Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
ShipperNig196
This was bad yall. As yall can see it took me an entire month to finish a 12 episode fucking show. I just finished arcane in a week and it has 9. That should tell you all you need to know about this.
THIS SHOW WANTED TO BE A BOY LOVE SO BAD AND IT NEVER WENT THERE WHAT THE FU— okay first off i wanted to preface this by saying i kinda gaslit myself into watching this sludge. For the longest time i heard it was about jazz and that it was directed by Shinichiro Watanabe (idk who tf told me that. I think i told myself that. Idk) so it had always been on my ghost list for a while. Fast forward like 10 years later (im lazy) and I finally get around to watching it and i want to go back in time and slap the shit out of myself. Anywho the worst part of this show besides the fact that the characters…
Read at the sourceRESOLVING_POWER
I watched Sakamichi no Apollon, also known as Kids on the Slope. Here are my thoughts:
A music-themed josei drama is right up my alley, so I expected that I would enjoy this. Unfortunately, despite my optimism, I was disappointed by this anime.
The anime has pretty good direction. It feels movie-like, both in terms of direction and production quality. Very polished.
Decent character designs for the male characters (can't say the same for the women). Although the art style is bland, the animation is fluid and looks nice. The colour palette is quite dull and muted, but admittedly it does suit the retro-Japan time period.
I really like YUKI's vocals, so it's not surprising that I enjoyed the OP song. The ED song grew on me over time as well. The OST itself was unremarkable from my perspec…
Read at the sourceEzekiel_01
Treasure your Friends, Unlike Love Affairs, Friendship is for Life.
Kids on the Slope follow the story of Nishimi, Kaoru as he started a new life in the far countryside of japan. Kaoru has been struggling to form meaningful relationships with peers of his age, due to his constant switching school because of family circumstances. This unfortunate lifestyle is the sole reason why he felt alienated when encountering new people. He develops “Anxiety Nausea” as a coping mechanism whenever he becomes socially stress or nervous when people approach him. But everything changes once he forms an unlikely friendship with Mukae, Ritsuko, and Kawabuchi, Sentarou.
The story by itself is simple and down to earth but it excels in handling most of its genre elements. It focuses more on the coming of age…
Read at the sourcektulu007
Sakamichi no Apollon is a school drama from 2012. The original manga was written by Kodama Yuki. The anime version was brought to us by MAPPA & Tezuka, neither of which I've seen a lot from. I don't know what to expect from this one at all. So, let's just get right into it.
Story:
Our focus is on Nishimi Kaoru, a bright young student who plays the piano and moves a lot. He's also a complete drama queen, but we'll talk about that later. Nishimi suffers from social anxiety issues and feels the need to get some air on the roof after things take a slightly unanticipated turn. Fortunately for him, he's able to overcome that within about five minutes of meeting Kawabuchi Sentarou. Aren't we all glad that plot point was there? I mean, it contributed so much to the narrative. He and Sentarou wi…
Read at the sourcecheese852
OK, so before I say what makes Kids on the Slope good, I'm going tell you the reason why you might want to watch something else.
It's a highschool-romance-X-music-anime, set in a time period you probably don't care about, featuring a music genre you probably don't care about. The only conflict in the show develops from the characters not being able to fucking say what they are actually fucking thinking to each other.
There's three kinds of people in this world, Type A; the kind of person that thinks "yeah, this probably isn't for me". That's totally cool, there's heaps of good shows out there, go watch something else.
There's type B, who think "no cheese852, you're wrong, I actually do like [jazz/highschool romance/the 60's/poor communication]". Congratualations, you're a special unicor…
Read at the sourceratchet573
I love jazz. Some of my favorite memories of my time living in Florida have to be going downtown to listen to the local jazz festival. Sitting in front of that gazebo and getting into the spirit of the musicians is something you can only experience if you listen to jazz. It’s so different from any other musical genre and I was excited as hell to get to watch an anime centered around this amazing style of music.
The problem is Sakamichi no Apollon isn’t as much about jazz as it is about lame characters. There’s jazz in the series, and it definitely plays a part, but it doesn’t play as large a part as I wish it would. This seems to be the theme of music-based anime, not paying attention to the music as much as the boring lives of the characters. Jazz is frantic, it changes with the mood. Th…
Read at the sourceiron2590
First of all, I must say it's been a while since I've enjoyed a series as much as I enjoyed Sakamichi no Apollon.
