Kids on the Slope (Sakamichi no Aporon) 2012
No preamble here, just two (and a half) reasons on why this short series joined my top ten the other month.
Kids on the Slope is a great romance with very few instances of manufactured drama, which is really nice in a genre that sometimes suffers from such contrivances. In a way, the series is almost about the cruelty of youth, where the sweeter, coming-of-age elements are contrasted with the mistakes that are all too easy to make when you’re trying to figure things out.
I found myself quickly invested in the lives of Kaoru, Sentaro and Ritsuko, and I wanted them all to end up happy. (I was even able to almost remember how it felt to be that young and unsure).
The second reason will probably be no surprise: the music – both literally, and the way it forms part of the storyline and a bond between characters. If you enjoy jazz, especially (but not only) Hard Bop or the Cool sub-genres, along with the piano of Bill Evans, this will definitely appeal. And yep, Kids on the Slope is another collaboration between Shinchiro Watanabe and Yoko Kanno, but the OST isn’t as eclectic as say, their work on Cowboy Bebop.
Instead, I think Yoko Kanno looks after most of the incidental music and motifs, whereas a pair of young (certainly back in 2012) musicians perform the jams and standards. And the rotoscoping really shows fantastic fluidity in the performances – I’ll share one of the highlights at the end, but maybe if you want to see this series skip the youtube clip because it’s far better in context. (Elsewhere, the story really captures what it’s like to play in a group, another memory the anime managed to activate for me.)
And finally the ‘half’ reason!
Most of what I’ve talked about seems to be nostalgia, but it’s not just my own I guess – Kids on the Slope takes in a historical setting: sea-side Japan in the 1960s, and is fairly dripping with a nostalgia that I obviously cannot truly experience, but which seems to be captured so well in the settings.
5 Stars
The Review Heap 
That’s one series I do want to check out as someone who likes jazz and anime. I guess after watching Sound! Euphonium (okay, only the first series), I would like to check out other genres represented as far as music-based anime is concerned.
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Me too – a few ones that seem to be roughly focused on rock have caught my eye over the years, but I haven’t quite got to them yet. (One day :D).
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I feel like rock music has gotten too much of a focus with music anime (Beck comes to mind). It would be great to explore other genres like maybe folk, traditional music, ambient, etc.
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‘Mongolian Chop Squad’ is one I had in mind 🙂 How did you find it?
Ambient would be interesting yeah. I keep seeing ‘Forest of Piano’ as an option but I haven’t tried it yet.
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Hahaha! When you mentioned rock music, that was literally the first anime that came to my mind. Did we just have another blogger doppelganger moment? I remember watching it in the 00s. There was interesting stuff and that theme song was super catchy.
I’ve been seeing Forest of Piano showing up and I do want to watch it.
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Sounds like we did 😀 (Cool, I’ll add that one to my list then; rock music + coming of age elements, sounds like I’d enjoy it.)
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I guess so! Haha! I think that series could be something you could enjoy.
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