Being a fan of rock music I wanted to find a good musical anime that exemplifies my love for the genre. Unfortunately watching a show called K-ON derailed me for a year on trying some other musical based anime. However I came across a great rock anime called Beck.
Story:
Yukio Tanaka A.K.A Koyuki is our 14 year old main protagonist. After helping out a strange looking dog (Beck) he meets 16 year old Ryusuke Minami who is making a name for himself in the music business. After witnessing Ryusuke play guitar Koyuki is encouraged to take up playing guitar.
The story is mainly focussing on the band Beck and the relationships that Koyuki has with each member in particular Ryusuke and his sister Mao.
Beck is a journey of a band trying to make it big. Being a fan of rock music there is nothing thrilling than the thought of being up on stage with your friends playing with all your heart. The bands journey starts off with regular rehearsals and writing up original material in a studio. The band has a few line-up changes before settling on its final five members. Yukio Tanaka plays rhythm guitar and vocals on the slower songs. Ryusuke Minami plays lead guitar and is the lyricist. Tsunemi Chiba is the lead singer/rapper. Yoshiyuki Taira is the bassist. Yuji "Saku" Sakurai is the drummer.
We witness the start of the band as they go from playing in small bars to eventually headlining at a festival. Each member of the band collectively runs into a character which will make their life more difficult which varies from school bullies to cooperate businessmen.
The other focus of the show is the romance between Maho and Koyuki. I'd have to be honest I didn't expect anything from the two at first as they got off on bad terms, but the two eventually become friends and love blossoms... maybe.
Characters:
Koyuki is our main protagonist. He starts off as being a relatively quiet guy who has above average grades and has a taste for J-Pop music. After meeting Ryusuke he listens to an American band called dying breed and then his life into the rock and roll world begins. Koyuki feels like a relatable character as at one point I was also listening to shitty pop music that had little to no meaning. He also had determination to learn to play guitar something which I also had experience with.
Ryusuke is a perfectionist guy who is also a bit of a slacker. He strives to make Beck the greatest band in the world and will disregard others feelings to do so as we see with Chiba. Ryusuke is not the type of guy that I like, but I will agree he is talented musically.
Chiba is a loudmouth guy who is very energetic. He gets the crowds going with his enthusiasm and his great vocal techniques. He is quick to help those being bullied and is not one to back away from fights. Chiba is by far one of my favourite characters in the show.
Taira is a much grounded guy he is aware of Ryusuke’s talents as well as the other band members. He is aware of his own skills as a bassist and believes the band can achieve something together.
Saku is the drummer of the group (A.K.A Squinty) He transfers into Koyuki’s middle school and the two forms a friendship over their love of music by dying breed. They have the closest relationship out of all the other band moments which is very sweet.
Mr.Saitou is an honourable mention to this list. He is a middle aged pervert with a big heart. He teaches Koyuki how to play guitar and teaches him how to swim better which in turn helps him with his vocals. Saitou is a mentor to Koyuki and the two form a strong friendship.
The characters in the show get a great deal of development, hell even Mr. Saitou changes to a one man woman by the series end. The characters show a strong bond that can pull through even in the hardest of situations.
Art:
I wasn’t a fan of the art for the most part as it looked very under budget maybe it was to make up for the money put into the music. However I will give props to the up close guitar playing which looked good, also the character designs which did have distinctive features. However its falls flat for background and movements are often restricted in scenes.
Sound:
The sound gets major props in this anime with the soundtrack consisting of written songs which are very rock oriented. Tracks like ‘Moon on the water’ by dying breed and ‘Brainstorm’ by Beck our stand out tracks. As for the opening and closing songs they are also pretty enjoyable, the opening being ‘Hit in the USA’ by Beat Crusaders and the ending ‘My world down’ by Dying Breed although I may be wrong on the ending song.
Enjoyment:
I enjoyed this series a lot. It portrays my wish of hoping to be a rock star and that with hard work and effort you can make it a reality. There was a good mix of music, comedy and drama all of which suits the tone of this series.
However… this series does have its flaws. I fail to believe that a band like Beck can emerge so quickly when it took even the greatest of bands to do the same. Nirvana took five years to make it big. This series also has a slow start to it which can put you off investing your time into it. Other than that effort put into the artwork could have been better.
Final Verdict:
Although Beck has minor flaws its major points strung a chord with me… (Sorry for the bad joke.)
I would only recommend this to fans of rock and roll music as it has references to a lot of well-known bands. Any fans of romance, drama and comedy may find something in the show so give it try I’d say.
I give Beck a well-deserved 8 out of 10
Thanks for reading guys, have a nice day!
