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Saddletank
Miyazaki's Best Friend

Registration Date: 09.28.06
Location: On your case
Posts: 10069

Beck

I am about half-way through this and am blown away by how nice it is. The manga was by Harold Sakuishi, published in 2002 and made as an anime in 2004 by Osamu Kobayashi, animated by Madhouse. It’s the story of a boy Yukio (who is 14 when the story begins – by episode 11 at least 18 months have gone by so I don’t know when the ending will be set) but known by his friends as Koyuki and his rather detached and bullied life in school. He’s a fan of indie rock and goes to various small sweaty basement clubs to follow his favourite bands. By accident he meets up with an older boy Ryuusuke (16 when the anime begins) when he saves - and then for his troubles is bitten by - the older boys dog. They form a rather laid back friendship and gradually drift together over a period of months. The older boy is in a band and plays guitar and the young lad, impressed by this begins to learn to play. He’s also got a fair but untrained singing voice.

Ryuusuke splits from his band which is going nowhere and forms a new one and the first 10 episodes or so are the story of the forming of the band on one side and Koyuki’s school life (mostly being bullied and wistfully liking an older girl, Izumi, a childhood friend from a distance), on the other.

Eventually Koyuki joins Ryuusuke’s band and they begin to attract bigger audiences.

There is some darker background to Ryuusuke that hasn’t been revealed yet, it seems to revolve around some musicians he used to know when he lived in America and was in a band there. The guitar he plays, called Lucille (after B B King’s guitar) is full of bullet holes and it seems this is significant, as is the boys dog, named Beck which is a mongrel made up of various colours patched (almost ‘sewn’) together. There is a tiny hint in my mind that there may even be something supernatural about either the dog, the guitar or both but not one single thing is explicitly said, it’s just a vibe I’ve got by half way through the series.

In one short scene we see a similarly patched together dog living in America which two girl-fans of Ryuusuke photograph and show to him. Ryuusuke later burns the photo…

Ryuusuke has a younger sister named Maho who is Koyuki’s age. She’s a bit of a nut case, a tearaway and a tomboy and fools around a lot but very slowly, over the course of a year she and Koyuki begin to develop feelings for each other and their tentative relationship is the other main sub-plot of the series.

It’s 26 eps BTW.

So, partly high school romance, partly music scene portrait, partly (maybe) with supernatural elements.

But what I like about this series is its art style. Characters eyes are more or less realistic in style and size. Its all muted colours, very grainy in places, the movements of the characters are in some scenes dreamlike and bent as though the whole thing is a little druggie or spaced out, it suits the rather seedy world of struggling indie rock bands well. The nightclub scenes are smoky, blurred, gritty and washed out with stage lighting, very nicely done. There’s a fair bit of CGI work, mostly in the guitars all of which are drawn perfectly, clearly there were dedicated rock music fans involved in the making of this. Some of the high school scenes are a little more brightly coloured.

It seems Harold Sakuishi is a huge fan of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and the story is partly based on their beginnings.

I just like the whole feel of the visuals, I like the slow pace at which the story develops, I like the rather scary and nervous struggles of Koyuki at school against the bullies he faces and the foxy but slightly mad Maho is strangely compelling too. I have a feeling a bad ending is awaiting her and she seems both capable and vulnerable at the same time.

I have a feeling this band is going to go to America (there are some rather unsubtle clues in the opening credits) but other than that it’s impossible to say if it’ll be a happy or sad ending although I’m tending to think it’ll be the latter.

Anyone who is a fan of rock music really (the band leans towards metal/punk/grunge) must watch this.

It’d also be a good series for the Anime Club.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BECK:_Mongolian_Chop_Squad

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08.31.2007, 05:14 AM

Theowne
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Registration Date: 02.11.07
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 1290

Well, I've heard good things about this anime, people have compared it to Honey and Clover which I consider to be one of the highest praises of an anime, right after comparing it to a Ghibli film. However, the thing which stops me is comments like "Anyone who is a fan of rock music really" will enjoy this.

