One of the more fun things that I have experienced lately is doing watch-a-longs for animeseries that are featured on other blogs. It all started with the incredible Your lie in April, that I watched because of the rewatch feature over on Weekend Otaku’s blog. Not only was the series itself worth it, what made it an even better experience was sharing thoughts on each episode with Weekend Otaku and other bloggers. And so it was that I was delighted that another blog that I have always had a high respect for, started a watch-a-long as well. I’m talking about Hazelyn who has an absolutely wonderful blog called Archi Anime. If you are not yet following her, please stop reading, subscribe, and then come back here. Just kidding ofcourse, but trust me when I say that her blog is amazing, has seriously cool features on anime, and some truly unique things you don’t find on other blogs. All very good reasons to subscribe I would say. The watch-a-long she organised was for the delightful animeseries Kids on the slope.
Kids on the slope tells the story of Kaoru Nishimi, a student and classical pianist that has never been fully confident in his own abilities. He has moved around quite a lot in his young life and as such has never really fitted in. Having just arrived at a new highschool, he fully expects to have yet another year in which he will experience lonelyness and being bullied. But then he meets the bad boy of the school Sentaro Kawabuchi. The two of them could not be more different, but still an unlikely friendship between the two of them begins to take shape. Even though Kaoru is mainly a classical musician, Sentaro introduces him to the world of jazz music. From this point forward things begin to change in Kaoru’s life. But when he falls in love with the beautiful class president Ritsuko Mukae, who is also a good friend of Sentaro, tensions begin to mount. Will his newly found first real friendship end in disaster?
Kids on the slope is a beautiful and heartwarming anime, that I highly enjoyed. It is the story that really drives this series, and themes like friendship, love and music all blend together in a terrific cocktail. I’m not even a big fan of jazz music, but you can’t help but get excited when Kaoru and Sentaro play together. It has resulted in a few great scenes that for these alone make the series well worth the watch. But it are themes like friendship and lonelyness that are really handled incredibly well in this show. Even though there are some pretty dark moments in this anime, these are always alternated with some great feel good scenes. The animation style and setting for the series was quite unique. It was almost dreamlike, and at times even felt a bit like watching a very old but also highly modern animeseries. One only has to look at some of the screenshots that I have provided to see what I mean.
The characters of this series are kind of a mixed bunch. Kaoru, the main character, is someone you will have a love/hate relationship with. There are certain actions that he takes that will have you fuming with rage, and at other times you can’t help but feel sympathy for him. The kindhearted Ritsuko is definitely not without her flaws, but she is very important to the story. Sentaro however is the one that I liked the most. Pretty much every scene he appears in was fantastic. His at times very angry attitude, hides a truly kindhearted soul, that cares deeply for his friends. All in all it was wonderful to see the relationship develop between these three characters.
This anime certainly won’t be for everyone. For one thing certain episodes did feel kind of slow, and there are a few moments in this series that were a bit confusing. But these events were definitely not enough to spoil the overall appeal of this one. The way the story is eventually wrapped up, is one of the best endings for an animeseries that I have seen to date. I really had a great time watching this rather unique anime and highly recommend it to anyone who loves a great feelgood story. Last but not least I want to thank Hazelyn for bringing Kids on the slope to everyone’s attention and organising this great watch-a-long.
I give Kids on the slope a 8 out of 10 score.
Ah, another series that’s been languishing on my 100+ watch-list. I am interested in the premise of the show but not really in a hurry to watch, if that makes sense? I still will though. And great review! 😀
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Yes it really does make sense. I don’t think I would have been in a big hurry myself to watch it either if it had not been for the watch a long. Still glad I ended up going for it as it is really a heartwarming and great anime.
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When you do decide to cave and watch it, it goes pretty quickly. With the simple and sweet story, and being only 12 episodes, its a suitable Saturday binge.
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I will cave eventually. And it’s always good to have a few titles at hand for an emergency ‘feel good’ watch.
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Ahhh me too! Can I ask some other feel good titles you have queued up?
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Not a lot tbh. Most titles in my list are action or angst oriented. But there’s Ouran, Ore Monogatari, now Kids on the Slope and some already watched favorites that get me out of my head.
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I do love Ouran. I am not sure what sort of genre you lean towards, but My Little Monster and Toradora! are both cute, light anime to binge when your feeling down.
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I usually avoid romance but I’m trying to give romance anime a chance so I’ll keep these titles in mind. Thanks!
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This is one show that really blew me away when I watched it during it’s simulcast season. There’s a lot of depth to it that is so beautiful. I’m glad you enjoyed it, it’s definitely in my top ten. 🙂 Wonderful review!
