Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Mongolian Chop Squad


Hi everyone. Welcome back to another Monday (sorta) edition of Ninjaboy's Sketch-a-Day.

Man, it really seems like a long time since I've typed that. Oh wait, that's because it has been a long time since I last typed it.

Anyway, today's sketch is of the character Koyuki from the manga/anime Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad doin' his thing on stage.

If you haven't seen this anime you should do yourself a favor and check it out. Though, if you can find the original versions from Nihon (Japan) that's the best way to watch them.
I'm not just saying that because I'm an anime fan, and love to watch fansubs. But more to the point I'm a music fan. And the original versions have some songs in them that are not in the American releases and honestly, the US versions actually suffer a little as a result.

The last couple of episodes have the band performing I've Got a Feeling by the Beatles in the original version, however due to legal reasons I'm sure, the lyrics were replaced in the US version and it really pulls the music fan out of the show. I'm not even a big Beatles fan, but hearing the music with different lyrics actually made me a little mad.

Anyway, the reason I was inspired to do this sketch was because a coworker turned me on to this website, and if you're a music fan it's flat-out awesome! What a fantastic idea. The folks at From the Basement have a great thing going there, and I'm so glad that the large number of artists have contributed to the site. They are HD videos of bands performing a song in a rather nice looking 'basement recording studio'. It's way better than any video you will find on YouTube as the picture quality is fantastic and the production is clearly done by the hands of music fans. Every shot was done out of love of musical performance and makes it feel like you are really there, watching them perform. I love it.

Which got me thinking, I wonder what Beck/Mongolian Chop Squad would look and sound like in that type of setting.

What can I say. I'm a geek.

Anywho, hope you dig the quick sketch I did in CS3 using my Bamboo tablet. I only had about 10 minutes to sketch it out, so forgive the significant lack of polish. After all, I am getting back in the swing of things.

See you tomorrow.

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