Sakamichi no Apollon

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. There are a lot of things about jazz that could have been played out in Sakamichi no Apollon that aren’t. That heart and soul of jazz are only seen during the portions where the characters play music. Other than that, the series falls flat.

Kaoru is a guy. He goes to high school. He’s a bookworm.

Sentarou is a guy. He goes to high school. He fights a lot.

Ritsuko is a girl. She goes to high school. I can’t discern her character besides “love interest”.

Together they are the three main characters of our little drama. Kaoru goes to high school as the new kid. He meets Sentarou who is a pretty violent guy who skips classes (the delinquent). Sentarou is a drummer who plays jazz with Ritsuko’s father and a guy named Jun. Kaoru, who can play the piano, joins in on the fun and learns how to evolve from his classical roots into the realm of jazz.

There are, of course, some bumps on the road. A couple of love triangles (those are the main plague that infest this anime), Sentarou’s problems with his father, and Jun’s becoming a good-for-nothing. The plot is really not that exciting. You’re watching this for the music more than likely, not the duo of love triangles that seem to give way to more of a bromance at the end than anything else.

This is where the plot becomes especially painful. The series plot is loose, and by that I mean nothing is consequential or matters. It’s there to hold the series together and give it a reason for being, but it’s mediocre at best. By the end, nothing really matters and the series goes back to square one.

“BUT RATCHET! WHAT ABOUT THE MUSIC?”

What music? There’s a little bit of music going around, but for a music based anime there’s not enough. As I said in the beginning of the review, there’s not a lot of music going on. There are a few songs here and there, but not enough to warrant being considered as “musically focused”. It’s more just a school life anime than anything else and suffers because of the fact it tries to be something it is not.

“BUT AT LEAST IS HAS GOOD CHARACTERS!”

All the characters were generic at best. While Sentarou was a decent character, I grew to hate Kaoru more and more as the series progressed. It reached the pinnacle when he nearly raped Ritsuko. Ritsuko wasn’t a bad character, but she didn’t actually have a lot of character there. She was just there as a love interest and a plot point more so than anything. Jun was okay, but he also had some issues that made him dislikable. His girlfriend, Yurika, was okay.

I wasn’t really impressed by anything that concerned the plot. I was impressed with some of the music (the little that there was) and the animation was especially good during jam sessions and concerts, unbelievably so.

I’m unable to say too much about Sakamichi no Apollon because it’s so average. It’s the definition of average. Good music and good animation, mediocre characters and plot, and an overall disappointment. If the series had been longer I feel that perhaps the plot and characters would have been more entertaining. But as it is, Sakamichi no Apollon is merely adequate. The last episode feels especially rushed and I assumed I was meant to feel emotions of some sort, but was left not really caring. And when, by the end, I could care less what happens, then I know that I’m not watching anything special.

Sakamichi no Apollon is a hesitant pass for me. It’s overhyped, and that hype is probably why you decided to jump on the bandwagon and check this anime out. There are some qualities that are enjoyable, but taken as a whole, it’s merely adequate in satiating the thirst for jazz, as well as the search for a good music anime.

Do you like jazz? Would you like to see a show where jazz is the focus? Where the characters have fun playing some good ol' jazz pieces with each other and talking about jazz pieces? Then this anime is NOT for you. Do you like normal cliché romance with poorly constructed drama with a far too fast and disappointing ending? Then this anime is for you!
This anime let me down in all respects, even though the first five episodes are pretty darn good and have the right pace and you get well introduced to the characters' backstories.

Story: 5
The story has a good layout. A rich, ... affluent boy gets to know jazz and begins to like it, even though his values ​​actually do not allow him to. So far so good. They just have fun together and the student learns to love jazz when he practices with his band more often. That's fine. Oh, a new character who seems like a cool guy, WOW WHAT HAPPENS NOW, MY BODY IS NOT READY FOR IT. REALLY GOOD SO FAR. Oh no, beach episode. Oh why so much drama. Where did jazz go? Wait who is this, hey this is unnecessary. Don't fight. Oh what the fuck what just happened. I thought it was a show about jazz ... OH SHIT A PERFORMANCE ... that's it again ... from then on I don't want to continue and then comes the quick end and whoosh. Why did I watch that again now? Ah jazz. Nope. No jazz. DRAMA AND ROMANCE.
TL; DR: good start, boring cliché center with repetitive drama, bad fast ending.

Character: 5
At first sight, I liked the characters. It's just 2 guys practicing jazz and an unnecessary girl for the romance part. Then you get to know Juunichi who is the best character with the best background. An excellent voice actor and a very interesting charm. Then there is Seiji and Yurika ... so they were kind of unnecessary and just created unnecessary drama. From there on, the characters only ever have predictable character plots. Romance. More romance. More more romance. So much romance that the characters forgot why they actually had fun in the first 5 episodes: They played jazz.

Sound: 8
I only rated sound highly for the performances and the exercises. (e.g .: John Coltrane, Chet Baker, Moanin ', ...) They were sensational. By the way: I love Yoko Kanno. She makes really good soundtracks that can even improve or enhance the anime. But somehow she got the idea not to do Jazz Ost if they weren't playing, no, she chose lo-fi, rock and classic piano. Why that in an anime about jazz? I HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA. It partially did not fit the scenes and made it worse. That was forgiven potential. Voice actors were fine, not bad comments.

Animation / Type: 7
As expected from Studio Mappa / Tezuka Productions: good. No complaints. Good character design, especially in jazz performances. Sometimes good camera work. No bad CG noticed.

Enjoyment: 6
As I said: I love the first five episodes. Episode 4 especially.
I didn't like the female characters. I liked the references to various jazz soloists. The end ruined everything, like romance. I like Romance in general, but the relationships were trash. That screwed everything up for me.

Overall: 6
There was potential, but they couldn't take advantage of it. Sad.

I'm a pretty big fan of Jazz, myself. Having played it in high school and still a little currently, I understand the thrill I get when playing and the sense of immense joy sharing it with others. So when my friend told me about this show I was pretty excited. Currently 8 episodes into it, I think I have a pretty good grasp on it and am able to give my opinions on it. It might also be important to note that I'm watching this show literally as I am writing this review.

So my thoughts on the show? It's...okay, I guess. Don't get me wrong ... I like watching it, but the enjoyment I get is always coupled with frustration; and I'll get to why later. I'll start with the strong points in this show.

