Nijika Ijichi

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## Nijika Ijichi

### Alias

Archangel of Shimokitazawa (下北沢の大天使, *Shimokitazawa no Daitenshi*) by Ishibashi Music staff

## Characteristics

### Affiliation

Shimokitazawa High School
Kessoku Band

### Relatives

Unnamed father
Unnamed mother (deceased)
Seika Ijichi (older sister)

## Seiyū

### Japanese VA

Sayumi Suzushiro

“*My dream might come true soon...*”
―Nijika Ijichi's character information
**Nijika Ijichi** (伊(い)地(じ)知(ち) 虹(にじ)夏(か), *Ijichi Nijika*) is one of the main characters in the manga and anime series, *Bocchi the Rock!*. She is a second-year student of Shimokitazawa High School and is the drummer in the band, Kessoku Band.

## Character information

An energetic and cheerful second-year high school student. She is the drummer of Kessoku Band. The organizer of her band who takes care of Hitori was already joined Kessoku Band. She has an older sister, Seika, who is the manager of the live house "STARRY" and has a special feeling for the live house.

## Appearance

Nijika has long blonde hair with a floating triangle-like ahoge worn in a side ponytail and vermilion eyes.

In her uniform, she wears a white long-sleeve uniform with a tucked skirt and red ribbon with big polka dots, a dark blue pleated skirt, white socks, and red sneakers with white laces.

## Personality

Nijika is a kind, sweet and friendly girl. She is outgoing, yet also very accommodating and makes others feel at ease. She was exposed to band culture at an early age due to the influence of her older sister, Seika, who was once in a band and is now the manager of a live house, and is familiar with the music industry .

Nijika is selfless by nature and does her best to support others. Indeed, not only does she work at "STARRY" out of gratitude towards her older sister, but she also holds the group together and alongside Kita, helps Hitori overcome her social anxiety. She also makes an effort to keep her best friend, Ryo Yamada in check whenever she's up to no good.

She is good at designing, and produces the logo for Kessoku Band as well as their CD covers. She also edits the video footage of concerts to post online.

Nijika was a fan of "guitarhero", and eventually realizes that she was actually Hitori, but this makes her become more confident of achieving her dream. Until it was revealed to everyone by Poison♡Yami, she kept it a secret from other members.

## Plot

### History

Originally she was under the care of her mother who used to dote on her. Her sister, Seika also used to play a lot with her. However after Seika formed a band, she ended up neglecting her family and ultimately left the house, which made Nijika sad and angry. As a result, she came to hate bands because she felt they stole her sister from her. Her mother was the only one taking care of her at this point.

However, her mother died in an accident, and Nijika, worried that nobody would care of her after that, refused to go outside or even go to school, which concerned her father. He urged Seika return home to take care of her. Seika, realizing her mistakes, finally decided to spend more time with Nijika. She later brought Nijika to see her band perform in a live house. After seeing their performance, Nijika reopened her heart to her sister and was inspired to play music. Although compared to the guitar, she prefers drums because they look cooler.

This also led Seika to quit her band and establish STARRY, where they started to live and work. Seeing that her sister had sacrificed a lot and that she wanted to become better at drumming, she was determined to form a band herself. She managed to recruit her classmate, Ryo Yamada, and subsequently a certain guitar-vocalist, who shortly afterwards, would abruptly quit.

### Volume 1

Nijika met a girl in a pink tracksuit in a certain playground, and approached her after noticing her guitar. She asked if she could fill in for her guitarist who ran off. The girl was startled by her presence and was in a panic, but Nijika managed to introduce herself and convey her request to the girl, to which she reluctantly agreed.

Nijika then brought the girl to STARRY, and introduced her to Ryo who had already arrived. She and Ryo talked with the girl to get to know her a bit more, who then introduced herself as Hitori Gotoh. Nijika hesitantly agreed with Ryo's proposed nickname "Bocchi(-chan)". She also commented about the band name, which is a terrible pun. They later had a live session together and Bocchi officially joined the band.

Meeting again at STARRY, Nijika initiates topics of conversation by playing dice. They discuss their favorite songs (in which she mentioned liking melodic hardcore and punk rock), school, and especially about the band. She explained to Bocchi about the quota system, and how they really need money in order to perform. She suggested working part time to Bocchi which throws her again in a state of panic, so she offered Bocchi to work with them together in STARRY. Come Bocchi's first day on the job, she helped Bocchi by showing her the ropes. She was satisfied by Bocchi's work despite all her mistakes, but as long as Bocchi could overcome her current state step by step, she was already happy enough.

