Beck - MangaUpdates

Beck

Description

From Kodansha:
BECK is the story of fourteen-year-old Yukio Tanaka. He has no hobbies, bad taste in music and his shy and neurotic personality make him his own worst enemy. Little does he know that his life will be forever changed when he meets rocker Ryusuke Minami, an unpredictable sixteen-year-old with a cool dog named Beck. Ryusuke inspires Yukio to get into music, and the two begin a journey through the world of rock 'n' roll dreams.

Note: Won the 26th Kodansha Manga Award for Best Shounen in 2002 (shared with Sakigake!! Cromartie Koukou).

**English Translation: **INKR Comics

Type

Manga

Related Series

N/A

Associated Names

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad

Бек

БЕК: Восточная Ударная Группа

Восточная Ударная Группа

ปุปะจังหวะฮา

ベック

벡

Groups Scanlating

Latest Release(s)

v.34 c.101-102 (end) by rendezvous22 16 years ago

v.33 c.99-100 by Phase 3 16 years ago

v.33 c.98 by Phase 3 17 years ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

34 Volumes (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1

Ends at Vol 11, Chap 33

User Reviews

Beck by Chronium

Forum

16 topics, 155 posts

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User Rating

Average: 8.8 / 10.0 (1400 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.75 / 10.0

41%

27%

17%

Last Updated

March 30th, 2025 11:26am PDT - 4 weeks ago

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Genre

Comedy Drama School Life Shounen Slice of Life
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Rock wa Shukujo no Tashinami de shite

Mashikaku Rock

Desperado

Given

Sutamyu - Koukou Seikageki

Recommendations

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi

Author(s)

HAROLD Sakuishi

Artist(s)

HAROLD Sakuishi

Year

1999

Original Publisher

Kodansha

Serialized In (magazine)

Gekkan Shounen Magazine (Kodansha)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

INKR

Kodansha Comics (34 Volumes - Complete, Digital)

TokyoPop (Canceled / 12 Volumes)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #754 (No change)

Monthly Pos #1269

(-383)

3 Month Pos #2454

(-146)

6 Month Pos #2930

(+380)

Year Pos #2968

(+347)

List Stats

On 1328 reading lists

On 1327 wish lists

On 2867 completed lists

On 144 unfinished lists

On 522 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

Momo-chan & Spoilers

12 years ago

Questions about some things in Beck... SPOILERS

14 years ago

Live-Action Beck Dated for September

14 years ago

Relationships [spoilers]

15 years ago

Tokyopop dropped it?

15 years ago

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

Amazinf

by willnira
5 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Read beck in one day, and honestly I didn’t want to read it so fast but you can’t stop reading. Even if it was a manga about music, you can feel the lyrics, the feelings and that’s what a good artist make.
It didn’t drag, the story was original and really excellent. I wish there could be enough of answers, the characters were unique and meaningful. And the Mc totally grew up as a character.

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Awesome

by Azikea
11 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

Beck was a great manga. The storyline was decent and there was a lot of fun to be had while reading this. The characters each had their own different personality and there were some good relationship conflicts that seem plausible but a lot of the story conflicts were meh. It was fun to read but it was kinda impossible to fully experience BECK's awesomeness because it's a manga and there's no sound. Despite that it was a fun and engaging experience. Although there were some parts that were unsatisfactory at the end such as

how Maho lost her significance in the plot and her's and Koyuki's relationship as well as Saku's relationship. But one of the great parts of the end was ! How Saitou won back his woman or how the band played at Greatful Sound and the symbolic album cover.

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It was good in the beginning..

by furball404
11 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

It was good in the beginning.., but really end up dragging after the US tour, now the main characters are wellmade and the beginning is very well written. However you could skip 2/3 of the chapters and you wouldn't really miss anything story wise (there are many awsome depictions of gigs though)

What really is a shame that although it's a manga about music, it really doesn't teach you anything about music (well expect how a band works together), but I really missed the technical aspect that is often present in manga.

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mostly awesome

by nanner
11 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

its very hard to find manga out there that focuses on rock music in anything like a realistic way and overall, beck does that. i loved that they didn't become overnight sensations but actually grew slowly into their strength as a band over the course of years in the series. they arn't instant experts and it takes a while for them to get good enough to be noticed despite the obstacles.

some of the conflict in the middle seems rather contrived and was recycled over and over again (two or three times in some cases) and i ended up wanting to kick the hell out chiba more than once; so much drama over nothing worthwhile.

on the romance end of things, i really disliked the stock shoujo aspects thrown in here and there. the romance is sweet in the beginning but it had its irritating moments, even then. one of the cliches i hate most in shoujo manga is the issue of misinterpretation and assumption without clarification. if they would talk for two seconds to one another instead of running away all the time they could have avoided it. unfortunately koyuki and especially maho do this all the time which creates lots of aggravating DRAMA that i've skipped over anytime i sit down and do a re-read of this series.
all it really did was decrease my liking for maho over the course of the series. by the end of the story i didn't really care about her anymore; she seems to exist solely to make koyuki's life even harder than it already is.

i had this one on my reading list for a while because i didn't like the artwork in the beginning, (i still think those lips are freaky in the first few volumes), but the artwork does get better and the story itself makes up for it. if you read it for the music aspects, the band, and the character growth then this is a pretty awesome series over all.

