What I love about anime is the range of shows that can be found. Seriously, people can make an anime about pretty much anything! You want an anime about people fighting over half-priced bento? Sure! You want an anime about people who get turned into animals when hugged by the opposite gender? Done! But besides those random examples, there are of great animes out there that just take ordinary ideas and make them extraordinary. A great example of this is one of my favorite animes of all time, BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad.
At the beginning of this show, we meet 14 year old Koyuki, who no longer finds meaning in life, until he saves the dog of a rock musician, Ryusuke. After seeing Ruysuke play guitar, Koyuki decides to learns to play, eventually becoming a guitarist and vocalist for Ryusuke's new band BECK (named after his dog).
Basically, this is the story of an emerging rock band, who is trying to make it big in the world of music, and dealing with the struggles along the way. Then throw in a side story about Beck's real owner, a cute love story and some amazing music, and you've got one of the best animes I've ever seen!
The main reasons that I enjoyed BECK is because of it's roots. The creator Harold Sakuishi got a lot of ideas for this show from real bands and musicians and created sounds and characters from those influences. The main singer/rapper for BECK, Chiba, is based off of Zach de la Rocha from Rage Against The Machine and the Red Hot Chilli Pepper's Flea inspired BECK's bassist Taira; no shirt and everything.
The characters in BECK are all very cool, so I'm not going to bother with character descriptions, because I feel like I wouldn't be able to do them justice in this review. I would probably need another article in order to describe all 6 main characters in enough detail, and tell you about the some of the major side characters. All you need to know is that the characters in BECK are well developed, and I love each of them!
Now, here's the low point of BECK; the art. It isn't bad, most of the time, but there are some moments where you feel like it's pulling a Neon Genesis "we're out of money" moment. Also, since BECK's shows take place in the same music club most of the time, footage is reused pretty frequently. It gets better later in the series, but you can pretty easily tell where they were cutting the budget.
However, who needs great animation when you have the power of ROCK! Really, the music is the highlight of BECK, and this anime wouldn't be the same without its rockin soundtrack. All the music played in BECK is original, so it's not like you're watching anime Glee. You'll hear fantastic guitar riffs, excellent drumming, and one of the best sounding basses out there. Plus, the vocals were extremely well done. This is a show where you should probably listen to the dub rather than the sub, because the lyrics are either in Japanese or broken English. However,
Here's an example. This is one of my favorite songs from the series, Follow Me.
First the Sub:
There are a couple covers of well known songs sprinkled throughout the series, along with a few cameos from some artists everyone should recognize. Even if you're not a big rock fan, you can enjoy the music of BECK.
Besides, while the music is great, the heart of this story is its main character Koyuki, and his attempt to find out who he is and where he wants to go in life, which is something we've all felt. Sure, he faces struggles and defeats along the way, but that is what makes this story so great. We get to see BECK fall down, but continue to get back up again, slowly making its way to rock stardom.
At some point in the future, I want to make my own "10 Animes Everyone Should See" and obviously BECK will be on there. It's a series that I can watch over and over again and still find enjoyment while watching. I hope that you will enjoy it as well.
You know what, to help you, here's the opening. If this doesn't get you interested, I don't know what will.
Peace and Love
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