Kids on the Slope

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. ==Characters==

Primary characters ; : :A high school student from a wealthy family who moves to his uncle's home in Kyushu in the summer of 1966. Due to his introversion and the frequency with which he moves because of his father's career, he has never developed lasting friendships. Kaoru is a skilled pianist familiar with classical music, though his friendship with Sentarō Kawabuchi inspires him to begin performing jazz. He possesses romantic feelings for his classmate Ritsuko Mukae, which are initially unrequited due to her feelings for Sentarō. ; : :The child of an American serviceman and a Japanese mother, Sentarō was orphaned at a young age and faced discrimination. He is outwardly an aggressive delinquent, but is a kind and caring person to his friends, and a loving brother to his multiple adopted siblings. He is a skilled jazz drummer, and grows close to Kaoru by sharing his love of jazz with him. He is Catholic, indicated by the rosary he wears around his neck at all times, and ends the series as a priest-in-training. ; : :A classmate of Kaoru and Sentarō, and longtime friend of the latter. Her family owns a record store that serves as a practice space for Kaoru and Sentarō. Like Sentarō, she is Catholic, and begins the series with romantic feelings for him. As the series progresses, her feelings shift from Sentarō to Kaoru. Supporting characters ; : :A strong-willed high school student and member of the art club. She becomes acquainted with Sentarō by chance after he intervenes when she is harassed by a group of men; he falls in love with her, though she ultimately develops feelings for Junichi. She and Junichi eventually wed and start a family together. ; : :A longtime friend of the Kawabuchi and Mukae families who plays trumpet. Junichi is idolized by Sentarō, whom he sees as akin to an older brother. While attending university in Tokyo he becomes involved in the Zenkyoto student protest movement, and later drops out of school and is disowned by his family. He marries Yurika, and they raise a family together. ; : :Ritsuko's father, and the owner of the record shop where Sentarō and Kaoru play jazz. He plays double bass. ; : :A member of the art club who dreams of becoming a famous singer to support his family. He asks Sentarō to play drums at the school festival with his band, to Kaoru's chagrin. ; : :A member of the radio club. A train enthusiast who plays guitar. ; : :Kaoru's cousin. Has a somewhat spoiled and bratty personality. ==Media==

Manga Kids on the Slope, written and illustrated by Yuki Kodama, was serialized by Shogakukan in the 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 volumes published by Shogakukan from 25 April 2008 to 9 November 2012. Spanish, Italian, and Taiwanese Mandarin. Volumes Anime Development produced the anime adaptation of Kids on the Slope. 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. The first trailer for the series was released in January 2012, alongside an announcement of the series' production staff. The Blu-ray was re-released on 13 April 2021. The series was first released in the United Kingdom and Ireland by MVM Films on 24 June 2013. In Australia, Hanabee released the series on 7 August 2013. Anime Limited re-released the series in the United Kingdom and Ireland with a collector's edition on 18 December 2023 and a standard edition on 17 June 2024. Live-action film A live-action film adaptation of Kids on the Slope was announced in the June 2017 issue of Monthly Flowers published on 27 April 2017. Kids on the Slope publisher Shogakukan confirmed the adaptation the following day, along with an announcement of the film's cast and primary production staff. The film is directed by Takahiro Miki with a screenplay by , and stars Yuri Chinen as Kaoru, Taishi Nakagawa as Sentarō, and Nana Komatsu as Ritsuko. The actors underwent speech and music training in advance of production, with Chinen and Nakagawa studying piano and drums, respectively, and Nakagawa and Komatsu trained to speak in a Sasebo dialect; Dean Fujioka, who portrays Junichi, was trained to play the trumpet. The trailer for the film was released on 15 October 2017, with the film itself released on 10 March 2018. Other media Several soundtrack albums collecting music from the series have been published. In 2009, EMI Music Japan published Kids on the Slope Original Soundtrack, a compilation album collecting songs referenced in the manga series. The album is composed of both licensed original recordings and cover versions by the Japanese jazz quartet Quasimode. In 2012, Epic Records Japan published the identically titled Kids on the Slope Original Soundtrack, which collects songs used in the anime adaption of the series and Yoko Kanno's original score; an expanded edition of the soundtrack, Kids on the Slope Original Soundtrack: Plus More & Rare, was published that same year. In 2018, Ariola Japan published Kids on the Slope Soundtrack & Jazz Music Collection, which collects the soundtrack of the live-action film adaptation of the series. A Kids on the Slope weekly internet radio series aired on from 10 April to 3 July 2012. The series was hosted by Kaoru voice actor Ryōhei Kimura, and featured voice actors from the anime series as guests. ==Themes and analysis==

