If you are heavily into rock music or music as a whole, PLEASE READ THIS MANGA! If you aren't into rock music or music as a whole, PLEASE READ THIS MANGA! BECK is a story about a kid named Koyuki finding his purpose in life through friendship and music. The story is definitely not something fast paced, but something way more realistic for its plot of building up a successful rock band. This manga doesn't shy away from the struggles it takes to be a part of the music industry and the sacrifices you'll have to make in order to keep your spot in it. The cast is absolutely amazing and will genuinely feel like a family the more you read along. The art progressively gets more and more amazing and even though you can't hear the music while reading, you'll easily be able to feel it through the art. I feel like BECK is an amazing manga to read if you're interested in getting further into either music listening or making. It's a long journey, but it's definitely a manga that highlights the journey way more than the destination which makes it one of the most realistic slice of life mangas I have read (besides some certain crazy action scenes lol).
Now for how I feel about BECK, I think it might go down as one of the most personally impactful things I have read. When I added this manga to my TBR a few years ago, I didn't want to read it until I got further deep into Rock Music and I think that it was an amazing decision that I made. The music references in this manga are absolutely amazing with the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and chapter cover music references. I had so much fun being able to point out things that the Mangaka referenced and it truly made my journey of diving deeper into music feel so much more rewarding. I never thought I'd see the Abbey Road album cover drawn inside a MANGA, but I'm just so happy to see how much this Mangaka truly loves music like I do.
For the past few months, I've been wanting to start making my own music from how much inspiration I have gotten from my favorite bands and artists I have listened to. However, it feels so overwhelming to start the journey. I would ask myself questions like; "Do I have what it takes to become someone big?, Could I actually get recognition in this world from my own music?, Do I really think I can put in the sacrifices it will take to truly have a good standing in the music industry?" I've made little steps like making a couple song covers, and I got a guitar for my birthday a couple months ago. But, I still barely practice it. I really want to, but I realized that I don't think I'll personally be able to teach myself. Learning an instrument without a teacher can be something very hard, which is why I wanted to sign up for music lessons. However, in order for my parents to sign me up, I need to get a job so I can pay half of it. Learning this, I felt defeated in a way. A part of me really wanted to ignore them and still try to practice by myself, but then I stopped in my tracks and thought of what I was doing. If I'm so eager to learn music so I can make my own, why am I not making the sacrifice of losing my own free time by getting a job? Once I thought about how I was trying to hold myself back from my potential by staying comfortable in my current life position, I realized that I needed to stop and truly start moving forward with my life. Right after that, I made a resume and I got a job interview in the next couple days. I didn't get the job, but the fact that I went out of my way to do that in order to get closer to my dream of being a musician shows that I have the power inside of me to push myself to achieve my own goals. I paused my job hunting because I was going on vacation (which I'm still currently on) and reading this manga has reminded me why I want to be a musician so badly. Seeing Koyuki, Taira, Saku, Ryusuke, and Chiba put in so much hard work to make BECK work out in the music industry inspired me to work harder for my dreams of becoming a musician.
This vacation in general has shown me that I won't be able to truly be successful or do what I want to do in life if I don't make my own personal sacrifices to get there. It feels like something so hard to do at first, but when you finally make that step you realize how easy it is to truly achieve your dreams if you just put in the hard work for it. Music has become my favorite medium of all time in the past year because of how touching it feels for the soul. Someone else's words and lyrics can hit you so deep and feel so personal and it makes me feel so inspired to be able to do the same for others one day.
Music isn't just a medium for me, it is my life. Because of music, I've created so many bonds, I've had so many eye-opening life experiences, and I have a dream to share my voice to many. Fun fact, this manga actually motivated me to watch my first music concert and it was an insane experience for me. The intensity was something out of this world and I left the concert feeling like I caught a glimpse at what I was truly destined to do in life. I'm so happy that I was able to experience my favorite medium (music) through my 2nd favorite medium (manga) and I hope that witnessing BECK's journey will give me what I need in order to push forward and give the world my voice through my own music.
(P.S. if you want a REALLY good song to listen to during the scenes while the bands play their music, I HIGHLY recommend listening to Destroyed By Hippie Powers by Car Seat Headrest (my 2nd fav band of all time) and Helter Skelter by The Beatles (my 3rd favorite band of all time) :)
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