BECK Mongolian Chop Squad - Review

Heart pounding music and the journey of 6 young musicians. Welcome to BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad.

Most music anime follow a stricked formula, characters come together, sound amazing right off the bat, are set for a big concert, something happens, will they make it or won't they? They succed and thats it. No Character development, no engaging side stories and music wise you have nothing but J-Pop (not that theres anything wrong with that, if this is your cup of tea I point you towards Love Live! and K-On!). Music anime nowadays has started branching out (for example see AKB0048), but if you want a realistic Slice of Life, Music anime with interesting characters, abrilliant story and music in the style of 1970's Rock, Punk, Rap and a touch of the Beatles. Then I highly recommend this Show.

The Story centers around Koyuki, whose outlook on life is after 14 years of living, his life is going

nowhere. while walking home one day he ends up rescuing a strange Frankenstein like dog from a group of kids. The dog, Beck, belongs to Ryusuke, a half Japanese half American 16 year old guitar player. Through Ryusuke he discovers the joy of music, meets Ryusuke's 14 year old sister Miho and eventually decides that this is the life he wants. Learning how to play the guitar from the school swim coach, Saitou in return for cleaning his house. After establishing himself as an Average guitar player, Miho discovers that Koyuki is an incredible singer with untapped potential. After all the twists and turns, establishing the band, the ups and downs, releasing there first album, mafia ties and the greatest opportunity of their lives. Will they be able to make it through?

Characters are all fairly enjoyable with every one having there own personality and growth. Plenty of colorful characters ranging from the students, teachers, bullies, music producers etc. Voice acting in both English and Japanese are top notch and worthy of praise. Greg Ayres and Brina Palencia are absolutely brilliant, both seasoned professionals with brilliant singing voices. If you want an example look up 'Moon on the water' (Koyuki and Miho version) and 'Slip Out a little more than before'. Japanese wise Daisuke Namikawa does a great job as Koyuki's everyday Voice but the real stand out is Kazuya Hirabayashi as Koyuki's singing voice, having to sing a mixture of English and Japanese with a great care not to trip over words. The only fault I had with the acting was with a few episodes early on in the Japanese dub were Ryusuke and Miho attempt to speak to each other in what is essentially engrish, other than that, good all round.

The animation is a bit jarring at first especially with the character design but doesn't ruin the
experience. backgrounds and crowds have a fair amount of detail but the art really shines during concerts and especially the instruments. Guitar players will know straight away that Koyuki's guitar is defiantly a Fender Telecaster and Ryusuke certainly plays a Gibson Les Paul (certainly looks cooler than mine).

Most of the music is by a Japanese band named the Beat Crusader, some of there original tracks can be heard throughout the show, including the opening theme "Hit in the USA" and during an early episode "50c Wisdom" (although stated to be by the fictional band Dying Breed). A number of other tracks of theirs include, "Love Discord", "Moon on the Water" and "Gymnasium". The Ending theme "My World Down" is by Meister. This Anime got me in to Beat Crusaders so I gotta say even if you don't watch this show, check them out. It's Worth it. Another good band to check out would be Typhoon 24, Responsible for the songs "Like a foojin" and "Spice of Life".


All an all this is highly recommended, and while it may appear slow to start, it is well worth the watch and if your a music fan you should find your moneys worth. ^_^