| Start Date | Chapter | Start Page |
Page Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 21 | 45 | 63 | 10 |
| 46 | 75 | 8 |
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Chapter forty-five’s title image is simply an establishing shot.
Chapter forty-six’s is from “Wo Ai Ni” by Cody・Lee.
Page 63, Ryo’s manga which is just visible in the third panel is 呪術廻戦 with the last two kana replaced with the homophonous 海鮮.
Page 65, Kita mentions the 下北沢カレーフェスティバル. Reportedly, the 2023 event was Bocchi-themed.
Page 72, Nステ is a reference to Music Station, typically abbreviated to Mステ.
This chapter was the first time I truly realised that Bocchi the Rock was more than just “K-On! except in a live house instead of a school”. Nijika has talked a bit about her hopes for Kessoku Band in past chapters, but I think I’d interpreted them as just the setup to a punchline in that strip, but here was the first time I realised that Nijika genuinely wants Kessoku Band to become an actual professional band. That she intends for the four of them to make careers of this.
(Also, I feel like page 70 is the first time we’ve seen Bocchi express a genuine emotion besides her typical low-level terror interspersed with evil cackling.)
Page 75, フルアーマー is apparently a term from Gundam.
Page 76, 毎日がエブリディ is an internet euphemism for being unemployed, with a slightly self-deprecating air - sources I’ve found say it comes from an accidental mistranslation of 毎日が日曜日 (in the sense of “every day is a weekend”) which the internet subsequently memed, but just who was doing the translation and into what language, I’m not entirely clear. クッチ is Gucchi, naturally enough, and クロロハーツ is Chrome Hearts.
Page 79, the internet tells me that クリムトの夜 is a reference to J-pop duo YOASOBI, though I’m not too clear as to how people have made that connection.
Thanks. Often I find the most untranslatable bits are an off-brand reference to some existing music thing that everybody would know if you already are grounded in the culture but is completely incomprehensible without it…
That second chapter was rough. Lots of music biz terms and keigo-adjacency sort of stuff, not to mention Bocchi and Ryou being totally neurotic. Poison-san was way easier to understand out of character though.
there was a term that came up a few times, 弊社 - got tripped on that especially because my initial search failed. bloody tiny text.
(left side) If I got this right, I gotta remember that 今回 is always this time and 今度 could either be this or next/another time, I’m never thinking about that and it always catches me off guard. Also in the panel just before the picture she mentioned the music industry had changed the last few years so I thought she meant it like “Now things gotta be done this way” when it probably was like “Once you’re doing well enough the CD/mini album comes next”
I forgot that haniwa exist (shown in the background here), they’re clay figures for funerals said to protect the spirit, I found out about them when I was curious why those gyroid guys from animal crossing look so similar to those cactus guys from final fantasy and thought it may have been a cultural thing
One for the first and second chapter this week as usual
Haha nice, I was just wondering myself that 
| Start Date | Chapter | Start Page |
Page Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 28 | 47 | 83 | 9 |
| 48 | 93 | 8 |
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Chapter forty-seven’s title image is from “Kohakuiro no Machi, Shanhai Gani no Asa” by Quruli.
Chapter forty-eight’s is from “TAKE MY HAND” by Yoru no Honki Dance
Page 84, MT is Manual Transmission.
Page 87, ハイエート is a reference to the Toyota HiAce. I’ve driven these before. It’s weirdly fun.
Even without being able to make out those blobs masquerading as kanji on the manga that Ryo’s holding on the same page, I can still tell you it’s a reference to Initial D. The kanji might be 海岸, but I couldn’t say why. Don’t learn how to drive by reading Initial D, kids.
Page 89, 芳大 is most likely a reference to 芳文社, the publisher for this manga.
Page 90, juuust visible in the background there is Chitose-Karasumayama Station on the Keio Main Line. Dunno why they’re not catching the train there, though, because they’re a quarter-hour’s ride from Shimokita. Given that information though, I suspect the chapter opened at Setagaya Driving School.
Ryo’s comment about a 17th-floor cafeteria is reportedly a reference to Meiji University’s Liberty Tower, which also happens to contain a cafeteria on its 17th floor.
Page 95, the Shibuya 108 is probably easy enough to recognise as the 109 building.
Page 97, 鵜飼 is cormorant fishing, where they let the birds catch fish but make them hork them all up again. And in the fourth panel there, Kita is referencing Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus.
Page 98, the movie Ryo is watching is possibly Mega Shark Versus Kolossus, which got a Japanese release entitled メガ・シャークVSグレート・タイタン, though it’s also entirely possible that Hamazi-sensei actually attempted to invent a completely absurd parody out of whole cloth and managed to hit on the climax of an existing movie by complete accident.
two great and (relatively) easy slice of life chapters. funnily enough the hardest part for me might have been Nijika’s rant about Kita not knowing how to grill properly
Hardest part for me was Bocchi abruptly coming up with a new system for scoring social encounters.
Those are different shapes, though.
Do we know how old they are? If it has been mentioned I have completely forgotten. And how old do you have to be to drive in Japan?
Yes I could look both those things up but I like better asking here 
Can’t recall if their specific ages have been mentioned, but Bocchi and Kita are currently in their second year of high school, while Nijika and Ryo are in their third year. Based on typical school-starting ages, that means the first pair are turning 17 at some point during the year, while the second pair are turning 18.
You need to be 18 to get a car licence (though you can get a motorbike licence at 16).
Yeah, the Bocchi wiki probably has their exact birthdates. 
Alright I checked: 誕生日：2月21日 / 身長：156cm / 体重：50kg / 血液型：O型
No exact year or age that I can see for Bocchi, but the school year is as you say! ぼっち・ざ・ろっく! - Wikipedia!
When did they move up from years 1 and 2?
About two-thirds of the way through volume 3. Page, uh… 85. There was a whole story about how Bocchi and Kita are now in the same class.
| Start Date | Chapter | Start Page |
Page Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 05 | 49 | 101 | 10 |
| 50 | 113 | 6 |
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Chapter forty-nine’s title image is from “Bankuruwase”, by Hump Back
Chapter fifty’s is from “PAPER ROLL STAR”, by domico
Aside from that, we’re pretty light on notes. Page 104, all those things hitting Nijika are various different gelatinous foods that are all served in block form. (I’m fairly sure the standard version for tests of courage is either just the konnyaku or a wet sponge.) And page 115, I’m quite certain I’ve mentioned this before, but to recap, カスト is ガスト and JOJO苑 is 叙々苑, the former is a fairly inexpensive famiresu chain, the latter is a fairly expensive yakiniku chain.
And thus ends another volume. Break time?
Yes one week break is fine
