jewel.wilkinson - 2013-12-29 06:20:01

Premise

Kids on the Slope is a show that follows a boy named Kaoru as he enters high school in 1966 and makes friends with a perceived thug named Sentaro. They bond over a shared love for playing jazz music. The show follows them over the course of their high school careers. It is 12 episodes long and is suitable for all ages.

What’s Awesome About It?
Kids on the Slope is an extremely well done and stand out anime for many reasons. To start, the animation is absolutely gorgeous. The art style of the characters tends to be less of a generic modern anime look, ending up with something slightly more realistic. The fluidity of the animation also melds perfectly with a color palette that is both vibrant and reminiscent of the 1960’s setting of the show.

The next main strong point of the show, and perhaps its biggest strength, is the absolute brilliance of the score. Composed by Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex), it never fails to amaze. It consists of several beautiful renditions of jazz pieces such as Moanin’ by Art Blakey. Besides the general soundtrack, the way in which music forms the hinge of the narrative is accentuated by the sheer talent that musicians playing drum, piano, and trumpet have.

Finally, the show has one of the best written plots in an anime in recent memory. The combination of the skill with which the writers created and then fleshed out interesting and believable characters with direction by Shinichirō Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo) give the show a lasting impression. Unlike many shows that only have 12 or 13 episodes, Kids on the Slope manages to create an extremely well fleshed out set of characters and plot and then give it a satisfying resolution.

My Thoughts
I am absolutely in love with almost every part of this show. I was originally intrigued by the unique setting of the 1960’s a time period that I’ve never seen explored in anime before as well as by Yoko Kanno’s involvement with the show. After watching it, I’d have to say that I was thoroughly amazed by not only the quality of art, animation, and soundtrack, but by the absolutely amazing characters. I found myself becoming extremely emotionally invested in the characters far beyond the level at which I normally would in a 12 episode show. A final little note is that I recommend that the show be watched in Japanese with subtitles due to the importance of the Japanese setting as well as the inclusion of English speakers in the Japanese version at certain points. All in all, Kids on the Slope is a piece of art that deserves nothing short of the highest praise and I can’t recommend it any more than I already have.

mtromp - 2013-12-15 03:40:10

legros.kamren - 2013-09-22 00:15:59

Real men watch Kids on the Slope...and don't think it's gay. That's how I'll put it.

I have to write this down because I don't understand why this anime is so looked down on.

Well, I suppose it's because being an anime by Shinichiro Watanabe --with Yoko Kanno making the music, everyone though it would be a really freaking amazing musical anime. And, I have to admit, it's not.

That doesn't mean it's bad though.The story is better than many I've seen out there, the romance is believable (too much so, maybe) and it has dared to do one of the things hardly any other anime has done: explore a male friendship. Yes, it's got cheesy bits, but there were some genuinely touching moments. (The ending, for example...).

I enjoyedthe way the friendship was portrayed, and there were--definitely-- no homosexual undertones whatsoever. You want an anime with homo undertones? This summer season's Free! is one to look at. Kids on the Slope has a friendship between males at its core, and the two main characters definitely value each other enormously, but I saw nothing of those subtextual hints that have driven people away from this series. It's a good series, guys. It's not Cowboy Bebop, of course, but inside its genre, it's quite good. Just keep in mind that this anime is a josei and revolves around high school friendships and romances. With a bit of jazz. If you don't like that kind of thing, Kid on the Slope just won't do it for you.

But, for those who do enjoy those genres, please give it a try.

yfritsch - 2013-09-07 03:20:56

As always, my reviews are spoiler free.

MAL-era import review; please excuse my lack of experience.

Jokes aside, looking at the surface of Kids on the Slope, one might think that it is a just another music SOL anime such as K-On! or Tari Tari. After all, each of these series is about a number of high school students living out their normal lives, all brought together by music.Look a bit deeper however, and you will see that Kids on the Slope, directed by the famous Shinichiro Watanabe of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, is a totally different entity entirely.

Story - 7/10

Kids on a Slope is set in 1960s Japan, a time when American Jazz was a powerful part of Japan’s musical culture. During this time, an unlikely group of students gather together, united by this one common interest. From here their story unfolds, and in some ways the anime changes form entirely; for at its heart, Kids on a Slope is not a SOL. It is, in fact, a romance through and through.

