BECK Volume 17
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Koyuki thought he and Maho would be together forever, until she drops a bombshell when she reveals her plans to study abroad. Swallowing his shock, Koyuki and the guys set out on BECK's Japan tour. Failure is not an option, as their Greatful Sound appearance is riding on the tour's success. Feeling the pressure, but confident from having overcome their tour of the States, the gang tackles the trial head-on. However, they're in for a wild ride when the gods of rock throw one curveball after another at them!
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Manga has its share of bildungsromans that follow the path of an unathletic kid who, by dint of practice, mentorship and unstoppable will, becomes a top basketball/tennis/baseball player. Beck belongs to this genre, with the interesting twist that its nerdy 14-year-old hero, Yukio Tanaka, is on a journey from zero to rock-'n'-roller. In the beginning, Yukio knows nothing about rock and is a fan of Okinawan pop music (which, it is implied, is very uncool). Yukio meets Ryosuke, a 16-year-old rocker who was brought up in the U.S., where he played guitar in a garage band. Yukio starts going to rock clubs, listening to rock music and hanging out with his beautiful classmate Izumi, Ryosuke and Ryosuke's sister, Maho. But not until the very end of this volume do readers get a hint that playing rock music is in Yukio's future. This appealing tale is marred slightly by the inclusion of a silly and clich d peeping-tom subplot, but Sakuishi's characterizations have a strong identification factor, aided by a sharp and funny translation. The book is aimed at older teens, and there is some profanity. The clean, easy-to-follow art resembles a slightly less manic version of Eichiro Oda's art in One Piece.
