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Reviewed by Jason Brice Who doesn't want to be a guitar hero? What teenage kid hasn't dreamed of defiantly stroking a six-string into the hearts and minds of his classmates? Forget hip-hop, forget R&B;, forget techno, trance, jungle, and house. Being a teen means rock. Loud, blaring, arrogant, strutting rock music. Save me before I turn into Lester Bangs. Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad is Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous for the manga crowd, sans the cynicism and as yet, sans the burnt-out groupies. Beck's Yukio "Koyuki" Tanaka is Almost Famous's William Miller, and vice versa. Where Almost Famous and William Miller tried to tell you the true artisans are the critics, Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad and Yukio "Koyuki" Tanaka let you revel in the pure unadulterated glory of rock musician worship. As Beck begins, Koyuki is the least hip 14-year-old kid you know... bad dresser, terrible taste in music, inept with girls, and scared of his own shadow. His life begins to turn around when he meets Ryusuke Minami, "a wild and unpredictable 16-year-old fresh from America, who happens to be in a rock-and-roll band named after his Frankenstein-like patched dog--Beck." In Koyuki, manga-ka Harold Sakuishi creates a believable character, one that could have easily come off as a nebbish stereotype in less able hands. Ryusuke is also believable, but in a tenuous kind of way; we see Ryusuke through the eyes of Koyuki, and this affords us the ability not to see the silliness of a sixteen year old who thinks he rules the rock world. The remainder of the cast is filled out with less memorable characters; Tanabe, Koyuki’s school friend; Izumi, the girl of Koyuki’s dreams; and Maho, Ryusuke’s fiery sister, the same age as Koyuki. Being the first installment in a long series, I expect this troupe to become fully fleshed out over the remaining eighteen volumes. Sakuishi’s art in Beck is fantastic, skillfully detailed, but never overcrowded or annoyingly busy. If his script demonstrates an understanding of teenagers, it’s got to be said his art brings it to a new level. The two year age difference between Koyuki and Ryusuke is clear and obvious, both in character design and the way each boy holds himself and moves through the world. Sakuishi has an obvious understanding and love for the rock equipment illustrated in pages of Beck, something of which I profess no knowledge, but comes across clearly to me as real and tangible in the course of the story. Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad v1 gets my top recommendation; read it now while listening to the soundtrack from The Who’s The Kids Are Alright. Comment on this review of Beck Mongolian Chop Squad v1 [I] on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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