Kids on the Slope · Season 1 · Crunchyroll
Kids on the Slope Season 1
Kids on the Slope Season 1 is a MUST-WATCH, BollyMeter 8.6/10. 12 episodes on Crunchyroll from 12 April 2012.
Updated
What BollyAI Thinks
Kids on the Slope landed in April 2012 as a Noitamina co-production between MAPPA and Tezuka Productions, directed by Shinichiro Watanabe - best known for Cowboy Bebop - with music by Yoko Kanno. That pairing of director and composer, having collaborated on the most celebrated jazz-inflected anime in the medium's history, raised expectations that the show almost entirely met. Set in 1966 Kyushu, the series follows Kaoru's awkward first friendships through shared love of jazz performance. Critics clustered around the same virtues: Watanabe's treatment of musical performance as emotional revelation rather than spectacle, the authenticity of the period detail, and the emotional credibility of the coming-of-age arc. The ending was noted as slightly rushed given the source material's scope. ANN's median community rating was Excellent, and IMDb audiences score it at 8.1. Yoko Kanno won the 2013 Tokyo Anime Award for Best Music.
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The Room
“Intertwined storylines, well-rounded characters, and vibrant music come together to form the perfect coming-of-age drama.”
Anime News Network (Carlo Santos)
Standout Episodes
The hours worth arguing about - premieres, finales, and the turning points. BollyAI reads the room episode by episode.
- E1Moanin'8.5
The premiere drops Kaoru into Sasebo with his characteristic introversion intact, then ambushes him with jazz in a school basement. The Watanabe signature is present immediately - the music is not background texture, it is the emotional event.
The moment: Kaoru's first improvised session with Sentaro, when two incompatible personalities discover a shared language.