Sakamichi no Apollon

Sakamichi No Apollon (also known as Kids On The Slope) is a josei manga which can get some catchy jazz song in your head, and manage to keep it there all day. At first, you'd catch yourself tapping your fingers or toes to some melody, and after some time, you just can't stop. The musical style of jazz is off-beat, nonrhythmic, and often improvises the melodies. It's very different, but often in a good way. That definition also best describes Sakamichi No Apollon. As the winner of the 57th Shogakukan Manga Award for General Manga, I don't think you could really expect anything sub-par. Kaoru, a stotic,young, freshman in highschool during the 60's, began living at his aunt's house as a result of his father's excessive moving. He has no means of making friends or memories, since he has always been transferred out of the class before any true friendship could blossom. And yet, the two people he meets on the first day of school, Ritsuko and Sentarou, eventually manage to change his way of thinking, and his way of life. The characters and the development in this series is excellent. The world of jazz manages to pull the unexpected three together into a friendship for life. And get this –it isn't sappy. The feelings, the conflicts, the misunderstandings, and the (very) young love is realistic and sensible. Their relationships were the best part about it; a whirlwind of fast-paced feelings that are similar to the nature of jazz. Many of the characters are based off of high school tropes (ie: the quiet boy with glasses), but there are little flaws and characteristics built into each one in order to make them unique. This story is mainly character-driven, and as you could probably tell from my total rating, they are done extremely well. Though Sakamichi No Apollon is a slice-of-life that focuses it's plot on the different, social situations, it never falls into generic high-school tropes. And despite the fact that the slice-of-life genre can be the longest, and cover the most in a character's life, this manga downplays it quite a bit. Sakamichi No Apollon is focused on the experience and little changes in Kaoru's life. And it only takes 9 volumes to do so. He's a piano player who changes his style from strictly classical to jazzy 'swing'. He falls in love; something he probably thought he could never do. He changes from an outcast to a pretty social guy. Sakamichi No Apollon chronicles the little things in life. One may say that there isn't a true plot to this manga, but I beg to differ. This manga covers Kaoru's life during the early years in high school. I mean, it's high school in the 60's, for crying out loud; it's the time of his life! I don't really have much to say about the pacing or the narration, other than the fact it's superb. The ending was a bit rushed, but the concept of it was still meaningful. The atmosphere and the setting too: I don't think I could give a accurate description of it, except that when everything is over and done, you'll be left with a soft, fuzzy image of two boys running down a hill, living for every moment in their youthful lives. Sakamichi No Apollon (aka. Kids On The Slope) was magnificent. The effort, the creativity, and the teens who are ever-so naive – all of it is packed within a story which parallels the world of jazz. It's a fairly simple story, but then there are the characters, who, being teenagers, are always so complex. And it's something surprising for a josei; it doesn't primarily focus on romance. So because it allows the reader to slip into the lives of the characters during the 60's with realistic ease, it deserves a 9.0 / 10.0. (To add a side note, I'm sure we've all read a manga before with music involved. They usually tell you the lyrics and the title, and that's as far as the musical impact goes, right? Sakamichi No Apollon really, really lets the reader get involved with jazz. Even now, the melodies of My Favourite Things, Someday My Prince Will Come, and, of course, Moanin', are memorized. So definitely read this, and you'll get to experience 60's jazz.) ★★★★★★★★★☆ RECOMMENDED.

I came across this manga while I was looking for josei manga and decided to read it because it won an award. I thought it could be boring but that wasn't the case! The story takes place in a small town with a warm, cozy atmosphere (around 1960s I think) and you really feel you're there! The characters are very realistic. There's one girl and two guys but the story is not cliché. The girl is a timid, sweet small town girl who's still friends with her childhood friend, the "delinquent" Sen. Then the city boy/ good student comes into the picture and music pulls themall together. The main guy is not this amazing, cool type but he has his goods and bads, he's human. And Sen is an amazing character, you would have to read. From the way the characters meet to the way the mangaka turns romance between characters upside down throughout the manga, I think the right word for this manga for me is "believable". There's no crazy romance with lots of drama but your regular romance you would stumble upon everyday, equally mixed with music and a strong friendship between the two main guys which is rare to find in common literature. I just loved this, made me feel warm stuff :)

Again, I am not writing a review just because and I rarely write reviews for things I've completed. I randomly found this tile (Kids on the Slope) while browsing Tumblr, so I checked its wikipage out. I was interested, so I started reading it at the early hours of today. Maybe 1 am. Anyway, I was instantly drawn in by the main character and I was wanting more from him, as well as his new life with his new friends. What made the story better for me was the fact that he gained such good and new friends easily and he slowly began to comeout of his shell once he became friends with Ricchan and Sen. Additionally, a bonus would be that almost any character he came into contact with, they had a story of their own, which is brought to light and resolved in a way. I knew it was a feel good story when I started reading it, and now that I'm finished, I can say it really is. It really is a story about friendship and how friendship is forever (or for life, as stated in the manga). The simple art style gave life to the characters and the characters came to life on their own. Literally, it gets a 10/10. The end legitimately made me cry and I understood why they were the Kids on the Slope. I love feel good stories and this is a good read.

Wow! This was a really well-written, character driven manga. Following the friendship of the main characters was an emotional roller coaster. Their interactions all felt very genuine, and the characters were all flawed in ways that made them feel more real. The mangaka was able to capture both the extremely happy as well as extremely sad moments, and draw the reader into sharing the emotions of the characters. The use of music and the way that it reflects and inspired the emotion in the manga was PHENOMENAL, leagues beyond any other musically themed manga that I have read before. Even without sound, I always felt immersedin the music and the mood that it created. The artwork was good, and very effective at conveying the emotions, thoughts, and actions of the characters without having to use excessive words. I appreciate it when the picture is composed well enough to speak for itself. The background imagery was very simple, but in a way that allowed the characters to take restaurants be the focus of the story. My only complaint was that the female main character, Ritsuko, was somewhat bland and underdeveloped when compared to Sen and Kauro. She wasn't a bad character, or a weak-willed female that constantly relied on being rescued by the men in her life, but her character lacked depth. Although she was an important character in the story, her purpose was mainly to be a love interest and friend to Sen and Kauro. Not much is known of shown of her outside of her relationship with those two men.