Personally I have no love for a lot of rock music, and certainly not for heavy metal and the like, so I suppose my direct question is, would I still enjoy this anime?

Post last edited by Theowne on 08.31.2007, 11:02 AM.

08.31.2007, 10:35 AM

Saddletank
Miyazaki's Best Friend

Registration Date: 09.28.06
Location: On your case
Posts: 10069

Yes. A love of rock music is secondary. I don't esp like it, I do howeevr like the way the indie music scene is presented in the series. Very gritty and grainy and rather menacing.

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Isakaya High School Roleplaying Info

"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

08.31.2007, 12:06 PM

Theowne
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Registration Date: 02.11.07
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 1290

Okay, thanks for the info. It does enjoy a fairly high position on animenfo's top 200 list and seems to be mentioned quite often in the recommendations type threads.

08.31.2007, 05:42 PM

fenkashi
Dibs on Supreme Overlord

Registration Date: 08.12.07
Location: Canada
Posts: 5732

I've heard great things about this anime but everytime I start watching it, something comes up midway through the first episode and I never get any further. Though I feel a little motivated to try watching it one more time.

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08.31.2007, 06:35 PM

Saddletank
Miyazaki's Best Friend

Registration Date: 09.28.06
Location: On your case
Posts: 10069

Gotta just mention that I'm up to ep19 or so now and the storyline seems to have slowed down; the band is pretty good now but bad guys in the indie club scene are stopping them getting live shows at the better clubs and so this state of affairs has been mooching about for 3 or 4 eps now and its a little boring. The sub-plot of the relationship between Koyuki and Maho has reached a really low ebb too - thats damn frustrating as well. But even so the characters are interesting and sympathetic enough so I keep watching.

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Isakaya High School Roleplaying Info

"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

08.31.2007, 06:42 PM

Loscil
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Registration Date: 08.06.06
Location: The Sun Bear's Den
Posts: 4394

YO!
thanks for the recommendation Sddles.
Just finished the series and loved it.
Very nice. Made me realise how much I missed good anime.
You are right it gets a little slow in the middle, but I didnt really realise because I stormed through the whole series in 2 days.
And therefore the episode 23-25 are all the more amazing, when they have their live performance at the Greatful Sound festival.

09.25.2007, 07:36 PM

Saddletank
Miyazaki's Best Friend

Registration Date: 09.28.06
Location: On your case
Posts: 10069

Yup, that whole live show thing is amazing, it made me quite emo (most anime does but this one touched me more than average). Th eplot with the mafiosi guy that Ray is fighting with is a bit weak but that aside the series is great. I really liked teh way that so many of teh relationships are left open ended, esp Koyuki's life the way it touches other girls, who seems to come and go around him with none of them being sugary relationships but all a little confusing, a little sad in a way. Very good anime, very gritty, one of teh most realistic I've seen.

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Isakaya High School Roleplaying Info

"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

09.26.2007, 01:47 AM

Farren
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Registration Date: 07.18.07
Location: Tasmania, Australia
Posts: 2163

well i've only heard good things about this series maybe i should start watching it

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09.26.2007, 11:09 PM

Orphic Okapi
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Registration Date: 04.08.07
Location: Saskatchewan
Posts: 1335

quote:
Originally posted by Saddletank
Yup, that whole live show thing is amazing, it made me quite emo (most anime does but this one touched me more than average). Th eplot with the mafiosi guy that Ray is fighting with is a bit weak but that aside the series is great. I really liked teh way that so many of teh relationships are left open ended, esp Koyuki's life the way it touches other girls, who seems to come and go around him with none of them being sugary relationships but all a little confusing, a little sad in a way. Very good anime, very gritty, one of teh most realistic I've seen.

It's sort of funny how nearly all the words in that post were spelled correctly, but almost every time you came to the word "the" you ended up spelling it wrong.

Teh teh teh . . .

Sorry. I think I've been drinking a bit too much of that tea lately. I'll leave now.

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