Sad news coming in from The March issue of Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Max magazine has confirmed that the Four-Panel manga Bocchi the Rock! will continue its hiatus so that its creator Aki Hamazi can focus on recuperation from an unspecified health condition.
According to Manga Time Kirara Max, the hiatus was due to the physical condition of the manga’s creator, in which Aki Hamazi specified that it was not mental health related. Hamaji also stated that ongoing health issues over several months led to the decision to take a break from serialization, they would focus on recovering and apologized to their readers, asking for their continued support during the hiatus. After discussions between the author and the editorial department, it was concluded that an extended rest period would be the best option to allow a full recovery.
As announced, I will be taking a break from serialization for a little while. Under the Doctor’s guidance I will be focusing on recovering and recuperating. I will work to deliver content that you can enjoy even more once the series resumes.
The spin-offs, production of the Anime’s Second Season, stage adaptations, radio shows, real-life live events, and other content will continue to progress as usual. I would be thrilled if you continued to support Bocchi the Rock! 🎸💫
Aki Hamazi
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. If Hamazi does read this article, we hope they get better soon and hope they get the rest they deserve.
Bocchi the Rock manga was first published in Manga Time Kirara Max in December 2017 and is currently an ongoing title consisting of eight tankobon volumes as of November 2025. A spin-off manga series, titled Bocchi the Rock! Side Story: Kikuri Hiroi’s Heavy-Drinking Diary, began publication in July 2023. During their Sakura-Con 2023 panel, Yen Press announced that they had licensed the manga for English publication. The first volume was released on October 17, 2023. On February 7, 2025, they also announced that they had licensed the anthology manga for English publication beginning in July 2025. The TV anime also had two compilation films, the first film titled Bocchi the Rock! Re: sold 140,000 tickets and earned 218,470,888 yen (about US$1.38 million) in its first three days, it would be followed up with Bocchi the Rock! Re: Re: on August 9, 2024. You can watch the first season of Bocchi The Rock and the recap films now on Crunchyroll and Blu-ray.
Hitori Gotoh, “Bocchi-chan,” is a girl who’s so introverted and shy around people that she’d always start her conversations with “Ah…”
During her middle school years, she started playing the guitar, wanting to join a band because she thought it could be an opportunity for even someone shy like her to also shine. But because she had no friends, she ended up practicing guitar for six hours every day all by herself.
After becoming a skilled guitar player, she uploaded videos of herself playing the guitar to the internet under the name “Guitar Hero” and fantasized about performing at her school’s cultural festival concert. But not only could she not find any bandmates, before she knew it, she was in high school and still wasn’t able to make a single friend!
She was really close to becoming a shut-in, but one day, Nijika Ijichi, the drummer in Kessoku Band, reached out to her. And because of that, her everyday life started to change little by little…
Source: Oricon, Anime News Network, Aki Hamazi’s Twitter Update
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