Beck (BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad) | Manga

Yukio "Koyuki" Tanaka wasted away his middle school days listening to Japanese pop music and apathetically trudging through life—until a casual run-in with the enigmatic guitarist Ryuusuke "Ray" Minami. Through this encounter, Koyuki realizes what he has been missing all this time as Ray introduces him to western rock music and jumpstarts his desire to play guitar.

Although various struggles plague his path to rock fame, Koyuki refuses to abandon the passion that gave his life purpose, balancing it together with school, work, and friends. Beck tells the story of the love and trial that accompanies pursuing a professional career in music as Koyuki and Ray work toward realizing the guitarist's dream of the ultimate band.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Beck won the 26th Kodansha Manga Award in a tie alongside Sakigake!! Cromartie Koukou in the Shounen category in 2002.

The first 12 volumes were published in English as BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad by Tokyopop from July 12, 2005, to June 10, 2008, before the publisher's license expired. Kodansha USA and ComiXology later released the full series digitally in sets: volumes 1 through 14 on July 5, 2018; volumes 15 through 22 on October 2, 2018; and volumes 23 through 34 on February 27, 2019.

A promotional soundtrack titled Greatful Sound: Tribute to Beck featuring several different artists performing songs from the manga was released on November 15, 2002. A live-action film adaptation directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi was released nationwide in theaters on September 10, 2010, and it received the Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Music.

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Tanaka, Yukio

Main

Minami, Maho

Main

Minami, Ryuusuke

Main

Chiba, Tsunemi

Main

Taira, Yoshiyuki

Main

Sakurai, Yuuji

Main

Lee, Eddie

Supporting

Saitou, Kenichi

Supporting

Reed, Matt

Supporting

Masuoka, Hiromi

Supporting

Reviews

Jan 6, 2025

roaringblood

Recommended

Fun and distinct plot, the art gets much better as the series progresses. Like a Mitsuru Adachi manga about playing rap rock in the early 2000s. There is probably no better manga treatment of rock music than this, but as much as Sakuishi wants you to think BECK sounds awesome, there is no way they sound good at all.

After reading the comic I felt like I wanted more development in all of the characters. Characters do not see major growth in the series even though it spans about 6 years, and major conflicts are kind of waved away or handled through deus ex machina stuff. ...

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Mar 5, 2024

daddypooh

Recommended

Literally the best manga about bands and music you'll ever read, believe it or not, the audio won't even be missed. Harold Sakuishi managed to give me the entire trajectory of a random boy, even quite ordinary, who is Koyuki, getting involved in a plot that starts simple and turns into a drawn symphony, speaking of drawing, the features are very unique, both As for its characters, the romance involving the protagonist, the friendship that takes on colors between ups and downs, encompass a unique narrative that the anime itself was unable to convey, the shared dream scene did not have the same impact on ...

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Mar 16, 2021

Silentfan6

Mixed Feelings

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.

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Poll: Beck Chapter 102 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Ishmael - Apr 28, 2009	51 replies	by DarkVoyagerx »» Sep 28, 2024 4:44 PM
Poll: Beck Chapter 103 Discussion TheGenkiGuy - Nov 8, 2020	2 replies	by Goatedasjay »» Aug 15, 2024 11:42 PM
What are your opinions about Koyuki x Maho at the end of the manga? removed-user - Apr 17, 2021	9 replies	by Euroqean »» Jan 13, 2023 3:12 PM
Poll: Beck Chapter 80 Discussion removed-user - Feb 1, 2009	2 replies	by ugo333 »» Dec 8, 2022 4:35 AM
Poll: Beck Chapter 87 Discussion removed-user - Feb 1, 2009	5 replies	by Yadava98 »» Dec 1, 2022 9:23 AM

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