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Kids on the Slope
Kids on the Slope (Japanese: 坂道のアポロン, Hepburn: Sakamichi no Aporon; lit. "Apollo on the Slope") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Kodama. It was originally serialized in Shogakukan's josei manga magazine Monthly Flowers from 2007 to 2012, with its chapters compiled into 10 tankōbon volumes. The series follows Kaoru Nishimi, an introverted high school student who discovers jazz music through his friendship with his delinquent classmate Sentarō Kawabuchi.
The series has been adapted twice: as a television anime series in 2012, and as a live-action film directed by Takahiro Miki in 2018. The anime adaptation is directed by Shinichirō Watanabe with music by Yoko Kanno, making it the third collaboration between Watanabe and Kanno following Macross Plus (1994–1995) and Cowboy Bebop (1998). The series was produced by MAPPA and Tezuka Productions, and aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. In North America, the series was licensed by Sentai Filmworks and aired on the streaming service Crunchyroll, which simulcast the series during its original broadcast run.
The anime adaption of Kids on the Slope was widely acclaimed, with praise given to its direction, narrative, and music. Critics explored Kids on the Slope's depiction of Catholicism in Japan, its themes of male friendship and subtextual homoeroticism, and its relation to Watanabe's broader canon of works in their analysis of the series. Multiple outlets listed Kids on the Slope as among the best anime of the 2010s.
Kaoru Nishimi is an intelligent, introverted first-year high school student from a wealthy family who moves to different cities frequently as a result of his father's career. Consequently, he has never made lasting friendships. In the summer of 1966, he relocates from Yokosuka, Kanagawa to Sasebo, Nagasaki to live with his extended family. On his first day of school he encounters Sentarō Kawabuchi, a delinquent student feared by his classmates. Sentarō's love of jazz music inspires Kaoru to study the genre, and the two boys begin to develop a close friendship through jazz sessions at a record shop owned by the family of Ritsuko Mukae, a classmate. The slice of life series follows Kaoru, Sentarō, and Ritsuko over the course of their three years of high school, and the relationships that develop among and between them.
Kids on the Slope, written and illustrated by Yuki Kodama, was serialized by Shogakukan in the josei manga anthology Monthly Flowers from 28 September 2007 to 28 January 2012. Kids on the Slope: Bonus Track, a spin-off series that was released immediately following the conclusion of the manga series, was serialized in the same magazine from 28 March to 28 July 2012. In Japan, the series was collected into 10 tankōbon volumes published by Shogakukan from 25 April 2008 to 9 November 2012. The first nine tankōbon volumes consist of the original 90 chapter series, with Bonus Track being published as its own unnumbered volume. Internationally, the series has been licensed in French, Spanish, Italian, and Taiwanese Mandarin.
An anime adaptation of Kids on the Slope produced by MAPPA in association with Tezuka Productions was released in 2012. It was the first anime series produced by MAPPA, which was founded by Masao Maruyama in 2011 after his departure from the studio Madhouse. Maruyama co-founded Madhouse in 1972, and approached Shinichirō Watanabe to direct Kids on the Slope on the basis of their previous work at Madhouse together. Watanabe spent the three years prior to the release of Kids on the Slope developing projects for Madhouse that ultimately stalled in planning phases or were cancelled, leading Maruyama to offer Watanabe the series to direct "as something to do." The series was heralded as a "triumphant return to the mainstream" for Watanabe following a seven-year hiatus from directing anime, which spanned from the conclusion of his previous series Samurai Champloo in 2005.
Kids on the Slope was Watanabe's first anime series adapted from an existing work, rather than based on an original concept. Maruyama stated that Watanabe initially resisted the prospect of creating an adaptation and expressed concerns over a lack of creative freedom, but agreed after learning that the series was about jazz (music frequently forms a core element of Watanabe's works), and after Kids on the Slope network Fuji TV agreed to greenlight his subsequent anime series Terror in Resonance. After reading the original Kids on the Slope manga, Watanabe noted that while jazz music forms the basis of the story, he was interested in its approach to plot and characterization, particularly "the kind of way that it portrays emotional distance." Upon learning that Watanabe was developing a new anime series, composer Yoko Kanno asked to be involved in its production. While Kanno has stated that she is not a fan of jazz music, she sought to be involved in Watanabe's next project after their previous collaborations on Macross Plus and Cowboy Bebop.
The primary production staff for Kids on the Slope is composed of Watanabe as director, Kanno as composer, Nobuteru Yūki as character designer, Yoshimitsu Yamashita as chief animation director, and Ayako Katō and Yūko Kakihara as scriptwriters. The series was Watanabe's first single cour series; on adapting the series with a compressed number of episodes, Watanabe noted that a manga series of Kids on the Slope's length would typically have been adapted as 15 or 16 episodes, "so trying to fit it into 12 episodes necessitated a bit of rushing."