The series often forgoes the focus on jazz that it presents in the first episodes of the series to focus on the relationships between the characters. That’s not to say that the viewer isn’t treated to frequent jam sessions throughout the series, but it becomes obvious that the character’s connections are now the main point of the series. I’ll go into this a bit more later.

As far as the setting goes, it’s pretty easy to forget that you are in 1960s Japan. There are indications, of course; mainly music references, but also the cars, record players, etc. However, the series uses its setting almost entirely for the music, and I feel a bit of potential is lost where it could have brought out a bit more character of the era

Animation - 8/10

The animation in the show is well above average. Gradients are used to great effect, and shadows on the characters faces and backgrounds show great attention to detail. Character designs are unique, perhaps even polarizing. While the character designs are well done, the backgrounds can be a bit plain, and the frequently revisited areas are disappointingly plain.

Animation itself is beautiful. Everything is very fluid, especially the scenes in which instruments are played. The level of detail during these scenes is absolutely fantastic, but it makes me wish they would have used a bit of the animation budget on more detailed sets.

Sound - 8/10

Despite my insistence that this is a romance anime at heart, that doesn’t mean that a huge amount of attention went towards the music. Famous jazz makes up the majority of the music focused scenes, and this is where Kids on a Slope truly shines. However, its original soundtrack is average at best, relying on popular music of the time to keep the viewer entertained. Aside from the jazz, early rock begins to make its way into Japan (and therefore the series) as well, and becomes a source of contention among the characters.

Characters – 7/10

Kids on a Slope has a main cast of three characters: Sentarou, Ritsuko, and Kaoru. Sentarou and Ritsuko are childhood friends, with Kaoru having started attending the same school as them. Being new and rich, he quickly finds himself a social outcast. However, when looking for the key to the roof, he finds himself getting along strangely well with the short-tempered Sentarou. When Kaoru reveals he is a classical pianist, they find themselves playing jazz together often.

However, Kaoru soon develops feelings for the overly kind Ritsuko, who is the embodiment of indecisiveness when it comes to her feelings. The relationship between them, with the complication of Ritsuko’s maybe-not-so-sure feelings for Sentarou, makes up the vast majority of the series.

The supporting cast is more of the same. Yurika, a brief love interest of Sentarou’s, finds herself involved with Junichi, an older friend of Sentarou’s, and her life begins to change as well.

The characters are a mixed bag, really. In one respect, the indecisiveness when it comes to romantic feelings in the teenage years is accurately portrayed, and the characters realistic and likable. On the other hand, this indecisiveness and the classic “misunderstandings” starts to get old after some time, and I found Yurika and Junichi’s relationship a bit exhausting. Your enjoyment of the characters in this series will largely depend on how well you can handle the usual tropes that comes with a romantic anime. A surprising level of backstory is given for relevant characters in a series of this length.

Also it's not gay. No really. I promise. Seriously.

Enjoyment - 7/10

If you go into this series expecting a light-hearted comedy with a music focus, you may be disappointed. What it does present is a slow romance with a musical base drawing the characters together. A nice collection of jazz music, good animation, and a solid romance between the main cast was all tied up together nicely for a twelve episode series.

Other Thoughts

Some say there may be some gay undertones between the two male leads. I didn’t really see this, but it is Josei after all, so men aren’t at their manliest.

uleannon - 2013-08-28 16:11:46

SPOILER-FREE™

Sakamichi no Apollon translates to “Apollo of the slope,” not “Kids on the Slope,” so whatever translation you want to use really doesn’t matter. Kids on a Slope may look on the surface like a typical clichéd romance anime with lots of misunderstandings, too much drama, love polygons and people sort-of-but-not-really changing who they love. You may be tempted to think that’s all Adolescents on an Incline is, and you should give in to that temptation because that’s exactly what it is.