The art in the show isn't too bad. It looks a little off putting at how dated it looks, but I think it fits very much with the overall tone and setting of the story. With the show taking place in post WWII-era Japan I think that the show's kind of faded and basic art style compliments it pretty well. It manages to have an older feeling to it without remaining completely bland, even managing to be downright beautiful at points. That tied with the music of the show captures the story it's trying to tell, in it's essence. And the music, my god the music. ORGASMIC! The opening song is just so beautiful; and that trumpet at the end sends waves a ecstasy through my body. I can't help but smile every time I hear it.

The opening isn't the only good music in it though. Of course a show about teenagers playing jazz has got to have some decent jazz playing in it, and boy does it. The show manages to create the passion and euphoric feeling of playing music incredibly. I'm pretty sure it uses up most of the budget for whatever episode it's in. The music is clean and energetic when it needs to be and the characters look like they are having a blast playing it, which means I'm having fun watching. So good job Kids on the Slope, you got that right.

But for all the good things this show has, it's plagued with missteps that are too big to ignore. This show is supposed to be a drama, and it is I guess. I mean if you could call a middle school fake love rectangle, drama. I say fake love rectangle because it's not actually a love rectangle, the characters just think it is. I guess the drama would actually be better if it made sense to me. It doesn't. The problems they have in this could literally be solved with a single conversation and clearing up if one character actually liked another one, instead of everyone just passive aggressively acting on their assumptions.

Hmm...I guess the more I think about it that is exactly what middle school drama is. Okay, I'll give you that show. You successfully portrayed kids being stupid and immature, but that doesn't mean I like it. It's actually frustrating to me, watching these kids make one wrong assumption after the other and just making everyone upset because of it.

Speaking of the characters, they are mostly forgettable. Like so much so, that I don't remember most of their names even while watching the show. I've gotten to the point where I only refer to them by their main characteristic that distinguishes them from the extras (other than the fact that they apparently matter to the story).

So you got glasses. He's the MC and he plays the piano. Then there's scarface, he's tall and plays drums. Scarface also likes to fight, probably because he has dirty american blood in him tainting his pure nippon heritage. Next is pigtails, she's a romantic interest with no discernible personality other than waifu. Oh and there's Brother Jun. He is the only person who's name I actually remember because he's actually fun to watch and has a singing voice like a god. Her dad owns a music store, so there's that. You got hat girl. She wears hats sometimes and paints. Cat boy recently showed up. I'm still not sure if he will remain in the plot, I hope not.

So yeah...that's all the relevant characters. All pretty bland and archetypal as you can tell. They don't really make the annoying plot any better, if anything they just kind of make it more cliché. Some people will probably in enjoy the story being told here, but I don't. It and the characters only lead to add filler in the show for me, while I wait for the next time they resolve their problems by jamming out on some tunes together.

Overall this show gets a 6/10 for me. Trash, but "I'll finish it" kind of trash.

P.S. The american guy in the bar that said the phrase "Coon music" is great.

[5.5/10]

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

It would be natural to compare Kids on the Slope to Your Lie in April. Both series came around the same time, have a relatively similar premise, and are romances with the backdrop of music. I was wholly disappointed in Your Lie in April due to the writing, the hamfisted dialogue, the lack of nuance, the characters, and the inability for the series to let music breath and tell its own story.

So, with that knowledge, I was cautious going into Kids on the Slope. I was aware that it was a similar, romance-driven series that utilized music to occasionally back-end certain plot elements. I ... understood where this show was coming from. Unfortunately, I still couldn't help but feel disappointed with the fact that once again, this was an anime that simply refused to promote the elements it clearly excelled at.

Instead, Kids on the Slope regressed in its middle half and ended up only peaking its head from the fog of boring writing in the last couple episodes. This series Started off strong by establishing characters who I found quite endearing, such as the rambunctious and rough Kawabuchi. Our protagonist, Nishimi, who was never the highlight, struggles with the move to a new school in a new town. These characters were easy to buy and the friendship that springs up was decently believable. I liked how our protagonist had trouble fitting in due to his wealth, rather than the other way around. It created an interesting dynamic.

They ended up forming a small jazz-group that jammed out in the basement of a jazz shop. Nishimi was on the piano, Kawabuchi was on the drums, and Pops, the owner of said shop, was on the bass. It was a neat little idea that, for lack of a better word, felt cozy. Occasionally a fourth member would come over from Tokyo, Junichi, who would whip out the trumpet and jam out with them as well. These moments were the show at its best. We had character growth, some light-hearted comedy, and infinite potential for realization. Are they going to form a band? Will music help them in their personal lives? Will they grow closer to one another through their mutual interests?

Nope. None of that happens. The series chooses to focus on the romance. More specifically, a quasi-love rectangle that is as frustrating as it sounds. The majority of the series was light on music and heavy on melodrama, and while the melodrama was somewhat more palatable than the tedium that twenty-four episodes of Your Lie in April made me sit through, it wasn't without its utterly baffling and cliche moments. Miscommunication, characters unable to speak to one another, needlessly angry outbursts over nonsense. It was all the teenage romantic bullshit that I've seen too much of.

Which is all the more frustrating when it back-ends a genuinely good story of friendship between our two protagonists. It is ultimately such an annoying experience because friendship is honestly all someone needs to make a story interesting. The romance here felt so forced and injected simply to have drama suffocate this potentially engaging series. It wasn't bad, in fact, there were a few inspired moments that brought this show past its mediocrity when it wasn't getting bogged down by the romance, but it was far from as good as it could've been.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Characters, Story, and Music]

This friendship between Kawabuchi and Nishimi is the chain that grounds the series. It is also the beating heart of some of the most frustrating moments when their friendship is tested because of miscommunication and totally irrational, stubborn moments. Maybe Japanese boys are different but seeing two teenagers discuss girls was such an unsual experience in this series because they were being needlessly vague about their interests.

When I was a kid and I was discussing my infatuations with my friends, I was blunt and clear because, at the end of the day, we were two guys having a good time and talking about the girls we like was a quintessential teenage "thing". Especially when clarity is deathly important to avoid clear conflict. These hair-pulling moments where our protagonist could've avoided two episodes of bitching if he was clear to his friend is the biggest fault of the show. I simply couldn't enjoy the majority of these moments.

