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Earlier this year, it was announced that Bocchi the Rock was going on an indefinite hiatus. The reason was that Aki Hamaji, the creator of the series, was recovering from an unspecified health issue. Thankfully, they seem to have gotten well enough to work because earlier today, we found out that the Bocchi the Rock manga is returning from hiatus in just a few weeks.

Fans have been waiting patiently for the manga to continue since it went on hiatus in December 2025. Since then, there has been a lot of waiting to see when Aki Hamaji’s health would improve enough for her to continue working on the Bocchi the Rock manga. As announced earlier by the Manga Time Kirara Max social media, the wait is nearly over. The next chapter of Bocchi the Rock will be published on June 18, 2026.

Typically, new chapters of Bocchi the Rock are published each month in Manga Time Kirara Max magazine. It went on hiatus in December 2025, but that short hiatus was extended to an indefinite one in January 2026. At the time, Hamaji assured fans that the health issues in question were physical rather than mental and said that production on the second season of the anime was already in full swing. We’re still waiting for an official announcement on that front, but at least we now know that the Bocchi the Rock manga is coming back from hiatus.

Bocchi the Rock is the story of a young woman with crippling social anxiety. Instead of talking to people and making friends in middle school, she learned to play guitar. Now she’s got bandmates, but she still struggles to connect with people. But at least the band is taking off.

The Bocchi the Rock manga returns from its six-month hiatus on June 18, 2026.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

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