Beck

I dropped this manga, not because it was bad. The reason were because i were busy and i don't liker reading in shonen mag because the was only a chapter or two per volume..
+It has a sombre atmospherre, because the manngatries to be realistic. and in reality breaking into music scenes is not easy. Unlike other mangas, the band has no producers who symphatize with them, on the contrary a powerful figure in music industry angry at them.
+Nevertheless, the band members can still enjoy themselves, and throw jokes at each others.

+ good art, the body is prportional, and the background is wonderful.
+The main lead yukio is your usual average joe, but unlike in other manga he has no stupid girls swarming around him. every one has a girlfriend, including the old man ( Yukio's bos). Wait did chiba had one?
+Maho is not your usual brainless, bimbo. she is gutsy, smart and independent( the reason being she used to live in america)

-Yukio sometimes got on my nerve because, eventhrough he experienced a lot of things , he is still pretty much cleless
-The characters dropped out of high school, eventhough later it was shown that they regretted it

Beck is a unique gem of a niche market. In the vastness of manga, that is translated into English, I can't think of another one that A) is about a band and B) hits the specific tone and atmosphere of underground music. It genuinely feels like a niche within a niche, even though it's following the usual shonen character arc.

The festivals and creation of music with all the band members are where this piece really shines. In between these big moments, and character goals, are an assortment of side characters, love interests, and gang upheavals. Some of it works, some of it feels like a plot device, and other times it feels like the author forgot a certain side character arc and decided to write their next leg in eventually.

The anime covers about the first 10 or 11 volumes and those are indeed the best the series has to offer. There is a similar festival near the end where the quality comes very close to that first third high before having a very solid ending. The middle part is definitely hard to get through because the band is constantly thrown into situations where one member breaks off, does their own thing, they have to all come together again, which is repeated about three times. From a storytelling perspective, it's definitely a solid way to show your characters pushing through some struggle, but it's honestly irritating how planned it all felt.

Another aspect that I felt was fairly weak, especially in the second half, was the romance. Of all the characters Saku and Hiromi have the best relationship. Koyuki and Maho are a great couple, and one of the few couples in manga where I can genuinely feel their chemistry through the pages, especially in a shonen story, but for the love of god their relationship isn't written well. The second half is all about keeping them separated and falling for the same "won't he/won't she" misunderstandings where none of them talk to each other to make up. It does lead to some romantic reunions, but at the end of the day it seriously felt like their relationship was all a plot device. Which sucks, because I think they're great characters that are great together, I just couldn't handle the rinse, wash, repeat of their roller coaster love.

The music and the festival are fire though. The author really knows how to set up tension and create a ticking clock that makes each performance feels like it has the weight of the world on the band's shoulders. I loved meeting new bands and each musician had a unique way of performing that made them all memorable.

Overall, the manga felt down to earth, music was great, romance not so much, there is a ton I didn't even cover but it is certainly an experience I would recommend.

Pretty much everyone has at least a passing interest in music and its instruments. To be a good musician, more than passing interest is need. It is necessary true dedication to music. Beck is the story of someone who only had a passing interest in music that comes to adore it and becomes a great musician.

Beck is a music drama manga that was serialized between 200 and 2008. It was written, illustrated and created by Harold Sakuishi, and doubles as his first work of note.

Yukio "Koyuki" Tanaka is a 14-year-old who hasn't anything going for him: he isn't in any clubs, his school scores are average at best and he isn't particularly sociable. Until a chance meeting with the guitarist Ryusuke Minami and his dog, Beck, sets him on a new path. He starts to play the guitar with the hopes of working with his newly found idol.

Eventually, he does play with him in their band, Beck. With, as well, the drummer Saku, Koyuki's school friend, the funky bassist Yoshiyuki and the vocalist with rap background Chiba. Together, the band aims to become great musicians and achieve success.

While the setting and even some of the developments are fairly standard, Beck's strength lies on the way the story is told. Apart from the slow start, the pacing is great. Differently, from most other manga, the band is not easily catapulted to success, but still evolves in a pleasant-to-read speed.

The story heavily evokes the importance of music, making good use of its cast to illustrate various possible relationships with music. Koyuki's finds in it excitement and friends, while for Ryusuke it is a way of life, for example.

Moreover, the cast itself is wonderful. Each character has its own clear personality and is throughly explored. Even Koyuki, who is at first a generic and self-insert, protagonist, goes through changes and develops his own personality and new desires.

Beck even has some interesting side stories, for example, Lucille's. To the non-initiated, Lucille seems to be a terrible guitar riddled with bullet holes, but it actually is a legendary guitar once owned by likewise legendary bluesman. And Ryusuke stole it right under the nose of an important businessman.

