Review of Beck: Volume 2

Introduction

What did people use for analogy before they invented the bus? "Insane emperors are like chariots. You wait for days and then three come at once." "Revolutionary wars are like horse-drawn carriages…" It doesn`t have the same ring to it. Anyway, I`m applying the proverbial convoy of buses to must-own anime. 2007 has been a good year for anime, but not a great one. Plenty of series have been released, but while there are a few excellent titles that would appeal to niche audiences, as well as several enjoyable series that are fun to watch, there hasn`t been the broad audience title of such awesome quality that I could recommend it as a blind buy to anyone even vaguely interested in the medium. Then as the year drew to a close, Revelation unleashed not one but two such series. I`ve just been gushing like a schoolgirl with her first crush over the second volume of Mushi-shi, and now the second volume of Beck turns up for review. "Squeal!"

It`s a problem common the world over, the disaffected, disillusioned and rebellious teenager who wants to get away from the reins of authority and do something meaningful with his or her life. That means picking up a guitar and starting a band of course. That`s before realising that they`d have to learn how to play, and most instruments are gathering dust within a month. There are some brief bursts of raucous glory, bands of Wyld Stallyns calibre, which provide a summer or two of memories, and tales of rock and roll excess to tell the grandchildren. But once in a while there emerges someone with genuine talent, someone who really can perform and has charisma. Then they have to deal with the fickle music industry, the adulation, and the groupies, all the while avoiding those pesky creative differences. Beck tells the story of Koyuki Tanaka, a daydreaming student who wandered into the wrong side of town one day, and had his future opened to world of possibilities.

This second disc of Beck -Mongolian Chop Squad entitled Play On, comes with five episodes. Previously on Beck, just as Ryusuke was putting together his new band, he and Koyuki had their first bout of creative differences.

6. Hyoda and the Jaguar
Ryusuke`s band is coming together. He`s got a new bassist named Taira, and a drummer, who`s name I typically can`t recall as I type this sentence. Taira believes that Ryusuke`s new band Beck has the magic that he`s been looking for. It means parting ways with his old band, leaving his friend Eiji in the lurch. Meanwhile Koyuki has a new music teacher at school. Momoko Ogasawara starts work with enthusiasm, keen to inspire her students, and promptly organises a choir to take part in the cultural festival. Her class is less than helpful though, driving her to tears. Koyuki can`t resist a damsel in distress, and agrees to help motivate the class. It gets him the crosshairs of class bully Hyoda. What confuses matters is that Hyoda is a natural when it comes to playing the guitar. Meanwhile a vandal is targeting Beck`s instruments.

7. Prudence
Koyuki has been working hard, in his guitar lessons and practice, and at work to earn enough money to repair the guitar that Ryusuke gave him. It was his carelessness that drove a wedge between the two, and now that it`s ready, Koyuki will be able to look Ryusuke in the eye again. He hasn`t counted on Hyoda however. The bullying at school is just getting worse, and Koyuki looks forward to vacation when he can devote himself to his music. Meanwhile Beck continues to attract attention on the club scene, they`re even gathering a few groupies.

8. Broadcast in the School
The groupies find a dog that looks remarkably familiar, although when they show the photo to Ryusuke, he`s quick to destroy the image. Koyuki thinks that life is going to get easier when he graduates from his class, but it isn`t to be when Hyoda winds up in the same class the next term. It gets worse, he`s soon persona non grata in school, and Hyoda starts extorting money. Fortunately his music is coming on in leaps and bounds. Saito lends Koyuki a guitar, and best of all, Maho helps Koyuki reconcile with her brother, and soon he`s jamming in the studio with Beck. He also makes a new friend named Sakurai at school who shares the same musical interests.

9. The Night Before LIVE
It`s getting worse for Koyuki at school, as Hyoda volunteers him for every race at the upcoming swim meet just to see him humiliated further. It looks like Koyuki`s fortunes are about to turn around though. Saito`s training isn`t just restricted to the guitar; the former Olympic athlete has been putting Koyuki through his paces in the swimming pool too. And on top of that, Maho promises that if Koyuki wins, she`ll do anything he wants. The band is in trouble too. Finances are looking tight, and it`s a good thing I didn`t learn the name of the drummer, as he`s torn between his family and the band. When it turns out that Sakurai can play the drums, Ryusuke decides that it`s time to audition two new members. Koyuki will be playing his first live gig in a week.

10. Face
Koyuki survives, but he`s not too pleased with his performance. Neither is bassist Taira, but Ryusuke sees promise in him. While listening to his mistakes from the gig, Koyuki hears a song recorded afterwards that strikes a chord within him. Ryusuke has been writing a song about his sister Maho, and all of a sudden, Koyuki is determined to sing it. Before he gets a chance to, he has to deal with those pesky school bullies. There are one or two advantages to being in a band.

Video

Beck gets an unproblematic 4:3 transfer. The image is clear throughout, the colours are strong, and there are no signs of obvious artefacts. That`s with the exception of the credit sequences yet again. The credits are re-versioned to show the English cast and crew in addition to the original crew, and when overlaid on the credit animation, the image suffers from strong aliasing. Fortunately the jagged lines are absent from the textless credit sequences in the extras, but it still looks poor in comparison to the main animation.

