When fourteen-year-old Yukio Tanaka meets Ryusuke, a sixteen-year-old rocker from the United States, Yukio is introduced to rock and roll music and begins a journey that takes him from being a nobody to becoming a musician.
Sakuishi has a wide variety of interests which include baseball (he is a huge Chunichi Dragons fan), martial arts, MMA, and music (he is a huge Red Hot Chili Peppers fan). Each of these has become the basis for his most popular series (baseball in Stopper Busujima, fighting in Bakaichi, and music in Beck). His series also often include character cameos from his past works; one of the newspaper reporters in Beck is actually from Stopper Busujima and so on. Additionally, he's a big fan of Sangokushi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) with an altered version of that story appearing in Beck written by "Christy Sakuishi". In Beck he included many famous people in background crowds. These included many popular musicians, characters from Happy Sangokushi and MMA legends Royce Gracie and Kazushi Sakuraba.
Siempre puedes confiar en un tomo de Beck para aligerar un poco el tono entre lecturas más exigentes. Por mucho que te esté gustando esa novela de 1200 páginas, el caso es que sigue teniendo 1200 páginas y a veces hay que dejar que repose.
Comienza la gira norteamericana de Mongolian Chop Squad (el nombre de Beck en los EEUU) con mal pie. Aunque hay momentos buenos como visitar seatle, donde pueden ver la estatua de Jimmy Hendrix y la posibilidad de tocar en "the Lizard House", uno de los primeros locales donde tocó Nirvana, los componentes de la banda no se adaptan al estilo de vida en la carretera que conlleva una gira modesta por los estados unidos.
Moteles infectos, comida que les resulta extraña, todo el día en la furgo y cuando salen de ella directos a tocar... todo esto les pasa factura en las actuaciones, pero lo que peor llevan es que con la ausencia de Ryusuke la calidad de la banda ha bajado enteros, en japón aguantaban por el efecto que tuvo su concierto en el festival grateful sound, pero en los EEUU es diferente, el público no perdona y el grupo para el que están haciendo de teloneros empieza a desconfiar tras varios conciertos desastrosos.
Afortunadamente Koyuki se entera de que Ryusuke tocará en un club en Nueva York, así que es previsible que haya reunión de la banda en futuros tomos.
• Achei que esse volume foi um pouco arrastado, ainda que a história tenha avançado um pouco. Sinceramente, não gostei de nada das partes com a Maho e todo o rolê da festa, a fantasia e o chato do Yoshito. Gosto da ideia do relacionamento dela com o Koyuki, mas às vezes me irrito. Sobre as partes com a banda, não tenho do que reclamar, pois achei muito divertida a chegada deles nos EUA, Chiba me fez rir bastante. Adoro o otimismo do Saku, a sinceridade do Taira e a determinação do Koyuki. Amei que o cachorro Beck voltou a aparecer, ainda que brevemente. E, mesmo sumido e misterioso, Ryusuke deu as caras e eu tô realmente preocupada com o que aconteceu com ele depois daquele gancho, tô bem curiosa pelo próximo volume.
Koyuki goes back to acting like an idiot with Maho. He has such a great thing going and he can't see it. Beck is going on tour in America. I am not a big fan of all the murder mystery stuff going on. The series is much better when dealing with the music stuff.
This volume gets the story back on track. Beck begins their American tour, Maho puts on a cheerleader outfit, and the mysterious shared dream takes on a new meaning. Pretty close to perfect.
La reconstruction du groupe est toujours en marche, et même si chacun des quatre garçons donne son maximum, on sent qu'ils ne sont pas au complet, et que Beck est loin d'égaler le niveau de leur concert Greatful Sound. Mais ils ont envie de continuer et de progresser. Je sais que ça ne fait pas toujours tout, mais ici, on sent que nos héros iront jusqu'au bout.
Alors quand une tournée aux Etats-Unis se présente… Les choses se compliquent. J'avoue que j'ai trouvé toute cette partie assez étrange. Déjà, les garçons ne parlent pas anglais, personne n'est là pour faire l'interprète, et le fait que le public américain soit différent de celui du Japon… J'avoue que j'ai du mal. Alors, oui, c'est chouette de les voir avancer malgré les obstacles, mais j'ai comme l'impression d'être dans une autre dimension. On attend le déclic, et il ne vient pas au final. C'est étrange. Nous en sommes au tome douze et je me demande ce que la suite va nous réserver.
Et puis il y a le délire avec Léon. J'avoue que je trouve ça tout much, et cela depuis le début. Je ne suis pas dans le milieu, mais je me doute que certains producteurs ne sont pas forcément très clean, comme partout, mais la manie de Léon de tuer tous ceux qui le gênent… Je sais pas, j'ai du mal à y voir quelque chose de crédible. Alors que depuis le début, le mangaka essaye de nous ancrer d'une certaine façon dans la réalité, avec cet « arc », j'avoue que je trouve cela ridicule. Comme si on avait affaire à une caricature.
Bref, j'ai du mal, surtout que Ryusuke s'entête avec Léon. Mais à côté de cela, et malgré ce que je souligne, j'ai passé un bon moment, car on sent toujours cette passion pour la musique, et Koyuki, Taira, Chiba et Saku sont adorables, et ils font de leur mieux. Alors rien que pour cela, les voir aller au bout de leurs rêves, ça vaut le coup.
Overall Rating: A+ Synopsis: Beck is a manga by Harold Sakuishi that follows Koyuki, a junior high nerd. At the beginning of the series, Koyuki leads a boring life, with a pervert as his only friend. That all changes when he saves a strange looking dog named Beck, and meets the dog's owner, Ryuusuke. The two become friends, and Koyuki starts down the path to being cool.
Beck centers around a band formed by Ryuusuke, and its rise to fame, but that's not what the series is about. The manga primarily follows Koyuki, and focuses on his trouble with girls, trying to learn to play the guitar, getting extorted for money by a bully, and his failing grades. Oh, yeah, and his swimming lessons from Saitou-san. The series touches on Koyuki's struggles in a way that makes the fact that he is becoming famous (at least at his school and in underground clubs) for his singing.
As the story progresses, it focuses more and more on the fledgling band, and its rise in popularity. At the end of volume 7, there is even an interesting subplot based around Ryuusuke's guitar, Lucille. It's these little things, subplots that don't focus on the band itself, but on its members that make Beck one of the better manga out there. It makes the characters intriguing, and I identify with the geek in Koyuki. Maybe one day, I can be in a Japanese punk band...
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The Mongolian Chop Squad is on the tour in the U.S., and by the end of this issue they arrive in Seattle. They're stoked to see the Hendrix statue on Broadway, and totally excited to be playing at "The Lizard House," a club that Nirvana played when it was first starting out. I wonder what that's supposed to be...
I'm still slightly confused about the dynamics of Koyuki's romantic entanglements, but this has otherwise been a fun series to read. I should check out the anime.