Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Volume 6

BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad #6

by Harold Sakuishi

Beck just needs sixty-thousand yen and a microphone to record a demo! During a break from trying to earn some cash to cut the record, Koyuki and Saku decide it's not their place in the 9-to-5 world. They join Tanabe and form Ciel Bleu - it's the school's Battle of the Bands, and time to rock out! Later, Koyuki realizes he's got to splurge for a new six-string, and he will do anything to buy one. But in his search for the perfect instrument, someone sends him a special message...and when he realizes it's filled with more than just love, Koyuki knows he's got to be cruel to be kind. Will someone...anyone...call the karma police?

Genres: Manga, Comics, Music, Japanese Literature, Fiction, Shonen, Graphic Novels

208 pages, Paperback

First published February 14, 2001

About the author

Associated names :
哈罗德作石
HAROLD作石

Name (in native language) : ハロルド 作石

Birth Name : Sakuishi (作石) Takahiro (貴浩)

Blood type : AB

Sakuishi has a wide variety of interests which include baseball (he is a huge Chunichi Dragons fan), martial arts, MMA, and music (he is a huge Red Hot Chili Peppers fan).
Each of these has become the basis for his most popular series (baseball in Stopper Busujima, fighting in Bakaichi, and music in Beck).
His series also often include character cameos from his past works; one of the newspaper reporters in Beck is actually from Stopper Busujima and so on. Additionally, he's a big fan of Sangokushi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) with an altered version of that story appearing in Beck written by "Christy Sakuishi".
In Beck he included many famous people in background crowds. These included many popular musicians, characters from Happy Sangokushi and MMA legends Royce Gracie and Kazushi Sakuraba.

Reviews

[Maxence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every volume is soooo good

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I do like where things are left with Hyodo, and that the Maho/Izumi thing seemed short lived and now they like each other. There's some sort of murder mystery thing maybe going on with the American contingent, which is...well, I don't really know how interesting it actually is at this point because they're all such peripheral characters. Guess it may hit closer to home further down the line though?

One thing I did like: that the guitar that calls out to Koyuki when he goes to buy his first one is a Tele, as that guitar seems to be the love of my husband's life too, although he has been getting into some weirder ones lately.

I am also enjoying Koyuki gradually start to gain confidence in himself, and I like seeing how the guys in the band back him up. It would be nice to see them on the cover sometimes, and not just Koyuki all the time!

Anyway, I'm going to keep going with this for now, in hopes of gradually getting more into the actual music side of things.

[Javier Muñoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta serie, al margen de las típicas tramas estudiantiles, tiene una gracia especial para los que tocamos algún instrumento o hemos estado alguna vez en un grupo, recordar sensaciones como la vivida la primera vez que vas a probar una guitarra en una tienda de música y eres dolorosamente consciente de que todos los que están allí tocan mucho mejor que tú... no tiene precio

[Craig Schorling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not really sold on the murder mystery side story at this point. Koyuki and Hyodo have some great interaction in this volume. I wish Maho would have had more time in this one, especially after what happened in the previous volume. The Battle of the Bands moment when Ryusuke yells at the crowd had me laughing out loud.

[Kurtis Burkhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for any music lover🎧🥁🎸 Pretty great rock and roll manga, good art and pretty good story!😁🤟💕

[Derek Moreland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the weakest volume so far, mostly just slowly advancing the sub-plots...but still a sweet, fun read.

[clo · Rating 4 out of 5]

was hoping we’d leave tis bullying subplot in middle school but guess not. why is a 16yo involved in murder cases

[notjoshy · Rating 5 out of 5]

He's already in high school and I felt like I started yesterday 😭

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall Rating: A+
Synopsis: Beck is a manga by Harold Sakuishi that follows Koyuki, a junior high nerd. At the beginning of the series, Koyuki leads a boring life, with a pervert as his only friend. That all changes when he saves a strange looking dog named Beck, and meets the dog's owner, Ryuusuke. The two become friends, and Koyuki starts down the path to being cool.

Beck centers around a band formed by Ryuusuke, and its rise to fame, but that's not what the series is about. The manga primarily follows Koyuki, and focuses on his trouble with girls, trying to learn to play the guitar, getting extorted for money by a bully, and his failing grades. Oh, yeah, and his swimming lessons from Saitou-san. The series touches on Koyuki's struggles in a way that makes the fact that he is becoming famous (at least at his school and in underground clubs) for his singing.

As the story progresses, it focuses more and more on the fledgling band, and its rise in popularity. At the end of volume 7, there is even an interesting subplot based around Ryuusuke's guitar, Lucille. It's these little things, subplots that don't focus on the band itself, but on its members that make Beck one of the better manga out there. It makes the characters intriguing, and I identify with the geek in Koyuki. Maybe one day, I can be in a Japanese punk band...

For more manga and anime reviews, please check out Hobotaku.

[Akmalramadhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

good manga

[Leonardo Dearie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to follow

I'm still working on my opinion about what is happening to yuri and the characters in his own personal life that is