The story itself has an amazing pace, and in my opinion, has the perfect combination of romance, drama and music. The developments feel very natural and there are no fillers. The only "complain" I can have from the story is that the ending might feel a little unsatisfying. Luckily, if you end up feeling unsatisfied like me, you can read the extra volume from the manga and I can assure you that you'll feel a lot better after reading it.
The art is okay, I guess. It has a very realistic vibe, and fits the story really well. I didn't see any error in the animation either, which is always appreciated. Also, the animation during the musical scenes was particularly good. The soundt…
Read at the sourceKakikesu
Set in 1966, Sakamichi no Apollon tells the story of three close-knit teenagers growing up in small-town, seaside Japan. The main conflicts and problems in the plot involve the drama inside this group. Put simply, if you are not a fan of drama and romance (and jazz, but we'll talk about that later on), you most-likely won't enjoy this show.
The art and animation is fluid, smooth and detailed, especially during the performance scenes, where you can truly see it shine. The drumming scenes with Sentaro particularly impressed me, showing off a sheen characteristic of Tezuka Productions. Watching the sticks perform fills and rolls, flourishing on the drum kit was incredibly satisfying.
Jazz music in Sakamichi no Apollon is the butter to the drama's bread. All the music in the show compliments…
Read at the sourceAnyua
Set in 1966, Sakamichi no Apollon is centered on Kaoru Nishimi as he moves to Sasebo to live with relatives due to his father’s job. Naturally, he’s a loner, a great student, and completely isolated from people since he’s always been moving around; he doesn't try to get attached to people in case he must leave them again. But there’s something in the air in Sasebo, and it’s not just love or friendship, it’s a new sound (to Japan at least) known as jazz. Music isn't new to Kaoru as he’s a classically trained pianist, but jazz is certainly new and interesting to him, as it takes him some time to ‘get it’. All the while he’s studying school and jazz, he’s also developing a social life with the school bad boy Sentarou, and his friend Ritsuko. Not breaking trope norms, Sentarou isn't a brute as…
Read at the sourceUsualGuy
Once again we are encountering a great anime. Kids on the slope is another combo between Shinichiro Watanabe and Yoko Kanno. I can't imagine now if someone else did a screen version of Kids on the slope. But lets get to the point.
The story focuses around Kaoru, who is your normal geek, straight up alone and unexperienced when it comes to real life. He loves studying and playing on instruments. Because of that he apparently can't fight and stand by himself, and this is where another character is introduced to help Kaoru. Sentarou on the other hand is your typical badass character, who doesn't give a shit about studying and can stand by himself. Both of them become friends and this is where things get interesting. For the whole 12 episodes we are watching how these two are growing on their…
Read at the sourcemyronator
When anime fans see the name Shinichiro Watanabe attached to an anime they usually get excited due to his excellent work making Cowboy Bebop. So going into Sakamichi no Apollon there is a certain expectation given to the show. Unlike Watanabe's previous animes, this one does not have any action in it at all. Instead, the focus is on romance and drama.
Sakamichi no Apollon captures the setting of 1966 Japan well from the classroom to the clothes the characters wear to the style of music that is played. The backdrop for the story is great and unique as it is very rare to ever see an anime based on 60s Japan and jazz. However, while the setting may be unique, the story itself isn't. The romance is cilched with the usual misunderstandings, melodrama and love triangles. This detracts from the…
Read at the sourcevigorousjammer
The story consists of a lot of romance tropes, and really tends to play up it's character drama. I didn't enjoy the romance stuff very much, but I feel like the show worked remarkably well in portraying the tension of the relationship between characters through music. When the characters are playing music together, you really can feel their emotions come through, and I thought that was really impressive. The characters, and their interactions with each other were really the best part of the story, despite the otherwise pretty boilerplate storyline.
The art was very nice as well. Everything had a very detailed, realistic look to it and there was a lot of really impressive animation as well. Things moved really fluidly in most cases, especially when the characters are playing their instrume…
Read at the sourceTolzen
This was an anime that popped up in my recommendations for a while based off various other's I watched. I simply didn't believe it would be anything close to what I wanted and became frustrated seeing the same cover page over and over of which I wasn't to fond of. I refused to watch it time and time again based on my own superficial reasons until I finally said to myself "it's 20 minutes of my life, I'll watch just one episode." It wasn't just 20 minutes, it ended up being a good portion of the season before I had to finally get some sleep.
