User reviews

It's a classic story of a young group forming a band and wanting fame.

But it's much more. The music is great and the characters are very likable.

It's also an interesting look at the life of a teenager fitting into his culture/social environment in Japan.

When I was in my teens I had a dream of being in a successful band, and now being close to 50 BECK is a fun flashback as to what it might be like.

The pace of the series is slow, the story could have been told easily in half the number of episodes. it may take 5 or 6 to get you hooked. But the slow pace really adds to the texture of the story.

I do hope a DVD of the series is planned.

As a life long resident of Seattle the final episode is a real treat.

Boy, i could talk for days and days on end about Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, but doing a review... that's a bit more of a challenge.

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad is probably one of my favourite anime series. Despite having so many flaws... it's a very slow moving anime, some plot devices get lost, and the instrumentals of the songs sometimes don't match what is being played on the guitar... despite these flaws, i find myself watching Beck, and being in complete awe and amazement at the story of one band's struggle to make it big.

I could easily agree, that lovers of rock legends such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and even Radiohead and Rage Against the Machine, will love this anime.

One warning though, if you watch this anime, you will most likely want to learn how to play the guitar.

This anime will possibly change your mind. Very delicate.. with a powerful soundtrack! Enjoy!

Based on a manga of the same this anime is all about Tanaka Yukio, better known by his nickname Koyuki is a 14 year old who feels disconnected from life in general. Through the act of saving a mismatched dog, he meets guitarist Minami Ryuusuke, and becomes involved in Ryuusuke's new band BECK. Koyuki's life starts to change as the band struggles towards fame.

Along the way he encounters many awkward and new situations, things he has never had to deal with before. If you've ever gone through things similar to what he's gone through, you'll immediately connect with this anime.

Beck relies heavily on this connection with it's viewers, so if you do not make the connection, you will probably not like the anime. It's not the standard slasher series, and focuses much on the viewers emotion.

So if you like music (Has an awesome rock soundtrack so good I even imported it) and storyline and want a break from the overplayed bloodshed scenario, this anime is for you

This is the most impressive anime-movie i've seen in my life. Perfect theme to write the script makes "Beck" the best between the youth and new generation of musicians. I've noticed that authors know a lot about rock-stage and music, in fact even about Guitars (Gibson Les Paul, Jaguar and Acoustic Guitars by Martinez are really good). Also they used really good songs, that have given some atmosphere to the project... The script is awesome, just because of its variety of mini-scenes, that makes serial more watchable. You will see romantics, some detective scenes, sports and of cource daily life of Rock Musicians! I've even heard that some people began to play the guitar after watching some series... Heh good luck to them ;)

Beck is overall an entertaining animation by Harold Sakuishi.

As everyone has felt and will feel, the story progresses on the slow side. This should not be an issue.

There are an array of diverse characters to enjoy throughout the series and much of the character development is done quite well. Or well enough so that you know the role they are suppose to play in the plot.

Some of the animation is a little on the skimpy side, but in animation you can play it off as to give the series atmosphere the art was rendered so (but if you read through the original work you can tell the animators for this anime were slacking or you'd question budgeting as the art work in some places drop big in quality). It is nice to see a real place get animated into this work (I.E CBGBs,-I was sad when they shut down-, other venues).

Guitar enthusiast, might love or hate the guitars that are show cased in this animation, I for one loved the idea that they used Gretsch (I love this company, sad they were bought out by fender)guitars instead of just sticking with Fenders and Gibsons. Harold Sakuishi also incorporates a "legendary" guitar or a well known guitar in the blues world, into the storyline which is entertaining in itself.

Music is great. I am a big fan of the Beat Crusaders and they did the most of the major musical work in Beck. The Husking Bees vocalist was used as the main singer, which wasn't too bad. I would venture to say that all the music used are quite "catchy." This is a great story told through a great medium.

Also, like one of the other reviewers noted, this anime will make you want to learn the guitar. I agree 100%.

a very solid story about a group of guys wanting to make it as a rock band. Koyuki is the shy, nice kid who befriends the intense, enigmatic Ryuusuke for this purpose. There are other parts of this story which provide, if not comic relief, but a diversion from the actual story. You get to meet a few young girls in Koyuki's wife, including Ryuusuke's rough around the edges but compelling Majo, as well as go through band politics and the struggle to be good. A few parts of this I did not like so much, namely Leon Sykes, whose part in the story is unnecessary. However, they are minor quibbles in a story that manages to entertain greatly. Some profanity, but thats okay. Good music, too. I recommend it as an anime that sometimes feels extremely real.

Wow so nostalgic! I first watched this show when I was 13-14yrs old, I haven't thought about it since. All I remembered about it was their was a dog that was all mismatched & it was about a band, I knew I loved it back then but I honestly had no memory of what was so good about it. Well having stumbled upon this hidden gem again I decided I should check it out and see if my judgment would have changed from having seen so many more shows since then. I'm very happy to see that my taste was still good even for this being like the second not main stream anime I've ever seen. The story is pretty straight forward, ordinary bullied kid meets a guitarist by chance. Becomes friends, starts hanging out with him & his band, then decides to pick up guitar. And thus the story unfolds, the life of a struggling band. This shows got tons of action, kick ass music and even a bit of romance. Its pretty solid. My only sorta complaint is that the show is clearly "finished" as of the last episode, I would have really liked a second season but tbh I'm not sure they really could have done another season. The animation isn't bad, its not winning any awards but for its time it was definitely pretty good. Now the music is what really makes this show shine, every song is kick ass! No other way to put it, you just want to sit their singing along with the op & ed every single time. The songs the bands play throughout the show are great. I haven't picked up my guitar in years & right in the middle of episodes this show had me wanting to just bust it out and get to practicing! Its pretty inspiring haha. The English dub is really good, all the characters match really well. I'm pretty sure everybody who watches this will like it, make sure you watch at least 3 episodes or so. The beginning might seem a little slow but this is a solid show.

