BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad

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BECK
ベック (BECK)
Genre	Shonen, music, slice of life
Manga: Beck
Authored by	Harold Sakuishi
Publisher	Kodansha
Serialized in	Weekly Shonen Magazine
Original run	17 February 2000 – Ongoing
No. of volumes	29 Volumes with 87 Chapters
TV anime : BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad
Directed by	Osamu Kobayashi
Studio	Madhouse
Network	TV Tokyo Europe2tv MTV Italy MuchMusic Hero
Original run	6 October 2004 – 30 March 2005
No. of episodes	26[1]
Game: BECK The Game
Developer	Sun-Tec
Publisher	Marvelous Interactive
Genre	Music
Platform	PlayStation 2
Released	31 March 2005

BECK (ベック) is a manga, which was later made into an anime under the name BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad. It was created by mangaka Harold Sakuishi and was originally published by Kodansha in Monthly Shonen Magazine. It tells the story of a group of Japanese teenagers who form a rock band. The manga is currently licensed in the USA by TOKYOPOP. The series has also spawned three guidebooks. BECK won the 2002 Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen.

The original 26-episode anime television series was aired on Japan's TV Tokyo from October 2004 to March 2005. It was created by Osamu Kobayashi, animated by Madhouse and produced by Takeshi Shukuri and Yoshimi Nakajima. The series has received critical acclaim and was translated into English.

Contents 1 Characters and plot 1.1 Background 1.2 Characters 1.3 Central Plot 2 Episodes 3 Music 4 English adaptation 5 Trivia 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Characters and plot

[edit] Background

The story focuses around a boy named Yukio Tanaka, nicknamed Koyuki. It starts in his first year of High school when he is 14 years old. In the current manga issues he is 19. The anime contains a mixture of Engrish and Japanese dialogue (Nihongo) with an often interesting interplay between the two, including phenomenon such as code switching, and a full scene involving two American tourists who have all of their lines in English.

The manga contains many various references and tributes to classic rock and pop culture in general. Nearly every other chapter cover is a mock cover of a popular rock album with characters from the manga in place of the people usually pictured. A particular dream sequence in the manga places various deceased rock idols such as Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and Freddie Mercury standing around crying while picking up trash, this dream is a key point in the storyline of the anime as all the members of Beck experience it before the Greatful Sound concert except Chiba and this leads him to believe he is holding the band back, it is not until the last episode when they are touring America and they stop at the birth place of Hendrix, that Chiba experiences the dream. Sometimes popular musicians are mentioned outright, such as when Ryusuke plays Machine Gun, a song by Jimi Hendrix which saves his life, since the thug about to shoot him finds it unable to shoot someone that resembles Hendrix so closely. Ryusuke's guitar, Lucille, and its history, are based heavily on that of B. B. King's guitar of the same name. When the band is given the opportunity to release an album in the United States their name was changed to Mongolian Chop Squad because BECK was already taken. The agent who does this gives the band no royalties, reaps all profits gained from the first CD in America, and mostly, the cover of the American CD has Ryusuke playing the guitar "Lucille", the guitar he stole. This leads to a series of unfortunate events. A few modern day bands and musicians have cameos in this anime, including The Pillows (having portions of three songs played during the final episodes; two of which are performed by a band that mirrors them).

Harold Sakuishi himself has admitted that the band is inspired in part by the Red Hot Chili Peppers (bassist Taira has more than a passing resemblance to Chili Pepper's bassist Flea). Sakuishi admits that they are his favorite band with their music, specifically the song Under the Bridge, helping him through a difficult time in his life. A one-shot manga also called Under the Bridge was written by Sakuishi which narrates his first meeting with the band.

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad characters

[edit] Central Plot

Yukio, known by his friends as Koyuki, is a regular 14 year old Japanese boy who enters junior high school with two childhood acquaintances. One is now a useless pervert, and ironically the other is a highly sought after female student. Koyuki's boring life is changed when he saves an odd looking dog from some kids (a pack of dogs in the manga). The owner of the dog (named Beck) turns out to be an emerging rock musician, Minami Ryusuke. The two become friends and their crazy, fun, and sometimes dangerous music adventure begins.

The story focuses on the trials and tribulations of their Punk and rapcore band named BECK (also called Mongolian Chop Squad in the United States, since the name Beck is already taken, when their first independent album is released over there). There's also an important subplot that deals with Koyuki's relationship with Ryusuke's sister Maho.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad episodes

[edit] Music

Main article: Beck: Soundtracks

[edit] English adaptation

On Saturday, May 27 at Anime Boston 2006, U.S.-based anime distributor FUNimation Entertainment announced that they have acquired the license for the BECK anime series. Taliesin Jaffe and Christopher Bevins are the directors of the English Version, The first DVD will be released in 2007. [1]

BECK made its North American television debut on Canadian music channel, MuchMusic, on Friday, March 9 2007 and currently airs on Tuesdays at 7pm EST/4pm PST and 10pm EST/7pm PST, Wednesdays at 7pm EST/4pm PST, and Fridays at 8pm EST/5pm PST.

[edit] Trivia

• Although the theme song is (supposedly) the band on tour in the USA, the cars depicted drive on the left side of the road.
• In Episode 2 there is Disturbed playing in the background of the live room.
• Many of the signs, headlines in newspapers, background character and PA system announcements in the anime version make little to no sense, including the background lectures given by teachers early in the series.
• In Episode 26, Taira's new band, whom play the songs Last Dinosaur and Advice by The Pillows, is named The Heroes, a pun on the katakana for The Pillows and even features Sawao Yamanaka as its frontman. The Pillows' song Rookie Jet is also featured in episode 23.
• The animals in the English dub are done by two of the directors.
• The Canadian rock band, Boys Night Out, is featured in two episodes of the series^{[citation needed]}.
• In Episode 23, A performer with the appearance of Michael Franti of Spearhead, tells the crowed, "Remember, we can bomb the world into pieces, but we can't bomb it into peace" (A line from Michael Franti's, "Bomb the World")
• Rock idol Kurt Cobain is shown at the very end of the ending theme with a picture of him and the words "Kurt 1994".
• During the slideshow Koyuki incorrectly tells Maho that Jimi Hendrix died on October 18, he died exactly a month earlier on September 18.
• The store where Koyuki buys his Fender Telecaster is called Yngway Market and its abbreviated as YM which is a reference to swedish guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen. Koyuki's Telecaster also resembles Yngwie's Stratocaster.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• http://rws-site.fr/ : French scan trad
• http://beck.ne.jp/ : official website
• http://beck-mcs.info/ : A French fansite
• http://beckanime.com/ : Funimation's Official BECK Website
• http://beckfansite.com/ : Beck manga community
• http://beck-mcs.org/ : French/English fansite
• http://beck-mcsite.fr.tc/ : French fansite

BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad v • d • e
Franchise:	Media and materials
Characters:	Character List
Media:	Beat Crusaders • FUNimation • Harold Sakuishi • Anime episodes