Beck (manga)
Beck is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Harold Sakuishi. It was originally serialized in Monthly Shōnen Magazine from 1999 to 2008, with the 103 chapters later published into 34 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha. It tells the story of a group of Japanese teenagers who form a rock band and their struggle to fame, focusing on 14-year-old Yukio "Koyuki" Tanaka, who until meeting guitar prodigy Ryusuke Minami was an average teen with a boring life.
| Beck | |
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Beck (front) and Yukio Tanaka (back) | |
| Genre |
|
|---|---|
| Manga | |
| Written by | Harold Sakuishi |
| Published by | Kodansha |
| English publisher |
|
| Magazine | Monthly Shōnen Magazine |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | July 1999 – April 2008 |
| Volumes | 34 |
| Anime television series | |
| Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad | |
| Directed by |
|
| Produced by |
|
| Written by | Osamu Kobayashi |
| Studio | Madhouse |
| Licensed by |
|
| Original network | TV Tokyo |
| English network | |
| Original run | October 7, 2004 – March 31, 2005 |
| Episodes | 26 |
| Game | |
| Beck: The Game | |
| Developer | Sun-Tec |
| Publisher | Marvelous Interactive |
| Genre | Adventure, Music |
| Platform | PlayStation 2 |
| Released | March 31, 2005 |
| Live-action film | |
| Directed by | Yukihiko Tsutsumi |
| Written by | Tetsuya Oishi |
| Released | September 4, 2010 |
| Runtime | 145 minutes |
It was adapted into a 26-episode anime television series, titled Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, by Madhouse and aired on TV Tokyo from October 2004 to March 2005. A live-action film adaptation was released in 2010 and stars Takeru Satoh as Koyuki and Hiro Mizushima as Ryusuke. The series has also spawned three guidebooks, four soundtracks, a video game and a line of guitars.
The Beck manga was licensed for an English-language release in North America by Tokyopop. The first volume was published in July 2005, but the series was discontinued after the release of volume 12 in June 2008. In July 2018, ComiXology began releasing the series digitally. The anime was given an English-language release by Funimation from 2007 to 2008.