Madhouse studios provide the animation for Beck, and it is strong, vibrant and dynamic. The world design and the character designs are distinctive, and the singular feel of the show is palpable. As with all modern anime, CG and traditional 2D animation combines to make a pleasing whole. Here it is the guitars that are given the digital makeover, and the care taken on animating the instruments really adds a dimension to the anime.

Audio

You have a choice of DD 5.1 and DD 2.0 English, along with DD 2.0 Japanese and optional translated subtitles and signs. Naturally, given that it is a music heavy show, you can expect some serious j-rock tunes to nod your heads to. The sound design is more impressive in the 5.1 track of course, but it`s pretty standard for a television anime. Given the music content, it`s a shame that the Japanese couldn`t have been a 5.1 track as well.

There is an extra dilemma in choosing languages this time around. Beck is a show about cultural differences, with everyday school kid Koyuki entering a new world of music. This difference is most apparent in the language spoken. In the Japanese dub, while Koyuki and his friends speak Japanese, Ryusuke and his circle are more used to speaking English (Ryusuke and Maho were raised in America), so for all the Japanese dialogue you`ll be reading subtitles for, there is a fair bit of English too (the songs are mostly in English). The trouble is that fluent English spoken for a Japanese audience by Japanese voice actors, isn`t fluent English for an English audience. Accents vary, with Ryusuke`s VA quite good, while Maho`s accent is strongly Japanese. Understandably then, the English dialogue is subtitled as well.

For the English dub, the cultural differences remain, but the script is reworked to lose the difference in language. It`s understandable why this is done, and you don`t have to suspend that extra bit of disbelief. It`s like Arnold Schwarzenegger`s perfect Arabic in True Lies. The thing that I am not quite au fait with yet is that the songs are rerecorded for the English dub as well. On the one hand you have performances by Japanese bands for the show, on the other you have voice actors rerecording those songs, and I`m not sure that is necessary in all cases. Regardless, you have both versions to listen to here, and you can make your own mind up as to which are better.

Features

The usual animated menus, jacket picture, and trailers for Negima and Full Metal Alchemist, and textless songs are here. It`s fun watching the end credits to see how many of the manga style music icons you can recognise.

The 4-minute music video, "A Life On The Road" is the same song as presented on volume 1.

Apparently you get a guitar pick with the retail release. I just received the check disc so I cannot confirm that.

Conclusion

I should have saved some praise, as I think I blew it all on Volume 1. I`ll say it again then, Beck is the best anime release of the year, and no anime fan should be without its benefits. Once in a while a story comes by which is so engrossing, the characters so true to life and sympathetic, that you`re reduced to shouting and cheering at the screen as the story develops. It`s a rare show that elicits a vocal response in me, but Beck is so fine that during the episode run times, I am in that world, vicariously rooting for the characters.

Beck is a slice of life anime, with added rock and roll, with a teenager at that crossroads age, when everything seems possible, but the obstacles seem insurmountable. As the story unfolds in this volume, it seems that Koyuki`s problems just keep on getting worse, when he runs into a problem with bullies at school. As is usually the case in these stories, the situation just gets worse, as Koyuki tries to avoid his tormentors, or just placate them. Naturally at this point, I`m yelling that he should grow a backbone and tell them where to get off. But real life just doesn`t work like that, and neither does Beck. What confuses the matter is that Hyoda the bully, also plays in a band, and he`s a pretty good guitarist. For Koyuki that means that he has a spot of admiration for Hyoda as well as the fear.

Fortunately the rift that developed between Koyuki and Ryusuke wasn`t a permanent one, so that while his school life may be the pits, at least he has his music to fall back on. Beck, the band is coming together, and given that Koyuki has been practicing in every spare moment, it`s no surprise that he`s quickly progressed beyond a beginner`s level at the guitar. Of course Koyuki was eventually going to be a member of Beck, but what is surprising is that the confidence that develops in the studio begins to carry over into other aspects of his life. Following his success at the swim meet, he realises that he can face the bullies, and when one of them pushes too far, it`s a cathartic experience for the audience to finally see him stand up for himself. It doesn`t necessarily turn out in the clichéd fashion though. What`s more impressive is his development from follower to leader. Koyuki fell into music when his friend Izumi took him to see a band, and introduced him to something beyond the world of j-pop. Since then, although he`s been determined to learn how to play the guitar, he`s been coasting otherwise, letting events dictate what he does. The point where he decides that he will sing Ryusuke`s song is just as pivotal as the moment when he stands up to his tormentor. Finally it looks as if he will shape his own destiny, and that strength is just what the band needs.

It`s an awesome, awesome story, an anime that if there is any justice in the world should sell itself. Just in case though, I`ll give it a little helping hand. Buy this, buy this now. You won`t be disappointed. I`m already looking forward to my next fix of Beck. Unfortunately, we`ll have to wait a little longer this year. I`ve mentioned before the problem that some UK distributors have of too many titles and not enough release slots. It`s an enviable situation, and one that Revelation finds themselves in for next year. As they close 2007, they have 7 series on the go, and while one ends in December, two more will start in early 2008. With only two or three release slots a month for anime, that means that all of Revelation`s ongoing series will move to a quarterly release schedule. We may have to wait a little longer for subsequent instalments of Beck, but support your local anime industry. The wait will be more than worth it, especially for this absolute gem of a series.