Bocchi the Rock’s series writer, Erika Yoshida, says she requested specific changes so the TV version would be easier to watch with family. Speaking at ANIME FANTASISTA JAPAN 2025 on August 16, she explained the simple rule that guides her decisions: “Would I let my young son watch this?”
For her, animation is not a free pass to include anything just because it is drawn. As she put it, “Just because it’s anime doesn’t mean anything goes,” and “It may be drawings, but they are still minors.” That mindset shaped several choices in Bocchi the Rock’s adaptation.
Yoshida gave a clear example from the manga’s cold-bath scene. In print, Hitori gets into a cold bath nude. For television, Yoshida asked the team to put Hitori in a swimsuit instead. She also pushed to remove bits where the girls talk about each other’s chest sizes.
In her view, that kind of banter does not sound like everyday conversation and distracts from what the show cares about. “If you’re aiming for a big hit, that kind of depiction is just noise,” she said. The goal, as she explained it, was to keep the focus on music, friendship, and a shy teen slowly finding her footing rather than on jokes that pull the story off track.
The writer was equally direct about fan-service that clashes with tone or basic realism. “Realistically, a chest would not keep bouncing while playing guitar,” she said, adding that if shots like that were in the show, she would hesitate to let her child watch it.
Yoshida drew a line between private fandom and official output. “Fans are free to interpret and create what they like. But I am against the official side spreading material that basically says, ‘Go ahead and exploit this.’”
In other words, she is not trying to police what individuals draw or imagine; she is setting a standard for what the production itself chooses to highlight, especially when the leads are high-school girls.
Her concern extends beyond one title. She said that even if most viewers act responsibly, a small number of extreme reactions can still hurt the wider culture. “Even if 99 percent of people are fine, I worry the remaining 1 percent can damage anime culture.”
Because streaming is so easy to access, especially for younger viewers, she supports clearer age-gating and labeling so that adult-leaning content does not sit in the same lane as teen-friendly shows. For Yoshida, this is not about making everything bland. It is about matching content to audience and protecting the space where many kinds of anime can thrive.
This approach fits how Bocchi the Rock grew from a four-panel slice-of-life manga into a mainstream TV hit. The first season aired from October to December 2022 and connected with viewers by keeping the tone grounded, the humor character-driven, and the musical set pieces front and center.
Yoshida’s adjustments—swimsuit instead of nudity in the bath scene, cutting body-size jokes, avoiding “bouncy” shots—were small on paper but meaningful on screen. They kept the adaptation welcoming to teens, parents, and new viewers, without losing the awkward charm that made Bocchi and her band easy to root for.
Source: Kai You
