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Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Volume 1

2005Harold Sakuishi

4.6/5

Although manga readers might feel (rightly) that the concept has been done before, Beck is intriguing for its introspective tone and surprising depth of feeling. The reader leaves the first volume with a lot of food for thought and a lot of curiosity about what the future will bring the main character. With the notable exception of the cliche of the horndog friend, the characters are already settingup as complex enough to keep you guessing---in a good way. Is Ryosuke a player, an undependable moocher, or does he just a dreamer who gets carried away? Where does Yukio's sadness come from and can he get past it? What's Izumi's real story? At this point for a manga theme that would seem to be pretty textbook (loner wannabe with a big dream) things are surprisingly unpredictable. Even the plot thread with Yukio and his dream girl isn't black and white. There's ambiguity both in Ryosuke's friendship with her and even Yukio's uneasy friendship with Ryosuke's sister. The art reflects the at-times gritty setting and veers away from the overly cutesy, chibi-heavy look. (I actually don't think there was a chibi to be found). The creepy friend's look is in line with the grotesque/caricaturish style you sometimes see with that type of character, so...not that original there, but a familiar feature that manga fans will recognize.Mature ThemesSome violent scenes: The main character lives in kind of a bad neighborhood and gets beat up. Another character pulls a gun when a situation escalates. I would argue though that it's applicable to the plot, realistic to the environment, and linked to character development.As for fan service/sexual content, it's fairly tame as it goes. All that there is is basically centered on Yukio's sleazy "friend" who likes to spy on the girls' swim team practices and at one point initiates an ill-advised excursion to peep on the changing rooms that gets derailed. It's a clumsy distraction to an otherwise interesting story, but doesn't eat up a whole lot of the book's focus, and there's no nudity. Although it's perhaps hinted at that Ryosuke has quite a female following, that's about as far as it goes.
Picture of a book: Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Volume 1

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