BECK, Vol. 2

BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad #2

by Harold Sakuishi

Volume 2 of Harold Sakuishi's wildly addictive 34-volume rock 'n' roll epic that redefined for a generation what manga could be. As Koyuki strums and picks the guitar that Ryusuke has given him, Maho suggests that Koyuki step into the spotlight and become a singer in Ryusuke's band. And with a Battle of the Bands festival on the horizon, he finds the perfect venue in which to perform—he ends up joining a Beatles cover band that is playing in the competition. But Koyuki's nerves suddenly jump up an octave when he discovers what is really at stake in the contest. But it's probably nothing that a steamy skinny-dipping session won't cure—Maho tags along for the festival, and you can be sure that girls just want to have fun!

Part of the comiXology Originals line of exclusive digital content only available on comiXology and Kindle. This title is available as part of comiXology Unlimited, Kindle Unlimited and Prime Reading.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Music, Fiction, Japanese Literature, Graphic Novels, Young Adult

195 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 14, 2000

About the author

Associated names :
哈罗德作石
HAROLD作石

Name (in native language) : ハロルド 作石

Birth Name : Sakuishi (作石) Takahiro (貴浩)

Blood type : AB

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.

Reviews

[Chad Jordahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series ... I only "3-star" like them and yet I feel almost compelled to read the next volume. The characters and situations are interesting enough. The books read fast. The art is good and silly and engaging like a lot of manga.

[Silvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

En esta segunda parte el manga ahonda más en la parte del instituto y denuncia un tema que por desgracia está a la orden del día: el bullying. Por otro lado, la evolución de los personajes es notable. Koyuki es un poco más maduro, se le ve mucho más centrado y la confianza en sí mismo ha aumentado. Lo que lo hace más atrayente a ojos de Maho. Una chica con una personalidad arrolladora a la que conocemos mejor en esta entrega y que es un personaje cautivador.
Salseo aparte, la música sigue llevando todo el protagonismo de la trama. Sigo asombrándome con la capacidad del autor para representar la fuerza del sonido a través de la imagen. Tarea ardua que el autor supera con nota.

[Lepicentrecult · Rating 3 out of 5]

ça allait, je vais lire la suite car l'histoire se met en place petit à petit

[san · Rating 2 out of 5]

always seeing rlly good reviews abt this but it sucks.. even the art is poop i heard it gets better but i do not think i wanna waste more time than i alr have

[Toni · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 I guess. This is not good.

[vera · Rating 4 out of 5]

m encanta el hecho de que sean instrumentos reales y que haya tantas menciones de artistas también reales
me está gustando cada vez más muajjaja
shutout to xiana again x prestármelo 👏🏻👏🏻

[C.S. Flores · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una historia muy interesante. Que lástima que se arruine por la cantidad de sexualización a la mujer que hay en las ilustraciones y los diálogos. Cabe mencionar que son personajes de 14-16 años…

2 estrellas porque la historia es buena, pero no puedo ignorar todo lo demás.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

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...

For more manga and anime reviews, please check out Hobotaku.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

 First off this series is not for children middle grade or high school up to 17-18 years old. Too many reasons why but it's not appropriate at all. This particular volume continues where the first one left off with learning about music and life etc. This volume I would have to give a 3.5-4 out of 5 stars In this particular volume the artstyle was hard to distinguish between characters at times and it would be difficult for a new manga reader to pick this up without the context of the anime because of this artstyle. In addition I wanted more than what I got. More music more conversation etc. Totally recommend this if you like to see how rock and roll bands start out and want to see someone learn how to play an instrument that has more male characters.

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still not completely smitten by any means, but I'm enjoying this enough to continue on, especially as an awake-in-the-middle-of-the-night read. I liked the weird addition of Saito-san, part swim coach, part guitar coach, and am looking forward to seeing how Koyuki does with both of those things.

[Kurtis Burkhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for any music lover🎧🥁🎸 Pretty great rock and roll manga, good art and pretty good story!😁🤟💕

[Paul Spence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beck-MCS is about a young man's coming of age and a band in its birthing stages. Although the backdrop is Japan, the setting could be Manchester or Cleveland or any other city or town where there are young men (or women) who love music enough to want to make it their dream.

