About BECK- Mongolian Chop Squad
BECK is a manga by Harold Sakuishi published by Kodansha in Monthly Shonen Magazine. It was adapted as an anime television series with the title BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad (the subtitle being the name by which the band is known in the United States, in the story, possibly to avoid confusion with BECK Hansen despite being named after the guitarists dog). It tells the story of a group of Japanese teenagers who form a rock band. The manga was licensed in North America by Tokyopop, but after the release of the 12th volume in June 2008, the manga went on a hiatus.The series has also spawned three guidebooks. The manga won the 2002 Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen. The 26-episode anime television series was aired on Japan's TV Tokyo from October 2004 to March 2005. It was directed by Osamu Kobayashi, animated by Madhouse and produced by Takeshi Shukuri and Yoshimi Nakajima. A live-action film adaptation will be released in 2010. The film stars Hiro Mizushima as Ryusuke and Takeru Satoh as Koyuki. Yukio, known by his friends as "Koyuki", is a regular 14-year-old Japanese boy who enters junior high school with two childhood acquaintances. One is a pervert, and ironically the other is a highly sought after female student. Koyuki's boring life is changed when he saves an odd-looking dog, named BECK, from some kids. Beck's owner turns out to be an emerging rock musician, Ryusuke Minami, who soon influences Koyuki to start playing the guitar, and even gives one to him. The story focuses on the trials and tribulations of their rock band named BECK, and Koyuki's relationships with the members of the band, in particular Ryusuke Minami and his sister, Maho Minami.