Forum - View topicKids on the Slope (TV).
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Volibear
 Posts: 344 |
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Kids on the Slope Anime Spotlight Plot Summary: Summer, 1966. Kaoru Nishimi has moved to live with relatives in Kyushu. He's been an aloof honor student his whole life, but that starts changing when he meets Sentarou Kawabuchi, the school's notorious bad boy. Through him, he learns the appeal of jazz and forms his first real friendships. 12 Episodes Drama, Romance, School, Slice of Life, Josei, Music Ep. 1 well, i for one am happy to see Shinichiro Watanabe and Yoko Kanno working together again, really enjoyed the first episode, so much promise in it Animations good, very fitting would be the best way to deescribe it, same with the art, music goes without saying, story hasn't shown its full potential yet but this episode seemed much more about introducing the characters and their lives rather than any significant story points, which i am guessing is how the series will progress, being a SoL/school series but i may be wrong all in all, a very promising start Last edited by Volibear on Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:01 am; edited 4 times in total |
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Divineking
 Posts: 1298 |
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I like this show a lot so far, Jazz music is pretty great (wouldn't expect anything less from Kanno though) and the writing seems pretty solid so far. I also like how the episode titles appear to be the name of songs like how it was with Cowboy Bebop so Watanabe's style does kinda show here. Only complaint I have was the scene where those two met since it really felt like yaoi pandering for a second there, but it wasn't enough to detract from the rest of the episode.
I'll be keeping up with this. |
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Ggultra2764
 Subscriber Posts: 3966 Location: New York state. |
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I winded up snagging a Crunchyroll free trial to get a peek at this anime and I like what I'm seeing thus far. I'm actually quite surprised Shinichiro Watanabe is involved in directing this considering the earlier works he has directed have been known for showing off quite a bit of style to them (Macross Plus, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo) whereas this title is much more grounded with its premise. Still, the opening episode did well in introducing the main trio of Sentaro, Kaoru and Ritsuko and starting up the bond that has yet to come with the three and I'm digging the jazz music element that connects them. Looking forward to seeing more of the series.
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supercreep
 Posts: 526 |
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I'm digging this so far, and it looks gorgeous. I was also very pleased with the way they rendered the records in the store, using photographs. I could easily pick out the fantastic Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. I would have been totally fine if Crunchyroll had gotten this and nothing else this season. I've been anticipating this like crazy since it was announced.
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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I heard good things about this series although I'm not keen on checking it out just yet. Might give it a try after I read a good review here.
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Svidrigailov
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Oh hell, I've got an ineluctable bias. Having been a paid freelance jazz drummer from the better part of high school, and a firm advocate of traditional grip, the fact that the drummer plays trad--what's more, his hands grip is spot on--and that the taps actually correspond to the animation...drums have never been treated well by anime. I play mostly piano now, (though I still play drums and bass) and I in fact play claire de lune (though I prefer Debussy's preludes)...so when he begins playing it...and it's the right keys, the right octave...pardon me while I spaz out. Then we hear a little Blakey (the man who would entertain crowds with just a floor tom; one of my favorite jazz records is Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers feat. Thelonius Monk). This show was made for musicians with a love of jazz. I feel like a little school girl. But !#$%, the drums are dead on. I mean dead on. It actually looks like he's playing the audio. The attention to detail, particularly the wrist...I wouldn't be surprised if this was a product of rotoscoping. I'm going to stop here. I could go on. If you like jazz and anime musicians who actually look like they're playing what you hear, you will like this series, guaranteed.
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belindabird
 Subscriber Posts: 134 Location: Minneapolis |
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I was able to catch the first episode just minutes after it was posted at Crunchyroll, and while the subtitles were sort of ill-timed (I've noticed this problem before when I'm so quick on the draw), the first episode of the show was still an excellent watch all-around.