Story- The story of Sakamichi no Apollon is one of the strongest I've ever seen in only 12 episodes. It gives a great back story as to why the main character (Kaoru) is where he is now and immerses you in the time frame of the story immediately. Althou…
Read at the sourceparamuffin
As someone who hasn't good much background on both Jazz music and Japan during the 1960s, I was wary of watching it at first.
And yet it succeeds in its combination of josei, drama and high school slice of life. The show features Kaoru, the socially-anxious new kid in a quiet, rather remote town, who has been blessed with piano-playing skills. Through jazz, he finds the greatest of comrades, a family and even romance.
The story, as most josei goes, isn't anything too intense. It just shows the life of a jazz-playing boy as he goes through high school with his friends. I love, though, its take on that part of life. It's so realistic, I managed to relate to it despite the fact that I wasn't even part of band back in high school. The series starts as strongly and ends, if possible, even mo…
Read at the sourceNurseroo
Are you ready for a bromance so strong, you’ll feel friendship tingles down the shaft of your peen? For romance elements so complex, they are no longer love triangles--but instead, terrifying, ever-growing love polygons of doom? For jam sessions so boppin’ they could make the late, great, Sun Ra tap his foot in his grave? Then my friend, you are prepared for Kids on the Slope.
At a glance Kids on the Slope is nothing more than a high school drama, akin to the hundreds which flood contemporary media. While I’ll admit that I do enjoy a show that makes me feel my proverbial ovaries rubbing against each other (it’s a guilty pleasure of sorts that I’ve acquired over the years) as well as the occasional bitch-tear from some of the more well put together dramas/slice-of-lifes that catch my eye,…
Read at the sourceazuslu7jpg
It’s not gay if it’s a three way.
As always, my reviews are spoiler free.
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 u…
Read at the sourcejohnvswild
How much you enjoy Sakamichi no Apollon is largely dependent on your level of emotional maturity.
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 an…
Read at the sourceMitsui_to
Jazz.
I'm not quite a fan of it but, it's an "okay" music for me.
Josei?
Rarely read any manga of it, especially watch any of it.
These two factors gave me a very strong reason not to like this series, and yet here i am, writing this very sentence in front of my computer. Why is that? Let me escort you to the very "Realistically Enjoyable" series called Sakamichi no Apollon.
The story was set in the 60's when people would remember one of the biggest musician of all time, The Beatles. Their captivating staging while doing their concert, their youth, their wide musical genre which is known from Pop-rock to Jazz(not many know this, though), had made them a worldwide superstars, almost everyone( Including my Dad&Mum) went crazy for them.
And of course where the story takes place, Japan, is…
Read at the sourceLilyGinnyBlack
This is my first time writing a review here and I tried my hardest to leave out any real spoilers. So, here we go:
Sakamichi no Apollon started out with a powerful episode and ended with a powerful episode, but seemed to get lost in a tangle of badly handled and clichéd romance and some unneeded melodrama. The series also suffered from bad pacing, though that only really started to show itself toward the middle-end of the run, this was when the fast pacing became a double edged sword and affected not only the plot, but the characters as well.
So now, let me look at the characters: I liked all of them individually a whole lot with the exception of Kaoru and one other character I will bring up later. He was a bit annoying and frustrating as a main character (he also did quite a few things…
Read at the sourceStark700
Let's do a trivia here! Are you someone who wants to know what it is like back in the 1960's? Ever wanted to build an escapism from the harsh reality of today's world? Want to just sit back and enjoy some old school music after a stressful day? Well, perhaps you've found a series worthy to invest your time into because Kids on the Slope is there and sure to give you something to think about.
Kids on the Slope (also known as Sakamichi no Apollon) is a story taking place in the beginning of summer, 1966. It stars the protagonist Kaoru Nishimi, an honor student who tends to keep to himself. He has a rather reserved personality and hard to open up. That is until he meets the bad boy and future best friend Sentaro Kawabuchi. While mistakenly getting to a bad start, these two soon develop an un…
Read at the source