Beck! No, not the Singer who appeared in that episode of Futurama, the awesome Manga!

   We all tend to have similarly dull childhoods. At least I did, always longing for some adventure, or something fun. The lead of Beck, Koyuki is the same way. He feels that life is dull, and wishes for it all to change. This happens one day when he saves a patchwork dog named Beck from being beaten by kids, and meets Ryusuke.

    Ryusuke is a womanizer, and music lover. He spent the last few years in America, and claims to be friends with Eddie Lee, the guitarist in the uber popular Dying Breed. Ryusuke give Koyuki guitar as
thanks for giving Ryusuke a leash for Beck, and it's from there being a story of growing up, set against a musical back drop. Here's your main cast:

Beck members:
Koyuki- our hero, he has an amazing singing voice and learns guitar quickly to rise to the level of the rest of Beck's member.
Ryusuke- an amazing guitarist who uses a bullet hole ridden guitar known as Lucille. Kind of a douche, and unreliable.
Chiba- a karating fighting punk, the lead singer of Beck. Chiba hates bullies, and always protects the week.
Taira- the bassist, based on Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. He's what holds the band together.
Saku- the drummer. He is a classmate of Koyuki's.
Other:
Maho- Ryusuke's sister, and Koyuki's love interest. She's kind of a whore, and a user.
Saitou- an awesome middle aged pervert with sweet swimming and guitar skills. Teached Koyuki both.

    The band Beck early on has a hard path, one of Ryusuke's ex band mates hates him, and uses his powerful manager to block all routes for Beck in Japan. If the band ended there, this manga would be boring! Luckily Koyuki appeared in a film on the Dying Breed, so they manage to gain some fame, though they still can't manages to crack into popularity. Eventually they decide to give up on Japan, and go to America and later England to tour and sell albums. The word of their legendary performance at Greatful Sound powering their popularity. The problem is Ryusuke is constantly gone, and without him the band isn't as good as it should be.

    What I love about this series is it's shonen to the bone, but it's against a music back drop, instead of fighting. Koyuki and Beck fight on stage, to be sure, but they never give up. They metaphorically fight other bands for popularity, and Koyuki gets better as a singer, and Guitarist.  To make it even more interesting, his girlfriend Maho leave to live in another country, and on both sides there are other possible love interests vying for their affections. This is an amazing series for people who aren't even music fans, such as myself. I did catch most of the references though, and I'm super proud of myself.

 So will Beck ever make it big ? Will the band even stay together ? Seriously, what are you waiting for ? Beck Manga 9/10! There's an anime that follows about a third of the manga, and the music from it is amazing. It's been too long to give it a score though. I'll check out the live action movie eventually, and give them a paragraph on this thing.