(L) Sakamichi no Apollon (Kids on the Slope)

[DragoonKain3]

Must be fated that Yurika be married into that family then.

C'mon Sentaro, it's not too late to turn back yet!

[Arya]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

One of the things that most impresses me about this show is the economy with which it is presented. A line here, a glance there, and paragraphs of exposition are expressed. I could do with a bit fewer blushing marks though. Sometimes it feels a bit heavy-handed as in the whole sequence in the shop.

This. This is what I find really amazing too. The more the show progresses more I notice that.

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

And, oh, it occurs to me that Ri'ko likely started attending church because of Sentarou. It's not stated, I think, but I suspect Sentarou drifted into church because of a longing to be closer to the father he never knew (and also possibly because he had nowhere else to belong, with most of his peers having ostracised him for being half-gaijin). It seems clear that Sentarou doesn't really care about religion. Ironically, it's Ri'ko who became more invested in it than him.

Or is it the other way round? Was it in church that Sentarou first met Ri'ko?

Well, I don't know if Sentarou really doesn't care about religion. But if I had to guess I'd say he cares. He doesn't show much about what he really is or what he really feel.
Speaking of the church, the priest gave him his mother's rosary, so we can assume that her mother at a certain point became a Christian. So probably Sentarou has been Christian from his birth. But I second your idea of Sentarou spending a lot of time in the church having no other place to go.

Spoiler for further speculations about Ri'ko:

Speaking of Ritsuko. In one picture of the photo album, that Sentaro showed to Kaoru, it seems that Sentaro and Ri'ko had taken their First Communion. If that were the case they needed first to be baptized and that would imply that both were Christians from their birth.
But even if that wasn't the case, the Communion, Ri'ko was too young to decide to become Christian on her own with her parents' acknowledge, or father's, given that we don't know anything about her mother. I would find it quite odd.
When we saw Ri'ko and Sentaro in the church her father wasn't there. So it could lead to a couple of possibilities, the one that you said of Ri'ko starting attending church, or a wilder one:
that the one who is a foster child is not Sentaro, as some of us had guessed at first, but Ri'ko instead. That would explain why she is Christian, why her father wasn't at the church at that time and even why Jun is "brother" Jun, (another foster child?!) and his relationship with Ri'ko, her father and Sentarou and maybe why they kept the photo album at the church (that is odd in any case).
A bit over-dramatic as a situation, but it would explain the osananajimi role better, far better, instead to simply state that Ri'ko is an osananajimi.

[karice67]

To those speculating about why Jun is 'Brother' Jun... (Jun-nii)

er...you really don't need to think too deeply about it. In a number of East Asian cultures, it's quite common for children to address cousins, neighbours, close family friends etc that are older than they are as '(name)-(older brother term)' or '(name)-(older sister term)'.

E.g. In Chinese, we might have Meiling-jiejie (姐姐) or Xiaoran-gege (哥哥)...

edit: and once we've started addressing them as such, it becomes a difficult habit to drop even when we've grown older.

I expect that Ricchan and Sen's use of 'Jun-nii' comes from a similar perspective.

[Master_Yoma]

Sentarou just dose what he went to jumping threw a second story window and going to tokyo on a whim

[kuromitsu]

Okamoto Nobuhiko? Oh my god, it's Ichinose (from Night Raid)! xD This show has a pretty good sense of choosing seiyuu. Though Okamoto and the animators managed to make Seiji even more annoying and effeminate... ^^;; And the Beatles fanboy finally appears.

Also, LOLEX. xD

And since they're doing the whole Jun storyline thing, I can't wait to hear Suwabe Junichi in those scenes...

(Btw, SenxKaoru fans should defintely read the chapters this ep was adapted from, basically almost the entirety of vol4. xD Thank god for Seiji.)

[ookamigirl]

Another school year...
Sentaro fighting on the first day... nothing strange there.
Date with Yurika went well, but his friendship with Kaoru is not doing too well.
Matsuoka seems like Sen's new friend since he could relate to his life story.
Guess that guy had his own agenda after all.
Kaoru took Sen's sudden switch to Matsuoka & his rock band as flat out betrayal.

[Kirarakim]

I am not sure I like the anti-Beatles stance of the episode

Other than that great episode. So Kaoru & Sentaro are involved in a triangle of a different kind, & finally we see just how much Sen means to Kaoru.

Although Kaoru's outburst was a little immature, he is growing in other ways

Spoiler:

How he tried to get Sen not to go out with Yurika because he knows Ricchan likes him

[Flower]

Listening to the full version of the OP atm ... it is quite lovely in that version too.