This is a bummer because there is a lot to enjoy here. The music, for one, is great. Unlike Your Lie in April and its incessant monologuing over every single musical moment in the series, Kids on the Slope was so smart to actually let its tunes breath. The moments where these characters are jamming out with one another and we see kinetic, frantic editing, hopping seamlessly from one instrument to the next, mixed with properly awesome animation is beyond entertaining. It's everything I wanted! I'm not a huge jazz-head, but seeing these scenes animated was flat-out exceptional. Specifically, the drumming had some ludicrously well-animated cuts.

As I said, these moments are few and far between, especially during the middle-half of the show, where episodes drag on seemingly endlessly as one romantic interest fades and another blooms. One moment, Nishimi is walking down the street and monologues, "why can't we stop falling in love with each other?" I don't know! Why can't you? The idea that romance is needed to make anything interesting is such a cliched, old idea that I can't imagine why they have to force these characters in these situations. I was a teenager, I remembered the moments of infatuation, and then I remember waiting a few weeks and those feelings faded and I realized they were simply infatuations. There were no big, emotional, tear-soaked outbursts that defined my life and that's perhaps why I can't relate to these kinds of melodramatic shows.

It's just boring. Even when the series begins wrapping up and getting into the final three episodes, injecting some much-needed life into this wilting flower. I was already kind of soured to the experience. What I did appreciate was the subversion in the last episode, where instead of going the obvious route they pulled a fast one on the viewers and we got a somewhat melancholy conclusion. Unfortunately, it was reverted, somewhat, however, I was okay with it since it focused more on our protagonist's friendship than it did on convincing us that these fifteen-year-old boys were experiencing true love.

The main love interest here is Ritsuko and I just think they dropped the ball on her character. Not only was she simply not developed at all, but she lacked any distinguishing personality traits that were so good in characterizing the other two protagonists. But frankly, her flaws were awful. Not in the sense that they made her unlikeable, but rather that they were the same flaws that every character like her has. She's shy and soft-spoken. And this is pushed to an extreme with her voice actress seemingly trying to make her voice as squeaky as humanly possible. That didn't help. I swear I was listening to a dog-whistle in a few scenes.

The conclusion and semi-twist that occurs does help her character a little, but at that point, it is just too late. The same can be said about the majority of side-stories here. The only one that had any actual impact on the character's and their development was Junichi's detour which occurred in the latter half of the series. It was decent. The biggest positive here is that it trimmed down this love-rectangle and made it more palatable. Every other side-story was just pointless. Nishimi has father issues that seemingly resolve themselves and are made to seem like a bigger deal than they were. Kawabuchi also has father issues which kind of play themselves out by the end. These stories really go nowhere.

Is it too much to ask for a series that focuses on the music if it wants to be considered a "music" show? Not only that, if you don't want to constantly be music-oriented, that's fine, but at least fill these gaps with entertaining material. Don't montage past the actual music-bits in favor of making room for yet another confession near a train. I swear, in this short series we had around four scenes that all had some kind of love-oriented moment in a train, where one character was looking from a moving train while another was looking at them from the station. Not only is that just a flat-out cliche at this point, but to use it that many times? Come on.

Overall the story here isn't all too engaging. It is serviceable if only because of the endearing friendships created. Friendships, as the series so bluntly puts it, last forever, and that is more resonant to me than some puppy love melodramatic bullshit that plagues these kinds of series'.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Presentation]

It's good. The art is consistent in quality and while the character designs aren't stand-out by any means, they are decent enough. The animation is okay until it comes time to flex those muscles in song and it becomes pretty incredible. The first moments we see Kawabuchi pick up a set of drumsticks and begin is so great because I wasn't expecting such a dedication to animating the drumming.

It felt like they had a separate animator come in for these moments as it was like I was looking at a different show. There was a lot of smears in these moments too, which further emphasized how dissonant the drumming scenes were from the rest of the series and its animation. Which isn't really a bad thing, I'm just happy these scenes were here because they brought some life into the jazz.

Apart from those specific moments, the presentation is consistent throughout. I can't say I saw a single episode where I could say was the "one" where they were clearly trying to save time by not animating as much as they could just to make room for the next musical moment. But even admitting that I can also say that there weren't enough musical moments to even warrant an episode like that in the first place.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Conclusion]

It is okay. I'm hard-pressed to say anything more than that. I'm happy that it turned out better than Your Lie in April in just about every way. The presentation was more consistent, the music was actually listenable because they decided to not speak over it, and the characters were significantly less frustrating to deal with. While it was covered, head to toe, in rampant romantic cliches, and they undoubtedly lowered my final score, they weren't enough to fully make this series something I regret watching.

Kids on the Slope didn't have enough of the slope. They brought up this hill a few times, however, it just wasn't enough of a theme to tie this show together. I interpreted it more as a metaphor for life rather than a literal slope they had to climb every day to school, but regardless, it could've been a bit sharper. What resonated the most with me, as it often does, is the friendship these characters experience. Dramatically, this series is at its best when it is dissecting friendship and the feelings one feels when they believe their friends are drifting away.

This element more relatable to me, because I personally can't relate to endlessly crying over high-school crushes when my relationships in high school were always a bit more relaxed and enjoyable than these endlessly melodramatic ones are. If you are looking for a series that is more romance than it is music, with more melodrama about being afraid to admit your feelings for someone than anything else, then Kids on the Slope might be perfect for you. It is wholly better than Your Lie in April simply because it didn't feel as though it was trying to wring tears out of me and failing miserably. It did have moments of inspiration and some genuinely touching scenes towards the end of the series. Unfortunately, Kids on the Slope struggled to climb that hill, as it was chained down by the weights of melodrama and unneeded romantic conflict.

Hi there! Just a quick review.

First, let me praise what I liked about the show and say that I expected a lot from it, since it was from Watanabe Shinichiro, who I'm a big fan of.

The jazz themes and refrences were awesome, the OST's were cool (even had some hip-hop kinda beats for the soundtrack which resembled me Samurai Champloo OST), the old school Japan ambientation was great. Personally I loved Sentarou and his character had a decent development. Loved the interior-ish japanese dialect also, it is very charming.


