainstorm other avenues, but their biggest problem is proving that they've got what it takes to perform.
Please, No More Work
While Bocchi's band mates brainstorm places where they can find work, she begins to get incredibly flustered as she considers the incredible difficulty she experienced just getting used to working at Starry Café.
In similar fashion to the way she has in previous episodes, Bocchi's high anxiety when it comes to social situations sends her quickly scrambling for ways to avoid having to work at all. She hilariously considers selling an organ, and even goes as far as offering her own guitar as collateral for a loan – whatever it takes to not have to deal with more people in an unfamiliar professional environment. Meanwhile, Ryou has just completed a song, so the group listens to it for the first time.
About the Next Live
Since Nijika managed to get out on stage in Starry Café with Ryou and Hitori back in May, she just assumes that the band will be able to perform; however, her older sister, Seika, has some tough news for them: since their performance back in May was particularly awful, she does not think that they are of a sufficient skill level to perform on the next live performance day. It isn't about the money, she just doesn't believe in Kessoku Band based on what she saw in that first performance back in the first episode.
Nijika storms out of the café, so Ryou and Kita follow her before Bocchi can get a firm grasp on the situation. Before she can leave, Seika asks to speak to Bocchi, adding to what she was saying to Nijika regarding the upcoming live event. Seika tells Bocchi that she'll consider Kessoku Band if they can prove their skill at the upcoming auditions the next Saturday. Once Nijika hears that there's still a chance, she gets quickly motivated again.
In Preparation
Excited to show off what they can do, the Kessoku Band members start to practice in earnest in anticipation of Starry Café's auditions for the next live. They consider what Seika would be looking out for as she observes the auditions. While Bocchi helps Kita with learning to play the guitar, Kita tells her that she thinks that the main thing for them would just be to show how much they've grown and improved as a band since their last performance. She thanks Bocchi for her assistance, and asks that she stick with her at least until after the auditions. The growth idea sounds good at first, but Bocchi, Ryou and Kita end up taking it too far by focusing on showcasing this aspect in their appearance.
They assume a stereotypical all-male rock band look with suits, mop-tops and colourful personalities, but Nijika is quick to reject these antics. Thinking about it further, Bocchi considers how far she has grown since her first meeting with Nijika. Now she can talk to people and look them in the eye. To Bocchi, this is an achievement that places her, finally, at the starting line of humanity. While Bocchi is generally incredibly dramatic in the way she perceives and expresses things, the idea that she only now finally feels like a person is incredibly important regarding her relationship with music, and with Kessoku Band.
Reasons, Reasons
After the band's final rehearsal before the big day, Nijika catches up with Bocchi, who is on her way home. She offers Bocchi a drink, and apologizes for forcing her to go along with her and her dream for so long. Nijika then asks Bocchi what her reasons were for wanting to join her band, and what kind of band she would really like to be in. As Nijika puts it, "everyone has their own reasons", and she opens up to Bocchi about how for her, Kessoku Band is her way of making her dream come true. She dreams of doing something even greater than appear at the Budokan; however, Nijika heads home before hearing what Bocchi's reasons for joining were. Bocchi herself was not quite sure about it, and mulled over it for the whole night before their audition.
Audition Saturday
The big day is finally upon them, and Kessoku Band is on stage in full force. Their line-up has Bocchi on the guitar, with Kita on guitar and vocals, Ryou on the base and Nijika on the drums. They are clearly nervous; however, Bocchi's night-long interrogation of her reasons for joining the band give her a much-needed push to do her level best. She has decided: she wants to be part of a band and have people "go crazy for her". While she is not quite ready to admit that her dreams are based on something so vain and trivial, she has found something that anchors her to her other goal: to make Nijika's goal of leading a band to sell-out at the Budokan a reality. Kessoku Band plays a math-rocky, energetic piece titled "Guitar, loneliness and the blue planet", which was written by Ryou with inspiration from lyrics written by Bocchi. After the performance, Seika gives harsh but fair criticism about each member's performance, which makes them think that they won't be allowed in; however, she finally admits that there is sufficient space for them to grow, and that they have been granted the opportunity to perform at Starry Café at the upcoming live.
Sweet Spot
While she was very harsh about it, Seika's actions were largely beneficial for Kessoku Band because she was able to judge their growth from their previous performance and offer constructive advice regarding the performance of each member. Having been the first to really notice Bocchi's talent, Seika takes up even more of an interest in her as she has realized just how good Bocchi is, and how much better she can become if she overcomes her most fatal drawback: her low self-esteem. Seika is so impressed, particularly with Bocchi's performance that she becomes invested in her musical growth, trying her best to be supportive; however, Bocchi's hilarious lack of social skills combined with Seika's unreadable facial expression creates a language barrier once more.Things did seem dire for the band at first; however, Seika's friend reveals that Seika was never going to exclude Kessoku Band from the line-up since she'd kept a spot open for them in the weeks leading up to the audition day. Seika did admit at the audition that her objective was to see what kind of band they were creating, and with their audition, she has seen enough to understand what she'd be dealing with at the live event.
With all the build up due to the band having to be built up from scratch, there was a noticeable lack of complete or significant musical pieces in the anime other than the short bits that Bocchi would create when overwhelmed with certain feelings. Episode 5 of Bocchi the ROCK is the series' best so far; and is great pay-off for the build-up in the episodes prior. Now that they are a real band, it is very exciting to see what else Kessoku Band will come up with, and even more exciting to see Bocchi gradually come out of her shell. The episode was filled with interesting concepts in terms of animation, and the visual comedy was especially strong, adding to how well the series uses perspective and different shots to convey various emotions and atmospheres.