[sikvod00]

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

Although Kaoru's outburst was a little immature, he is growing in other ways

Spoiler:

How he tried to get Sen not to go out with Yurika because he knows Ricchan likes him

Spoiler for spoiler:

I definitely see signs of Kaoru growing in this episode, but I don't think that's an example of it. It doesn't make sense to tell Sen not to go out with Yurika, the girl he likes at the moment, just because Ricchan likes him. It's great that Kaoru still wants Ricchie to be happy even if it's not with him, but he also has to consider Sen's feelings. I believe Sen will eventually realize and reciprocate Richie's feelings, but until that time, Kaoru shouldn't be trying so hard to stop Sen from pursuing Yurika just for Ricchie's sake. The rooftop scene showed that he knows he had gone too far in trying to dissuade Sen's pursuit.

[Kanon]

This episode will spawn more yaoi comments than ever. The bromance was strong in this one.

Although I am sympathetic to his home situation, I couldn't help but find Fang-kun obnoxious as all hell. For a moment, I even thought I was watching the wrong show. He looks so out of place here
The author doesn't like the Beatles very much, does he?

I can relate to Kaoru's fear that his best friend will get stolen and he'll end up all alone once more, but his outburst was quite childish once again (that totally looked like a lover's quarrel ). He still has a lot of growing up to do.

[Kirarakim]

Originally Posted by sikvod00

Spoiler for spoiler:

I definitely see signs of Kaoru growing in this episode, but I don't think that's an example of it. It doesn't make sense to tell Sen not to go out with Yurika, the girl he likes at the moment, just because Ricchan likes him. It's great that Kaoru still wants Ricchie to be happy even if it's not with him, but he also has to consider Sen's feelings. I believe Sen will eventually realize and reciprocate Richie's feelings, but until that time, Kaoru shouldn't be trying so hard to stop Sen from pursuing Yurika just for Ricchie's sake. The rooftop scene showed that he knows he had gone too far in trying to dissuade Sen's pursuit.

Spoiler:

But you also forget the fact that Kaoru knows Yurika has feelings for Jun and Sentaro will only be hurt.

Perhaps Kaoru went too far in his words to Sentaro but he is understanding what is going on & Sentaro going out with Yurika will only hurt Sen & Ri-chan two people he cares about

So I do think trying to stop that date showed maturity on Kaoru's part even if he didn't go about it the right way. Although I suppose Sentaro will have to realize himself that Yurika is not interested in him.

Edit: Also to clarify I meant he showed maturity in caring about the feelings of others not necessarily in the actions he took.

[sikvod00]

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

Spoiler:

But you also forget the fact that Kaoru knows Yurika has feelings for Jun and Sentaro will only be hurt.

Perhaps Kaoru went too far in his words to Sentaro but he is understanding what is going on & Sentaro going out with Yurika will only hurt Sen & Ri-chan two people he cares about

So I do think trying to stop that date showed maturity on Kaoru's part even if he didn't go about it the right way.

I respectfully disagree.

Spoiler for spoiler:

Kaoru is privy to information that others aren't, but he has to tread carefully because it's an issue of respect and tact. Close friends or not, you're dealing with a person's personal affairs. The people you care about may get hurt, but intervening by trying to stop a date--for no apparent from those not privy to his knowledge-- is wrong.

Oh, and I didn't forget about Yurika liking Jun. I just didn't mention it because I don't think Kaoru cared as much about that as much as seeing Ricchie get hurt. At least that's the way the scenes depicted it. He's trying to inartfully hook the two of them up for Ricchie's sake. But again, that's not his role and it's up to Sen to reciprocate those feelings. He also has no business telling Sen how Ricchie feels. He's limited in what he can say. The best option would be to tell Sen he thinks Yurika likes someone else, and hope Sen believes him. Trying to stop the date is wrong.

Like I said, Kaoru is growing and he's learning to get over Richie, but I don't see these specific actions as a sign of maturity or growth.

[Kirarakim]

Originally Posted by sikvod00

I respectfully disagree.

Spoiler for spoiler:

Kaoru is privy to information that others aren't, but he has to tread carefully because it's an issue of respect and tact. Close friends or not, you're dealing with a person's personal affairs. The people you care about may get hurt, but intervening by trying to stop a date--for no apparent from those not privy to his knowledge-- is wrong.

Oh, and I didn't forget about Yurika liking Jun. I just didn't mention it because I don't think Kaoru cared as much about that as much as seeing Ricchie get hurt. At least that's the way the scenes depicted it. He's trying to inartfully hook the two of them up for Ricchie's sake. But again, that's not his role and it's up to Sen to reciprocate those feelings. He also has no business telling Sen how Ricchie feels. He's limited in what he can say. The best option would be to tell Sen he thinks Yurika likes someone else, and hope Sen believes him.

