To begin with this "review", I just want to make two things clear. Firstly, I'll try to spoil as little as possible, but I can't promise too much. And secondly, this is not a review, just some general thoughts and my opinion about this manga.
Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad is a manga made by Harold Sakuishi that revolves around Yukio Tanaka (from now on Koyuki) the main character of the manga. Koyuki is introduced as a shy character with no musical prowess but with one gift, which is his voice. Koyuki cross paths with Ryusuke Minami and his dog, Beck. Ryusuke is a troublesome sixteen years old from America that made Koyuki discover his musical talent and form a band with him, naming it Beck. The band is formed by Chiba, the main vocalist of the band (who I'll talk more about it later on), Taira, who is the bass guitarist of the band, Saku the drummer and Koyuki's best friend, Ray the lead guitarist and, of course, Koyuki the guitarist and vocalist of the band.
Beck's focus is mainly on the struggle of succeeding in the music industry, which turns out to be far more difficult from what they have had imagined at first. However, Beck also gives the reader one of the best character development I've ever read, as well as memorable moments that can make you cry.

How it's done. Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad is a manga published by Kodansha in its Monthly Shōnen Magazine from 1999 to its May 2008 issue. This manga might surprise a lot of people because the first chapter has 86 pages. Regardless of that, this manga ends up being a really good experience and something you can read with no difficulty. Story The story Sakuishi presents us here, is by far one of the most coherent and well-paced stories I've ever read. The mangaka makes the most of every detail, even if it's the most superficial thing ever he'll try to connect that to the storyline and make it important to the plot. Some may say this manga gets repetitive, and to an extent, I have to agree. However, the author continues to surprise the reader with unexpected problems within the band. The reader learns that every word the characters say is vital to the story, which makes it, unlike any other manga. If you're, let's say, halfway through and you think that the author overlooked some parts then I'd recommend you to just finish it because you'll realize that Sakuishi doesn't do that. I also want to point out that the storyline doesn't take place in just one year, the story evolves with the characters and with its own personal problems and it takes its time to fully develop its characters. Art This is the most subjective part so I'll keep it short and mention a few things. The backgrounds are well detailed and look appealing, especially when Beck is performing on stage. You can see the audience screaming and encouraging the band. But what I love most is the difficult task the mangaka manages to excel at - through the art, you can pick up every emotion of the members perfectly, which is hard to do, knowing that this is not an anime and we can't hear their voices of the characters. Another thing I loved about this manga is that at the beginning of each chapter the author makes some alternative version of world-famous album covers, which added a lot to the enjoyment of this manga.
Characters This is by far the best thing about the manga. As I said before, Sakuishi takes his sweet time to develop each character of this manga. Yes, even side characters. Even those characters that were at the beginning and because of the plot they were slowly fading away? Yes, even those characters. The mangaka introduces us to a lot of characters throughout the manga and all of them have an impact on the members of Beck, individually and as a band. All of the characters are solid and complex on their own, evolving during the story, which doesn't make them unidimensional. What makes the characters feel real are their emotions and how they interact with the rest of the characters. Chiba is my favorite character of the manga. Chiba is a dedicated person and has a loud personality. He constantly gets into fights, but deep inside him, he is really sensitive. Chiba is the soul of the band - his charisma and personality makes Beck what it is But that's not everything about Chiba. As I said, he is in fact sensitive and he takes it all to heart which causes Chiba to think that he is insufficient to the band and that Koyuki should be the main vocalist of Beck. This makes Chiba try to find his own path going to underground rap competitions and showing the rest of the members that he isn't only the vocalist of an indie rock band, that he is way more than that, that he has everything a vocalist needs to be successful. Personal Enjoyment and Final Thoughts What else can I say? I love music, and even though I'm not the number one fan of the Rock genre I still loved this manga. And I'm not saying that you should know about music to understand this masterpiece because I would be lying. This manga is one of the most pleasant, entertaining, fun, heartbreaking, breathtaking and interesting experiences I've ever had reading manga until now. I would read this manga countless times again just because of the last 20 chapters, which are probably the best chapters I've read until now. And I'd love to say more about those last chapters, but I'll be mentioning a lot of spoilers that will ruin your experience and believe me, you don't want to be spoilered. Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad is one of my favorite manga. It is so much more than just what it appears to be. Beck: MCS makes you realize that fame and money aren't the only things in the world, and if you're planning on getting them, you'll likely lose yourself and everything else around you. In the end, they are not the most important things in life