Naver Webtoon said on the 25th that it will exclusively offer popular cartoon "Bocchi the Rock!" by artist Hamaji Aki as a color scroll webtoon on Naver Webtoon "Daily+ (Plus)" and Naver Series starting on the 25th.
"Bocchi the Rock!" is a school youth story that portrays the growth of a girl named Goto Hitori, who struggles with relationships, through music. It tells the story that unfolds as the protagonist meets drummer Ijichi Nijika and joins the four-member band "Kessoku Band."
After the anime's success, the band's studio album by Kessoku Band continued its popularity, topping Billboard JAPAN's "2023 Annual Download Albums Chart."
The new color scroll webtoon rearranges the original comic for mobile with a vertical scroll format and remasters every episode in color. Live scenes and character emotions are rendered with greater immersion. The series will be released for free every night at 10 p.m. on Naver Webtoon Daily+ (Plus) and Naver Series.
Naver Series will run a promotion from Feb. 25 to March 3. During that period, cookie rewards will be given to readers who own the "Bocchi the Rock!" print volumes.
Jung Young-seok, comic service lead at Naver Series, said, "With production of season 2 of the anime confirmed, we are unveiling 'Bocchi the Rock!' as a color scroll webtoon," and added, "We hope readers experience Kessoku Band's story in a new way."
Meanwhile, Naver Webtoon is expanding its reformat strategy of reinterpreting globally popular intellectual property (IP) as vertical scroll webtoons. It has introduced as webtoons Japan's "Parasyte," "Hell's Paradise," and "Slam Dunk New Edition," as well as North America's Dark Horse titles "The Witcher" and "Cyberpunk 2077," and IDW's "Godzilla." It has also formed a partnership with The Walt Disney Company and is adapting major IPs such as "The Amazing Spider-Man," "Avengers," and "Star Wars" into webtoons.