There are many reasons why I find Beck amazing. One of the things I really enjoy is how Beck tries to show the cycle that many creative people go through from inspiration, perspiration, to knowing that it’s over and the dream has ended without the desired ending. What does one do after taking the shot and failing?
Koyuki meets some guys in volume four (episodes 15-18) who had the dream, but are now on the outside. One is bitter and probably wishes he never had the dream in the first place, mad that his opportunities have all passed. Another has decided to take a tangent on that dream and opened up his own guitar store. The third exits the dream with grace and moves on. The dream always seems to end short.
The way the show handled the down side resonated well with me with the way it kind of just laid it out like this is just how it goes. Koyuki sees this, thinking about how even talented and hard working people can’t reach it. Personally, I think this is the point where many people turn back and join reality. It is, after all, the “smart” choice. Only the stubborn, the foolish, and the brave press on toward the cliff.
This is a metaphor or something.
As much as I love Beck for staying on target when it comes to the whole journey of a band thing, the storyline about Prudence/Lucille feels a bit lame. And on a random note, there’s this new chic in the story. She’s like this gymnast girl, but she seems to lose her balance alot. I wonder what’s up with that?
Beck is an amazing anime for me too, watching it made me want to play the guitar over and over and a friend actually borrowed a guitar from me after watching Beck as well (he didn’t last too long tho :/).
Like you, I liked how Beck portrayed how people handle things differently. Though with regards to the guitar store owner that didn’t make it, I felt he was more of a Malmsteen clone and while imitation is supposedly the best form of flattery, it probably could be why the owner didn’t make it in the end. After all, if I wanted to listen to Malmsteen, I’d go out and grab a Malmsteen CD instead of someone trying to sound like him yeah?
My take on the gymnast girl is that even if someone may be the best in his element, that doesn’t mean it applies to every aspect (ever seen Jordan playing baseball? ^^;). It’s just being human I guess =)
Yeah, the dude even named his store after Malmsteen.
In other news, I am in despair over the disappointing number of comments this post received. Beck really does not the attention it deserves, which is unfortunate, as it’s an excellent show.
I thought Beck would have been a bigger show. As far as comments go, I know that most people who read blogs are fansub watchers and for a lot of them dvd releases are just old (or before their fandom), so I go into these anime dvd posts knowing prime interest has expired. Plus I think people just skip my non-figure posts. Anime posts on my blog get about 1/10th the traffic vs a figure post.