But what sets Beck-MCS apart is that it is set in Japan, but not the Japan that we've seen through most typical manga or anime. In many manga/anime, intermediate and high school is a time of fun and exams but one can still find time to jump through a well to another era and fight demons and whatnot. In Beck, school is a place of boredom and bullies for the lead character, Koyuki. It isn't until he meets up with a strange dog and its owner, Ryuusuke, that life for Koyuki, as bland a boy as you can find, starts to get interesting.

While some characters are a bit stereotypical, they don't come off as cookie cutter either. Ryuusuke, for example, is a guitarist who is mature for his age, breaks up with girls because his mind is on other stuff, and sort of seems to be the brooding type. Except he's not brooding at all. He loves music and he has his ambitions, but he is mostly laidback except when his temper gets to him. Saito, the former Olympic level swimmer and part-time guitarist, is the resident pervert but he's got true redeeming qualities, so he isn't there just for laughs. He actually plays a part in the series.

Overall, this series is developing slowly, but well. It is refreshing and welcome change of pace to me with its humor, its awkwardness, its tensions and its grittier look at the life of a teenager in Japan who dreams of making music that is both unique to the setting and universal in its pursuit.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I'm being honest, I just Do Not Get It. I mean, the gist is this kid Yukio is trying to find Meaning in his life, I suppose, and he's doing it by way of getting dragged into the exploits of people around him. Beyond that, I'm having a hard time following it all. I guess he's simultaneously:

- trying to score with Izumi
- getting conned into joining the swim team when he can't swim
- learning guitar from a raging pervert of a former Olympic swimming gold medalist
- joining a band?
- getting dragged into inter-band fights?
- having a dick-measuring contest with Hiro over snail mail
- not even sure what's the deal with him and Ryusuke
- wary of the titular character, the Frankensteined dog Beck

There's just too much going on in this, with no focus to give it a coherent plot to follow. I *almost* want to find the anime to see if the story is any easier to follow, but I already have a long watchlist of terrible shows to get through without adding another that I'm probably not even interested in. I don't know. I'm sure this is interesting to SOMEBODY, based on the 4+-star rating at the moment, but I couldn't tell you who really likes this.

"So why did you keep reading when you didn't like book 1?" Eh, someone left four of the books in a free library, why not.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s absolutely true that this volume doesn’t outright kick ass, bet your paycheck that it’s totally setting the stage. I actually understand a lot of the musical references which is a major plus, NOT ONLY that but we’re jamming to rock n roll baby. The sweetness to my soul!!!

[Nekop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Je n'accroche pas trop dans ce 2 ème tome car je trouve qu'on a pas mal tourner en rond. Même si le côté musical et scolaire est intéressant, l'humour date pas mal et quelques codes anciens me gêne comme le traitement du "professeur de natation".

[scarlettraces · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just okay. I didn’t like it but I didn’t dislike it either. Contemporary is not usually a genre that I like reading but wanted to take a chance on this. Not sure if I will continue or not.

[Ben Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still enjoying this. I'm liking the guitar teacher more than I expected. I think they're trying to add depth to the pervy mentor trope that you see in manga.

[wormsoup · Rating 4 out of 5]

These 14 year olds are something else

[Craig Schorling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Koyuki and Maho are a lot of fun when on the page together. I really am invested in this story and characters already. Koyuki's early struggles with learning the guitar is relatable.

[Pierre Rouault · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ça se lit assez vite et le côté fan service musical est cool mais les personnages sont ennuyeux et gamin... J'ai le tome 3 espérons que ça s'améliore !

[Bek Gv · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I’m mortified by the fact they put two literal CHILDS naked and swimming.

[Steinhecr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un crío no se puede ir de putas😞

[fahlun · Rating 5 out of 5]

ริว...แม่ฝากเลี้ยงน้องหน่อยนะลูก....

[jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

un manga nunca me había hecho reír tanto

[clo · Rating 3 out of 5]

they’re all kinda obnoxious for now ngl

[notjoshy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've heard the manga is better than the anime, but I could imagine the anime being just as good as the manga.

[Jeronim Sellés · Rating 3 out of 5]

3'5 Nice, se nota que estan allanando el terreno

[Stephen Theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needing to fake it on the swim team after covering up for his creepy best friend stealing a girl's swimsuit, Koyuki now connects with Saito-San, an angry, sleazy porn addict who teaches him to swim and play guitar. I liked the stuff about the rival bands being formed, and what it's like for Japanese-American teenagers to move to Japan, but much of the rest is very off-putting.

[Leandro Dutra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Groß.