One day, she got a message from Bocchi to "dance wildly with an energy drink on her hand" in an attempt to make the live house looks more lively for a certain guest. Nijika bought a lot of energy drinks for that, only to notice that Bocchi brought Kita - the runaway guitar-vocalist of the band. Kita apologized for her abrupt departure and explained her reason, but Nijika had no trouble with her.

In order to promote the band, Nijika suggested the band shoot a professional photograph outside. After multiple suggestions of the kind of photo they wanted, they decided to do the "jump style" where according to Ryo, it is a powerful shot for an anime. She felt a "youth sensation" with that style and felt optimistic for the band's future.

Nijika asked about the band's next live only to be rejected by Seika, who explained that the band would need to pass an audition in order to perform. They did so, and passed, allowing them to hold their first live Afterward, Nijika and Kita went to Bocchi's house to visit and talk about the band, where they met Bocchi's little sister, Futari, and noted how different she and her sister were. They tried to design T-shirts for Kessoku Band. However, they weren't able to come to a consensus, and opted for a basic shirt with the band's logo instead.

On the day of the live, they were hampered by a rainstorm, which resulted in a low turnout from their ticket buyers. Nijika and Kita tried to cheer up the somber mood in the house during the MC session to no avail. Everything went wrong until Bocchi stepped up with her solo, which brought the band's spirits up, giving them the boost they needed to perform better. After the celebratory feast at an izakaya, Nijika reveals to Bocchi that she realized her identity as "guitarhero. She also give Bocchi her title "Bocchi the Rock".

## Relationship

### Hitori Gotoh

Nijika establishes herself as a trustworthy friend towards Bocchi, as well as a good band leader of Kessoku Band. She always helped her dealing with her anxiety shenanigans, and always be the one that devises the plan to improve Bocchi's social skill to be better like having her working part time together in STARRY or be the one that suggest to visit her house. In fact Nijika is viewed as the main reason why Bocchi managed to get out from her shell and performs in a band - due to her did not hesitate to invite Bocchi to join Kessoku Band despite being originally an outsider and Nijika does not even know Bocchi's online identity yet that time. Even when Nijika finally know about it, she cared more about how to make Bocchi comfortable with that fact and not too sensitive towards it.

### Ryo Yamada

Originally a classmate, Nijika's non-hesitation towards Ryo to invite her is also the main reason Ryo is back being in a band. Since then, they established a close relationship between each other. Despite all the troubles Ryo caused to her, their relationship remains good and close that even Ryo cannot stand being alone from her and be the one that has her easily give a smile when talking.

## Etymology

* The name **Nijika** means "rainbow" (虹, *niji*) and "summer" (夏, *ka*).
* Nijika's surname **Ijichi** means "that" (伊, *i*), "earth, ground" (地, *ji*) and "know, wisdom" (知, *chi*).

## Trivia

* Her surname is derived from Kiyoshi Ijichi.
	+ Her birthday, May 29 (5/29) is a reverse reading of his birthday, September 25 (9/25).
* Her drum kit is a "Tama Imperialstar 22" Vintage Red with port hole and a black "Pearl Chad Smith Signature Snare Drum".
* She likes melodic hardcore and Japanese punk rock songs.
* She is not good at singing.
* She is the only member of Kessoku Band who doesn't play a string instrument, and sometimes feels left out among her bandmates because of it.
* Her ahoge is usually called "Dorito" by the fandom due to the shape.
* She always keeps her Ribbon (which was given to her by Seika) with her. Often wore it as a necktie on its uniform, and sometimes wore it either as an accessory, or a part of her outfit.
* Her chat head Icon was her ahoge.

## References

1. ↑ *Bocchi the Rock!* manga - Volume 2, chapter 21, page 78
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *"Bocchi the Rock!" TV Animation Official Guidebook -COMPLEX-*
3. ↑ Volume 1 purchase bonus 4p from the official setting document collection (booklet).
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Bocchi the Rock!* manga - Volume 1, chapter 13, page 117
5. ↑ Translated from the official website.
6. ↑ *Bocchi the Rock!* manga - Volume 5, chapter 61
7. ↑ *Bocchi the Rock!* manga - Volume 1, chapter 3, page 27
8. ↑ *Bocchi the Rock!* manga - Volume 1, chapter 3, page 28
9. ↑ *Bocchi the Rock!* manga - Volume 5, chapter 61, page 188
10. ↑ *Bocchi the Rock!* manga - Volume 2, chapter 14