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Yukio “Koyuki” Tanaka is a 14 year-old eight grade student who feels that his life is boring and is at a “dead end.” One day, he sees a funky-looking dog (Beck) getting bullied by some kids and saves it. The owner of Beck is 16 year-old Ryusuke Minami, a slacker and a talented rock guitarist. Koyuki is inspired by Ryusuke to pick up the guitar and to join Ryusuke’s band, Beck. Koyuki’s leaves behind his boring life and aspires to become a successful musician with Beck.

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During school, Koyuki doodles in hit notebook and daydreams about his boring life rather than paying attention to class. After school, Koyuki and his friend, Tanabe, kill time looking at girls and playing games. On the way home, Koyuki runs into some punks who beat him up. Koyuki runs away and takes a break on a bench. He sees some kid bullying a dog (Beck) and stops them. This is his first encounter with Ryusuke, who thanks him for helping Beck.

Koyuki’s childhood friend/crush, Izumi, invites him to hang out with some friends. They bowl and go grab dinner afterwards. There, he sees Ryusuke at another table. After dinner, Koyuki and co run into some punks and Koyuki stands up against them. It’s Ryusuke who becomes the hero in the end though. Ryusuke thanks Koyuki again for saving Beck and compliments him for his bravery. The next day, Koyuki and Izumi go to Ryusuke’s home after school and the episodes ends with them in front of a fishing store.

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“In general, unpopular withdrawn children are excessively anxious and uncertain around other children, often hovering around the group without knowing how to break into a conversation or activity. Their hesitancy, low self-esteem, and lack of confidence make other children feel uncomfortable, and their submissiveness makes them easy target for bullying” (199). Koyuki is absolutely like this. When he gets invited by Izumi to hang out, Koyuki has a hard time getting along. The scene where he throws the ball into the gutter and he walks back all slouched while his team are scowling at him is a perfect example of this. The first episode shows us a brief explanation for why Koyuki is like this. There is a scene that shows Koyuki and Izumi as little kids, messing around during class. Thanks to Izumi, Koyuki made some friends, but the school shut down, so Koyuki lost all his friends. Although the kids themselves did not reject him, the situation separated them and rejected Koyuki of friends, lowering his self-esteem even more.

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Another reason for Koyuki’s lack of confidence is his mom. Koyuki’s mom makes an appearance only once in episode 1 and it is really not much of appearance at all; you do not even get to see her. All you see is Koyuki leaving and his mom says, “You seem to be happy. Don’t stay out too late now!” (Beck Ep.1). Even in the other episodes, you never see his mom. My curfew when I was 14 was before the sun set, but Koyuki’s is don’t stay out too late; she just lets him do whatever, as long as he is happy. Out of the four parenting styles, Koyuki’s mom’s parenting looks to be on the indulgent spectrum. The textbook says, “Adolescents raised in indulgent household are less mature, less responsible, and more conforming to their peers” (146). The third is especially evident in Koyuki, because although he only has one friend, he does whatever Tanabe says. After school, Tanabe says let’s peek on girls, and they do that. He says let’s go to the gaming center, and they do that. The scene where the two them are at a gaming center and all Koyuki does is watch Tanabe play and fetch him a Coke is a clear example of this.

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Beck first came out as a manga in 1999 and Japan still had mixed feelings about the US. They were enjoying the culture for sure. The episode starts with Koyuki not paying attention during English class. Also, besides the school uniform, a lot of the guys, including Koyuki and Ryusuke, wear jeans, which can be seen when Koyuki goes bowling. After bowling, one the guys whine about wanting to go to McDonald’s and when Koyuki wants to eat a Yoshinoya beef bowl, everyone puts on the what-the-heck-is-wrong-with-you face. However, Japan did not have a good image of American people, therefore the drunk American punks who can’t stop cursing.

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Koyuki is a kid with low self-esteem who thinks his life is boring. At one in episode 1, he says, “I felt like no one cared if I lived or not” (Beck Ep.1). A big part of why he is like this is the lack of attention he received from his family and peers. Although the first episode does not cover it too much, his interactions with Ryusuke, Izumi, and Beck members, Maho Minami, and Kenichi Saitou in future episodes help him gain confidence and find himself.