The conclusion of Beck leaves a lot of room for imagination, but its focus isn't the destination, it is the journey. And what an incredible journey it was. Not lacking in quality, it creates meaningful and emotional plot threads and develops them until its conclusion.

The art of Beck is best described as realistic. There is a lot of care put in each panel to portrayal something visually appealing, but realistic at the same time. This is particularly evident both during close-ups of the instruments, which are wonderfully detailed down to the most minimal imperfections, and the two-page spreads, which are minuciously planned and almost pieces of art.

An interesting characteristic of Beck is the way that the music is portrayed. Rather than trying to half-ass the lyrics, Sakuishi chooses to focus on the emotions to convey sound. And this gamble worked perfectly. Emotions are much more tangible in imagery rather than in words, moreover, the impactness of lyrics is too chaotic. Whenever there were music scenes, it was impossible not to feel something.

Beck is a music epic, as in a journey of huge proportions through the world of music. It is a trip through music and what it can mean to a multitude of people.

At this point, it is needless to say that I recommend it to basically anyone. However, I should still go through formalities: If you have at least a passing interest in music, you will find a lot to like in Beck. On the other hand, if you despise bands, music and everything they stand for, you will probably hate it too. Also, if you are indifferent to all of that, Beck still is a great drama with fun and deep characters that doubles as an emotional journey.

The Story plot line, well I can say that the idea of it is more common with action type manga but instead of fighting the main character gets stronger with in the band. The art I though was very good with the characters running. and the faces. the characters are pretty involved and deep however some things were not entirely resolved at the end. My enjoyment of it was mainly decrease by the open ending of the story. as well as certain people close to the main character seemingly disappear from the story line. again though an open ended story for the most part. now 19 years later or whatever like harry potter here =P

I remember seeing ad's for this back in the day when I'd go to the library and check out manga but I never actually bothered to give it a shot that is until today and pardon my french but MY FUCKING GOD!

Story:

Beck is a simple coming of age tale of Yukio Tanaka and the struggles he faces chasing his dream and over the course of this 30+ Vol 102 chapter read you're taken on a wild ride that'll make you feel every possible emotion under the son as they go through struggle after struggle in order to try and reach out their dreams.


This for the most part wasn't a complicated tale in all honesty but it's the simple things that matter and at no point did this not leave me wanting to take a break or stop as I found myself staying up late constantly saying one more chapter.

10/10

Art:

This is one of those areas I'm having a hard time to explain because this is an early 00's manga so the art has a certain look to it that draws inspiration from western comics with the fact that the character designs are simple but somewhat realistic if not looking kind of dated in a way that may draw some people off if they only care for newer anime which I understand does exist but even if that is the case you need to get over that because the second you see the motion of the concert scenes trust me even without the audio you'll feel something especially if you're a music person like me because just seeing the motion of a stage show on the page has a certain movement and glow to it that literally sent shivers down my spine.

Also the nods to various Album covers all through out were just a wonderful touch especially if you're a music nerd to any capacity.

8/10

Character:

Here's one of the few instances that I can think of where every single character in a story actually got just the right amount of time to grow and become something special and the ending really hammers that point home truly one of the best cast I've ever seen.

I guess if I were to point out any flaw here it'd be that I kind of wish Tanaka's and Minami's relationship would have gotten more time to really show but even so it was still a coupling I was rooting for all the way through.

10/10

Enjoyment/Overall:

I've always kind of powered through manga that's my thing and this is one of those few instances where powering through it didn't ruing the experience for me in any capacity because it was a story that I just could truly not put down I missed work because I just had to know what was going to happen next and that's not something I've been able to say about any form of literature in quite some time.

You owe it to yourself to read this story at least once it's a truly excellent coming of age tale that's just the right blend of romance, drama, comedy, and that special something that sets stories above all others and while I was hesitant to give it that perfect score after finishing it I just couldn't and since this website only deals with whole numbers I guess I have no other option that to award it such.

10/10

Story, 9/10: The story of Beck is about a teenage boy who is boringly average, has no life goals, just goes through the motions of daily life, and to top it off has a questionable taste in music. Well one day he encounters a prodigy of guitar playing, and his life changes forever. Beck is the name of the band that the previously mentioned boys form along with a few others.

In my opinion the best thing about the story is how it shows just how hard it can be to make it in the music industry. The members of BECK constantly have to jump over obstacles, and backstage politics such as big wigs trying everything they can to make sure they don't sell records, can't perform at big venues or music festivals, and finally even trying to turn members against each other.

Art, 10/10: The art is simply fantastic, the amount of detail in facial expressions, clothing, rain, snow and other weather background detail and instruments is some of the most realistic I've ever seen.