Like I said, Kaoru is growing and he's learning to get over Richie, but I don't see these specific actions as a sign of maturity or growth.

As I said in my post I think he showed maturity in caring about the feelings of others over his own feelings, not in the actions he took. His heart was in the right place even if he went about it the wrong way.

That's a far cry from trying to set Sentaro up with Yurika in earlier episodes so he could have Ri-chan.

And yes I do think he took Yurika's feelings (or lack of) for Sentaro into account. Maybe it was wrong for Kaoru to stop the date but he was right at the result. Sentaro just needs to discover that himself.

Kaoru doesn't need to do everything right but I think every little step (even if there are missteps) shows he is maturing.

[kuromitsu]

Originally Posted by sikvod00

Oh, and I didn't forget about Yurika liking Jun. I just didn't mention it because I don't think Kaoru cared as much about that as much as seeing Ricchie get hurt.

It's both, really. He doesn't want Rikko to get hurt, but he also knows what it's like to realize that you're in love with someone who doesn't love you, and doesn't want Sen to go through the same thing. Especially since Sen adores Jun. Which is why he can't tell Sen the real reason why he shouldn't go, and says the wrong things, hurting Sen.

Things like this show just why I think Kaoru is such a great character. He's not the most likeable person ever, but these thought processes and his development as a character are so well done.

[ars89]

Lol Sen only talked about Jun on his date with Yurika. Seiji annoyed me. Interesting problem in Sen and Kaoru's relationship now.

[Arya]

aha, I agree that Seiji is really annoying.

Spoiler for ep. 6:

He had schemed everything, he also lied about his family being poor, didn't he? I guess they were at his house during that guitar "audition". Just to let Sen sympathizing with him. Sentarou is really dense. Or better, he is really dense when it comes to girls, but he is naive when it comes to males. But the result is the same he hurts both, Ri'ko and Kaoru. But I blame him for only one of the two

Talking about Kaoru, he is growing, even if the transition felt a bit rushed, if I have to say.

Spoiler for ep.6:

Anyways he forced Ritsuko to medicate Sentarou. And that was the clearer change of mind he had.

In regard of Yurika's date advice, I thought that he was thinking more to Sentarou's feeling than Ritsuko at the moment. But probably, as kuromitsu said, he is trying to handle both in the best way he can. And it is not a simple thing to do, without spilling the beans.

Anyways the episode seemed to last ten minutes even with Seiji and I agree with Kanon taht thanks to him I had the impression of watching the wrong show

[Flawfinder]

Yeah, I could not believe that an award-winning manga had someone like Seiji in it. Maybe he's less obnoxious in the manga, but he sure as hell annoyed me here. Other than that, episode was good. I can see how people aren't going to like the drama and all, but I honestly love it. And I don't care if Kaoru is a prick. I've liked pricks before, and it's better than being monotone.

[kuromitsu]

Originally Posted by Arya

aha, I agree that Seiji is really annoying.

Spoiler for ep. 6:

He had schemed everything, he also lied about his family being poor, didn't he? I guess they were at his house during that guitar "audition".

No, actually he didn't. They were at Yamaoka's (the Beatles fanboy) place whose family is rich and his father is into music and has all sorts of instruments. Maruo (the pudgy guy) is rich, or at least his family is more well-off than others so he can afford a guitar and even lessons. (Actually, even the record that Seiji lent Sen belongs to Yamaoka.)

I think Seiji is pretty fun in the manga (if pretty annoying and morally ahem, interesting), but getting animated and having a voice doesn't really help - maybe if Yamaoka and Maruo get some more screentime he'll seem less out of place. But I like how honest he is about what he wants and how he wants to get it.

[Anh_Minh]

I don't think Kaoru should manipulate Sentarou into anything. If he really wants to be an obstacle to Sen x Yurika, he should be straight about it and tell Sentarou why. Those little lies aren't arranging anything.

[Arya]

Originally Posted by kuromitsu

No, actually he didn't. They were at Yamaoka's (the Beatles fanboy) place whose family is rich and his father is into music and has all sorts of instruments. Maruo (the pudgy guy) is rich, or at least his family is more well-off than others so he can afford a guitar and even lessons. (Actually, even the record that Seiji lent Sen belongs to Yamaoka.)

I think Seiji is pretty fun in the manga (if pretty annoying and morally ahem, interesting), but getting animated and having a voice doesn't really help - maybe if Yamaoka and Maruo get some more screentime he'll seem less out of place. But I like how honest he is about what he wants and how he wants to get it.

Ops. thanks for clarifying it. And actually it would have been difficult for Seiji to keep that lie if he was rich. So he is not that bad as I thought. Morally interesting fits him well. But annoying as hell better