THE BAND

The Band is a musical manga series created by Harold Sakuishi, who is most widely recognized for his critically acclaimed work BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad. Before he achieved massive success with BECK, Sakuishi explored his deep affinity for rock and roll culture through this earlier project, which reflects the raw, energetic, and often tumultuous atmosphere of the underground music scene in Japan during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The series focuses on the grit and idealism of starting a band, utilizing Sakuishi’s signature style of expressive character design and dynamic panel layouts to capture the intensity of live performance. While it remains a more niche entry in his bibliography compared to his later hits, it serves as a foundational piece that demonstrates the thematic interests and stylistic evolution that would eventually define his career as a prominent mangaka in the music-genre category.