Characters, 8/10: The character development is probably the weakest part of this manga, but really its still very good. All of the main characters and even a few side characters get developed fairly well, my only wish is that some of the other band members got more fleshed out

Enjoyment, 10/10: Man, this just knew all of the strings to pull, just the type of music they talk about is stuff that I love, mostly classic rock, Like The Beatles, The Who, Jimi Hendrix. Also the way it uses the "never give up" cliche, normally an eye roller, but for some reason it just fit.

Overall, 10/10: This is definitely a new favorite of mine, seeing them be put through things that a lot of people have tried to face but just can't overcome and refuse to give up on their dreams is something you don't see often these days, most people just want everything handed to them. All that being said however their are parts of Beck that won't be for everyone. I say that if you love music you should at least give it a try.

*This review is spoiler free*

So, I first watched the Beck anime back in 2013, and it quickly became one of my favourite anime of all time, still occupying a spot in my favourites list to this day.

Somehow, a whole seven years later, I found myself with some time to myself and nothing to watch/read, so I finally decided to take the plunge and read the whole of Beck. It wasn’t planned, but I ended up reading the whole thing in two sittings over two days.

That said, I’ll open with this statement: If you liked the anime, just read it. You are only depriving yourself of more enjoyment with these characters and this story. Just read it, you’ll thank yourself.

Story –

The story is deceptively simple. Centred around Yukio ‘Koyuki’ Tanaka, a middle-schooler who doesn’t excel much at anything, Beck takes you on a 6+ year journey over its 103 chapters. We follow Yukio, the other eventual members of Beck and a handful of other supporting characters as they set out to become the biggest band in Japan, against all the odds.

Despite not having the most original premise, Beck still manages to provide enough twists and turns to be thoroughly entertaining throughout with, in my view, a conclusion that is both satisfying and leaves you wanting more, just to spend a little more time with the characters.

Art –

If I’m being completely honest, the art at the start of Beck is pretty underwhelming. It is by no means terrible, but it’s definitely not great. However, I noticed that around the 30-chapter mark there was a drastic improvement in the quality and consistency of the art, especially in the characters. By the end of the manga I can comfortably say that the art is pretty damn good, especially when you consider how it was when it started.

Character –

The characters really carry this manga 100% of the way. They’re all fantastic and I really found myself completely in love with most of the main cast by the end. Their motivations and personalities are totally fleshed out throughout the story, leaving you with a great impression of them as individuals come the end.

One thing I will say is that I was really worried about the main character’s romance at some points, but by the end I found myself largely satisfied with what turned out to be a surprisingly realistic subplot. Maybe a little more towards the end would have been nice, but I understand that it wasn’t the intended focus of the story by that point so it’s fine as is.

Enjoyment –

I haven’t enjoyed a manga this long enough to read it in such a short space of time in a long while. It was really a blast from start to finish, despite its medium-long length, and never came close to losing my attention at any point.

Final Thoughts –

Finishing this, and looking back at the anime, only makes me wish that we could have seen the rest of the story adapted. It is virtually impossible that this happens at this point given the series’ age, but I think, given the songwriting treatment the original adaptation got, and the updated level of animation it could really be something special.

I’m sure, in the future, I’ll find myself coming back to this series again and again. Truly a masterpiece in my eyes.

Who doesn't love a music-based slice of life manga? I always find manga about music so fascinating... I think it's hard to bring that music to life in written word and pictures, but Beck manages to do it (although I now think I have to check out the anime so I can ear this music that's leaving everyone so awestruck). Plus, this is a band manga. Yay bands!

Premise: Loser kid Koyuki meets guitarist extraordinaire Ryuusuke and then gets sucked into the world of music. It's neat to see Koyuki's progression from loser kid to rocking musician. Kind of reminded me of "Almost Famous". I felt myself liking it more and more as I read through it and the ending was just so perfect, I sighed happily. The performances, especially near the end, were .... just incredible. So satisfying.

I actually really want to find another manga just like it. I love stories about bands, the journeys they take, the adventures they go on, the memories they make. Read this! It's amazing.

I started reading Beck manga as soon as I finished the anime. The anime no doubt was pretty good on its own terms; felt anti-climatic to me. Thus, reading the manga was a necessity.

Beck follows group of boys as they come together through their mutual love of English rock music and form a band, in the hopes of standing in the same stage as the rock legends. The story follows the MC Yukio getting acquainted with guitarist Ryuusuke and subsequently getting sucked into the music scene. He along with other characters form a band called as Beck. Ensuingly the story follows Beck's struggle to make it to the top. They face constant hardships as they develop and strive to create music that is not only popular but also something they themselves as a band can be proud of. This is a constant struggle for the characters in the manga and drives the story forward. The theme that integrity and vision should not be compromised to create works just to earn money and be popular. Throughout the manga the characters are struck in situations wherein they have to make such decisions and to not be sellout is something that drives and motivates them to create the music they want to create. This leads to trouble with the industry big wigs which creates problems for them to make it truly big despite getting moderate fan following. Despite music driving the story, the manga at its heart is a SOL manga which focuses on the band members meeting and interacting with both old and new characters and environment. Their experiences and progress is what makes the manga truly interesting and worthwhile. The subplot which is present for majority of manga is a romance between the MC Kouyuki and Maho who become friends and later lovers due to their mutual affiliations to Ryuusuke. This story follows their struggle to keep the relationship intact while dealing with the contrasting personality, friends and environment. As the romance started quite early in the manga, it had a solid 5~6 years of development which gave us a well fleshed and believable romance rather than the cutesy stuff that is usually written. This story also tackled complicated themes with poignancy, which is unusual for a manga whose main story is not romance between the lead pair. The slow script the writing did wonders for this manga in some aspect.