But ok, let's get to the downers:


I had a huge problem with Kaoru. Dude, Kaoru just sucks. ... He indeed had one or two good moments, but most of times he was just there whining about every damn thing. Not that the main character need to be cool or anything, but Kaoru just makes it annoying to watch.

His dialogues were mostly lame. "I can't stop the rhythm of my heart" kinda thing. I laughed when it was supposed to make me sad. Remember the episode that the crew went searching for clams at the beach? Remember of Kaoru being all jealous because of his "trauma" (can't call it a trauma really) with a childhood friend? You can't go on that stuff and say that is a good drama plot, it was just the shallowest thing. I can't praise that when a kid at age 10 could write a similar drama plot.

And let's get to episode 11 [spoiler ahead], when occured the accident. Kaoru just rushed to the hospital and saw Sentarou's family. Then, he discovered that the one at surgery was Sachiko, and not Sentarou. When Kaoru heard that, he was just like "Oh, ok nevermind" and went after Sentarou, like fuck Sachiko. Dude, he was just told that she had a severe head trauma and could not wake up anymore. And he knew her. Then he went after Sentarou and later comes his thoughts about the school festival. At that point all he knew was that she might not wake up anymore, and he is concerned about the School Festival? Wtf. Unreal situation, bad directing or was just Kaoru that sucks? Can't tell.

The last episode was good. But again, same lame (imo) dialogues problem "I can't stop the rhythm of my heart" DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE what are those dialogues (I'm watching the ep 12 as I write this review).

The first episodes were good, but when it progressed it was pure bromance anime with an annoying main character. Sad, because I expected a lot from it. It's totally okay and understandable to not have money for a big production like Shigatsu (which people compares to SnA), but in this case you NEED to work on the dialogues, the concept, the plot, the characters, because otherwise...... yeah... And jazz > classical music (personal taste, of course).

in all intensive purposes, this would normally be a fairly good anime. To myself personally though I thought this anime was about as average as episodes 1-10. Really the only thing that mangaged to catch my attention was the last two episodes of this anime(being episode 11 and 12), other than that I suppose the Jazz element was a bit of a stand alone factor for this series. All in all, it's not an Anime I'd recommend but it's worth the watch I suppose.

It can be a bit trope-y, but Kids On The Slope is a well animated and scored anime drama.

STORY

The story is nice, but at times it feels like it's trying too hard to be a drama. Certain key events don't feel entirely natural. The last couple episodes suffer from this issue in particular, where the cast makes a series of emotionally charged but not completely believable choices to keep the tension up. The ending is still nice, but a part of me is left wondering "there had to have been better ways for these people to go about this".

ART & SOUND

The highlight of this show ... has to be the music sessions, which display not only the incredible jazz soundtrack but also some stunning character animation. Body animation gets amazingly fluid and realistic, they must have rotoscoped the image over film of actual musicians. Jazz predominates the soundtrack, but classical music and 1960's Rock-And-Roll also make appearances, and this has to be the first time I've ever heard traditional Christian hymns in an anime. On the voice acting front, this show features some of the most impressive English I've ever heard in a Japanese dub- I've heard some MANGLED Engrish in subbed anime before, some of the English here could almost pass for natural.

CHARACTERS

I know this show was made earlier so it may not be a fair criticism, but I still couldn't help thinking "I've seen these characters in Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju". The skinny, socially proper, somewhat effeminate male lead, his big, manly, rowdy, goofball of a best friend, the beautiful older woman with sometimes dubious romantic judgement, they all fit rather neatly into archetypes I've seen before. Still, K.O.T.S. does a decent of making them an interesting cast to follow.

OVERALL

Kids On The Slope is a decent drama, and I'd definitely recommend it for those who love top quality music in their anime, but ultimately it's too formulaic to make the jump from 'good' to 'great'.

Sakamichi no Apollon is to anime as Vinyl is to American TV dramas: a cheap generic story with extremely boring characters disguised in good music, big names in the industry, and nostalgia.

I was skeptical of this show at first, as the art and setting seemed nothing out of the ordinary. After learning about the creators and the history behind the creation of the show, I felt optimistically inclined to give it a chance.

The first episode isn't bad! So I thought there was some promise. The style of the art is bland, but we've all seen anime characters with bigger eyes, smaller noses, and bigger tits, ... so it wasn't pathetic. A good thing about the animation is that the musical scenes are done well. Really well. The players match the music they are playing, and they move as real musicians do. The score is pretty decent, which is obviously thanks to Yoko Kanno. However, this was not one of her standout works in any way. This is representative of Yoko Kanno's capability in her craft, but certainly not in her art. The music is a nice medley of jazz and classical pieces, but nothing extraordinarily new or interesting by any means. The musical scenes were still the best moments of the show, and if Sakamichi no Apollon kept their focus on jazz then I think I might have a better taste in my mouth writing this review.

Now... the reality...

Back to my initial point, Vinyl was a highly anticipated show about the American rock industry in the late 70's, produced by Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger (pretty analogous to Shinichiro Watanabe and Yoko Kanno right?). This show ended up flopping (at least by critics) because the show had the following structure: reel in the audience to reflect on music they are familiar with and love, then make an absurd over-dramatic plot to catch the viewers off guard and keep them reeled in. The 70's music was never a vital part of the story or any message or theme.

My point is that a burnt piece of horse meat doused in steak sauce is not on-par with a well-cooked steak. It is easy to want to like Sakamichi no Apollon: most people like jazz (or at least want to pretend to try to like jazz), and most anime fans love Watanabe and Kanno. But after watching it is hard to believe that they had much creative input into this production, and the jazz theme does not save this burnt horse meat. There are maybe 2 brief moments where the themes of jazz are tied into the story. As the series progresses, jazz is completely irrelevant and it becomes pretty transparent that we have another soft-hearted uncreative waste of production at hand.

Literally, within a mere 12 episodes, we have not only 1, and not only 2, but THREE FUCKING SCENES in which a main character is riding a train, leaving behind a crying loved one who wishes they could've stated their true feelings before it was too late... One time is permissible, but certainly an avoidable cheesy cliche. But 3 times within 12 episodes......noooooo....

Come on Watanabe.... What happened?...