One of the factors that appealed to me is that the show has a very excellent sense of time and place. The clothing on the characters, the construction of the environments, and the soundscape all emphasize the time period in which the story occurs. I loved the little details like the wooden floors in the school classroom and the real-life record albums on the shelves of the record store. Of course, the other appealing thing about the show is that it already seems to have a decent handle on its human drama as well. The "meeting of two opposites" concept could be called cliche I suppose, but in my opinion it's all about the execution. I'm interested to know how much the main character's anxiety will play into what follows this episode, since I think it was portrayed in an interesting way. There are very few anime series where I feel like anxiety-ridden characters are portrayed in any manner near reality, and as someone who's suffered from similar problems I tend to be sensitive to how they're shown in fictional media. They chose an iconic Jazz song to feature in this episode - Moanin' - and I'm curious to know if that will be a repeated occurrence in subsequent episodes (I can't tell, since Crunchyroll only lists "Episode 2" as the title for the next episode). |
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Botan24
 Posts: 684 Location: Northern Michigan |
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Yeah, I still found them a little "slow". Also, when I skipped back, the subtitles didn't appear at all. But, they magically reappeared after I skipped forward and back again. A little frustrating, but worth it. Great animation, good groundwork for the story thus far, and I like how the opening song played right away. There was no "teaser" then cut to intro. And while that bit when Nishimi and Sentaro met was a little over done, it flowed well into a rather awkward introduction. Seemed almost to be a parody of yaoi, but maybe that's me. Anyway, it goes without saying that I will stick around for more episodes. I'm already charmed by Nishimi's character, and Ritsuko. I loved when he misread her "come to my place" line. That little daydream was super cute, and funny. Oh, and as other's have stated the music is beautiful, but that's no surprise with Kanno at the helm. I cannot wait until more musicians jam in that basement. It looks like there'll be a trumpet, and bass at some point. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24155 |
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Well, guess I'll go against the flow and reveal I hated this.
... Psych! It's great and I'm not even a jazz fan. As a non-musician, I had no way of knowing how "realistic" Sentaro's drumming was like that Svid guy, but it sure looked persuasive to me. This episode was particularly welcome to me since I attempted Tsuritama and had to bail about two-thirds of the way through because I just couldn't handle the alien. |
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asimpson2006
 Posts: 3151 Location: USA |
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I enjoyed the first episode. Something different from the usual shows that I normally watch. Not a jazz fan either but I can say now that I have an interest in jazz music after watching this first episode. Hopefully it turns out to be a good series.
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kaydub
 Posts: 318 Location: Cincinnati, OH |
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I really enjoyed the first episode, I'm a sucker for anything with good music and this is right up my alley and then some.
For some reason, one scene that really caught my eye was when Kaoru and Ritsuko were talking after class, and Kaoru took off his glasses. It was pretty subtle and nothing was said about it, but I thought it was pretty interesting given the characters' conversation earlier in the episode. Looking forward to the next episode! |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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The show feels like October Sky (for setting, characters) mixed with Freaks and Geeks (drumkid's attitude, and playing drums). At least that's what I got from it.
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Svidrigailov
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Okay, it's not perfect (but still, I'm amazed my criticism has to be this nit-picky) there's a pattern around 18:09 beginning with a three-stroke roll into ride+kick, followed by snare, then tom tom--the snare and tom hits are reversed for the animation (tom-snare rather than snare-tom). The next pattern is absolutely correct.
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tlsmith63
Posts: 5 |
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I was thinking the same thing--the animation with the drumming looked fantastic! I've been looking forward to this show for awhile. I was so excited when I heard Watanabe & Kanno would be teaming up again. They seemed to be away from anime for awhile. And this is the perfect show for them to team up on. Nice to see them back. |
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dirkusbirkus
 Posts: 699 Location: Manchester, UK |
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This is shaping up to be something special, I think. If I hadn't already seen Lupin this would have been far and away the best first episode of the season for me (so far, anyway). The characters, the setting, the music, the animation... All the elements for a great show are present. I appreciate the respect the show has for jazz music (Sentarou's insistence that you can't just play jazz, you have to feel it) and it was also good to see two leads not becoming BFFs in the first 5 minutes.
I also have a thing for Kyushu dialect, but that's neither here nor there 
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