So if I thought some of the other prompts were vague, this one takes the cake! What the heck do they mean by badass? Is it the coolest fight? ‘Cus I already answered that question… Is it the most epic moment? ‘Cus I answered that too… I’m starting to realize that there is a lot of overlap between the Challenge prompts and my answers.
I had a hard time coming up with my pick for this post, so again I took this in a completely different direction than this prompt intended… So my pick for the most badass scene from an anime character is…
The scene from one of my all time favorite anime series, Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad (my friends think I like it because of my name 😛 ).
Beck: MCS, follows a middle schooler named Yukio ‘Koyuki’ Tanaka, who is looking for something to shake up his mundane life. Everything changes when he rescues a weird looking dog one day on his way home from school. The dog’s owner an aspiring musician takes Koyuki under his wing and introduces him to the indie music scene. Suddenly Koyuki’s life is anything but boring as he embarks on a musical journey of self discovery! I fell in love with this series from the very first episode, I even went out and bought all of the available manga volumes (before Tokyopop went under). I don’t know if I can praise this series enough… but, I’ll save that for another post.
So back to the task at hand… the 30 Day Anime Challenge… My pick for the most badass scene from an anime character is the scene when Koyuki is asked to join the famous international rock band, Dying Breed on stage for their secret live concert!
So, why this scene? Well, first Koyuki, a nobody is asked to sing on stage with an internationally famous rock band… an opportunity that anyone would give their left arm for! But, let’s also remember that Koyuki is a 14 year old, middle schooler with no formal musical training. Second, this random Japanese kid with absolutely no formal musical training, kills it! Throughout the series everyone gushes over how amazing Koyuki’s singing voice is, but this is the first time he actually sings for a crowd…
I’m a little mad that the clip doesn’t show the the entire scene (copyright law is to blame). After he is called on stage by Dying Breed and he picks a song to sing, he chokes, his voice cracks and everything. Of course the crowd laughs at the hiccup, but Koyuki doesn’t run away or cry, nope… he takes a deep breath and he gives it another go and he completely blows everyone away with his talent! Even Dying Breed is impressed with his singing ability, but that’s not why this is such a badass scene. The reason this scene is so epic, is because it serves as a turning point for Koyuki as a character. Of all of Beck’s members, Koyuki always seemed like the odd one out, the guy that didn’t really belong… but when he gets on that stage and sings his heart out, he solidifies himself as a bona fide member of Beck!
I only included a clip of the English dub, but I highly recommend giving the Japanese version a listen too. It may not be as clean sounding as the dub, but it still has just as much heart!
So that’s my pick… What do you think of my pick? What would you have chosen as your pick for most badass scene from an anime character? Let me know in the comments section, I’d love to hear your choices! As always THANK YOU for reading!!!