Dusting off the English Major Wanking

Beck, the manga by Harold Sakuishi, center around Tanaka Yukio(Koyuki) and Minami Ryusuke(Ray), and a world of music, bands, and people's lives So, how can a manga based on music actually work? Well...yes it can and quite well in fact. It can because it relies largely on it's characters and their emotions to convey meaning, and not what our ears would be hearing In fact in volume one there are only five instances where the audio aspect of music is missing; Koyuki unwinding to Kuniyoshi Chiemi, the brief scene at the Serial Mama show, the Dying Breed MD (DyBre a popular and influential American band), the four panels devoted to The Musicmans show, and Koyuki singing at the very end of the book. Even for these scenes lacking the audio doesn't much matter as the scenes largely, or atleast somewhat, deal more with the emotions brought on by the music, than what is actually being heard.

For those of you interested there is a Beck animated series where you can here the songs. It hasn't been licensed yet so you can use your BT and get out there and download the fansubs. Or, just go out on soulseek and download the soundtrack (there are two discs Beck and Keith).

The characters are really what make Beck. All the characters are solid and mostly realistic, even the supporting characters. The character's appearance also seems to fit them well. The perverted Tanabe with his almost buzz-cut, and catcher's mitt of a face, could just as easily be a peeping middle aged salary man, as a perverted junior high kid. Izumi-chan and Maho are both drawn in a way to give the pretty girl appeal, but also are distinct enough that they feel very real. Eiji, Taira, and Ray do not look like they should be doing anything but rocking. Lastly Koyuki looks like an average, unimpressive middle schooler. My only complaint about the art is that sometimes the expressions, especially Koyuki's facial expressions, can be a little over the top. It isn't bad or anything, just something that I felt didn't always fit.

Koyuki however is anything but average. Actually at first he's duller than average. In fact at first blush Koyuki seems like the last person you would want to read a story about. Thankfully as the story progresses we see Koyuki is every bit as mixed up and confused as any other 14 year old. He does want to do more than just be a warm body, but doesn't quite seem secure enough with himself to change his current situation. You really can't blame him, because the first time he tries to go out and do something (help an old lady he ends up getting thrashed by some punks. After this Koyuki thinks “I guess I stepped out of my place in society.” Note: we will revisit this in more depth later. Koyuki also shows his good heart on a few more occasions; helping Beck (a Frankenstein of dog parts and the series name sake), not ratting out Tanabe when it would have saved his ass, and standing up to three Gaijin to help his friends. Indeed in the case of the Gaijin he also shows some considerable balls. Koyuki though isn't all brash and dashing. He isn't either of those things, at all. He's just a small awkward kid (see scene with Maho and her friends) with a good heart. This leads to him being more cute than anything else, and he's still miles from cool. His initial taste in music is lame, and he can barely get a sentence out of his mouth sometimes.

Going back to the earlier quote. The quote when added to Koyuki's seeming awkwardness with dropping the kun and chan from Ryusuke and Maho, plus the scene where he's worried about calling Mit-chan, Mit-chan seems to establish some sort of pattern. From this we can see that Koyuki, despite his desires to live an exciting life, is actually a fairly reserved kid. Perhaps brought up by parents who were more traditional Koyuki has to battle a little bit with the behaviors that he has learned from home and what he desires his life to be like. Indeed his newly forming social circle seems to be taking up a side opposite of his apparent nature at the beginning. Izumi, Maho, and Ray are all more independent and casual people. They, especially Ray, seem to be opening a door to a place were Koyuki can embrace his desires for what he wants from life, and give him an opportunity to express himself. At this juncture though it does not appear that Koyuki has the skills or practice to fully embrace this. He is still reserved, still awkward, and above all still very confused. It will be interesting to see how this progresses.

The second main character in the series is Ray. Ray seems to be almost an opposite of Koyuki. With Ray we know what he wants to do, and to a certain extent we can see where it will take him. What we don't get with Ray however is the clarity of what type of person he is. Part of this is because we do not get narration or inner dialog from Ray. However, it extends beyond that. He at the same time seems to be a very nice and friendly person, yet cold and capable of being extremely emotionally distant. This dichotomy can be seen by how Ray acts when he is breaking up with the girl in the bar. He is anything but kind. He is blunt, cold, and while honest, he doesn't pull any punches. Yet a few minutes later he sticks his neck out to bail out Koyuki and his friends from the previously mentioned Gaijin. Further contradictions include it being mentioned that Ray is the son of a company president. However, we always see Ray borrowing money and apparently broke. Ont op of that he is only 16 yet living in an old run down fishing shack where he works. We know his passion for music, but nothing beyond that seems clear. Still, he is a likable character, and interesting, if not compelling.

Well, I'm looking forward to volume two. I'll try and do a little more actual plot analysis next time, instead of just talking about a couple characters and one odd tangent.