Beck

The story revolves around a boy called Yukio Tanaka (Nicknamed “Koyuki” because when he was a child there were two “Yukios” in his class and he was the shorter, so the prefix “Ko” was added). The series starts when he was a fourteen year old middle schooler, (currently in the manga he is nineteen) and tells about the adventures of his music band called BECK (also Known as Mongolian Chop Squad in the USA because they thought that the name BECK wasn´t commercial enough). An important factor as the story progresses is the relationship between Koyuki and Ryusuke´s sister, Maho Minami. Whenever Maho attends the concerts, Koyuki gains more confidence to perform. Other important characters in the story are the rest of the band: Saku, the drummer and Koyuki´s best friend, Chiba, the singer and Taira, the bassist.

Beck Manga contains references and tributes to classic rock and pop culture in general. Sometimes well known rock stars appeared drawn in manga style. This happens in a dream that the protagonists have about one of their concerts.

In this dream various rock legends such as Eric Clapton, Kurt Cobain, Sid Vicious, John Lennon and Freddie Mercury cry when they see all the garbage left after a concert. Lots of times references to a famous musicians are made, for example when Ryusuke plays “Machine Gun” a song of Jimi Hendrix that saves his life when a hooligan shoots atsomeone near him. Ryusuke´s guitar “Lucille” and its story is based on the guitar of B.B. King.

Harold Sakuichi admits that the band is inspired on the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The author admits that it is his favorite band and their song “Under the Bridge” helped him in a bad moment in his life. Sakuishi wrote a one chapter manga called “Under the Bridge”. It tells the story about how he met the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Beck Anime accurately follows the manga story until chapter thirty (Volumen 10 of the manga). After that, we must read the manga to know the rest of the story.