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Reading some of the mixed and negative reviews here, it's hard not to feel like those reviewers and I watched completely different shows. While firmly a high school coming-of-age story, Kids on the Slope has the kind of originality in execution and genuine heart that easily puts it a cut above the rest in its genre. I knew from the first episode that I was beholding something truly special. As every episode passed I experienced that regret which comes from knowing your first watch of an anime masterpiece will be over all too soon.

DUB/VOICE ACTING
Because I've been watching a lot of subs recently, I ... started Kids on the Slope in dub and ultimately stuck with it. I am looking forward to rewatching with the sub sometime in the future. Overall, the English voice actors do a fantastic job and bring the characters to life, however, some side characters' dialogue had me cringing at times when it leaned a little too stereotypical (in particular, the "cool cat" Brother Jin with his 1960s hipster jazz slang and the overly affected, lisping gay boy who dreams of stardom (I wish the actor had just toned down his lisp, it's so degrading and unnecessary to portray gay men as caricatures)). Both of these are also probably portrayals consistent with the era of the story, which is set in the late 1960s. These two characters' dialogues/dubs are my only criticism of the show.

STORY
In my opinion, this is coming-of-age at its best, told in the clear-eyed, melancholic-yet-hopeful way that is unique to the Japanese perspective. What takes Kids on the Slope over the edge to excellence is its main characters. Richie, Ritskuo, Sen, Jin, and Yurika all feel so human, and each acts in truly unexpected ways at times. Overall, the story is practically cliche-free, which in and of itself is a miracle in a medium (anime) oversaturated with its own tropes and cultural mythologies.

Honorable mention: Because it takes place in 1960s Japan the historical backdrop and events are particularly interesting, for example the presence of U.S. GIs and the Tokyo student protests. Impressively, it also critiques contemporary United States culture with the inclusion of a racist white heckler at the jazz quartet's live performance. It's a detail that didn't have to be included but the story is more nuanced for it.

ANIMATION
Kids on the Slope came out in 2012 and the animation style still feels fresh in 2024, which speaks to how much effort the creators put in at the time to make a show with groundbreaking cinematography, shot design, and editing. Every character is distinct, yet simply designed with fairly clean lines. The backgrounds are lovely. The animation of the jazz jam sessions is particularly impressive. A few times, I did notice a few still/minimal animation frames but they felt like cinematographic choices rather than corners cut.

ROLE OF MUSIC
Although it isn't an anime about music, music is central to the journeys of the characters. Further, it is how they express their inner selves and communicate with each other- frequently Richie and Sen work out their conflicts using instruments alone. All of the jazz is played incredibly well, the piano solos are beautiful, and even the rival band's Beatles-inspired music is groovy (although maybe a little grungier than is period-appropriate). It should be mentioned that the show's opening and closing tracks are gorgeous as well.

Really enjoyed the show overall, especially the characters, the dialogue, the worldbuilding, and the show's theme song (so catchy!!).

I feel that the last few episodes (production of short film #3) didn't deliver. The plot building up to the presentation of the first two short films did a great job of building tension and exploring the stakes, but the stakes didn't feel as high with short film 3. As a culmination of their experience up to that point, short film 3 was also my least favorite. In a way that made the show's metanarrative about short film 3 truer to life; its creators are high ... schoolers after all and, given their limitations of age, experience, and resources, what they produced was great. But both the narrative of short film 3 and the show's narrative could have used some tightening (ex: I knew that the kappa were going to be short film 3's "villains" several episodes before the MC figured it out).

I wish we could have seen a few of the side characters develop further (student council secretary, fruit noodle shop guy, film audio geek girl, school head administrator obasan). There were also a few plotlines that were left hanging at the end which was regretful. Honestly, the show could have gone on longer and I would have been happy!