1 post tagged “beck”
We first caught a few minutes of the rather recent series via Canada's music video station Much Music, dubbed. I liked the way it was handling kids and indie rock music; I have said it before, that even the most mundane anime is about heroes -- what better hero than an indie rock god? We grabbed the entire series from a popular fansub and began.
Koyuki is your typical japanese anime kid in junior highschool -- not popular, not very confident and oh so clumsy. We pick up in his life with him reconnecting with a childhood friend, a girl who is into indie rock "lives" or what we would call "gigs". But she is really only a plot device as she serves to introduce this kid, up to now only into the typical japanese pop idols, to live music performed by kids near his age in loud underground nightclubs, literally underground for the most part. She also knows Ryuusuke, recently returned from America, english speaking and the hottest thing on a guitar in the city's music scene. We also meet Ryuusuke's dog, Beck, for who the series is named and the weirdest (translate only) franken-dog I have ever seen in anime. Oh yeah, and Ryuusuke's sister, Maho. Hot sister.
Very quickly the story becomes about Koyuki getting together with Ryuusuke's new bandmates, as he abandons his and from the first episode during a dispute about who's the creative leader of the band. Ryuusuke takes the flea-esque bassist with him and puts together a new ensemble. Koyuki is on the periphery and is determined to become one of them. The next 20+ episodes are about their, but mainly Koyuki's rise to fame, in a bid to become "hit in America" as the title song goes. And to get together properly with Maho despite her idiot english speaking friends. We get the usual mixed cast of over the top weirdos (bizarrely pervy swimming/guitar teacher), antagonists (high school rock god's son) and villains (music producer from the states) but a surprisingly straight forward journey of learning to play music, discovering natural talent, playing lives, producing a first demo disk and finally, doing a tour of the US, to sold out shows in the college scene. It's a really nice view into another country's idea of what it is to be rockers, albeit one with obvious US Worship. The fact that rock was born in the US is not lost on these kids.
While enjoying it immensely I could not help but giggle by the english language worshipping and an unintended side-effect in the grand amounts of Engrish. Ryuusuke, who is supposed to speak perfect English for having lived in the US for long, stammers badly through basic sentences. Other characters, who were supposed to be native english speakers obviously were voice actors capable of faking an american accent but only understood english in passing. You will also have to forgive me for giggling at Koyuki's english singing but at least is forgiveable because he admits to knowing very little english. As for whether this would be typical of the reverse, I wouldn't know, because... well I couldn't tell well-spoke japanese from bad and have you heard an american TV actor speaking french lately? That is the point of it being used in the series -- it's considered cool to be speaking it no matter your accuracy. My favourite bit was the fact that the series sub-title, Mongolian Chop Squad (the kids' band name in the US) was Mongorian for a handfull of episodes. But my even more favouritish use of language in the series was by our loving fansubbers, who subtitled signage as if the script (in english) was attached to the signs in question. When we see the "fishing pond" sign from behind, the words in english, floating above the sign proper, are reversed, as if we could actually read them from within the anime.
Unlike many anime series that lose steam about 75% into their story, this one went well. There was typical aggravating (lack of) attention paid to the love-interest subplot but it was resolved in the end, as if their success at a band was paralleled by Koyuki's success in a love life. The poor kid always had a confidence problem but for when he was singing his heart out, singing love songs for her. Well, kind of love songs -- one was from Ryuusuke's point of view, not Koyuki's. It handled well, all the way through and despite being dated for the music choices (late 90s early 2000s???) it did a good job of being timeless in what it paid attention to -- working hard, practicing alot but understanding that your heart has to be in the music and it cannot just be about the popularity and money.
Koyuki is your typical japanese anime kid in junior highschool -- not popular, not very confident and oh so clumsy. We pick up in his life with him reconnecting with a childhood friend, a girl who is into indie rock "lives" or what we would call "gigs". But she is really only a plot device as she serves to introduce this kid, up to now only into the typical japanese pop idols, to live music performed by kids near his age in loud underground nightclubs, literally underground for the most part. She also knows Ryuusuke, recently returned from America, english speaking and the hottest thing on a guitar in the city's music scene. We also meet Ryuusuke's dog, Beck, for who the series is named and the weirdest (translate only) franken-dog I have ever seen in anime. Oh yeah, and Ryuusuke's sister, Maho. Hot sister.
Very quickly the story becomes about Koyuki getting together with Ryuusuke's new bandmates, as he abandons his and from the first episode during a dispute about who's the creative leader of the band. Ryuusuke takes the flea-esque bassist with him and puts together a new ensemble. Koyuki is on the periphery and is determined to become one of them. The next 20+ episodes are about their, but mainly Koyuki's rise to fame, in a bid to become "hit in America" as the title song goes. And to get together properly with Maho despite her idiot english speaking friends. We get the usual mixed cast of over the top weirdos (bizarrely pervy swimming/guitar teacher), antagonists (high school rock god's son) and villains (music producer from the states) but a surprisingly straight forward journey of learning to play music, discovering natural talent, playing lives, producing a first demo disk and finally, doing a tour of the US, to sold out shows in the college scene. It's a really nice view into another country's idea of what it is to be rockers, albeit one with obvious US Worship. The fact that rock was born in the US is not lost on these kids.
While enjoying it immensely I could not help but giggle by the english language worshipping and an unintended side-effect in the grand amounts of Engrish. Ryuusuke, who is supposed to speak perfect English for having lived in the US for long, stammers badly through basic sentences. Other characters, who were supposed to be native english speakers obviously were voice actors capable of faking an american accent but only understood english in passing. You will also have to forgive me for giggling at Koyuki's english singing but at least is forgiveable because he admits to knowing very little english. As for whether this would be typical of the reverse, I wouldn't know, because... well I couldn't tell well-spoke japanese from bad and have you heard an american TV actor speaking french lately? That is the point of it being used in the series -- it's considered cool to be speaking it no matter your accuracy. My favourite bit was the fact that the series sub-title, Mongolian Chop Squad (the kids' band name in the US) was Mongorian for a handfull of episodes. But my even more favouritish use of language in the series was by our loving fansubbers, who subtitled signage as if the script (in english) was attached to the signs in question. When we see the "fishing pond" sign from behind, the words in english, floating above the sign proper, are reversed, as if we could actually read them from within the anime.
Unlike many anime series that lose steam about 75% into their story, this one went well. There was typical aggravating (lack of) attention paid to the love-interest subplot but it was resolved in the end, as if their success at a band was paralleled by Koyuki's success in a love life. The poor kid always had a confidence problem but for when he was singing his heart out, singing love songs for her. Well, kind of love songs -- one was from Ryuusuke's point of view, not Koyuki's. It handled well, all the way through and despite being dated for the music choices (late 90s early 2000s???) it did a good job of being timeless in what it paid attention to -- working hard, practicing alot but understanding that your heart has to be in the music and it cannot just be about the popularity and money.