The characters are where this manga both shines and fails. The characters are actually very well written, with distinct personalities allotted to them. And there are few scenes where one characters acts out irrationally and it seems extremely believable with their personalities. Koyuki develops as a bored and uninterested teenager to a focused and passionate man. Ryuusuke faces his own dilemmas and internal struggles and deals with them his own way. Though most of Ryuusuke's action were out of the blue and were extreme. It would have been fine if it happened once but he repeatedly took measures and actions which were irrational and also unbelievable and went without any repercussions. The band accepted him with open arms and made him a captain repeatedly while he behaved like a child throughout. This could have been better written as actions have consequences and for the sake of story the characters were often left out easy. Another thing which hampered characters progress was the characters not learning from their previous mistakes. A lot of conflicts could have been avoided if the characters just talked out or stopped and thought about the veracity of the claims put forth against another character. This would have led to simpler and quicker outcomes. This was sacrificed for forced drama with no payoff.

The art was very detailed and the characters felt real. Every character had their own distinctive features. Every character had a tired look to them as the series progressed and their input doubled. They did not appear as some charming prince and princess straight out of a fairy tail. The panels dedicated to their indivudal performances were all very well done and exhibited the dedication the characters put on their craft. The full page art were extremely detailed and captured the essence of live performance.

Overall, Beck is an immensely enjoyable manga for people of all ages. The coming of age story about a boy who discovers his passion for music and dreams to make it big while staying true to his craft and his sense of music. It is far better than the anime as it portrays great character development and a satisfying and conclusive ending.

This is my first manga review, so please be gentle.

I'll start with rating Beck 9/10. My scoring system is probably wonky (and I may fix it down the road) but that basically means of manga that are definitely worth your time to read, this is about the middle of the priorities list.

Beck is a manga about "chasing the dream," or in a much more real sense, about the blood, sweat, and tears that are the toll for that path. The dream in this case is being a rock star, and throughout the story we see the hard-earned progress followed by inevitable setbacks that accompany our protagonist, contrasted by the overnight success of shallower counterparts, bringing into stark contrast just how meaningful success is to each of them (and the effect that wealth and fame has on them), exemplifying the adage "if you don't work for something, you won't appreciate it."

And while if you're looking for deeper overtones along those lines, they can certainly be found throughout, but it's not overt, typed out exposition at all. If you're going to get a deeper message you'll need to look at the way events and characters are come together in a big picture sense. Because of this, Beck sports a nice layering effect- if you're looking for entertainment -humor, inspiration, or just a good story- the manga reads great for you, and you don't feel like you're missing out because you don't care about some extreme moral dillemma, or challenging philosophical question. However, if you need something like that to sink your teeth into it's not difficult to find, it's just not going to be handed to you on a silver platter.

I personally have less exposure to rock, and the culture around it than probably anyone reading this, so take my word for it when I say familiarity with rock or rock bands is in no way essential to enjoying Beck.

The atmosphere that Beck projects so successfully is that of total realistic normalcy- at the beginning of the manga Koyuki, our protagonist, mentions a couple times that he feels so completely normal that he feels invisible, and that drives him to search something that help him stand out, to create an existence with some sort of meaning (not in the sense of changing the world, but rather having something to take pride in personally). As he develops, this background keeps him grounded, and he feels more like someone you would know in real life than an over-the-top, overpowered shonen protagonist. He's a little wimpy, but not obnoxiously so, except when it's dramatic and interesting for that wimpiness to be obnoxious. More than just his personality, the experiences and the personalities & experiences of his crew feel normal & relatable too. For example, the financial difficulties that come with being in a band, and dealing with the physical exhaustion of working blue collar jobs full time in order to make ends meet, and then needing to show up to practice full of energy, then having the motivation to practice on your own at home.

There's good luck and bad luck that play on them, but it feels natural, in the sense of "yeah stupid/great stuff happens that way in the real world too." The stakes feel dramatic, but appropriately so, and carry that much more OOMF because of how real the setting feels. The pace changes enough that you can binge (I read the 34 volumes of this in 4 days, and would have been faster if I'd been able) and not get tired of it.

