Kids on the Slope an anime based on the manga Sakamichi no Apollo by Yuki Kodama--which by the way I have not read yet-- is a great seriies about two young men and a young women and how they are united by jass in a troubled time. And yes without a doubt the 1960's were a troubled time filled with political movements and protesting in the United States and other parts of the world. And you can see this reflected in the series along with other themes.
The story takes place in a small town in 1966 where two lonely young men who never had any other male friends their age meet and even though they have so many differences they become good friends through the love of music. Sentaro being half japanese, his father being a America GI from World War II, was ostrazed and even mistreated by family members and thus became a deliquent. His only friend being Ritsuko his neighbor. Unfortunately this wasn't a isolated case. I once had a coworker tell me how she had a similar experince as a child before her mother came to the States with her father. Unlike Sentaro whose father was unknown, my coworkers father married her mother. However, while in Japan people were not friendly. It's sad that children had to suffer for things that happened before they were born.
The other young man Kaoru also came from a troubled background. His parents divorsed when he was young and his father is constntly leaving him to work on a ship so he's moved around alot since young. Thus he found it difficult to make friends and deal with people. At first he thinks that Sentaro has a great life with a loving familly not realizing that in truth he's an orphen who is happy with his adopted mother and siblings but whose absent adopted father didn't accept him. In meeting they both help each other to grow and find acceptance.
Another social issue thats brought up is with Brother Jun. He plays trumpet when he's in town when he jams with Kaoru and Sen at Mukae records. While at college he gets involved with political movements and finds himself in trouble. His friend is seriouly injured in an altercation with the police and Jun ends up dropping out of school and being disowed by his familly. I believe that this is the same student political movement that one of the charachters in The Twelve Kingdoms first novel mentions to Yoko, when talking of how he was involved in a protest and he crawled under some desks and found himself in another world. However, Junichi doesn't escape to another world he just finds himself looseing everything. Everything but love.
The series is also a love story. Ritsuko initially is in love with Sen. Kaoru falls for Ritsuko. Sen falls in love with Yuriko. Yuriko falls in love with Junichi. Unrequited love, changing hearts, and true love can each be seen in the series. But the most important type of love in the series is that of friendship. And the glue binding them is Jazz.
Jazz is more American then Apple pie. Originating from african drumming and ragtime we get the wonderful and various forms of jazz. The music in this series is great. I like the fact it shows music beinging people who usually wouldn't get to know each other together. Music is something that can touch the hearts of those who hear it and unite us regardless of who we are. For instance the scene where Kaoru and Sen play at the school festival when there is an equipment issue for the band and everyone is like wow thats amazing. Music is a powerful force.
This series is great to watch. Its not exciting in an action way but it is exciting in a musical way. It reminds me of back in high school when I used to be in concert band, marching band, and Jazz band. Its fun. Not only do you have a great creative team of Yoko Kanno and Shinichiro Watanabe. They did an excellent job as expected.
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