Juveniles on a Slant, by the way, is totally NOT GAY. It’s completely normal for male friends to hold hands, embrace each other crying, run out of school together, eat out of each other’s hands and the like. At least I hope so because me and my roommate may have had a small sexual encounter the other day so PLOT POINT my childhood friend who I secretly love read that and is now crying so I headed over to her house but PLOT POINT my father who I thought was dead meets me along the way and tells me he wants to be a real family from now on but PLOT POINT my roommate accidentally bumps into him and knocks him into a cement plant and starts crying because PLOT POINT my roommate was actually in a relationship with my father but PLOT POINT there’s a meteor headed toward earth and I have to decide if I want to spend my last moments with my dying father or childhood friend.

STORY 4/10

You may have gathered from that somewhat cryptic paragraph that Youths on a Declination has no story, what it has is a string of barely connected random events as a cheap attempt to cause an emotional reaction in the audience. The other point I was trying to make is that Striplings on an Oblique Surface has quite possibly got the single most forced plot I have ever seen in anime. The story is hashed together with every situation the creators think could possibly pull on someone’s heart strings, natural story development be damned. The result is some completely artificial Frankensteinian monster. You can almost hear it sob “Please…kill…me” as it stabs your eyeballs trying to get you to cry any way possible.

As the plot lurches through its various stages it manages to amass quite the collection of plot holes and inconsistencies. For the most part however, it manages to hold itself together as a pretty stereotypical Josei. It does treat themes like coming of age and friendship acceptably. If you happen to really, really love drama and romance then maybe you’ll find a way to enjoy it.

The setting of late-60’s Japan deserves special attention in this review, because it didn’t get any in the show. Whippersnappers on an Acclivity really missed a chance to be unique and interesting by capturing the flavor of the era. Instead, there is barely anything there to distinguish it from a typical modern anime, I half expected a student to pull out a cell phone at any time. There are a few token times when the show tries to masturbate to its own classiness, old-style desks, records and such, but there are so many anachronisms that it winds up just being annoying.

ANIMATION 7/10

The art is not very attractive. The characters have faces only a mother could love and objects and backgrounds can look plain and simple. But Minors on a Gradient has one secret weapon up its sleeve: animation. I could use words like fluid, smooth and beautiful. One test I use to determine how lazy a studio is in animation is music scenes. That is, whenever someone is playing an instrument, do their movements match up with the song? Even an amateur can tell if the beat is on (which it often isn’t). Here, the piano parts are matched to the characters fingers. It shows great attention to detail that is present throughout the show, which compounds the great animation to look spectacular.

SOUND 3/10

Wait, WHAT? 3!? What the fuck is wrong with you John, giving a music anime a 3 for sound? Well, Tykes on a Cant’s soundtrack is lousy. That isn’t to say there’s no good music, it’s just all 30-60 second outtakes of jazz classics. I like jazz more than most, but no points for unoriginality, especially if it’s tied together with a second-rate OST. The voice acting is underwhelming but passable. Ultimately, if you came for the music, go listen to music and give this one a pass.

CHARACTERS 3/10

The translation “Kids on the Slope” may not be faithful to the Japanese, but it’s very faithful to the characters, because they act like children. The main pair: Kaoru and Sentarou, have an interesting relationship. They are best friends, not because they are alike or get along or anything lame like that. No, the show just declares them best friends when they barely know each other and from then on they stick together for better or worse.

SIKE! They spend more than half the show not on speaking terms, and they have at least one fight an episode. I seriously hope nobody views this as a model of a healthy friendship. The way they hate each other makes it even more bizarre and surreal during the few times when they inexplicably love each other.

Now flawed characters are a good thing, but the biggest flaw of Squirts on Uneven Ground’s characters is that they don’t feel like people, not at all. They certainly carry out the orders of the story well, but they have no depth OR consistency. The few times when they acted like human beings was lost on me since I was completely unattached to them.

ENJOYMENT 5/10

Do you get emotional easily? Do you cry when you see road kill? Are you a pre-teen girl? If any of these are true, you may enjoy Youngsters on a Rise. But if unrealistic story and characters causes you not to get emotionally invested, I don’t think this is for you. The make or break here is drama. Many people will think the drama is excessive, but if you’re easily affected then maybe this is worth a shot.

