Why Anime?

There's a drastic shortage of mediums that can accommodate the telling of stories the way animation can. Sadly, most of America seems to think that animation means strictly kiddie fare that every so often can be enjoyed by adults. With anime, it's no holds barred as for what stories can be told.

Sure there are plenty of brainless "I'm better/faster/stronger than you and I can prove it by flexing my muscles at you and breathing heavily for 20 minutes" kinds of series, but those are aimed squarely at kids that don't know any better. Now, I could list off all kinds of anime that showcase the best the medium has to offer, but there's one in particular I'm going to talk about:

BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad is about a group of friends that form a band and work their way through the club scene. Let me tell you about the main character for a little bit though.




This is Koyuki.
He's 14 years old
and as any 14 year
old boy would be,
he's just a tad
disillusioned with
his life. Nothing
interesting ever
happens and it's
likely that nothing
ever will.

One day he meets a guy named Ryusuke. At first Koyuki is less than impressed, but after another chance encounter he's invited to hang out with him. Turns out Ryusuke is really into rock music and turns Koyuki onto a few of the basics; like Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Eric Clapton, The Beatles etc. Koyuki is amazed at what he's hearing, as he's lived solely on J-Pop or whatever was popular at the time

Eventually he's invited to one of Ryusuke's shows and is mesmerized by his guitar playing skills. Koyuki decides right then to learn how to play. Pretty soon Koyuki and Ryusuke form a band with some of their (very talented) friends and they play local clubs together.

They name their band Beck, after Ryusuke's dog. They were hesitant to use the name at first because it's already in use by Beck and Jeff Beck, obviously. They even release an EP in America but are renamed Mongolian Chop Squad by the indie record label exec to avoid confusion and lawsuits. Hence the title of the anime.

Through a series of (at times exciting and sad) events, Koyuki and his band mates land a spot for one of the biggest music festivals in Japan, Grateful Sound 5. Just before they're due to go on, there's a kind of falling out among the bandmates as the audience is waiting for them to come on.

Koyuki isn't about to let this opportunity pass by, so he goes up on stage by himself and starts playing "I've Got A Feeling" by The Beatles. Inspired by him, the rest of the band joins him on stage one by one. For me, it's seriously one of the best moments of any story I've read or watched.

I threw this video together because the performance takes place in two episodes. After they finish the song they play the rest of their set and end with a crowd of a few thousand cheering them on. Really great stuff. Unfortunately, the anime ends shortly after. Fortunately it's based off of a manga so the story doesn't end there. They even manage to tour the US.

So if you ask me why I love anime so much, it's because of series like this. It shows that any story can be told using animation, and can be told well.