Kids on the Slope Episode 7 Review

Music makes the world go ‘round, or so they said. In Kaoru and Sentaro’s world, it’s the school festival in 1967 and tech problems have caused the amps to stop working. Kaoru steps in and plays the piano with Sentaro’s drums and we turn fully around to “Moanin’” from way back in episode one.

Last episode, Kaoru ran away because he thought that his new friends, Sentaro and Ritsuko, were just using him as a temporary piano player or whatever (they’re 17 or something, they don’t really think straight and every other friend Kaoru has ever had has basically used him as a temp). Further, Yurika longs for Jun, but Jun’s kind of washed up now and Sentaro makes his big move on Yurika. Problem: Jun sees it and flashes of Kaoru’s big kiss on Ritsuko a few episodes back pop into our collective minds.

The entire episode, then, focuses around the big gap that’s developing between Kaoru-Ritsuko, Kaoru-Sentaro, Sentaro-Yurika, and Jun-Yurika. Which culminates in Sentaro actually using (not really using, but doing a favor for) this Beatles fan’s band for the school festival. The amps are down, Kaoru’s behind the curtain trying to fix it, and Sentaro says that he’s using the Beatles fan’s band as a favor to them, and to help him practice while he waits for Kaoru to return. This leads to Kaoru stepping in and playing the piano with Sentaro. Word of mouth spreads the impromptu concert around and Kaoru and Sentaro are the school’s big hits.

This episode further showed me that the show is about these kids’ lives in music, not the music in these kids’ lives. It reminds me of all the good memories I had in high school of learning the guitar (and kind of not doing well at it, but whatever) and the companionship and camaraderie that a few good friends can bring you.

I’ll admit that Kids on the Slope isn’t as good of a show, in terms of both plot and characters, as Space Brothers. But I enjoy, week to week, Kids on the Slope more than Space Brothers. It’s not just the music, because Space Brothers has some good music, and it’s not just that it’s directed and composed by Shinichiro Watanabe and Yoko Kanno respectively. It’s some intangible thing that makes me like Kaoru and Ritsuko and Sentaro more than Mutta and Hibito and Serika and Kenji.