Kids on the Slope

I was a huge fan of Cowboy Bebeop. When I heard that the Director and Composer from Cowboy Bebop would be collaborating on an anime about Jazz Music, I was very excited.

Kids on the Slope completely surpassed all expectations. It has a beautifully written story line, a cast of well developed characters, some beautiful animation, and some of the greatest music you can find in anime.

This show is a much watch for all anime fans. The one problem I have is that I wish there could have been one more episode as the last episode seems a bit rushed, but it does not take away much from the series as a whole.

Fantastically animated, wonderfully paced, and in many places a joy to watch!
It moved me to tears on more than one occasion and some of the performance sequences literally got my heart racing.

Despite all its strengths though, the series never quite manages to feel whole. There are a few minor characters and sub-plots that feel either out-of-place, or a little unnecessary (especially given the short episode count), but the real flaw is larger than that...

The story hinges on the changing relationships between three characters, but all the most affecting scenes are between just two of those characters. The third character has a vital role to play in the setup and conclusion, but is simply never explored in the same depth.

In any other series, I might forgive a poorly developed character, but because this is so short, and contains so much of a really high standard, the imbalance really stuck out to me.

I'd recommend it none-the-less though!

Right...most reviews I write end up qualifying for novella status (only to be entirely scrapped at the very last minute), so I'll keep this one short and sweet while trying to avoid as many musical puns as possible.


At first, Kids on the Slope sounded like music to my ears (pun count = 1):
A slice-of-life series about jazz.
...I'm listening.
"Up-and-coming jazz musicians are employed here...".
Right on.
"...the performance scene of an excellent jazz piece in every episode".
Da. This, I like.

Only this is what I ended up with:
A series about the struggles of interpersonal relationships among teens who enjoy jazz.
...Close enough.
"Up-and-coming jazz musicians are employed here...".
Yep, can't wait to see them in action...
"...the performance scene of an excellent jazz piece in every episode".
...Wait, that's it?

See, after the first episode I started to become wary of that "an" in front of "excellent" as it implied that only one "excellent" piece would be performed every episode. The second episode confirmed my fear: one performance per episode is all the audience was going to get. The other 23.5 minutes were filled with the same old love dodecahedrons, teenage angst, and temporary bouts of manic depressiveness we've come to associate with the slice-of-life and school life genres.


In short:



**Addendum: Only two puns made? I am quite proud of myself.**

I have never watched a H.S. drama but this one came highly recommended so I decided to give it a try. I was really surprised to find that I actually liked it! I talk a little about the show below and so I have to hint at some of the details but I've tried to avoid the main plot points.

SYNOPSIS
Kaoru moves to Kyushu and of course he feels lonely and awkward at his new H.S. Sen, the kid who always gets into fights, and his friend Ritsuko buddy up to the reluctant Kaoru. In an effort to get Kaoru on better terms with Sen, Ritsuko invites Kaoru to listen to Sen play drums at her father's record shop. It turns out Kaoru is a classically trained pianist and-- the bromance begins!

PROS
For me there are three big selling points for this anime. First, the friendship between the two guys is really wonderful. The whole time I was watching this, I thought of some of my best friends over the years so clearly it was very moving for me. Sometimes the affection that Sen has for Kaoru is totally odd and unwaranted but if you can get past that, the way they become friends is really lovely. Second, the music. There would be no friendship if Kaoru and Sen didn't connect through their love of jazz. They must have got some amazing talent to perform for this song because, when these kids play Lullaby of Birdland and, in particular, My Favorite Things, they sound like gifted child savants. In many ways, the music was more moving than the dialogue because the music expressed wordlessly the depth of their relationship. Lastly, having lived in the country for a while, I became sentimental at how perfectly the artists rendered small town Japan. The streets, the hospital, the alleys... everything looked and breathed Japan to me.

CONS (in no particular order)
1) I didn't really see any necessity for making Sen and Ritsuko Christian. It seemed superfluous and, besides, I didn't need to be sold on what great people they are. This religious pandering really took me out of the mood.
2) At some point in the middle, we meet Jun, a guy who's kind of like an older brother to Sen. He plays trumpet with the group when he gets back in town but his life soon goes to pieces. This subplot was unnecessary -- like something out of a bad soap opera. For a show that is a love letter to H.S. dramas, this felt too indulgent and lazy.
3) Sen does something really unforgivable to his family at the end of the show and I just felt like this was so out of character for him. I get why they thought this might work, considering the circumstances, but it totally goes against everything his character believes.
4) The kids in general are a little too dramatic at times but, then again, I guess I was like that too in H.S. It's silly but ultimately forgivable.
5) I was a little disappointed that they didn't wrap up the plot line involving Kaoru's mom. That felt like one of the best subplots and it never really got resolved.

CONCLUSION
It's 12 episodes. Watch it, already. You'll love it!

Kids on the Slope (Sakamichi no Apollon, in Japanese romanji) takes place in mid-1960s Japan and focuses on the lives of a group of high school kids who have a love for American jazz. Through the romance, the music, and of course, the drama, this josei series created by Yuki Kodama tells how life itself is like a jazz compilation: spontaneous, beautiful, and always finishes with an unpredictable outcome. This can certainly be a reflection on the 1960s culture worldwide as well; but let's face it, the only sixties stuff I recall from history class was more on the lines of the Cold War and Rock 'n' Roll.

Oddly enough, Kids on the Slope is also the first anime I've seen where Christianity (or at least the fact that a character is a Christian) plays a significant role in the story. Metaphors such as futuristic priests who carry crosses for machine guns, as cool as it is, doesn't count. Since the majority of Japanese people are Buddhist or some modern version of Shinto, anime and manga are more likely to have themes around their cultures (and trust me, there's a lot of them). Having Christianity in the mix is certainly not a new idea in incorporation with anime, but Kids on the Slope has definitely opened the door for more possibilities. Two of the main characters are in fact Christian, and one of them styles the rosary as a necklace rather than a charm, for a very heart-warming and positive reason.

Although this series is josei (and therefore is geared more toward women than men), Kids on the Slope comes highly recommended, especially if you are an avid lover of music.

Saying, "The overwhelming positive ratings speak for themselves" has never been more true with this anime. It's beautiful. The story, the music, the entire package is pure bliss.

There was moments that I laughed loudly, moments I literally cried, and moments I found myself pretty angry. It really draws you in.

My only gripe is that the anime is too short. But, that said it deserves a 5 star rating. If you love anime, music, you really owe it to yourself to watch this.

It has to be one of the best animes ever to come out of Japan! It can be heart-rendering but heart-warming at times! Friendship(s) can be beautiful to have if it is cultivated with a lot of love and care, it can go a long way! That's what I believe. I do not know if this holds true for our present-day society because of the internet and video games that we are terribly addicted to! Back then, people do pay attention more to the relationships because there were fewer interferes from devices or media unlike nowadays. I highly recommend that you do watch this anime!! Hope they will make another sequel to this series!