With Sentaro working things in Seiji’s band, things go in some difficult directions for all involved.
What They Say:
Sentaro is busy practicing with Seijis band, while Kaoru has been chosen as the class representative for the school festival, and the gulf between the two widens. But on the day of the festival, unexpected trouble occurs up on stage.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the series undergoing some struggles now that things have changed up a bit because of Sentaro playing with Seiji’s band, Kaoru is finding himself feeling very much betrayed and on the outside of things. The whole situation has left them in an odd place where they’re not sure how to deal with each other and even Sentaro is feeling a bit off when it comes down to it. One of the sessions with Seiji and his group has him just wanting to play but there’s so many other things in the air there, and Seiji’s own particular outgoing style, that it has a weird vibe to it. Sentaro’s looking for something real in his life and is just having a hell of a time finding it.
To make matters worse, his brother Jun is back in his life and that has a lot of issues that exist there that, while they don’t boil to the surface, make it easier for Sentaro to lash out. His encounter with Yurika is really interesting to watch as he gets somewhat forceful and clear about what he wants while Yurika herself resists only so much before she does the same. Having Jun interrupt it is disheartening as you want to see where it goes, but it opens the show up to a few other avenues because of it, both from their own reactions to how Sentaro goes after his brother once things change just a touch. There’s some real problems between the two young men, problems that Sentaro has no issue in being physical over.
When the show does move to the point where Seiji’s band has a gig, it’s something that’s very much of the time and if you followed music at all, you know why it comes together like it does. But it does, from this point in time, look cute and fun in a dressy kind of way that’s just adorable. Of course, the gig goes off well for awhile but things take a bad turn along the way when they lose power. It actually leads to a rather good bit between them and some of the guys watching it who see it as a chance to mouth off, but it just reinforces the origins of those involved and how hard they do work. It’s again another solid character moment, both for Sentaro but also for others in the band, which leads to something even more magical.
In Summary:
Kids on the Slope is a show that has something going for it that while it may be music based with the story itself, it’s not always going to focus on that. There’s more to it because of the heart of the jazz music has to come from the characters themselves. The split that happens here is almost a necessity in order to show that they were on the right path, and that they can be even more because of it. It’s also good to see how the crowd reacts to it as it goes further on since what they’re doing is not what most of them have heard before and it captivates them. And it likely even moves a lot of them in a way they never thought possible. This is the game changer for the pair in a lot of ways.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