This show was the most overhyped title of the first half of 2012 and the fandom was going crazy about it months before it began to air. The reasons were rather easy to pinpoint.
1) It had the director of Cowboy Bebop, Watanabe Shinichiro. And because Cowboy Bebop is awesome, this show must be awesome too.
2) The show would also be about a Jazz band. Jazz is considered to be the classiest type of music ever made.
3) The main genre may be the simplistic slice of life, but since Nodame Cantabile was a great slice of life around music, this one must be awesome too.
4) The ... setting of the series takes places in the 60’s. It is an era no other known modern anime dealt with, and thus it will be very original and interesting.
5) It would be part of the NoitaminA timeslot, which for most translates to amazing production values and quality storytelling.
6) 2012 is a shitty year for anime and the fandom is grabbing at straws.

So sure, one could easily expect it to be the anime of the year with all those reasons above. I on the other hand didn’t have high expectations for some very simple counter-reasons.
1) Cowboy Bebop was an awesome space western full of action, suspense, interesting sci-fi stories, and tributes to various retro movies. Unless this anime would head for that direction, there is no way to expect the director to pull out something equally entertaining. And all the info pointed out this would be a very down to earth show; so why would I expect it to be awesome?
2) I don’t like Jazz; I am a fan of rock and metal. And it’s not about the size but the way you use it.
3) Nodame Cantabile was great because it was set in university and dealt with the adult lives of grown up people. This anime would deal with the naive lives of immature high school kids; something commonplace to hundreds of shows and thus hardly mature or special.
4) So what if it takes place in the 60’s? What special did that era have next to the 80’s or even today? They didn’t have internet, or cell phones, or colour television, and that is pretty much all of it. People didn’t live or behaved that differently than they do today, aside from using a slightly different vocabulary and women being nothing but housewives. Ok, there were also hippies back in the 60’s. Lots of stoned flower people dancing and preaching about the happiness of life. Too bad this show is not about them; it would be awesome if it were.
5) NoitanimA stopped being a guaranteed source of quality anime years ago. It has produced some of the most terribly executed shows of all times; although this is restricted to those including sci-fi and not slice of life. So it might not have been much of a minus in this show, yet I stopped believing in them offering something great all the time.
6) Ok, we were desperate for good shows but I would never place my hopes on a slice of life anime. I find them boring.

So after the show finally aired, what were most of the viewers saying? Nice production values, nice atmosphere, nice high school feeling. But nothing more. As I foresaw it was just your average romantic school comedy with the usual stereotypes, and predictably simple lives of normal kids living the peak of their youth. Motivational and inspirational? Yes. Special in any way? No. And the biggest disappointment was the Jazz part everybody was so thrilled about. There is barely much music in this; it is used only as a subtle excuse for the main heroes to form a band and interact with each other for a common goal. And sure, there is romance too but damn is it simple and linear. It is not even a love polygon since all you get is A loves B who loves C who loves D who loves E. That’s it; nothing to spice things up like two guys after the same girl. Or a threesome. Or gays, traps, cat girls, stoned hippies, WHATEVER. And their personalities are your standard fare of simplistic caricatures. I can hardly say anything to describe them other than the insecure boy, the cheery girl, the motivational sailor, and so on.

In all, it makes a fine time killer if you are into school romance with some Jazz for BGM but it is hardly something we haven’t seen before or worth to talk about in a few years from now.

And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 7/10
General Artwork 2/2 (good looking)
Character Figures 1/2 (generic)
Backgrounds 1/2 (basic)
Animation 2/2 (smooth)
Visual Effects 1/2 (basic)

SOUND SECTION: 7/10
Voice Acting 2/3 (corny but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Music Themes 3/4 (not great but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok I guess)

STORY SECTION: 4/10
Premise 1/2 (typical)
Pacing 1/2 (typical)
Complexity 1/2 (not much)
Plausibility 0/2 (none)
Conclusion 1/2 (cheesy)

CHARACTER SECTION: 6/10
Presence 1/2 (generic)
Personality 2/2 (rather cheesy but well founded)
Backdrop 1/2 (generic and simplistic but it’s there)
Development 1/2 (overblown but it’s there)
Catharsis 1/2 (overblown but it’s there)

VALUE SECTION: 3/10
Historical Value 0/3 (none)
Rewatchability 1/3 (low because of too little plot)
Memorability 2/4 (aside from a few aesthetic touches it is a generic show)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 1/10
Art 1/1 (looks nice)
Sound 0/2 (sounds typical)
Story 0/3 (generic as heck)
Characters 0/4 (generic as heck)

VERDICT: 4.5/10

First of all, I must say I first read the manga and this adaptation rather disappoints me. Let me tell you why.


STORY : 6

Sakamichi no Apollon takes place in Japan of the late 60's.

Basically, it's about a transfered student called Kaoru Nishimi who is alone and who is going to make friends and discover himself a passion for jazz at the same time.

The plot, beyond being very basic is interesting for two main reasons :
- I know few anime which take place in Japan of the 60's, which is interesting to see how it was like back then, politically, musically... Don't expect too much though ... (it stays in the background).
- it deals with relationships : friendship, love and it's quite realistic.

So, why only 6 ?

The big problem in this adaptation is that it's evolving too quickly (3 years in 12 episodes !!!!).
Watching this, I didn't feel the emotions I'd felt in the manga.


ART : 3

MAPPA.
.
.
.
.
Do I really need to develop ?
I don't know : maybe some people actually like their 3D graphisms. Not me.
People are walking like robots and they have ugly facial expressions.
In an anime of zombie I would say why not.


SOUND : 6

Nothing special about it.
The opening is ok but doesn't really fit with this anime. The ending is ok.
The ost is mainly composed of Moanin' and only a few other jazz tracks, which is kinda disappointing considering the manga introduces us with more jazz tracks.


CHARACTER : 6

Characters are not really strereotyped but they're not really unique.


ENJOYMENT : 5

As I said, this adaptation fails to transmit the emotions of the manga, which is a major disappointment.


OVERALL : 6

If you were planning to watch this anime, I'd rather recommand you to read the manga.

This is the same review I wrote originally on my animeplanet, which can be found here: http://www.anime-planet.com/users/Molko/reviews/20619

I'm gonna try and record my thoughts while they're still fresh in my mind-- I just finished marathoning the series after having some interest in it for quite a while. I rated Sakamichi no Apollon around a 3.5 in my star rating and here's why, without spoiling too much of what happens, though do read at your own discretion, as it does spoil things about the story even if its not exactly what happens.

