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REVIEW: Kids on the Slope Blu-Ray


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KENZICHI



Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Posts: 1118
PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 12:36 pm Reply with quote
Can't wait to try this anime out! I'm a huge fan of Patton and hearing that the dub is good makes me even more excited!
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5507
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 1:30 pm Reply with quote
Very nice review, as usual, from Theron. I agree with his points of view on the series. I share his conclusion that Kids on the Slope might not be the greatest series, but it is a well done series for the most part. I also would have liked to have seen a couple of more episodes to better flesh out certain aspeects, but I supposed the tight budget (I belive Watanabe references the tight budget in the interview) did not allow for it.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 2:31 pm Reply with quote
Theron wrote:
...Ritsuko feels more like the girl character whose presence is necessary primarily to keep the series from taking on homoerotic undertones.


Even with her being a waste of screentime presence the series still exudes homoerotic undertones.

The show deserves a straight B at the most. It was good but definitely not great. Too much screentime wasted on boring love triangles, too many tantrums from Kaoru, and not enough jazz from Yoko Kanno.
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Reibooi



Joined: 03 Mar 2008
Posts: 394
PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 3:53 pm Reply with quote
My main problem with the series was the whole relationships angle. I thought based on the first half it would be mostly about the music and might have a little bit of the relationship stuff but after about the halfway point it starts to get kinda generic with it's teen drama.

spoiler[One thing that really annoyed me was why exactly Kaoru and Ritsuko don't end up togeather. The second time around(after the first time he tells her he loves he and she declines) it's clear they both love each other and even have scenes that are quite dramatic in restating that fact and yet nothing happens. Kaoru even has a line in which he says it has been a week since he confessed outside his house and nothing has happened. They gave no why and no real reason for why after they both feel for each other don't actually end up in a relationship. This isn't about oh it needs happy ending. I don't mind that they didn't end up together but with tons of stuff showing you why they should they need to at least show why it didn't work out. As it sits it kinda just feels like the writers were to lazy to have a storyline as to why it didn't work as and just went with it didn't because it didn't.

Ideally I would have liked to not have that stuff in the show anyway. As I mentioned the show kinda gives you the idea it's all about the music and that becomes kinda secondary to the not very interesting relationship stuff. ]
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 3:58 pm Reply with quote
^
I can't believe I forgot about the timeskips.

The emotional aspect was poorly handled and frankly AWOL on many occasions. There would be a huge event (a kiss, a fight, someone running away), and then a several-month timeskip. It happened not once or twice but obnoxiously frequently. It made the emotional tone of the series extremely disjointed and prevented us from seeing the immediate aftermath of all the highs and lows. It's hard to really care about a couple who have publicly confessed their love when BAM, three month timeskip.
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5507
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 4:14 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
There would be a huge event (a kiss, a fight, someone running away), and then a several-month timeskip. It happened not once or twice but obnoxiously frequently. It made the emotional tone of the series extremely disjointed and prevented us from seeing the immediate aftermath of all the highs and lows. It's hard to really care about a couple who have publicly confessed their love when BAM, three month timeskip.


I am not very familiar with the source material, the manga, but I believe it has 45 chapters. That seems like a lot of content to fit into 12 anime episodes. I believe this is the main reason the time skips were used.

It made the anime series feel rushed at times. But I do not think this diminished the series' emotional impact that much. In general, I think Watanabe and the rest of the staff did a great job with the episode count they had to work.
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zensunni



Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Posts: 1294
PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 4:42 pm Reply with quote
Reibooi wrote:
My main problem with the series was the whole relationships angle. I thought based on the first half it would be mostly about the music and might have a little bit of the relationship stuff but after about the halfway point it starts to get kinda generic with it's teen drama.

spoiler[One thing that really annoyed me was why exactly Kaoru and Ritsuko don't end up togeather. The second time around(after the first time he tells her he loves he and she declines) it's clear they both love each other and even have scenes that are quite dramatic in restating that fact and yet nothing happens. Kaoru even has a line in which he says it has been a week since he confessed outside his house and nothing has happened. They gave no why and no real reason for why after they both feel for each other don't actually end up in a relationship. This isn't about oh it needs happy ending. I don't mind that they didn't end up together but with tons of stuff showing you why they should they need to at least show why it didn't work out. As it sits it kinda just feels like the writers were to lazy to have a storyline as to why it didn't work as and just went with it didn't because it didn't.