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Kids on the Slope
Kids on the Slope (Japanese: 坂道のアポロン, Hepburn: Sakamichi no Aporon; lit. "Apollo on the Slope") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Kodama. It was originally serialized in Shogakukan's josei manga magazine Monthly Flowers from 2007 to 2012, with its chapters compiled into 10 tankōbon volumes. The series follows Kaoru Nishimi, an introverted high school student who discovers jazz music through his friendship with his delinquent classmate Sentarō Kawabuchi.
The series has been adapted twice: as a television anime series in 2012, and as a live-action film directed by Takahiro Miki in 2018. The anime adaptation is directed by Shinichirō Watanabe with music by Yoko Kanno, making it the third collaboration between Watanabe and Kanno following Macross Plus (1994–1995) and Cowboy Bebop (1998). The series was produced by MAPPA and Tezuka Productions, and aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. In North America, the series was licensed by Sentai Filmworks and aired on the streaming service Crunchyroll, which simulcast the series during its original broadcast run.
The anime adaption of Kids on the Slope was widely acclaimed, with praise given to its direction, narrative, and music. Critics explored Kids on the Slope's depiction of Catholicism in Japan, its themes of male friendship and subtextual homoeroticism, and its relation to Watanabe's broader canon of works in their analysis of the series. Multiple outlets listed Kids on the Slope as among the best anime of the 2010s.
Kaoru Nishimi is an intelligent, introverted first-year high school student from a wealthy family who moves to different cities frequently as a result of his father's career. Consequently, he has never made lasting friendships. In the summer of 1966, he relocates from Yokosuka, Kanagawa to Sasebo, Nagasaki to live with his extended family. On his first day of school he encounters Sentarō Kawabuchi, a delinquent student feared by his classmates. Sentarō's love of jazz music inspires Kaoru to study the genre, and the two boys begin to develop a close friendship through jazz sessions at a record shop owned by the family of Ritsuko Mukae, a classmate. The slice of life series follows Kaoru, Sentarō, and Ritsuko over the course of their three years of high school, and the relationships that develop among and between them.
Kids on the Slope, written and illustrated by Yuki Kodama, was serialized by Shogakukan in the josei manga anthology Monthly Flowers from 28 September 2007 to 28 January 2012. Kids on the Slope: Bonus Track, a spin-off series that was released immediately following the conclusion of the manga series, was serialized in the same magazine from 28 March to 28 July 2012. In Japan, the series was collected into 10 tankōbon volumes published by Shogakukan from 25 April 2008 to 9 November 2012. The first nine tankōbon volumes consist of the original 90 chapter series, with Bonus Track being published as its own unnumbered volume. Internationally, the series has been licensed in French, Spanish, Italian, and Taiwanese Mandarin.
An anime adaptation of Kids on the Slope produced by MAPPA in association with Tezuka Productions was released in 2012. It was the first anime series produced by MAPPA, which was founded by Masao Maruyama in 2011 after his departure from the studio Madhouse. Maruyama co-founded Madhouse in 1972, and approached Shinichirō Watanabe to direct Kids on the Slope on the basis of their previous work at Madhouse together. Watanabe spent the three years prior to the release of Kids on the Slope developing projects for Madhouse that ultimately stalled in planning phases or were cancelled, leading Maruyama to offer Watanabe the series to direct "as something to do." The series was heralded as a "triumphant return to the mainstream" for Watanabe following a seven-year hiatus from directing anime, which spanned from the conclusion of his previous series Samurai Champloo in 2005.
Kids on the Slope was Watanabe's first anime series adapted from an existing work, rather than based on an original concept. Maruyama stated that Watanabe initially resisted the prospect of creating an adaptation and expressed concerns over a lack of creative freedom, but agreed after learning that the series was about jazz (music frequently forms a core element of Watanabe's works), and after Kids on the Slope network Fuji TV agreed to greenlight his subsequent anime series Terror in Resonance. After reading the original Kids on the Slope manga, Watanabe noted that while jazz music forms the basis of the story, he was interested in its approach to plot and characterization, particularly "the kind of way that it portrays emotional distance." Upon learning that Watanabe was developing a new anime series, composer Yoko Kanno asked to be involved in its production. While Kanno has stated that she is not a fan of jazz music, she sought to be involved in Watanabe's next project after their previous collaborations on Macross Plus and Cowboy Bebop.
The primary production staff for Kids on the Slope is composed of Watanabe as director, Kanno as composer, Nobuteru Yūki as character designer, Yoshimitsu Yamashita as chief animation director, and Ayako Katō and Yūko Kakihara as scriptwriters. The series was Watanabe's first single cour series; on adapting the series with a compressed number of episodes, Watanabe noted that a manga series of Kids on the Slope's length would typically have been adapted as 15 or 16 episodes, "so trying to fit it into 12 episodes necessitated a bit of rushing."