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Bocchi the Rock! Manga Continues Hiatus Due to Creator's Health
posted on by Anita Tai
The March issue of Houbunsha's Manga Time Kirara Max magazine announced on Monday that the four-panel manga Bocchi the Rock! will continue its hiatus so that its creator Aki Hamaji can focus on recuperation from an unspecified health condition. In a personal message, Hamaji added that she has been in poor health for several months and emphasized that the health condition is a physical one, not a mental one.
The series had already been on a break from the previous Manga Time Kirara Max issue, but the magazine had planned to resume the manga this month before making this new announcement.
Yen Press publishes the series in English and describes the story:
Bocchi finally takes the stage in English, and she's brought her best friend— crippling anxiety! Hitori Goto 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. 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 flaky 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?!
Hamaji launched the Bocchi the Rock! manga in Houbunsha's Manga Time Kirara Max magazine in December 2017, and the series is ongoing. Houbunsha shipped the eighth compiled book volume on November 27. Yen Press shipped the seventh volume on November 11.
Sources: Manga Time Kirara Max's March 2026 issue, Aki Hamaji's X/Twitter account