Ideally I would have liked to not have that stuff in the show anyway. As I mentioned the show kinda gives you the idea it's all about the music and that becomes kinda secondary to the not very interesting relationship stuff. ]

Yes! Exactly! spoiler[It is fine that they show a fairly realistic outcome for a high school romance, in that they don't end up together. But it just happens in such a boring way. He was a jerk to her once and they just don't make it for some unknown reason. This is entertainment. Realistic stories where your first love goes awry are fine, but they should be entertaining. Don't just fade away, either have it be a romance or have the romance blow up in some way that leaves an impression. I've had enough relationships that just sort of ended for no reason in my own life!]
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Meygaera



Joined: 28 Apr 2011
Posts: 324
Location: Maryland
PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 7:06 pm Reply with quote
This really needed to be longer. It felt really constrained from the middle to end.
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CG-LOVER



Joined: 22 Mar 2010
Posts: 355
Location: East Lansing, MI
PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 7:07 pm Reply with quote
This is funny, Zac Bertschy said on ANNCast that the dub for this was awful. But this review paints a very different picture. I'll have to judge for myself whether it really holds up or not I guess.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 7:34 pm Reply with quote
For me, the ending was one of the main problems and the spoiler[timeskip]. I watched the series as it was airing last year around Spring so might of forgotten some things. The relationships in the series got a bit stale as well later on. I still enjoyed the series quite a bit though.
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GhostShell



Joined: 25 Jan 2011
Posts: 1009
Location: Richmond, B.C., Canada
PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 8:01 pm Reply with quote
Found this review quite useful, and timely. It's re-affirmed my decision to add the title to my collection. Once the corrected discs have been pressed, I'll be picking this up on BD.
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Animerican14



Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 963
Location: Saint Louis, MO
PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 8:11 pm Reply with quote
CG-LOVER wrote:
This is funny, Zac Bertschy said on ANNCast that the dub for this was awful. But this review paints a very different picture. I'll have to judge for myself whether it really holds up or not I guess.

Haven't gotten to the that particular podcast yet, but did he indicate how long he got into the dub? I've been getting the impression more often than not that, unless he is tasked/tasks himself with reviewing a whole set or season of an anime series, he only gives dubs a few episodes to "do it right" before giving his verdict. Which, hey, I guess isn't "right" or "wrong"-- we all have our own standards when we're critiquing something while we're not obligated to finish the whole work in a certain way for professional reasons, I'm sure-- but it still seems less than fair, personally.

And yeah, that there are some decidedly different tastes when it comes to dubs among ANN staff/contributors isn't ultimately surprising. For instance, Angel Beats' dub, according to Key when he did his review of that series, is about on the same caliber as the original Japanese audio, whereas JesuOtaku (whom I consider to be of a critical mindset very similar to Zac's) thought it was gawdawful and couldn't/can't understand how anyone could like that apparent failure. There's also a bit of a proclivity towards hostility regarding Foster dubs among a decent number of ANN staff/contributors and anime fans, to consider.
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rinkwolf10



Joined: 05 Apr 2009
Posts: 750
PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 10:11 pm Reply with quote
Anyone else notice how fast this series got a R1 release. I mean the series just started Airing in April 2012 and finished in June 29 2012. Let alone the whole R2 BD/DVD release cool down period.

Hope this keeps up. They have a lot of shows licensed this season and they stated that they are going to release them later this year. Hope this comes to fruition.
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ethos711





PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 10:14 pm Reply with quote
I actually really liked the ending of Kids on the Slope. spoiler[After Sentaro's disappearance, it made total sense to me that the relationship between Kaoru and Ritsuko wouldn't work. It didn't explicitly state the reasons why, but it was easy enough to read between the lines. That's what made the ending all the better to me. After all those years they would have a chance to make things work.]
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getchman
He started it



Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 9134
Location: New Hampshire
PostPosted: Thu May 09, 2013 10:15 pm Reply with quote
and in return, video quality issues and VA's who cant pronounce their names
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