BECK Volume 13
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
“We’ll all meet up at the grave.” Amid their train-wreck tour of the States, the deeper meaning behind the band’s communal “dream” dawns on Koyuki. As if led by the ghosts of music’s past, they arrive at Jimmy Hendrix’s grave, and who do they find there, but the MIA Ryusuke! Back in full form following the fateful reunion, it’s time for BECK to show what they’re made of at the palace of alternative rock, Lizard House! …Or so was the plan, until Kevin drops a bombshell and tells them they’re off the tour!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
