Review Statistics

Times Read

842

Comments

11

Reviews

Manga

Plot Synopsis

No plot synopsis or other information available for BECK

Story & Characters

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 (good)

Art

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 (very good)

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 (average)

Presentation

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 (above average)

Final Verdict

7.50 (good)

Reviewed by TimCHell, 2y 38wk ago