... Last updated 11 years ago

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Awesome! Except for...

by auriga
13 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

...the romance. If you're looking for a good romance manga, this isn't exactly it; this is a music manga that happens to have romance - not that it's a bad thing. What's particularly annoying is the author's penchant for introducing romantic interests... only to conveniently write them off. It does pack romantic drama, but I'm really not fond of how the tension just seems to get written off.

Even the ending wasn't spared, IMO. It would've been perfect had Maho not been left out; for all that Koyuki and her have been through you'd expect her to make an appearance, yet she doesn't Of course, this is my personal preference.

Probably another pet peeve I have with Beck is how everyone just seems to stand agape whenever Koyuki sings. Yes, he's supposed to be good... but does everyone really react like that, and in a concert no less? And it just gets cheesier every time it happens.

Joking aside, Beck is an excellent read. Music buffs will definitely enjoy this, and non-buffs... may suddenly get the urge to pick up an axe in the end. I know I did.

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Weird art in the beginning, lacks pacing in the middle, but...

by connerity
13 years ago

Rating: N/A

(might contain minor spoilers, just to warn you)

Beck is a brilliant manga.
The first 2500 pages are great, you constantly get to see something new, showing the character/band development.
The main selling points of this manga are the character development and the emotions it manages to create in you even if you can't hear the songs.

It has it's weak points, too, for example, in the beginning it has a really weird art style, but that changes over time, I think it was gone about 2000 pages in.
It kinda loses it's pacing in the middle, the exciting points are more spread out than in the beginning and in the end.

The last 1400 pages are truly amazing, everything that was built up to that point truly comes to shine, allowing for a magnificant finishing marathon with a very great ending, wrapping up every loose thread remaining.

To finish it up, my 3 favorite scenes from the manga:

1. The whole avalon festival, but out of it, especially the moment when MCS was announced to play on the main stage in front of 100k+ people, nothing short of epic.

Maho reuniting with Koyuki at the train station, very powerful scene.

Koyuki getting pulled on stage by Dying Breed at their secret show.

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Great ride

by Verix
13 years ago

Rating: N/A

Personally I think the score here might be just a bit overrated. It's an excellent manga, that much is true, but it definitely has it's shortcomings. Still, it left me speechless, screaming and with "goosebumps from head to toes" every now and then, which isn't something your every manga achieves. It's a long read with some pacing difficulties, but overall it's a thrilling, exhilarating ride.

I think any manga fan should read this at least one. There's little not to like. I think the end of the first volume should tell you enough about whether or not you're going to like this manga. I for one was sold.

... Last updated 13 years ago

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wring out emotions

by whitespade
14 years ago

Rating: 9.9 / 10.0

this manga made me feel a whole variation of emotion, from sadness to happiness to anger to disappointment...but the most important of all it can bring out the sense of wonder and awe out from a couple of page of just shots of the band and the fans and made my heart beat fast as if i was hearing the song at that moment.

out of hundreds of manga i had read, this is the most realistic group of 'nakama' i had ever read - there's no blind sense of loyalty or people putting up with other people for the convenience of the plot, but their friendship actually blossom slowly from a little seed to a very strong bond that will never be broken.

and the romance - well, the romance is beautiful. koyuki is possibly the most romantic guy ever. who the hell just drop everything and run to his lover's side just by hearing her name? their love ring true - there's no sappiness, no cheesiness, just undying love that's no need for hollow declaration but shown through their actions.

the only reason i don't give a 10 is because it's my policy to never give a full mark for anything.

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Holy Crap

by MatrixM
14 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

This is good.

Read it.

Now.

That last chapter especially, what a powerful ending. Makes me want to know so much more.

I read this in two days, during my exam time (probably almost failed one because of it) but I don't regret it too much. Because this was freaking awesome. I don't play the guitar and I'm not really music savvy, but that's irrelevant. Because this was FREAKING AWESOME!

EDIT: The only problem for me was trying to imagine the songs. for some reason, I kept hacing the Arctic Monkeys running through my head and It was kind of annoying because I don't think match Beck.

... Last updated 14 years ago

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This Manga Needs A Soundtrack

by Sacheverell
14 years ago

Rating: N/A

The only real flaw with Beck is that when you're just reading it, you don't really have a proper sense of how the author intended for the various songs to actually sound. It's almost like the actual manga books should have come with a soundtrack.

I otherwise found this manga to be very enjoyable to read just because of how all the characters were handled. The art may not be the greatest and some of the characters would not be nice to look at even with super pretty art, but it does work for Beck.

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