CONCLUSION

I may not be the biggest fan of the romance genre, but (Baby+15)/(mx+b) was a real let-down. It didn’t so much strike me on a sour note, mostly I was just bored watching it. I definitely enjoyed some of the music scenes, but mostly I just want my six hours back.

pwatsica - 2013-08-24 22:17:44

Does Sakamichi live up to the hype?

enola.larson - 2013-07-17 22:11:16

Kids on the Slope follows three characters: smart but lonely Kaoru (nicknamed Richie), bad boy but kindhearted Sentaro, and the lovely and genuine Ritsuko. The unlikely friendship between Kaoru and Sentaro is created when they realize they share an interest in music, namely jazz. Ritsuko (Sentaro's childhood friend) and her father own a record shop where Kaoru and Sentaro jam together.

The story succeeds most when diving into the back stories between Kaoru and Sentaro. They are both incredibly likable characters who become the best of friends. The show plays with this relationship creating ups and downs with adding love triangles and insecurities. This is wonderful and heartfelt.

However, the show gets too over dramatic and can seem quite ridiculous. Especially since it surrounds high school life which in hind sight isn't that dramatic. Yet the drama can be forgiving because as high schoolers we tend to over dramatize things. First loves that don't work out seem like giant weights, when eventually we'll get over it in time.

Altogether the show is worth a watch definitely. It's not the greatest thing you'll ever see, but it's certainly worth a go at 12 episodes. It's got a lot of heart and overall quite enjoyable.

Pros:

Great music and overall sound

Most characters are likable

Interesting story and plot

Captures 1960's Japan well

Can be heartfelt and sympathetic

Dub is pretty good

Cons:

Tends to get over dramatic, especially the main character

Classic high school setting just set in a different period of time

The show sometimes switches between Japanese and English voice actors

jaron.gusikowski - 2013-07-03 07:27:20

Sakamichi no Apollon, otherwise known as Kids on the Slope, is a coming-of-age story set in the 1960s that revolves mainly around protagonist Kaoru Nishimi and his two new friends, Sentarou Kawabuchi, and Ritsuko Mukae.

In the series, Kaoru has just moved to Kyushu to live with his relatives. He is an introverted boy, shy but well-mannered and very studious; more importantly, he plays the piano incredibly well. Everything goes alright for him at first in his new school, as a freshman in high school... until he meets Sentarou. Sentarou is the polar opposite of Kaoru, a strong and extroverted guy who isn't afraid to speak out, but is also doing fairly poorly in school. Kaoru also meets Ritsuko, Sentarou's long-time friend since childhood and whose father owns a record shop. Eventually Kaoru and Sentarou begin playing together in Ritsuko's shop's basement, with Kaoru on piano and Sentarou on drums. This is where the show really kicks off, and eventually the cast expands.

At its heart, the series is primarily about friendship, music, and love. It centers around the friendship between Kaoru and Sentarou just as much as the relationship between Kaoru and Ritsuko. The series throws in a few twists with the love interests and moments of hard hitting reality, very akin to those that some of us may come across in our lives.

The story is not very grand when you compare it to series that have a very large scope, it is very tightly focused on the maturing of the protagonists, the experiences they go through and the bonds they form together. It is very comparable to the series Nodame Cantabile, which also has a tightly focused story. The only gripe I (and some others) have with the story is that the series felt like it should have been more than just 12 episodes, given the length of the source material, and that the ending could have been led up to with much greater effect.

The best parts about this series are the music and the characters. The sound is superb, the voice acting is great and you really believe you're hearing every instrument the way they're meant to be playing. Accompanied by a truly great soundtrack, beautiful opening and ending credit songs, the sound is definitely one of the highest points. If nothing else, you'll buy the soundtrack or loop the intro/outro for quite a while after finishing it. That said, the series is somewhat music-heavy so keep this in mind when giving it a chance. It may not be as prevalent as the music in Nodame Cantabile, however, as Jazz is the trio's binding element, expect to hear a lot of it.

The characters are very well done and all of the main cast members are memorable. Featuring distinct personalities that are richly written in with detail and back-story, you begin to feel like a part of their group, sharing their memories together, the good and bad. Something that I, and many others, have liked is how real the characters felt. Nobody here acts really goofy or silly, nobody cracks otaku culture jokes, nobody makes any references only anime watchers will understand. These are characters that simply play their role as real people with no over-the-top personalities, like you'd find in Nodame Cantabile (with Noda being extra silly and Stresseman being extra perverted - funny and entertaining, but not realistic). Some characters will make irrational actions at certain points, showing the naivety and immaturity of their youth, but every character develops wonderfully and believable throughout the series.