4.5/5 Why? Solid story, I only wish we got to take it just a little farther. Animation is pretty good, good for its time. Music is top notch, awesome songs all throughout this show!! Dub is also really good, all the characters match great. If this show doesn't inspire you at least a little then idk your just a miserable person lol.

I don't know if 9/10 it's too much, but I don't really care about that. I started watching Beck because I was getting into rock and learning how to play electric guitar, so I decided that watching an anime related to a rock band would be a great idea... And it was. From all the anime lists related to rock bands, Beck was the only one that could show amazing rock soundtracks that makes us want Beck to really exist, and how life is hard for every one, and that real fame is something not easy to get. I love the story, it's the same world as ours, there are lots of references to popular bands like Rage Against The Machine and the Beatles (so in the end it also adds more knowledge to the viewer that knew little about rock history). In the manga and movie there are no vocals so it's always great to hear the main character sing in the anime. The characters are full of emotions and each struggles with something different but in the end all want the same... "To be an hit in America". And this series just show why Rock is the genre of music with the best back story ever, full of legends. But the most important thing to me is that every time I was giving up at learning the guitar I watched an episode of Beck, and after watching it my motivation would rise like a Phoenix. This is why Beck will be a legendary series, because it has a great story, but above all it gives us motivation to become great musicians.

This is my first anime series based on music & slice of life theme, it's the most realistic anime I have seen and I loved it. I had already read the manga it's based on so I had high expectation and still, it was able to deliver. The surprising part was the anime was made in 2005 and it still has an appeal to it.

The story revolves around the formation and struggle of a rock band, it takes its time with the process so it does feel slow at times. The main protagonist is a 14-year-old kid, he is an introvert who gets introduced to the rock, we see his growth both as a singer and a guitar player, adding realism to the story is his otherwise everyday life such as him getting bullied at school and such. The other highlight of the anime, his bittersweet love life.

In the second half of the story, the involvement of Mafia and goons to control music business did feel a bit overboard, well this is anime and it can only get realistic to a limit.

The animation itself was great, very different from what we are used to, the colors used were muted dull & dark, going with the underground music theme. The music is good and does grow on you over time, still other times it felt repetitive.

Not sure if it's meant for everyone, but I for one really enjoyed it.

This anime has many, many flaws.

But as a musician no anime, tv series or even film has ever portrayed playing in a band as this anime did. I love how real it feels and the struggles the characters face. Obviously there's some spicy stuff added which would never happen in real life, but at its core it stays true to the hard times one has trying to break through as a band.

You can see the genuine love for music the people behind this anime in the anime. From the knock-off band shirts, to amazing guitars being shown. The moments that pay respect to the underappreciated members of most bands (the rhythm section) are something that I love dearly as a bassist myself.

Again objectively it could be 6 or 7 at best. But because it feels like the story is tailored for me personally and I see the love and effort put into it by its creators I have to give my favourite anime a perfect score.

At first I was kind of skeptical about Beck. I saw the opening and later downloaded the mp3 of the opening "Hit in the USA!". I passed it up a couple times at my local store, thinking I should wait for a dubbed version, but now I'm glad I didn't. The story of Beck offers a good telling of a junior high school aged boy who finds his passion in music. The kind of music happens to be very good, guitar driven rock. (There's several influences here, Rage against the Machine is very pronounced in some parts, and others will remind you of your favorite rock ballads (new and old)) There is also some romance involved, which will have you yelling at the screen one moment and laughing out loud the next. There's not much more to say without giving the story away so you have to check this series out.

I love this show so much. I always knew about it, but never give any chance. Now, in the end of 2021 (December 30th), I finished beck and already begin to read the manga. Such brilliant show, characters are so relatable, the romance is very natural and complicated like real life, most teenagers experienced romance like in the show in some degree. The soundtrack is so good, I can't stop listening. The journey to make a band famous is so cool to witness, each time is a different obstacle, but they keep going no matter what. The journey was incredible, I will not forget this show! Beck is unique!

By the way, I already bought my guitar!

There has been no show that has impacted me as much as Mongolian Chop Squad has. The writing is phenomenal, the animation is a little old, but it makes up for that in the way it just hooks you in.

Every time i see one of the songs from this anime come up on my page, I'm just filled with a passion to pick up a guitar and play.

If your wondering whether this anime is worth your time, i promise you you will appreciate the time you spent watching this.

The songs contained in this anime are phenomenal, they cover such a wide range from hard grunge rock, to a light songs that make you feel sentimental.

TLDR: This anime is amazing and you need to watch it.

Based on the manga of the same name written by Harold Sakuishi and written for television by Osamu Kobayashi, Beck: MCS follows 14 year old Koyuki Tanaka as he meets Ray Minami, a former musician and guitarist, leading Koyuki down the road of rock music and stardom. Often a bit of a subdued, slower series, we follow the rise of Koyuki's new band, the troubles it gets into, and the friendships and relationships of all the members. Being a show about music, the music in this is of course great, I don't think I skipped the opening theme a single time over its 26 episode run. And at only a single season with 26 episodes the story is fleshed out and ends well rounded, tying up any threads, and building to a big finale. It was fun watch, and for any fans of anime and alt rock I would highly recommend.