Unfortunately, only about 1/3 of this manga is available in print (in English) and the publisher went bankrupt. From what (little) I know of rights ownership, that does not bode well for it ever being completed. What makes that particularly unfortunate is that several groups translated portions of this, and some did worse than others. Deeper in, there are more than a few parts where to convey any feeling you need to use your imagination to re-write the words in front of you.

The art, while aesthetically pleasing, lacked a sense of motion, a life of it's own, to me, but that might be because I have a tendency (which I have to correct) to read manga too fast. If you take your time to digest each panel, then you should enjoy the style. The main complaint I had was that at a lot of the climactic moments there was very little text, and you were supposed to "feel the magic" through the art, but (perhaps because I read it so quickly) those scenes felt repetitious and lost a lot of impact.

Bringing it all together, I want to remind you of the initial score- 9. With a better, more consistent translation job throughout, this could very easily be a 10, but as is it's still well worth your time. If you like Bakuman, you'll probably like this- there are more than a few parallels. Although this is technically shonen, it carried a very seinnen-like feel to me.

As I mentioned earlier, this is my first time doing a review like this, and for better or worse I didn't bother reading others to get an idea of what should be done, so I'd appreciate any feedback you have, the more specific the better. Thanks!

Beck by Harold Sakuishi is a really surprising manga. It is about a band with a rags-to-riches story, a comedic theme and a splash of love. The band's name is Beck, derived from their guitarist's Frankenstein-ly dog's name. Later on, they also got known as Mongolian Chop Squad.

The first thing I noticed about this manga is the art. It is actually not very good. The gag faces are fine, but there are times when the mangaka fits a character's full body in a small panel, resulting in bad body proportions. Well at least the character designs are realistic, the eyes are not very big and their poverty was shown perfectly :)

Next is the plot. I SO LOVE IT. It's very real and full of unexpected happenings. Unlike the usual stories where in the series of darkness comes in light in every conflict, here in Beck, the flow of unfortunate events is very long and the people barely get lucky, which adds to the comedy. There are even times when I predict that their luckiness would come in at the last minute and then I end up being wrong. There was even a scene when Ryuusuke is missing and the band needs to perform, and there was a fan looking forward to seeing Ryuusuke because people says he is handsome (and she is the first person to send a letter to the band too). At the last minute before the performance, a man from the guitar shop where Koyuki buys volunteered to be Ryuusuke's substitute. He is VERY ugly, so the fan ended up being disappointed.

Anyways, for the plot, the only problem I saw is Sakuishi-sensei didn't illustrated the story's progress finely sometimes.

This series is not popular yet unexpectedly magnificent. I recommend this one especially to the people who are tired of the mainstream manga and want something different. Yes it is about music and being no expert in that field may make this manga corny, but then, I really like it and it's cool the way it is. Yes it is about music and that may make you say "It is better in anime" since manga is only drawing and text, but then, the mangaka successfully illustrates the feeling he wants the readers to feel while the characters perform. This is an awesome manga and I rate it 4 out of 5 so you guys - BETTER ADD THIS TO YOUR MUST-READ MANGA LIST. No, BETTER READ THIS NOW.

Credits: mangatraders.com, stoptazmo.com, mangareader.net and my classmate codenamed JF for recommending this to me.



NOTE: If you are planning in watching the anime instead of reading the manga, BETTER dispose of that plan. The anime can be boring for first-timers of the series. It is better to read the manga first and then watch the anime second. Well, that's just my opinion. Go on and watch the anime if that's what you really want. And there's also a live action movie of the series, though the plot was really messed up there.

''If you have never been at the bottom, you can't get to the top. If you've never lost hope, you can't understand what's truly important.''

Ahh, BECK. After rewatching anime two times, i finally gave BECK manga a shot. I don't regret one bit. The story in manga goes 70 chapters onward. Everyone who has watched anime and wants to know what happens with our loved characters afterwards should give this manga a try, too.

And if you don't know anything about this story - think about this: Have you ever wondered what would it feel like to be in a band? If you ever wish to find out, BECK would be your choice. I've seen quite many anime and manga already and this is one of the best among, really.

~The story starts with a boy who doesn't have a goal in his life. One day he meets a very strange stitched up dog and its mysterious owner. That meeting has an important meaning to his days onward. Our main character Koyuki and the readers of the manga get introduced to the music world.~

The thing you learn most of it is that going through a hard path is something that gives you the best results. Don't give up and just go forward! Be true to yourself! That kind of stories are one of the best ones because they can leave an impact in your life as well.

Something i also noticed was that when you are nice to your enemies it can even be more effective than just having a fight with them.
For example, when someone says something insulting to you and you reply like Koyuki: '' Still, you are one of the best i know because ..'' or
''But, you are excellent at what you are doing..'' etc it can actually make the other person think of what he/she said wrong to you. It's weird but it works!

