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TimCHell's BECK Manga Review

BECK

BECK manga Review

Story & Playability

The storyline is solid:

At times you may feel bogged down by the slow pace (compared to more action-based manga), but the manga generally overcomes this flaw and transforms it into a boon. The gradual character development and the struggles of Koyuki and his bandmates are what make the story so compelling. The basic principle taught here is that time and hard work will allow you to accomplish your goals and eventually achieve a potential you never even dreamed possible.

The characters are real and flawed:

Yukio ("Koyuki") Tanaka is a 14 year old who feels disconnected from life in general. In the beginning he's hopelessly bland and uncertain. He starts in the basic mold of the "nerdish shonen hero", but never sinks anywhere near the depths of spinelessness seen in many other modern shonen manga. Koyuki's personal growth progresses steadily throughout the series as he becomes more skilled in the field of music, and by extension more self-aware of his potential in life.

Ryusuke ("Ray") Minami is one of those charasmatic characters that you love to hate and vice versa. He's rather arrogant and a perfectionist when it comes to the band, but his greatest passion is music and he'll do anything to produce quality over cheap imitation.

Izumi Ishiguro is a generic female presence in Beck. She met Koyuki in an elementary school calligraphy class three years earlier and formed a friendship with the lonely boy. She's no longer a tomboy; however, and she becomes a source of attraction for Koyuki. An elite member of the school's swim team and an American music fanatic she's got enough characterization to save her from being bland, but overall she is as stated before "generic".

There are many other interesting characters throughout the series whom I won't be elaborating on. These three characters are the main focusl for the first three volumes or so, then the plot advances to encompass more characters as the story progresses.


Spoiler warning, you have been advised:

http://www.keithmpire.com/other/beck/ <--Was used as a reference. I highly suggest you read this link.

Rating: 8

Graphics

The art is high quality:

Harold Sakuishi doesn't try to beautify every character. There are overweight people, unattractive people; people with big teeth, noses, and bulging eyes. Now this isn't to say that the whole cast of the series look like horror show rejects, but it does convey of a sense of realism that you'll find in few other manga series.

Most of the cast; however, look average. Each character has his own style. If you shaved their heads, they wouldn't all be indescernable from each other, (as is the case in some manga).

The overall style is very realistic and you'll often get two-page spreads of a beautifully drawn portrait of Koyuki or another band member playing.

The art also progresses along with the timeline and the plot. Koyuki develops visually (and other characters as well) from a shy adolescent into a more confident, but still unsure at times, young man.

Rating: 9

Sound

This is a manga review, (I hope), but since the score will severely effect the outcome of the review overall I'll give my sound review anyway.

I have the soundtrack of the anime and I LOVE it. It's got all the elements of a good band, which is the goal of the characters in the story.

I haven't seen the anime though, so I can't say how well voices and music mesh. So I'll just go with a happy medium on this one because the style of the soundtrack fits so well with the purpose of the story.

Rating: 6

Fun

A highly enjoyable series as far as plot, humor, and concept are concerned.

My ONLY peeve is that there are several pages, one right after the other, every chapter or so that are just images of the band playing. This is all very nice artistically of course, but after a while you may feel as though too much time is being spent on seeing the band play for the twentieth time and that this time could be spent advancing the story along.

Patience is sometimes required when reading this manga, simply because the pacing flips between slowly progressive to fast-paced story. The lapses of "band art" in between are for effect, but sometimes they may seem too pedantic.

Rating: 7

Final Verdict

7.5000 (good)

Reviewed by TimCHell, Nov 02, 2005

Comments

  1. akai Nov 02, 2005

    Thanks for the review. I think you wrote it well. :)
    It was the C- grade that caught my attention and which is why I at this page. lol, now I know how that grade came about.
    I enjoyed reading and watching Beck. I guess what I like most about this title is the sense of realism it gives; something really different from what I've read/watched in other manga/anime so far.
    I'd give its sound an 8 though. :) <--- This is a anime review.

  2. TimCHell Nov 02, 2005

    Okay...this was my first Review, so sorry for any quirks. Please point out errors if they are seen.

    Also, the verdict's shifting was due only to my trying to find an average score to place the music category under. It would be misleading to automatically list it as a ten, but misleading as well to leave it as a one or five.

    Sorry for any confusion. Everything is stable now. ^_^

  3. Masaru-San Nov 02, 2005

    lol a d for sound, considering it's about music and such, but w/e. Good job.

  4. tigerwoods Nov 02, 2005

    good!
    i think i'll buy the mangas, thanks for your review

  5. feiness Nov 05, 2005

    good review, i agree the anime is a bit slow at times, but with music and after watching the series, makes reading the manga a more enjoyable experience

  6. tareren Nov 05, 2005

    Hmmm, quite a nice review, but I still think you should put the storyline in the story part :D
    Am not really fond of BECK (manga or anime), cos I think it is kinda ridiculous sometime.. But, I guess after reading a few, they are not that bad XP though slow >_<

  7. sunyano Nov 10, 2005

    Beck appealed to the forgotten dreams I had as a child. But even beyond that, this is a timeless story of a young man who discovers music and experiences the confusion of loving a girl for the first time. Once you get past the sloppy animation style, this is a very enjoyable anime. If it ever gets dubbed into English, this may be a rare anime that actually improves with a new audio track. Because this anime is not available in the west, the only present choice to watch it are via fan-subs. It has become one of my favorite titles of 2004-2005. On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the best possible score, I would give BECK a solid eight.

  8. renki Nov 15, 2005

    I like this animation.

  9. not4abe Nov 25, 2005

    I like the manga, so for my opinion BECK is naturaly and enjoyable to reading.

  10. kingmakoto718 Dec 01, 2005

    beck was funny, i laughed alot when they spoke in english. haha. but besides that, i liked the story too.

  11. Countess-D May 29, 2006

    I keep getting recomendations to watch this. I'm not sure whether I will like it or not but from what all those people huave told me the music is amazing and since music is a major element in the show, well...cool.

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