Overall, if you're open to enjoy a series that opens very lighthearted and takes you on a spiral of emotions and events, then Sakamichi no Apollon is for you. If you enjoy music as well, like me, then you'll love this series. 9/10.

desmond25 - 2013-06-29 02:36:39

Sakamichi no Apollon (Which will be now referred to as Kids on the Slope) is an anime, set in the mid 1960s, about 3 angst stricken classmates who come together through music.The main focus is really on Kaoru, a quiet loner who never makes any friends, and Sentarou, a brash school delinquent. They essentially have opposite backgrounds, family lives, personalities, school standings, body types, etc. The show is a lot about how one has an effect on the other. There is of course also Ritsuko, Sentarou's childhood friend, and the daughter of the owner of the record shop the group will practice in. There are also two side characters, Brother Jun and Yurika. They will be involved heavily in some romance sub-plots (and also be a cause of a great deal of confusion around the middle of the show). A lot of this show is about the romance, bromance, and mistaken romances of the characters.The characters, especially Kaoru go through some pretty nice development, however, there are issues. Kaoru especially is the type of character who will make choices that will infuriate you, many of them because of the pure childishness they exhibit. Even Sentarou, who I'd consider to be the best character in the show, makes an extremely rash and out of character decision. The progression of the show is good, but some of the drama used to get there is not.A show that a lot of people will compare this to is Nodame Cantabile. However, Nodame Cantabile does something that Kids on the Slope does not... have comedy. While I understand KotS is not a comedy (and Nodame is) there is almost ZERO comedy in all of KotS. So it's basically all built of tension episode after episode and the end results is that it seems a bit tiring.Obviously one of the main draws to the show is going to be the music. Well, there is some music. The thing is it's not the focus of the show. If you think they form a jazz band or something, they don't. It's just used for them to play and basically let out their emotions. This leads to another issue, if you don't like the over the top, notes everywhere type jazz then the music will be a real detractor for you. So, for all the negative sounding things I've said about the show it's actually fairly decent. It has well thought out (albeit often infuriating) characters and a real good sense of character driven drama (although they go overboard). Yes, the show will make you feel things, but what they do is totally based on you.

