BECK (2010)

I had always thought I had gotten over my pretty Japanese boy-phase─and then comes the BECK live-action, which has me in a fangirl-frenzy.

Mizushima Hiro and Mukai Osamu. Mmmmm, boy. ♥
[photos from www.dailyotaku.com and tamfeels.blogspot.com]

BECK is about these five guys─Chiba (Vocals), Koyuki (Vocals, Guitars), Ryusuke (Lead Guitars), Taira (Bass) and Saku (Drums)─who form this band and are trying to make it big in the Japanese music scene.

Huh, there's not a lot I can add to that to describe the plot. It's mostly character-driven, focusing on the band members' relationships with one another.

This is the first anime live-action adaptation I've watched where the actors are just as, if not more, attractive than their animated counterparts.

Case in point.

The movie was a pretty good adaptation of the series. Of course, since it's pressed for time, there wasn't a lot of character growth, and the relationships between the characters weren't fleshed out as well as the animated series, if they were fleshed out at all.

The American characters looked very cartoonish and bordered on stereotype, and I thought they mis-cast Maho. The actress (Kutsuna Shiori) was pretty, but she lacked the badass vibe animated/manga Maho had. The guy who played Chiba (Kiritani Kenta) was awesome, though. He got all of Chiba's quirks without it looking forced.

BECK was a fun watch. I now feel like I have to rewatch the anime since it's been years. I also feel the need to sing in a band again. I only wish they used some of the music in the anime because it was so iconic of the show, so I leave you with the anime's opening theme.

This review originally appears in Teluete's blog, Gab Can Fly. Check it out.