So overall 10/10,
STORY was truly a masterpiece, nicely wrapped into 103 chapters, which 33 first chapters you can see in anime.

A hard path where something good can't always be on top. Something that is always on top is not always the best. Good things, bad things happen but in the end you need to believe in yourself and give it your best to make something amazing happen. It really makes you interested in music. Not to mention, this manga is the perfect example of showing why anything that is ''popular'' isn't always the best. Usually the real gems are hidden somewhere below the surface.

''Sometimes the greatest trial can lead to the greatest success.''



ART what i truly liked is how you can see characters grow, change as they mature. There are so many manga and anime where characters look the same for years, I'm happy BECK isn't one of them. This just shows how close to real life can sometimes story be.

CHARACTERS are one of the best parts of this. You will start to like every character in their own way. Its how different people make up a great group.

''I'll follow my own inspiration. It's okay for a person to have a different way of living.'' - Koyuki

Koyuki was just too good for the world he lived in ; Ryusuke was so called the ''bad boy'' who got all the girls and got into deep ****; Taira was a collected person and the most mature one. He had really nice skills. He followed by his own instincts not how others told him to (i think i want try out bass guitar one day because of him hehe); Chiba was that mambo-jambo drunken kung-fu panda - anyways, very charismatic and funny character; Yuji - always smiling, growing talent, close relative to Takeshi from Pokemon - never opened his eyes, except one chapter but I was not sure if it was him. Maho was interesting female lead, really excentric, something that you don't see in every story.

ENJOYMENT I'm not sure if I'll enjoy any other manga or anime like I enjoyed this one. Those face-drawings they made were just hilarious. And those city ''parkours'' when Koyuki was in hurry to somewhere and a cop was chasing him. Also that great sensation which not many stories give -
I think that is what makes this manga great - that unexplainable feeling of reading something nice that you won't regret. I think it's the power of band. Of a group. You feel like you are there, with them and never wishing to leave! This was just so great!


I think the questions that anime left unanswered were:

Why did that dog look so weird? Because hey, that dog looked really weird..

What was it about the dream they all saw?

.. Beck was a silly name but if you decide to read this manga you will find out why it was perfect for them.

This Review contains Spoilers !!

Read only if you are in doubt.

A simply amazing manga! Beck is certainly one of the few manga that I felt watery when I had to sleep in the wee hours of the night. That feeling of cold in the belly that I felt every moment in the manga, several moments and memorable arcs. Despite the few problems that bothered me ... Let's go to the explanation of the notes.

1 - Story [8/10] - When I started reading Beck I didn't know exactly why, but I would say that my feeling was that I would feel complete with his story. The first 40 chapters are spectacular, I just couldn't sleep at night after reading them. I don't know how to explain the intense emotions transmitted throughout the work, but as I said, the story has points that I couldn't like. To a certain extent, the author developed the story a lot, and I realized that he wanted to give an air of breaking of expectation in the whole work, after the Greatfull Sound arc (which even had been the protagonists' best moment), after that the author was very attached to simply dragging the work in a way that everything gets worse and worse over time. The author managed to drag all the problems to almost the end of the manga in order to draw a tear of happiness from the reader. That would have been a good idea if he hadn't dragged on too much, I feel he exaggerated a lot in the slow development of the band. Anyway, the story was perfect, but the middle of the work really left a huge hole in relation to the beginning and end of the manga.

2 - Art [9/10] - If you are directly excited to read Beck, he will certainly come back thinking "Why the hell did he give such a high score in the drawings?", In fact the beginning of the work does not have a very pleasant quality in the drawings , certainly the author sinned at the beginning ... But when the work passes the art is very beautiful and very detailed, which is really impressive considering the number of pages that each chapter has, if the lines had been beautiful since the beginning, the score would certainly be higher.

3 - Characters [10/10] - It is amazing how diverse Beck's characters are, in terms of their appearance, and even their personalities. I feel that it is the most perfect work in terms of characters, I have nothing to complain about all are exemplarily developed.

4 - Enjoyment [10/10] - The feeling when I finished Beck's first arc was: "Wow". If I said I expected such an engaging and thought-provoking story, I would be lying. It certainly impressed me beyond expectations, sleeping with a cold in the belly after reading Beck is completely normal ... A work worthy of passion!

Overall - Honestly Beck's only problems are completely ignored. Believe! Beck is certainly a fish out of water. In the end I was still able to shed a few tears, I don't regret this magnificent reading at all!

A simple set up: Boy meets girl, boy likes girl. Girl likes boy in a band. Two boys meet, and then the world slowly but surely gets turned on its head. A mix of comedy, action, drama, romance, and music that can only be called a masterpeice. A must read for anyone just starting out in the Manga world, or a long time vet.