mcglynn.charles - 2013-03-17 12:41:58

I love this show, and yes I know it sounds a little silly for me to start off saying that, and it would make the review more interesting if I revealed my love for it as you see the review. But here’s the thing, I just love saying that I love this show. It is weird that I love this show so much as well, because out of all the shows I watched in the Spring 2012 season, this was the one that I was closest to dropping. Which leads me to say that this is not a perfect show, it does have some flaws that I will get to, but regardless of these faults, it is spectacular. The setting was the major selling point when I heard about this show, and by setting I don’t mean the place because that is not interesting in the slightest. What is interesting however is the time period. This takes place during a time that is never explored in anime, and if it has been, I have not heard about it. Sakamichi no Apollon takes place in Japan during the 1960’s. I know Japan is kind of an overused setting when it comes to anime, but this show portrays such a setting in a completely different manner. I personally found it refreshing to see such a take on a popular location. The plot itself focuses around Kaoru Nishimi, a high-school boy who is also an excellent pianist, after certain events took place, he was forced to move in with his extremely wealthy relatives. On his first day at his new school he ends up meeting Sentaro, your stereotypical delinquent/nice guy who we find out is an excellent drummer. He also meets Ritsuko, a cute, nice, and friendly girl whom, big shock here, Kaoru falls in love with. We also have Junichi, the father, or rather “brother” figure to Sentaro as his own father left while Sentaro was still fairly young and he didn’t have anyone to look up towards, and Yurika, the women who Sentaro convinces himself he is in love with. Kaoru and Sentaro have a unique friendship that they develop through Jazz in a basement owned by Ritsuko’s father.And as such we begin a fairly generic romance, but here’s the thing. I would not like to believe that this show is really about the romance. Really it is about the friendship between Kaoru and Sentaro. I am still amazed they can convey a scene that is the equivalent to a couple minutes of dialogue with a just a few songs. These “jam sessions” with Kaoru and Sentaro are the highlight of the show for me as just their playing is able to express their emotions perfectly, whether it be anger, hatred, love, reluctance, forgiveness, or just simple bliss. All of these emotions are conveyed perfectly through song, and I was excited every time one of these scenes popped up. In fact two of these scenes are absolutely brilliant and I really don’t want to talk about this as I would rather spoil the plot than spoil the pure happiness that is delivered to me though these scenes.However, while the “bromance” section of this show is brilliant, the show tries to play itself off as a romance. That means there are scenes that do try to convey a romantic theme, and more often than not, fall flat on their face in doing so. These romances don’t seem to be based off of anything and start to appear really out of nowhere. The Kaoru/Ritsuko romance is especially guilty of this later on, when it flops around for almost no visible reason. The romance section of the story also brings out Kaoru’s other personality, and by other personality I mean his prick side. That is my biggest problem with Sakamichi no Apollon, Kaoru, our protagonist, is an asshole. He is selfish, judgemental, and quick to accuse others of trying to get rid of him. He is the kind of person that believes that his friends have to be around him constantly and if they move away from him one tiny bit, he attacks and insults them. As well, he also never really graduates from being a prick, there are times when you think that he has finally learned his lesson, but then he goes on to find another thing to be an absolute prick about. Even in the final episode he has one of his largest prick moments when acts like a selfish, egotistical asshole. Even when he does act like this people seem to brush him off and forgive him immediately afterwards, which I simply cannot understand.But, with that section, I have exhausted everything that I do not like about this show, because as I have said before, this show is excellent and there are many things that I found to let me forgive the faults. For starters, there is no fanservice to speak of in this show. Even the most subtle of fanservice techniques, the kind of thing that you have to be deliberately paying attention to find have no place in this show. This allowed me to treat the show for what it is, view the romance as a love story rather than clipped together scenes of the human body. In a way, it made the story feel a lot more real and was a refreshing aspect of the show compared to the troves of fanservice we find in anime today.As well I enjoyed the simplicity that came with this show. This show does not really have any dark themes to speak of. It does not have complex story or any crazy plot twists. I find a lot of plot based shows today try to see how much they can stuff into their series, thinking that the more elements they have, the better it is. This show seemed to be packed with the right amount of elements, there was never really a moment where you felt as if nothing at all was happening, and there wasn’t really a time where it felt like I was overloaded with information. The show was paced in such a way that just felt natural and fluid.On top of that the art is gorgeous, it is quite different from normal anime and feels quite a lot older but i felt that it complemented the themes of the show and the time period perfectly. The art is heavily airbrushed which complements the simplicity of the show excellently. The animation, while mostly good has a few moments where you can tell a lot more focus was put into them, when the animation picked up, it became perfectly fluid and had an excellent feel to it. It was kind of a shame that this only happened once in awhile however as it made the other scenes feel slightly rushed in comparison. But then we move onto the music, it would be an absolute sin to mention this show without talking about the absolutely brilliant soundtrack that came with it. When I heard that an individual person was hired to play each of the characters instruments in the jam sessions, I knew this was going to be something special. Not only that but none of this music was licensed. Even the songs that do exist in real life were re-recorded and if you listen to the two side-by-side you can notice the clear difference between the two. Sometimes I even felt as if the Sakamichi no Apollon version was actually superior to the previous version. I can safely say that this is my favourite anime soundtrack of all time, it was good music, wonderfully played, and perfectly used in the show.To reiterate, I love this show. It has its obvious flaws, but it is petty compared to the things that were great in this show. That being said, it was easily my favourite show of the season. It just felt so awesome to watch, I would wait a week, twiddling my thumbs waiting patiently for the next episode. This truly was a great show, and I hope to see more like it. It has faults, so I can only give it a 9/10 but I cannot hesitate to recommend this show to you. Oh, and before you get all upset that I didn’t give it a 10 seeing as I talked about how awesome it was, keep in mind I have only given two shows a perfect 10, because that is what a 10 is, perfection. This still ranks as one of my top 10 anime.