The tonality, time setting, and the music is fantastic, and I had a lot of fun ... with it. Though not outstanding, the little flickers of how the love for jazz amongst characters is represented in the relationships the characters have with each other is heartwarming. I relate to this a lot, mainly because I always love sharing and playing music amongst my friends and loved ones. One of many cherished pastimes, and I believe this to be one of the series strengths, though minimal it was still nice to have.

However, as an audience, aside from the music and friendships portrayed, we are taken on a bit of a broken-down emotional rollercoaster in one form or another. Once I reached the end of the series the only thought I had was "Is that it? Was that really all worth it?"

To be harshly put, some of the things that happened between characters almost seemed useless because they were either never wrapped up or seemed just slathered in there to have some form of scandal. Take it away theres not really too much of a plot; theres parts but not much to have a series built on. A lot of other plot points that were built up were never really tied up either, adding to the uselessness of some of it. It wasn't too satisfying, and though to my own tastes and interpretation, a lot of the drama I found cringe-worthy and oddly cliché.

I genuinely love the main characters, and I cherish the relationship they have with one another, but the character development is rocky. Characters will make progress, but then do something and take a few steps back again, doing this more than one or twice. Tied in with odd story choices that don't really influence the end too much adds to my unsatisfied viewing experience. The ending is bittersweet, but confusing.

But, all technicalities aside; I do believe in this series and the potential it has, and I love the charm of it. Though a part from the music and some of the moments the friends have together when performing, there's nothing really too memorable about it, and I'm not sure if I'd ever watch it again or recommend it a lot. It is, in the end, up to any of those reading this if its worth watching it or not. I definitely would say it is to an extent if you love music and performing with your friends, and you think about the good old days more than once. It definitely took me back there.

They had many good elements to make a memorable story about jazz and youth, but they did not know how to take advantage of them. I could call it the most forgettable Sinichiro Watanable Work.
The music took a backseat and focused on all those mostly silly love affairs and fights (Sentarou always relented and the other boy didn't learn).
That was my first problem with this anime, I couldn't connect with the characters, I know they are dumb teens and they do foolish things, but at least they learn a bit about it! In the case of Sentaro, it turned out that he was the most ... interesting character (poor boy who had to endure Kaoru's tantrums and was the one who had the most problems with the matter of yurika, his father and the accident) the chilindrina or Richan was a pain in the butt, their story was very boring and they never showed us their interest in anything other than school or their drama "I chose I like Sentaro but I flirted with Kaoru" "oh no, I always like kaoru", They were able to focus on that taste for music that was shown to us very subtly, just when it seemed that he was going to contribute something interesting by becoming the singer of the band, the accident of Sentarou happens. I feel that the story of yurika best represents the situation of women in those years and she with so little time on screen managed to be more endearing and immerse us in her own story by removing the role of "the princess" or "Sentarou's love interest" .
I wish Ritsuko's father had had more time in front of the screen, to know more about his life and his love for jazz or where Ritsuko's mother was LOL, I appreciate the presentation of the eccentric Matsuoka, his appearances made me laugh and even made me laugh. He liked his duet with Sentarou the most, the fact that he shared his musical tastes is something that I love about people (but as expected Kaoru ruined it, even after I fixed his problems with him I still saw him as a weirdo) Kaoru It could have been one more member.
On the technical side, the art doesn't seem memorable or cute to me, rather passable and the music as I said before doesn't shine as much as I would have liked anyway ... the first half was not to my liking due to excess drama, but the second half started to increase quality only to decrease again in the last 3 episodes.

I'll clear some things up first, to get any subjectivity cleared up.
I absolutely love jazz. I play bass guitar myself, not quite proffessionally but more than just a pasttime.
I also adore most music anime, even if it's not quite a musical genre I like. I still enjoy K-On as well, even with what little focus on music it has. Mio best girl.

That aside, I've rewatched Kids on the Slope recently, after rewatching Your Lie in April beforehand.
This really cleared up some thoughts I had with both shows, either of them pointing out faults in the other or showing similar weaknesses.

In that regard, I'll also write ... a review on Your Lie in April. I guess you can consider them linked in weird way.

Now on to the actual review.

What to expect:
Your Lie in April is an anime set in a vastly underexplored era for the medium and most of what's in the show actually makes sense for the post-WW2 period of Japan.
In this setting, we learn about 3 main characters along with a handful of sidecharacters.

The show touches on some of the issues of the time period, but it's by no means the focus and at most some setdressing.

Musically, the show focuses on jazz. Our ragtag band seemingly preferring wilder afro american jazz than say, tamer french jazz of the similar period.
Nevertheless, you'll find a bit of every variety of jazz, save for pretty out there stuff like bebop.

Story-wise, the show'll treat you to romance and friendship amidst drama.
The drama is, quite unusually for the music-anime genre, not even really focused on music, but instead mostly on romance.

Now on to the breakdown.

Story:
The story really is massively underwhelming if you expected anything somewhat out of the ordinary.
The setting doesn't hinder the story but it also doesn't help it along the way at all. None of the intricacies of the time period have a proper effect on the story, save for maybe the impending popularity of Rock'n'Roll in japan.
The drama is plagued with the old problem of people just refusing to talk about things, which has been one of my biggest annoyances in anime since forever.

Art:
The art looks pleasant, it really does. They seem to have gone for a bit of a dated look on purpose for the setting, which works pretty well. It takes some time getting used to, but ends up being charming.
Especially the muisic sequences are gorgeous, but with how few of them there actually are in this show, I really don't feel well rasing this score.

Sound:
The choice of music is good, but very safe. Still though, the arrangements are beautiful, which is to be expected of Yoko Kanno.
The Leitmotif of Art Blakey's "Moanin'" is a particularly great choice with its hook that just stays with you.
The OP and ED are pretty good for casual listening, but it seems like the creators were yet again too insecure to actually use the show's musical genre for the OP and ED. Why? You built the entire show around jazz, why's the OP gotta be some pop stuff?

Character:
The characters go hand in hand with the show's story. As in, they're really bland and forgettable.
The entire cast is very archetypal with the exception of 2, which are sadly just a B-plot.
At the very least the chemistry between the main group is pretty endearing, if they're not having one of the dramatic episodes.

