Manga like BECK

NANA

Also known as Nana.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Music , Romance , Slice of Life

Nana Komatsu is a young woman who's endured an unending string of boyfriend problems. Moving to Tokyo, she's hoping to take control of her life and put all those messy misadventures behind her. She's looking for love and she's hoping to find it in the big city.

Nana Osaki, on the other hand, is cool, confident and focused. She swaggers into town and proceeds to kick down the doors to Tokyo's underground punk scene. She's got a dream and won't give up until she becomes Japan's No. 1 rock'n'roll superstar.

This is the story of two 20-year-old women who share the same name. Even though they come from completely different backgrounds, they somehow meet and become best friends. The world of Nana is a world exploding with sex, music, fashion, gossip and all-night parties.



Note: Winner of the 48th Shogakukan Manga Award in the Shoujo Category in 2002.

Tags: Female Protagonist , Band , Primarily Adult Cast , Shoujo , Tragedy , Time Skip , Philosophy , Pregnant , Found Family , Netorare , Bisexual , LGBTQ+ Themes , Love Triangle , Heterosexual , Achronological Order , Urban , Rock Music , Age Gap , Nudity , Drugs , Bar

SHIORI EXPERIENCE: Jimi na Watashi to Hen na Ojisan

Status: Releasing
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Music

Shiori was once a guitarist in a light music club in high school, but her first live performance was dashed when her brother ran away from home with a lot of debt to become a musician in Tokyo.

A decade later, Shiori is now a high school teacher, leading a boring, uneventful life and paying off the debt... till she runs into the ghost of none other than a famous guitarist Jim-you-know-who.

A story of a 27-year-old woman on her way to a music legend begins here.

Tags: Band , Ghost , School Club , Seinen , Coming of Age , Teacher , Female Protagonist , Tomboy , Anachronism , Rock Music , Delinquents , Ensemble Cast , Primarily Adult Cast

BLUE GIANT

Also known as Blue Giant.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music , Slice of Life

Dai lived a normal high school life in Sendai: a city of hot summer days and rainy nights. Between basketball, part time jobs, and an uncertain future, something was missing. And that thing was music. With his days in senior year running out, Dai swears a heartfelt vow: “I’m gonna be the best jazz player in the world.”

But what do you need to be the best? Talent? Effort? A lucky break? Or maybe just a deep, pure love for music, and too much stubbornness to know when to quit.



Notes: Nominated to the 22nd Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.

Tags: Seinen , Band , Jazz Music , Male Protagonist , Coming of Age , Bar , Primarily Male Cast , Primarily Adult Cast , Tragedy , Ensemble Cast

Ore to Akuma no Blues

Also known as Me and the Devil Blues: The Unreal Life of Robert Johnson.

Status: Releasing
Genres: Drama , Horror , Music , Mystery , Psychological

Legend has it that if you take your guitar and stand at a crossroads at the witching hour, the devil will appear. He’ll grab your instrument, play a song, and hand it back to you. You’ll walk away an expert bluesman, but you’ll have to pay the price: your immortal soul.

The year is 1929. Deep in the Mississippi Delta, a young man named RJ dreams of becoming a bluesman. RJ is a simple farmer who can barely play guitar, but when he takes a midnight stroll, his life is forever changed. A phantasmagoric reimagining of the life of legendary blues great Robert Johnson, Me and the Devil Blues follows the journey of a man who really did sell his soul to the devil. Why not come along for the ride?



Note: Won the 2009 Glyph Comics Awards in the Best Reprint Publication category.

Tags: Seinen , Historical , Body Horror , Male Protagonist , Musical Theater , Foreign , Anachronism , Travel , Demons

Fuuka

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Drama , Ecchi , Music , Romance

New meetings always come suddenly! The protagonist, Yuu Haruna, moves into a new town where he meets a somewhat strange girl who doesn't have a cell phone. The girl, Fuuka, seems to have a strange allure that draws people to her, very much like a summer breeze. Looks like Yuu has been caught up in one wild love story!



Note: Chapter count includes 195 regular chapters and 9 extras.

Tags: Band , Tragedy , Agriculture , Musical Theater , Age Gap , School , Shounen , Coming of Age , Bisexual

Solanin

Also known as Solanin.

Status: Finished
Genres: Drama , Music , Slice of Life

College graduates struggle to cope with the real world. Music offers refuge in this modern manga with an American attitude. Meiko Inoue is a recent college grad working as an office lady in a job she hates. Her boyfriend Shigeo is permanently crashing at her apartment because his job as a freelance illustrator doesn't pay enough for rent. And her parents in the country keep sending her boxes of veggies that just rot in her fridge. Straddling the line between her years as a student and the rest of her life, Meiko struggles with the feeling that she's just not cut out to be a part of the real world.



Notes:
The chapter count contains an epilogue published in October 2017 as part of the new Japanese volumes edition release.
It was nominated for the 2009 Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Japan.
It was nominated for the 2009 Harvey Award for Best American Edition of Foreign Material.

Tags: Coming of Age , Band , Seinen , Tragedy , Heterosexual , Found Family , Primarily Adult Cast , Female Protagonist , Family Life , College , Urban , Rock Music , Office Lady , Nudity

Burai Otoko: Bremen

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Comedy , Music

Reiji and Kasuga head out to Tokyo to become the "Gods of Rock," but they seem to always attract trouble. On their way, Hayama Ryo and Fujii Ran join them in their quest.

Tags: Shounen , Band , Crossdressing , Rock Music

Detroit Metal City

Also known as DMC: Detroit Metal City.

Status: Finished
Genres: Comedy , Music

Souichi Negishi is a common boy, timid, quiet. He loves flowers, walking and musical hits like the ones that radios play. But he is also Krauzer II, leader of Detroit Metal City (DMC), the most popular underground metal band of Japan! Souichi would like to change his life and start to play Swedish pop songs with peaceful and loving lyrics instead of the violent and vulgar ones of DMC, but when he is playing with his band he completely changes his attitude and behavior...

Note: Includes 8 extra chapters.

Tags: Band , Surreal Comedy , Episodic , Parody , Language Barrier , Seinen , Urban , Primarily Adult Cast , Male Protagonist , Metal Music , Rural , Drugs , Bullying

Bakuon Rettou

Status: Finished
Genres: Action , Drama , Psychological

In the 80s, the parents of Kaze Takashi move to a quiet area of ​​Tokyo in order to save the young man from the bad influence of his friends. In class, Takashi does not take long to make new friends and they soon invite him to meet with their gang, the Zeros. Takashi comes to love motorcycles and gets involved with the gang. What has he got himself into and is he ready to face the consequences?

Tags: Gangs , Delinquents , Coming of Age , Motorcycles , Seinen , Autobiographical , Tragedy , Bullying , Criminal Organization , Yakuza , Drugs , Anti-Hero , School , Class Struggle , Prison , Revenge , Nudity

THE BAND

Status: Releasing
Genres: Music

Tags: Shounen , School Club , Rock Music