near Sasebo, where the final scene of the series occurs. Series creator Yuki Kodama based Kids on the Slope on her own experience of growing up in Sasebo, Nagasaki, where the series is set. Jazz figured heavily in Sasebo's music scene beginning in the 1920s and 1930s; the city houses a major naval base for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (then the Imperial Japanese Navy), which attracted nightclubs and cabarets to the area. Several real-life locations in and around Sasebo appear in Kids on the Slope, notably the Megane-iwa ( "Spectacles Rock"), and the Kuroshima Catholic church on the Kujūku Islands. In his book ''Holy Anime! Japan's View of Christianity'', writer Patrick Drazen remarks on the series' depiction of Catholicism in Japan, citing Kids on the Slope as an example of how "in the Japanese scheme of things, religion can be a factor of geography and even genetics, and [is] not exclusively a profession of faith." In particular, Drazen notes how the stigmatization Sentarō faces because of his racial identity is compounded by his Catholic religious identity. Drazen further identifies Kids on the Slope as an example of a work that juxtaposes Catholicism and Western popular music, comparing it to media such as "Dominique" by The Singing Nun and the Sister Act series of films. Multiple critics noted a homoerotic dimension to Kaoru and Sentarō's canonically platonic friendship. Jacob Parker-Dalton of Otaquest cites the series' homoerotic subtext as an example of the influence of the boys' love genre (male-male romance) on the demographic, noting how Sentarō and Kaoru conform to character archetypes found in the BL genre. Writer Madeline Ashby argues that though its homoerotic content is rendered as subtext, Kids on the Slope represents Watanabe's first attempt to engage seriously with LGBT subject material in his work, after previously depicting LGBT characters in passing or as the punchlines for jokes. Parker-Dalton notes that Watanabe's works subsequent to Kids on the Slope similarly feature serious portrayals of LGBT characters and themes, as seen in the -style character designs of Terror in Resonance and the presence of multiple LGBT characters in Carole & Tuesday. Kids on the Slope was also discussed by critics in relation to Watanabe's broader canon of works, with Parker-Dalton identifying the series as a "watershed" moment for Watanabe's career representing "the final evolution of the director’s lifelong obsession with music." Ashby notes how the series' theme of male friendship is one that recurs in Watanabe's works, which depict "unlikely pairs of men (or boys) who are either thrown together by circumstance or are drawn together by their mutual histories." She argues that Kids on the Slope represents metatextual commentary by Watanabe on his previous works Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, as he uses design elements, setting, and characterization to "evoke [his] other works while keeping each story completely independent." ==Reception==

The manga was the top-ranked manga for women in the 2009 edition of Takarajimasha's annual Kono Manga ga Sugoi! rankings and won the 57th Shogakukan Manga Award in 2012 for general manga. Reviewing the first volume of the series for The Asahi Shimbun, critic Shigeko Matsuo praised Kodama's characterization, but criticized its love triangle plot conceit. The anime adaptation of Kids on the Slope was acclaimed by critics, and was listed as among the best anime of 2012 by Anime News Network, among the best anime of the 2010s by IGN, Crunchyroll, and Thrillist, and among the best anime of all time by Paste. In 2013, Yoko Kanno won Best Music at the Tokyo Anime Awards for her work on Kids on the Slope and Aquarion Evol. Theron Martin reviewed the series positively for Anime News Network, noting that while Kids on the Slope is "more pedestrian" than Watanabe and Kanno's previous collaborations, he offered praise for its character development, music, and visual style. Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku wrote that while the series' "dreamy, romantic vibe" may be off-putting to viewers who discovered Watanabe through his work on Cowboy Bebop, but argued that "to dismiss Kids on the Slope would be a huge mistake. Like Cowboy Bebop, Kids is a thing of visual and aural beauty, a celebration of art that lives in its smallest details." Nicole MacLean of THEM Anime similarly concurred that while the series "moves slowly and thus may not gain widespread appeal," its "poignancy and its adept choice of viewpoint as a reflective rather than purely nostalgic show ultimately win out over its mistakes." The live-action film adaption of Kids on the Slope opened in eighth place at the Japanese box office. For his performance in the film, Taishi Nakagawa was nominated for Newcomer of the Year at the 42nd Japan Academy Film Prize awards in 2019. ==Notes==