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Thank you very much for the kind words 😊 Yes it really was a wonderful anime, and the ending for it, really gave me a big smile. One of those really great heartwarming animes 😊
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We had such fun during our viewing party! I’m thinking it is time for you to start one next 😉
I agree with everything about this post. I was pretty indifferent to jazz music, to be honest, but this series made me wish to download some jazz music; if only to relive some of the scenes.
Just last night, I pulled up the scene with Ritsuko singing “my favorite things.” on YouTube.
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Haha, yeah I have been thinking about maybe doing one as well, but I haven’t decided yet. (Certainly not for which anime yet). But I might do one, I will definitely keep you posted (I might hold a poll first to see what anime it should be 😊).
Yes, I had pretty much zero connection to jazz, but after this I found a new appreciation for it (though honestly I also had experienced that with the movie Whiplash, which I highly recommend as it is absolutely amazing) I also loved the final scene in the church for this one. That was seriously awesome and made me smile the entire time during thst scene 😊
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The final scene in the church made this series for me. It summed it up as a whole so nicely.
Well, whatever you decide, you know Weekend and I are game.
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Kids on the Slope is an amazing series! I remember anticipating it so greatly previous to its initial airing, since I was (and remain) such a big fan of the director, Shinichiro Watanabe. Have you seen any of his other series, like Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, or Zankyou no Terror?
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It really was a great watch. The series had some truly amazing moments, and just a great feel good atmosphere. The end of the series was also absolutely amazing.
I have seen the entire series of Cowboy Bebop, which I also loved. By absolute sheer coincidence, I just bought Terror in Resonance last weekend (I have yet to see it), but I have heard (and read) some great things about it 😊
I’m not familiar with Samurai Champloo, but I will certainly check it out 😀
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I’d love to hear your thoughts on ZnT. As for Samurai Champloo, it was Watanabe’s follow up to Cowboy Bebop, and shares so many similarities to it, and many people consider it his best work.
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I will definitely do a review for it, as soon as I have watched it. And thanks for the recommendation of Samurai Champloo. Always nice to have a few extra titles lined up (not that I my to watch list doesn’t contain way too much titles already lol 😂).
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Excellent review!
This has been on my to watch list for years, but I’ve never gotten around to it.
I just might now. Especially if the ending is good, considering most anime endings tend to not be the best.
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Thank you very much 😊 Yes, I honestly have to agree, there are quite a few animeseries out there, that really don’t have the best endings. This is certainly not one of them, and it will have you smiling all the way 😊 If you get around to watching it, I hope you will enjoy it 😀
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What a wonderful review! Definitely makes the show seem very appealing. Glad you enjoyed it as well as the watch a long experience. Sounds fun 🙂
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You know something is great when you find yourself amazed by stuff you’re not all that interested in (like jazz music) which makes me intrigued! I like that it incorporates the typical Japanese way of interposing dramatic moments with fun ones to break the tension, too.
The art is definitely different but not unappealing. I would have to try it out and see how it goes. Side characters are usually the most memorable, for some reason! But it’s kind of cool that the main one is not all good or all bad either 🙂
Wonderful review, as always!
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Thank you again 😀 It really was quite a unique anime. I did not think it was a classic, but it was really a very good series alltogether. The characters, setting and music are definitely what made this anime so special. Hope you will enjoy it if you manage to see it someday 😊
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You’re very welcome!
And I definitely hope I have a similar experience 😊
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A great review for a great series! When I started this I wasn’t really sure how I would feel about it. But then there were so many great moments and it was just a very engaging story about friendship without a whole lot to complicate that basic essence. Both the animation style and jazz music really grew on me and I was surprised how invested I got in this story and its characters.
And of course, it was a lot of fun watching this with you. 🙂
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Thank you very much 😊 I had pretty much the same reaction. It took a bit to get into, but thst disappeared quite quickly because of the great characters and honestly great feel good series. I’m currently doing a watch a long over on D’s blog for School-live, a series I can’t believe how good it is and really wonder why it hasn’t been receiving more attention. Kimmie asked me to organise a watch a long on my blog. I haven’t done something like that yet, as my blog is not an anime only blog, but I am tempted to try it out. Might do a poll first for which series to watch. If I am going to host one, I look forward to watching it along with you and Kimmie, and ofcourse anyone else who would like to join. Thanks for the kind words, always appreciate it😊
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The series finished well? Glad to hear that Kids on the “Slope” didn’t go “downhill” as it went along.
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Lol, that comment just made my day. But yes glad it didn’t go downhill either. In all seriousness though this is a really great anime, that is very heartwarming and touching. (But not one to watch in the Halloween month lol 😂😂).
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