Like most people I'm sure I first saw the anime before I ever picked up the books. After finishing the anime I obsessively starting reading the manga. I've been reading manga and watching anime for over 10 years now and never before has a story, group of characters, and an artist ever hit me in a way that this series has. The way the characters develop (through gradual growth as they age all the way to baptisms by fire) and interact with each other despite their varied backgrounds and personalities will keep this as one of the all time best for me. After finishing this I'm not sure another manga can ever replace it.

What a ride it has been.This story has so many ups and downs(mostly downs) that I totally lost count of it.Finishing the story with Greatful Sound the place where they first made it big was a great choice by the mangaka imo.Koyuki reminiscing about his whole journey and talking abot his views about the bandmantes was great too.I dont think I would ever find a better manga related to music(including bands)....This definetly gets a 10/10 by me.the way it ended feels perfect and I have no regrets whatsoever!
Might Re-read it someday.Man I'm really craving some music manga/anime.Unfortunately I have watched most of them.Anyways I had a blast reading it annd thats all thats matters to me.Definetly gonna miss these guys

I began reading this manga after marathoning the anime adaptation over two days and finding myself left wanting more, as the anime ended all too quickly for my liking.

Story:
Beck follows the life of 14 year old Tanaka Yukio (Koyuki to his friends) as he grows from a shy, directionless teenager (with terrible taste in music) into an ambitious young musician. After a chance meeting with talented guitarist Minami Ryusuke, his life starts to change and gather momentum as he discovers music's ability to affect people. He begins to learn the guitar, and there is the budding romance with Ryusuke's sister, Maho. He joins Ryusuke's band, Beck, and the series follows the band's struggle to achieve success, both in Japan and the rest of the world. Because this is predominantly a slice of life style manga, many of the minutiae of Koyuki's and Beck's day to day life are covered, but the manga spans 5-6 years, which allows the various characters and their relationships to properly develop. The one aspect of the story I felt should have been developed a bit more was Maho and Yukio's relationship, it was very well done when it came up, but I think it should have been given a bit more development over the course of the manga.

Art:
Sakuishi Harold has a fairly distinctive art style in Beck, which I found a refreshing change from much of the overly disproportioned characters found in many manga and anime. I thought his more realistic style perfectly suited the realistic tone of the manga. His full page frames of the band's performances perfectly captured the spirit of a 'live', and were a personal highlight in the artwork of this manga.

Character:
In a manga of this length (both in chapters and period of time covered) there is real space to develop and flesh out both the main and some of the supporting characters. Koyuki's character develops beautifully over the course of the series, from an apathetic teenager into a determined young man. The other characters don't develop in the same fashion, Ryusuke's background is fleshed out and provides much of the conflict in the series, and while more time could have been spent developing the rest of the band members, especially Saku and Taira, they all have their moments during the series which give them real depth.

Enjoyment:
As I said at the start, I read this manga after finishing the anime adaptation and found myself wanting more. This was the first time I have watched an anime and then gone on to read the manga, as well as one of the first manga I have read, and I was unsure if I would be able to enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed watching it. Turns out there was nothing to worry about, and I even rate the manga higher than the anime, predominantly because I feel the story reaches a much more satisfying conclusion.

Overall:
To anyone who loved the anime, I thouroughly recommend reading the manga, as it has everything the anime had, as well as a complete storyline. I would also recommend this to anyone who is a fan of rock, or music in general, as it is the only series I have come across that deals with music in such an in depth and genuine way.

Best read with the OST playing in the background, just like this review.

Beck was one of the first animes I watched. I was about eleven years old and was playing this Guitar Hero 2 mod with anime songs. The creators were huge fans of Beck. The game started with Hit In The U.S.A and one of the first playable songs was Moon On The Water. I was hooked.

To be honest, I was a kid. I barely remember the anime. I know I liked it, but I don’t think I absorbed much. But the songs stuck with me. So now, more than 10 years after, I stumbled upon the manga and thought I should give it a try. It would be nice to remember what the story was like. Was it even that good?

Oh, boy it was.

I read band mangas before. Nana is great, but the music feels more like a background to the characters development. I also read Fuuka, whatever that trainwreck was all about.

Beck struck me differently. It is in fact a manga about music. About its power, its grip. Made by someone who clearly loves it, dropping references all over. Band t-shirts and manga chapters reenacting famous album covers to please any music geek. Going from rock legends like Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix to hip hop classics like Wu Tang Clan, the alternative rock of Radiohead and Sigur Rós to the hardcore of Black Flag and Converge.

The art at the beginning was a big let down, especially the character designs, but it improves greatly towards the middle. The live shows are downright stunning. They’ve got this serious concert photography feel, capturing the energy of these moments. There are some weak plot conflicts, especially Ryusuke’s background being too absurd to take seriously, but they don’t ruin the the build up of the band’s career.