Enjoyment:
Especially with my rewatch in mind, I must say that the only real enjoyment I've gotten out of this show are the musical performances, which, I need to mention again, are supremely pleasant.
Aside from that, the poor story actually started to remind me of some bad old pulp novels, which then ended up being a "so blasé it's entertaining again" state.

Trying to find any closing words, I'd honestly just recommend tracking down the musical scenes if you're a fan of jazz and/or want to see some really slick animation.
Aside from this one gimmick, as mean as it sounds, Kids on the Slop sadly has nothing special to offer, as it does nothing worthwhile with its more unique features.

As I expose myself to more and more anime, I begin to question my original notion – do I seem to follow the trend when it comes to rating shows? I originally sensed a diversion from the popular opinion when watching and reviewing Sangatsu no Lion, but I’m noticing it yet again when reviewing Sakamichi no Apollon. A show that I thought was acceptable in some areas, amazing in just one, and lackluster in several others should yield average reviews, correct? Well, the opposite seems to be true. Kids on the Slope is extremely positively received on MAL, at the time of writing. I do ... consider “average” to be a 5, which happens to be the score that I’ve given this show myself.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. This soundtrack is a Yoko Kanno and is the single best part of the entire show in my personal opinion. Who would have thought that the mastermind behind so many other incredible soundtracks would create such incredible jazz pieces? The most notable aspect of the soundtrack is its subtlety. Unlike many of her other more popular pieces, no part of this soundtrack overtly commands attention – but that isn’t the point. The soundtrack is an underlayment, a quiet yet powerful stream that may be most noticeable during the performance scenes but continues steadily forward regardless of what’s showing on screen. You may not notice it, but after watching this show it’s difficult not to look back upon it positively. It was the refrain (and you’ll know it when you hear it) that stuck with me best about this anime, rather than the plot or characters. The most disappointing part about the soundtrack is that the rest of the show really failed to live up to it.

So, then, what of the animation? Actually, I didn’t find it objectionable; actually, it was quite pleasing in some places. While this show isn’t exempt from the common curse of a few badly animated scenes (schoolkids jumping out of windows comes immediately to mind), for the most part, I rarely found the animation distracting. Beautiful? No. The church scenes were the closest the animation might have come to this, but the rest wasn’t too far behind.

So, then, with an amazing soundtrack and decent animation, what’s not to like about this show? As most shows do, Kids on the Slope fails for me in the area of plot and characterization. In summary, the show is a mediocre drama with forgettable characters that is neither realistic nor fantastical. The plot drags on at points and is rushed to completion at others, characters are either overdeveloped or undercooked, and even the theme of resolution is teased but insufficiently dealt with at the end. I hate to say so many poor things about a show without presenting some evidence for my opinion, so let’s look at some specific examples next.

It’s no mystery that the show has three main characters – Sentarou, Kaoru, and Ritsuko. Even MAL identifies this correctly. The major theme is that of relationships, involving the aforementioned three and the major supporting characters, Junichi and Yurika. My largest frustration with this show comes with the trite way in which these relationships are developed. Sentarou and Kaoru have a rocky start due to difference in upbringing and character, but find commonality around their passion for music. That’s it. Despite so many other scenes trying to portray otherwise, I can’t seem to locate a legitimate deeper connection between the two main male characters besides jazz. Am I misreading this? Maybe, but it’s very hard not to see their relationship developed any further. Sure, Kaoru may resolve his frustration with Sentarou’s defection to the rock band as the two play in front of the school, but it’s hard for me to see him valued as a person rather than just a decent drummer. On a related note, I also found it rather difficult to find anything redemptive in Kaoru’s character as a whole, not just with relationship to Sentarou – he starts the series as an aloof (perhaps even depressed) friendless smart kid and ends it as an aloof friendless doctor. I never saw him truly developing throughout the series, despite the various scenes to suggest the contrary. Sentarou less so, but to a related extent also lacked true character development. His portrayal as a “tough guy who actually really cares about his siblings and his bird” seemed almost patronizing as it failed to reveal any complexities beyond his character. Also, I felt myself becoming frustrated with the way his love interests were portrayed, particularly with respect to Yurika – it seemed to be shown as nothing more than an infatuation that spurred the fighting nature of this character until passing. On a related note, I also struggled to see much depth in Ritsuko’s character either. I keep on asking myself “what was her purpose?” Provide a friend for Kaoru as he adjust to a new life? Sure, but not in a particularly meaningful way. Mediate between her two friends’ personal spats? Sure, but perhaps at the expense of meaningful character development between the two. Provide the third leg of the ubiquitous love triangle. YES. Anything else? Not really. I hate to rag on her character like this, as she was probably my favorite of the main three, but I really struggled to see much purpose behind her.

I suppose now is an appropriate time to mount my soapbox and complain about the rest of the relationships and how they pertain to the plot. I felt like Junichi’s role in the entire series was trite and boring at best, and hilariously distracting at worst. Sentarou becomes frustrated at a friend for stealing the attention of his crush, with no meaningful resolution besides some punches and some heavy-handed jazz scenes. This wouldn’t really be a problem if I didn’t see either one coming out of it completely unchanged. Both disappear into Tokyo in episode 9 and are more or less forgotten both by the plot and by Sentarou, who seems suddenly unaffected by both his friend and his love interest’s vanishment. Brother Jun’s involvement and backstory with the Communist Youth also seemed like a bizarrely disjointed way to explain his guilt – perhaps it’s a political statement being made, but I found it extremely separated from the plot of the rest of the anime. I was also frustrated with the way in which Yurika’s character was developed – her parents’ obsession with arranged marriage and hints of abuse are actually interesting and could have served as a more nuanced platform for her relationships with Sentarou and Junichi, but we get very little else about this besides one or two scenes. Speaking again of supporting characters, we’d be remiss not to mention Seiji, who I find unable to identify as a “supporting character” so much as he’s a comedic and convenient figurehead. He seems to be nothing more than a source of friction between two vertices of the love triangle, and seems to be cast to the wayside as soon as this purpose is fulfilled.

