Curry and Pancakes For Friendship?

Hitoribocchi Episode 9
We’re making pancakes and curry (not at the same time) in this episode of Hitoribocchi. Part of me wonders why anyone is actually staying friends with Bocchi given she seems to have absolutely nothing in her head and her first response to any kind of adversity is to cry (or at least tear up) but I guess that’s neither here nor there. I can get behind characters who are weak or socially awkward, but Bocchi lacks any kind of positive trait that I can latch onto. Unless sheer determination counts, but even then she needs a lot of encouragement to avoid running away.

There’s also the matter of how self-involved she is. I get they are trying to have her come across as cute and awkward but just watching her interact with the group while cooking pancakes not once does she think of learning anything about anyone in that group. Her every thought is of how they see her and how she wants them to see her. And while this might actually be relatively realistic it just kind of made me feel a little tired watching her.

I guess basically the premise of this anime never really worked for me, what few points about the lead I found charming got buried under repetition of all the points I don’t enjoy, and given the nature of the anime there’s almost no plot to hide behind. I just don’t find it enjoyable.

As I was watching this particular episode someone came in and mentioned that the anime looked ‘wholesome’. They came in while the curry tasting section was on. I had to agree. It is wholesome and I can see why many would find it sweet, but at this point I am not clicking with it.

Hitoribocchi continues to be an anime I hear a lot of positive chatter about and objectively I can see all the reasons people would enjoy this anime with its eclectic group of cute girls, pastel visuals, and standard school silliness framed by a simple goal of shy girl makes more friends, and if I’d connected with the cast at all it would probably be lovely.
Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
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Karandi James
- Hitoribocchi Series Review
- Hitoribocchi Episodes 1 + 2
- Hitoribocchi Episodes 3 + 4
- Hitoribocchi Episodes 5 + 6
- Hitoribocchi Episode 7
- Hitoribocchi Episode 8
- Hitoribocchi Episode 9
- Hitoribocchi Episode 10
- Hitoribocchi Episode 11
- Hitoribocchi Episode 12
- Images from: Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu. Dir. T Anzai. C2C. 2019.