Beck’s real magic is its ability to convey passion. We feel everything as the band goes through it’s ups and downs, excited as they write great songs and frustrated when they have a bad performance.

It also captures incredibly well these striking little moments for any music fan. The thrill of discovering your new favorite band. Buying your first guitar. Being blow away by seeing a band you love live. The enchantment of being in a music festival, surrounded by amazing artists. A memorable concert that only those who were there can understand how amazing it was. Never other media translated these feelings so well.

This review is spoiler free.

First of all, since I joined MAL I never thought about doing a review, but for BECK it was another story. This manga was just mind-blowing on all aspect, it even made me change the kind of music that I listened before.

Ps: Sorry if there are error, English isn't my primary language.



-STORY

How can I describe the story in one word...? REALISTIC (some moment are not). When I started reading it, I thought “How can a 103 chapters with 65 pages each, about a band be really that good?” And I'll tell you how, after each chapter you have goosebumps and you want to continue reading cause you want to have more of this feeling that make you feel alive. And the other thing that make the story so good is the fact that its really realistic. All that happen to them, are thing that could really happen in real life.



-ART

The art style of Harold Sakuishi is really unique and he is known for that. The art has a bit of comedy and realist, and this art style is perfectly fit for BECK.



-CHARCTERS

The characters, are what make this story so good, they are perfect for this kind of manga. The character development is amazing, all of them are like reals persons with real society problems. These characters are the most realistic ones I have ever seen in a manga.



-ENJOYMENT

I enjoyed this manga to the point that I didn't wanted it to end. The first two third of the chapters have a good touch of comedy, yet the comedy is rarely in the dialogue, its the art that make the comedy in this manga so goood.



-OVERALL

This manga is worth more than a 10, I literally cried at the end of the manga(not because it was sad but because it was finished).

If you are looking for a beautiful and realistic music manga with a little bit of comedy, BECK is for you.

Based on a manga of the same this anime is all about Tanaka Yukio, better known by his nickname Koyuki is a 14 year old who feels disconnected from life in general. Through the act of saving a mismatched dog BECK (the somewhat frankenstein looking dog or whatever you call it), he meets guitarist Minami Ryuusuke, and becomes involved in Ryuusuke's new band BECK. Koyuki's life starts to change as the band struggles towards fame.

Along the way he encounters many awkward and new situations, things he has never had to deal with before. If you've ever gone through things similar to what he's gone through, you'll immediately connect with this anime.(Actually I somehow dun like how the anime ends xp)
Beck relies heavily on this connection with it's viewers, so if you do not make the connection, you will probably not like the anime. It's not the standard slasher series, and focuses much on the viewers emotion.

So if you like music (Has an awesome rock soundtrack so good I even imported it) and storyline and want a break from the overplayed bloodshed scenario, this anime is for you. ^^

Yet again before i get started Beck was written and drawn by Harold Sakuishi and was published in english by tokypop around 2000.

First off i'd like to point out that i've never read nor watched a music anime/manga so i really had nothing to compare it to, with that in mind i'll get started

-STORY-
To be honest the story was one of it's own being good nor bad; based around real life and real people. sometimes it drags a bit and you feel like your going know where but despite that i really enjoyed the struggle, pain, loss and joy beck go through as they learn more about themselves and each other (being music or otherwise). if your under 13 maybe you shouldn't watch it (depending on how mature) it has a lot of blood, weapons and sex references; sometimes it isn't always needed but i think it was just part of the humour the artist was going for so i let it go through saying that i did enjoy the drama.

-ART-
At the beginning i have to say i really didn't like it all to well; it had a stiffness about it which i have to say improved without even realising. it reminds a little bit or hajime no ippo (fighting spirit) which also got a lot better.

-CHARACTERS-
I know i scored this setection low but i can't say i have a reason; all members of beck have there known hardships they have to over come rather being school, themselves, music or each other- they do however break down every wall and end up trusting each other and realise that with even one missing nothing would have happened or could ever happen- but this took all 34 volumes to do and even though for the style he was using it was right; i wanted results quicker.

-ENJOYMENT-
What can i say? beck (even though as i said before brags on) is a great manga and i can see why it was made in to a anime, it's funny and filled with drama it kept me hooked for hours; heck i even reread the four last chapters, once the art style became more nature and easier on the eye was very likeable and one of my personal favourites; though sometimes it can feel repetitive and boring, i continued to the last volume and was very happy with it; also if watching because you've watched the anime; the manga has more back story(even though thats usually the case) and goes way past the bands reunion:).
I hope you read and enjoy it
P.S. i did this a bit impulsive and wrote this close to 1am so am sure there are a lot of mistakes that i will take care of once i've hap at least 7hours sleep. night night