本帖最后由 SnakeMirror 于 2015-8-8 22:40 编辑


-------------KID ON THE SLOPE
Kids on the Slope (坂道のアポロン) is a Japanese manga series drawn by Yuki Kodama. An anime television series adaptation of the same name aired in 2012, and I saw it in the last summer. It is directed by Shinichirō Watanabe at MAPPA and Tezuka Productions with music provided by acclaimed composer Yoko Kanno, reuniting the two who previously worked together on Macross Plus and Cowboy Bebop.  This is not the first work I knew about for their golden cooperation since I met Terror in Tokyo in advance, but the atmosphere of this anime reminds me of the theme of music, especially JAZZ music.
The plot is fairly simple comparing to many other anime of love or campus theme. The scene happened in the beginning of summer, 1966. On account of his father's job situation, a high school freshman Kaoru Nishimi moved by himself from Yokosuka to Sasebo to live with his relatives. Until then, Kaoru was an honor-roll student who tended to keep to himself alone; however, meeting notorious "bad boy" Sentaro Kawabuchi starts to change him, and discovers his jazz soul. Through this devil-may-care classmate and a girl named Ritsuko Mukae, Kaoru learns the fun to play jazz and finds the first person he can call a real friend. A memorable scene I can still recall  clearly is their first meet. At that moment, Kaoru lifts the white cloth on a desk, a boy appears and grabs his hand softly, saying——" Are you the Angel gonna save me from here?“
The light glittering on their faces, I could never left it behind my mind.
Moanin'-------------
Then let's talk about the background music, which attracts me most when I was watching it. I had not known much about the music style-Jazz before, just like Kaoru in that anime who was just a piano amateur playing classical music. There must be something that made him to step into the Jazz world, and that was the song called "Moanin'" appearing in Episode 1 and running through the whole story:
Moanin' is a jazz album from Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers recorded in 1958. The genre is called Hard Bop and Art Blakey seems to be called the spiritual leader of it. What makes the tune lingers in the house is the piano, saxophone and drums interweaving altogether, alluring the audience to hear the real moaning of a tipsy person.
Looking back to the anime scenes, Sentaro is a proficient jazz drummer with abundant knowledge of how to perform jazz music, but he never shows his talent aloud, until the heroine Ritsuko speaks it to Kaoru in the basement of her family's CD store. I could infer from the background knowledge that at these age, jazz was like pop music nowadays but not as popular as that. It is more civilian than the classicals, which explains why Jazz Sentaro does not like the Classical Kaoru at first. Otherwise, Otherwise, the "Jazz Kaoru" who used to practice <Moanin'> with him should be absolutely his type, I swear with full of my joy(*´∀`).
The title of the songs sounds a little bit lustrous under some dirty imagination, but their encounter and friendship must be as pure as the seawater under the sunshine.
-------------My Favorite Things
This song appears in Episode 11 around 08:43 sung by Ritsuko Mukae (voiced by Yuuka Nanri). It is one of my favorite songs inside the soundtracks, because the prelude is simple enough for humming. The original version is from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical <The Sound of Music>. In the musical, the lyrics to the song are a reference to things Maria loves, such as "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens". These are the things she selects to fill her mind with when times are bad, which exactly corresponds with the moods of three students who were doing their rehearsal for their last school performance:
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad
Melody depicts a picture of a little girl bounding up on a vast grassland while searching for her friends hiding under the reedland. On the story's side, the triangle between three characters is a big clash when discussing the meaning of this song. From my insight, I can hardly imagine the girl will choose either of them to be her lover because both are so special for her under different roles. When talks about childhood sweetheart, Sentaro is a kind and reliable companion, but just a bit bluntness for noticing her affections. Then Kaoru comes as a pursuer to her, but still a little bit shy and ambiguous. Then her thought of the things as her favorite, these would arise in her mind:
Sounds of footstep towards the way back home,
blending piano strings and drum tums inside the basement
And the laughter of two boys.
For me, these are all my favorite things, and the voice of her singing as well.
Someday My Prince Will Come-------------
This song was first played in episode 3 from Kaoru to Ritsuko, and then Kaoru expressed his love directly to her but did not get the answer immediately. The song under this name with lyrics is a popular song from Walt Disney's 1937 animated movie <Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs>. It was written by Larry Morey (lyrics) & Frank Churchill (music), and performed by Adriana Caselotti (Snow White's voice in the movie). It was also featured in the 1979 stage adaptation of the 1937 animated musical movie. Another version with jazz adaption was from Bill Evans, a famous jazz pianist from 50s to 80s. When I searched the picture of him, what really surprised me is that he really looks like Kaoru in that anime. I finally understand why Kaoru once pretended to be Bill Evans to amuse the others, because they both wear a black plastic frame and Kaoru only need to put up his bangs.
It is also very interesting to hear this song's adaption again in episode 7. I highly recommend everyone to watch episode 7 even that you are not interested in the whole story or the painting style, because the live of Kaoru and Sentaro in this period is just so fantastic that I cannot describe it with my words. This video lies in my favorite collection for a fairly long time and everytime I feel less energetic or need some refreshment, I will watch it as my infinite supplement of recreation. It was absolutely amazing to see these, the two boys on the stage playing so synchronized at such a quick tempo as a impromptu.. I must tell: a miracle or a strong magnet between them as two unconstrained souls.
Some day my prince will come
Some day we'll meet again
And away to his castle we'll go
To be happy forever I know
Some day when my dreams come true
Kids on the slope, wits for the grope.
It is a story of youth and music, love and freedom.
Everyone struggling all their lifes for what the happiness is,
maybe you can watch this anime to grope for your living direction.
At last, enjoy the anime, enjoy the music~