Yukio "Koyuki" Tanaka wasted away his middle school days listening to Japanese pop music and apathetically trudging through life—until a casual run-in with the enigmatic guitarist Ryuusuke "Ray" Minami. Through this encounter, Koyuki realizes what he has been missing all this time as Ray introduces him to western rock music and jumpstarts his desire to play guitar.


Although various struggles plague his path to rock fame, Koyuki refuses to abandon the passion that gave his life purpose, balancing it together with school, work, and friends. Beck tells the story of the love and trial that accompanies pursuing a professional career in music as Koyuki and Ray work toward realizing the guitarist's dream of the ultimate band.

Beck won the 26th Kodansha Manga Award in a tie alongside Sakigake!! Cromartie Koukou for Best Shounen Manga in 2002. A promotional soundtrack, titled Greatful Sound: Tribute to Beck, featuring several different artists performing songs from the manga was released on November 15, 2002. A live-action film adaptation directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi was released nationwide in theaters on September 10, 2010, which received the Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Music.


The series was published in English as BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad. Due to their license expiring, Tokyopop only published 12 volumes from July 12, 2005 to June 10, 2008.

Publishers:

• Shounen Magazine (magazine)