Otaku Culture

Bocchi the Rock! sparks madness and anger in Japan

Rikuta Kiyoki, best known as Kerorira, who worked as character designer and animation director for Bocchi the Rock!.

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As we mentioned earlier, the popular convention Comic book market (Comiket) is a doujinshi publishing and sales event that takes place twice a year, once in winter and once in summer.

This weekend, from August 12th to 13th, the new edition of Comiket takes place, but a situation occurred involving the popular franchise Bocchi the Rock!.

It turns out that Rikuta Kiyoki, better known as Kerorira, who worked as a character designer and animation director for the anime adaptation of Bocchi the Rock!, has announced the release of a book titled “FROG SKETCH”.

The 270-page full-color book includes some corrections to the Bocchi the Rock! animation and a series of original illustrations.

Little did the popular artist know that this would be the trigger for a true organizational catastrophe.

Bocchi a Rocha!

A large number of photographs became a trend on social media showing a huge line heading towards a single point: artist Kerorira's stand where the book Bocchi the Rock! was being sold.

The so-called “Kerorira Row” began to spread with dozens and then hundreds of people hoping to get a copy of the book that would only be sold inside the event facilities, so that people would not have any problems being under the scorching summer sun.

One user even shared a photo of a map where it was possible to see the direction the line was taking: two curves in the parking lot and on the esplanade of the location, exiting onto the road and starting a second curve there.

The amount of people waiting to buy the Bocchi the Rock! book was simply spectacular. And no, it's not the line to get into the convention facilities.

The precious limited edition book (if Kerorira doesn't decide to print more) cost 5,000 yen (about US $ 35), quite fair considering the number of pages it includes.

However, due to its “limited” condition, Some resellers have already appeared on online sales platforms and increased the price sixfold, to an average of 30,000 yen. (over $ 207), enjoying Bocchi the Rock fans!

This situation is common when there is a launch of this magnitude. According to reports, Kerorira limited the sale to just one copy per person, so we can be sure that these people lined up with the sole intention of getting a copy of the book and then reselling it for a profit.

Of course, if Kerorira announces that she will release more copies of this precious book, the resale business will go down the drain, but it is all in the artist's hands.

In any case, it was clear that the situation would attract a variety of comments:

  • «Kerorira jobs are very hard to find. Selling is a great business opportunity».
  • «Kerorira's story has been trending at Comiket every year since Bocchi the Rock! hit the map... You might think he should have seen this coming, but artists can only sell a limited number of copies so as not to break the law, and let's remember he's using intellectual property that doesn't belong to him.».
  • «It seemed to me that the line was extremely long, but it didn't make sense. If you're a regular visitor to Comiket, you know that artists can't bring too many copies of an indie book. If you went all the way to the end, you should have known that you wouldn't have a chance of getting it.».
  • «So is the book out of print or still available?».
  • «Can you imagine that Kerorira himself saved a few dozen copies to sell them for a premium?».
  • «I think that when you have common sense you no longer stand in line where you know you have no chance of getting the product.».

Source: otakomu