Story Summary
Asian Beat contains a few short stories:

The Town Where Snow Falls - Kaji is in high school and lives with her step mother and two step siblings. Her step mother has a hard time as a single working mother and takes out her anger on Kaji. One day Kaji meets a boy named Maria who has had a falling out with his girlfriend. Kaji and Maria sleep together and Kaji falls in love, but Maria is still in love with his girlfriend.

Asian Beat - Introduces sixteen year old boy Mushi and fourteen year old girl Jam Shioya and their male friend Yuki. Mushi and Jam live on their own. Their father is a painter and an alcoholic and is rarely home. Yuki lives with the Shioya's most of the time because he doesn't like to go home to his Yakuza boss father. These three kids are a trio of delinquents and a makeshift family. They spend their days drinking and going to school if they feel like it. Together they're all trying to fight off the loneliness and pain in their daily lives.

The Grey Town - A story about Jam's troubles with a bully at school.

The Scar - A story about Yuki's past and how his mother's suicide haunts him.

My Opinion
These stories are different from Hakase Mizuki's other works because they don't involve any supernatural elements. They're stories of teenagers struggling to find happiness in the people around them.

General Information
Author: Mizuki Hakase
Volumes: 1
Genre: Drama
Age Rating: 16+
Years Run in Japan: 2002
Japanese Publisher: Shinshokan
US Distributor: Tokyopop
US Release Year: 2007
Made into Anime?: no
More Manga by the Author:
- Baku (Tokyopop)
- Demon Flowers: Kuruizaki no Hana (Tokyopop)
- The Demon Ororon (Tokyopop)