BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad
Alternate Titles: ベック (Japanese)
Original Japanese Release Date: 2004-10-06
Episode Length/Run-time: 26 Episodes
Summary:
Tanaka Yukio is your average 14 year old boy, and he knows it. Everything about his life is average from school to home and back, and it’s because of this that he begins to yearn for something more, a purpose and dream to follow. That’s when he meets Ryuusuke, and all at once his life starts to change. He starts learning how to play guitar, winds up in Ryuusuke’s band, learns what it means to strive for something, desire it more than anything else in the world. And that’s not even counting what Ryuusuke’s sister Maho brings to the table.
Review:
BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad is a masterpiece, hands down. Not only does it take something as simple and powerful as music and break it down in a way that’s almost commendable, but it follows the journey of someone everyone can relate to, a normal, everyday someone experiencing that power for the first time. Music can be a difficult thing to express well in anime, easily brushed off on the one hand or taken too seriously and leaving the viewer feeling intimidated on the other. BECK manages to show the passion in both musician and music while still staying connected to the very real, very present theme that it takes more than just that passion to make it big. It takes hard work and more than your fair share of failures. The characters all learn it in their own way, and grow from it in a way that’s very genuine and awe inspiring to behold. And while the animation style is a little old looking and can be hard to get used to at first, it is easily ignored for that very reason. The characters make themselves real, unusual animation style or not; you love them because of who they are, not the way they’re drawn.
But, as expected, the beauty is in the music, both audibly and visually, the melody and rhythms getting under your skin while each note or guitar riff is intricately drawn out well enough that it looks almost like you’re really watching it being played. Whether you’re subbed or dubbed, the music is bad ass and powerful, pumped full of a certain rock and roll something that makes you want to listen to it all on repeat for days. And even after, it lingers. Though, for reference, if you ARE watching it subbed, much of the music is in Engrish, so be prepared. And the dub for BECK is fantastically done, but it’s only fair to mention that much of what makes this anime great is lost in communication. Which is ironic considering that one of the main themes of BECK is just that: miscommunication/language barriers and how music can overcome it.
This anime is one of the best, possibly THE best in my opinion. Or at the very least, my favorite. It handles delicate teenage issues with a realistically harsh care while still managing to make what could have been a very dry slice of life continuously enthralling, inspiring, and amusing. The characters become friends you can learn from and relate to, while the situations become ones you root for and cry for. All and all, BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad is worth no less than a 5/5.
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