Sakamichi no Apollon

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Sakamichi no Aporon, Kids on the Slope

Japanese: 坂道のアポロン

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 9

Chapters: 45

Status: Finished

Published: Sep 28, 2007 to Jan 28, 2012

Genres: Award Winning, Drama, Romance

Themes: Love Polygon, Music, School

Demographic: Josei

Serialization: Flowers (Monthly)

Authors: Kodama, Yuki (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.53¹ (scored by 10,882 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #130²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #583

Members: 30,033

Favorites: 997

Resources

Wikipedia

8.53

Ranked #130Popularity #583Members 30,033

MangaFlowers (Monthly)Kodama, Yuki (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /9

Chapters: /45

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Synopsis

Constantly transferring schools since childhood, Kaoru Nishimi has always been seen as a social outcast when he transfers due to his intellectual nature and wealthy background. But after moving to Kyushu for his first year of high school, things begin to change when Kaoru befriends the class president Ritsuko Mukae and, unexpectedly, the notorious school delinquent Sentarou Kawabuchi. While Kaoru is an honors student, Sentarou is constantly getting into fights and skipping class. However, these two opposites find a common ground in one thing—music.

One day, Kaoru is invited by Ritsuko to visit her family's record store, where he finds Sentarou in the basement showcasing his skill in jazz drumming. Kaoru, being a classical pianist, knows nothing about jazz. But inspired by the performance, he begins to open his mind to the genre alongside Sentarou. The duo begin to practice in after-school jazz sessions in the record store's basement. As he spends more time improving his skills in jazz, Kaoru finds a person whom he can truly call his friend, and comes to learn the joys of playing music. Sakamichi no Apollon follows their story of friendship and love brought together by jazz.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Sakamichi no Apollon won the 57th Shogakukan Manga Award for general manga.

The series has been published in Polish by J.P. Fantastica since July 2, 2015 and in Spanish by Milky Way Ediciones since October 2015.

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Side story:	Sakamichi no Apollon: Bonus Track
Adaptation:	Sakamichi no Apollon

More characters
Characters

Kawabuchi, Sentarou

Main

Nishimi, Kaoru

Main

Mukae, Ritsuko

Main

Katsuragi, Junichi

Supporting

Fukahori, Yurika

Supporting

Mukae, Tsutomu

Supporting

Matsuoka, Seiji

Supporting

Kaoru's Aunt

Supporting

Nishimi, Father

Supporting

Maruo, Shigetora

Supporting

Reviews

Feb 29, 2020

abystoma2

Recommended

"Manga about music, that's not going to work well, isn't it?" is what you might be thinking. Well, wrong. Sakamichi no Apollon is about jazz and one of it's best qualities is certainly how well can it deliver the soundtrack (despite having none) and the atmosphere in the reader's head. Yes, you can almost hear the jazzy music from those pages.

And it is not only music-wise atmosphere that is done right. It is also the historical setting of 60's Japanese school that is done right. Now, I'm no historical expert, of course, but the architecture, the clothing and the behavior of characters convey accuratelly that ...

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Oct 16, 2019

GGShang

Recommended

I'm not sure exactly what I expected when I decided to read Kids on the Slope. My only experiences with music in manga were Your Lie in April, which is a beautiful story about expressing oneself in music partnered alongside a story of redemption and hope, and Kono Oto Tomare, a more sports-like manga about appreciating music and playing in competitions. But Kids on the Slope was like neither of these two: it is a tumultuous character drama about friendship and love, with emotions swaying erratically back and forth like the jazz the characters love so much.

If I were to find a comparison to another ... piece of work, I'd say the closest thing I've read to this is Honey & Clover, which you could see as being either good or bad. Honestly, the sheer amount of drama and misunderstandings in this manga were really frustrating at times, and the speed at which problems would be solved only for new ones to appear was confusing. I found big parts of the story to be a bit tropey within the genre of drama, especially the characters, and I felt like there were a decent amount of things that didn't really need to be there for the story to work, kinda like how I felt about Honey & Clover. It just sounds like I'm bashing on Kids on the Slope a lot, but I find that a lot of my complaints with it are pretty prevalent in the genre as a whole. And even though there is a lot to complain about, I still found myself enjoying the manga a lot.

The reason why I still enjoyed the series even though there were so many things I disliked was because it felt so real and lifelike. I know that I'm prone to misunderstanding people, trying to take things into my own hands when I don't know the full story, and constantly thinking about little things that don't really amount to much. These are all issues the main character Kaoru has to deal with. The struggles of having to fight with your only good friends, missing them, making up, all of it is so human. In a medium where either idealized or self-insert characters are abundant, it's so refreshing to see such flawed characters. But they don't stay rooted in those flaws. They learn, grow, mess up, and stand back up again. Do you know what it feels like to have to give up on your dreams to pursue something you never wanted to do? I can relate. Ever put aside your own feelings so you could see your friends be happier? I know I have. I have trouble relating to people who have to use their special hidden power to go save the world or have their family killed so now they have to go get revenge on the ones who did it. But what I can relate to is getting together with a good friend just to do something we enjoy, and forget about all the problems I've been facing up to that point. What Kids on the Slope gets so right is that very human feeling of wanting relationships, seeing them break and grow, caring about others, getting mad and messing things up, running away only to be found again.

Kids on the Slope was by no means the most enjoyable story I've ever read. I really don't like crazy love polygons or drama filled events. But what it does give me is something I appreciate a lot: a reminder of how good it is to be with the ones I love. Because after all, "Friendship is forever".

