The Mongolian Chop Squad
Firstly, I'll keep it straight, Beck could've been better if the author didn't try to include romance. In my opinion, the author very clearly did not know how to properly fit romance into the story, at least enough to give it more depth, and as a result, it ended up just being pretty awkward and disorganized. Let me directly quote a review I read about the manga since I felt it very nicely expressed my feelings: "...the manga loves to throw wrenches into Koyuki and Maho's relationship. At times, it felt like I was being punished for being so invested. The moment Maho leaves for England suddenly another girl shows up? Fuck off! I just kept on hoping that Koyuki wouldn't do anything stupid. That girl (Sayaka) was just so unnecessary. She even completely disappears after serving her purpose of getting Maho jealous. This manga loves to tease (or in my case, torture) the reader with love triangles and I fucking hated it. Being so invested in the romance, my favorite character was Maho. However, my grievance with her is that she didn't have much to do or have much development outside of her relationship with Koyuki. Earlier in the manga, it seemed that she was gonna go places. We see her singing in a venue, and then as a model. I understand that she didn't want to go through with either of those things, but I wish we could have found out what she did want to do. I mean, she was going to England to study. What for? What are her dreams? What does she want to do? Weirdly, we don't get to know any of that. Her only real role in the story is to be Koyuki's love interest and I think that's a huge disservice to such a fun character." Another issue is that, by the end of the manga, we get more focus on a comedy-focused side plot about the romance of Koyuki's teacher and a girl who cheated on him even though most viewed this as a resolved issue while we barely got any focus on Koyuki and Mahosimply simply being a couple. In general, I felt Maho was such a wasted character, she had so much potential to be a classic character and a GOAT for women in manga and anime. But even without how much she CARRIED Beck throughout the story (single-handedly saving it several times), she kept being used as nothing but a way to push Koyuki to do "something." But the thing is, the author was perfect when it came to the band itself. Each character got the depth they needed, the dynamics were well-thought-out, and I think everyone fit the instrument they played. (side note: you can TELL the author is a RHCP fan) My personal favorite characters in the band were Saku, Taira, and Chiba, while I struggled to get attached to either Ryusuke or Koyuki. Saku (the drummer) is the dream best friend; strong, always smiling, and smart; Taira (the bassist) is kind, caring, and also very emotionally intelligent even though he chooses to hide his feelings; and Chiba is tough on the outside, a punk, but possibly the most emotional out of the entire band. I also enjoyed the way we got to see their life outside of the band, showing how hard they were working just to get together and enjoy playing music together (I mainly liked seeing all of them working their jobs, it felt humble!). Another thing I really liked was the struggles Beck went through: they were very realistic and, as a result, when the band succeeded it felt like they deserved it! And ngl I wasn't expecting the whole thing related to organized crime and stuff like that but it ended up adding SO much to the story, incredible!! As a sidenote: I also really enjoyed the way they explained how Beck gained the name "Mongolian Chop Squad", thank you Tarantino! Overall I think Beck should hold the title for "best representation of non-Japanese people in manga" (sounds funny I know); Leon Sykes and Jim Walsh quickly became some of my favorite characters of all time in terms of writing and design. Sykes design was awesome (even if a little racist) and Jim Walsh was genuinely cool and highly charismatic, I always got excited to see him; the two are the only characters in the manga I'd say have no imperfections in terms of writing. All the side characters were also great but I don't want to make this review TOO long so I'll just state other characters I liked: Kawakubo (the manager with the mole), Matt Reed (I like that the Japanese have a thing with cool bald dudes with glasses), and that's it really. Finally, the ending was near-perfect (it lacked a nice conclusion with Koyuki and Maho); I felt genuinely happy and emotional throughout it, as if I was part of Beck's journey to fame. The art style had developed incredibly together with the band, and the relatively "open-ended" ending was good as it told us all we had to know: Beck made it. So, while the anime is a good 4/10 for me; the manga is a 9. It is a classic, and everyone should read it even if it's a chore at first!!! (Final note: if you read it, I recommend doing it while listening to a mainly-rock playlist (RHCP or J-Rock!).) ■