While I’m on the soapbox, I’ll rant briefly about the way this show was concluded. Sentarou, wracked with guilt, disappears. Kaoru reveals his satisfaction with this “friend’s” disappearance and in doing so loses his relationship with Ritsuko, and disappears also to Tokyo. The final reunion scene, eight years in the future, shows a meaningful moment of redemption as the two friends reconnect and talk through their differences given their newfound maturities, explaining how what they learned from each other influence their chosen career paths and restore some of the broken trust that arose between them so much earlier. Oh wait, none of this happens. They play jazz together, because again, that’s their only point of connection, and somehow run into Ritsuko with no further purpose at the base of the slope. Honestly, other than the bizarre window jettisoning and the arise of the Communist Youth scenes, the final episode is the only one I truly remember due to its sheer unsatisfactory nature. Low separations following personal disagreement without communication are common and can intensely strain interpersonal relationships – I speak from experience. But the suggestion that years of aloofness can be resolved through some really good piano and drum playing is incredibly banal. It’s not redemptive, it doesn’t tie up the plot or the characters, and it certainly doesn’t help the taste in my mouth.

Anyway, on to the conclusion. The soundtrack is excellent – that’s to be expected. The animation and art are adequate, even good, for the most part. But the characters are superficial, the relationships aren’t meaningful, and the plot is disjointed. If you’re a real jazz fan, go for it – the most important part for you will probably be the soundtrack, and that doesn’t really disappoint. But if you’re watching for meaningful relationships and well-developed plot, I regret to recommend you look elsewhere.

Watched this cuz of Watanabe and tbh the sound blew me away. This man is a genius when it comes to picking the sounds he wants to go with this shows. The animation was good , but the CGI during the scenes where they play instruments was pretty good for that day and age. The story was mediocre. The characters were fine, the voice acting was ehhh. This show needs to be watched only for the sound. The animation was lacking in some places. Some scenes were downright cringy, also sometimes the story was too bloated and was pretty hard to follow the story. Some ... scenes were added to just increase running time.

I usually go nuts for this sort of thing. 1950s/60s Japanese setting (flashbacks of Kurosawa) with a focus on character and setting with coming-of-age drama and the connections formed by music predominating, all mixed together with beautiful Studio Ghibli-esque animation and directed by the guy who did Cowboy Bebop. But something about it just never clicked for me. Maybe it's the jazz focus (I've never really been a jazz fan) but I think it's more the lack of any structure or satisfying resolution. Not that the ending is bad. Actually, the concluding section is near perfect. It's just that nothing builds up to anything and ... in the end all the characters seem to be drifting aimlessly. Maybe that's the point? I don't know. All I know is that it had lost my attention by about episode eight and the last few episodes were a real struggle to get through.

It also bothered me that the character motivations seem so incomprehensible. That's a typical Japanese thing, particularly in the mid-20th century and earlier, but just because a piece is set in a time doesn't mean it has to be obtuse. I'm reminded of my least favorite Kurasawa film, The Quiet Duel, in which a doctor contracts syphillis when operating on a wounded soldier and spends the rest of the film heroically not saying anything about it to his fiance (who he can now never marry) or anyone else since he cannot bear to live with the apparently impossible shame. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to me either. And the characters here act like that. Shame prevents them from doing absolutely anything (although it doesn't extend to performing publically, oddly, the one area where that makes total sense to me) and even when all sides know something nobody is ever willing to talk about it. And really, I didn't understand the reasons behind half of what the lead does.

Strong start, but horribly weak finish.

I was looking forward to this for a while and honestly, I'm really really disappointed. Kids on the Slope is a great anime when it focused on its selling points of jazz and friendship. The issue is that the majority of the run time is focused instead on boring melodrama and annoying love triangles.

It starts off really great by showcasing its best elements. The characters are likable and fun to watch, the music is excellent, and the animation looks great. One of my favorite aspects is how unique the whole show looks. It's not particularly stylized like other Watanabe shows, ... but it still manages to have a unique art style that both looks great and stands out in the sea of "samey" looking anime that seemed to plague the 2010s era. It looks particular great during the Jazz pieces, and I feel for the poor bastards that had to hand draw every frame of Sentarou's drumming solos.

The music, as mentioned, is excellent. It picks and chooses which Jazz pieces to focus on, but it hits some soft spots with me by focusing particularly on Chet Baker Sings and Portraits in Jazz, which are two of my favorite albums of all time. The show's renditions of some of my favorite classics are great, and it's clear that Watanabe wanted to showcase the beauty of Jazz and the different sub genres within it. The show's actual score isn't super great though, and was honestly annoying at certain points. Whenever it wants to stick to the jazzy beats, it's excellent, but the more somber tunes in the OST leave a lot to be desired.

We also get some really great characters to attach to as well throughout this journey. Kaoru and Sentarou are great protagonists, and while Ritsuko can feel a little flat sometimes, she's still likable enough. I enjoyed all their antics, despite the predictable and boring situations that we follow them through.

So all of that sounds pretty great, right? So where does it all go wrong?

For starters, the script is one of the worst I've ever been subjected to. As I mentioned, it honestly starts off pretty promising for the first 3 or so episodes. Perhaps a little too cheesy during certain moments, but enjoyable nonetheless. However, we quickly start going downhill with the introduction of the love triangles that go nowhere and are downright idiotic. It's handled horribly and it never feels like it goes anywhere meaningful. It's just a bunch of "I like her because she is cute but SHE likes my friend because he's hot and he likes another girl because she's hot". It's tiring, and boring, and I would completely check out whenever a character started crying about how sad they were about their current love interest.

None of the emotion in the show feels earned, and there's a whole lot of scenes with Kaoru losing his shit over inane garbage. No lie, Sen says he wants to perform with a different band for a school festival, and Kaoru proceeds to throw a tantrum and act like a fucking child, while the soundtrack kicks in with the sad music. It's goofy as hell and doesn't work at all. This plot point is then ignored almost entirely by the next episode and the little shit doesn't even apologize. The overall show takes a real nose dive once we hit the halfway point as well, as nearly 3 episodes are focused on a character who honestly had very little bearing on the overall plot. We don't even see him again afterwards, making the whole thing feel pretty insignificant.

Again, it's not without it's great moments though. When everything clicks and we focus specifically on our main cast and the music, it is a fantastic watch and a lot of fun listening to the jazz. But there is so much bullshit packed between those great moments that I found it hard to be invested during some of the more "emotional" moments that the show is trying to win you over with. It has merit in a lot of areas, but that script and dialogue really destroys my enjoyment with Kids on the Slope. The final 3 episodes for me were a slog, and that ending didn't feel deserved in the slightest, but at least it looked great and sounded amazing.