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Sep 9, 2021

drazorback

Mixed Feelings

Original review in french below

What about Kids on the Slope? This manga follows three high school students in late 1960s Japan and revolves around jazz. I wrote "gravity", because if this noble musical genre cements the relations between our three young whippersnappers - namely: a binoclard letting go of the classical piano for improvised freedom, a young American-Japanese half-breed stuffing his drums and the charming damsel in the middle - it still seems to me that the real heart of the matter is more the feelings than the music.

Where a Blue Giant, released more recently, frankly insisted on musical discipline, music theory and the history ... of jazz, Kids on the Slope seems to disseminate with more lightness its few references, and happily revolves around the "Moanin '" of Blakey (but composed by Timmons) and "My Prince Will Come", Bill Evans version, to which our bespectacled hero is compared throughout his 9 volumes. Basically, the music acts as a link, a materialization of the friendly relationship (crypto-gay?) Between the two lads, and as a possible letter of declaration to the loved one. Also, if there are a few end-of-year concerts, the whole thing will undoubtedly appeal to those looking for sentimentality.

With its clear, elegant line, and this way of brushing the innocent emotions of adolescence, Kodama signs a work ultimately rather close, in more refined, to that of Yazawa (Nana, I am not an Angel) or even Adachi. (Rough), without any meta commentary. As such, Kids on the Slope shows a beautiful subtlety and will recall, by its unspoken and its ellipses, the communciational sufferings of the ungrateful age, not without falling here and there in some hackneyed cliché of romance (which proquo, conclusions interrupted). A sensitive and delicate work, a little disappointing for the jazz aficionado but which wins on the blackboard streaked with a nostalgic white line. And having for him the relative originality of its theme (jazz), anchored by ease in a time when it was mainstream, but a time which could have been the occasion to develop a little certain specificities such as the situation between two waters of blond adventurer ...

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Quid de Kids on the Slope ? Ce manga suit trois lycéens dans le japon de la fin des années 60 et gravite autour du jazz. J'ai bien écrit "gravite", car si ce noble genre musical cimente les relations entre nos trois jeunes freluquets - à savoir : un binoclard lâchant le piano classique pour la liberté improvisé, un jeune métis americano-japonais bourrinant sa batterie et le charmante donzelle au milieu -, il me semble quand même que le véritable cœur de l'affaire, c'est d'avantage les sentiments que la musique.

Là où un Blue Giant, sorti plus récemment, insistait franchement sur la discipline musicale, le solfège et l'histoire du jazz, Kids on the Slope semble disséminer avec plus de légèretés ses quelques références, et tournoie allégrement autour du "Moanin'" de Blakey (mais composé par Timmons) et de "My Prince Will Come", version Bill Evans, auquel notre héros à lunettes est comparé du long de ses 9 tomes. Au fond, la musique agit comme un lien, une matérialisation de la relation amicale (crypto-gay?) entre les deux lascars, et comme une possible lettre de déclaration à l'être aimée. Aussi, si on trouve bien quelques concerts de fins d'année, le tout plaira sans doute bien d'avantage à ceux cherchant du sentimental.

Avec sa ligne claire, élégante, et cette manière de brosser les émois innocents de l'adolescence, Kodama signe une œuvre finalement plutôt proche, en plus épuré, de celle de Yazawa (Nana, Je ne suis pas un Ange) voire d'Adachi (Rough), sans aucun commentaire méta. A ce titre, Kids on the Slope fait preuve d'une belle subtilité et rappellera, par ses non-dits et ses ellipses, les souffrances communciationnelles de l'âge ingrat, non sans tomber ici ou là dans quelque cliché de romance éculé (qui proquo, conclusions interrompues). Une œuvre sensible et délicate, un peu décevante pour l’aficionado de jazz mais qui gagne sur le tableau noir strié d'un nostalgique trait blanc. Et ayant pour lui l'originalité relative de son thème (le jazz), ancré par facilité dans une époque où il était mainstream, mais époque qui aurait pu être l'occasion de développer un peu certaines spécificité telles que le situation entre deux eaux de baroudeur blond...

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'Sakamichi no Apollon' Gets Live-Action Film for 2018

The cover of Shogakukan's Flowers June issue (pictured) has announced that Yuki Kodama's Sakamichi no Apollon will receive a theatrical live-action adaptat...read more

Apr 28, 2017 2:16 PM by Sakana-san | Discuss (19 comments)

Watanabe Shinichiro Directs Sakamichi no Apollon

According to the official website, the production staff of Sakamichi no Apollon was announced. Watanabe Shinichiro and Kanno Yoko will work together for the first ti...read more

Jan 26, 2012 4:39 PM by dtshyk | Discuss (83 comments)

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Poll: Sakamichi no Apollon Chapter 23 Discussion Dr_Funkadelic - May 12, 2012	3 replies	by aru4l »» Feb 22, 10:33 AM
Poll: Sakamichi no Apollon Chapter 1 Discussion stickymochi - Dec 30, 2011	6 replies	by Cherrysky »» May 2, 2023 9:52 AM
Sakamichi no Apollon - Official Fan Book not on mal Sukhmonchan - Nov 5, 2021	0 replies	by Sukhmonchan »» Nov 5, 2021 10:33 AM
Is the anime faithful to manga? __t004 - Jun 24, 2021	2 replies	by Krishvanza123456 »» Sep 2, 2021 12:39 PM
Poll: Sakamichi no Apollon Chapter 5.5 Discussion Dodecahedron-O24 - Apr 29, 2012	4 replies	by Krishvanza123456 »» Jul 12, 2021 7:22 AM

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