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

[Pocari_Sweat]

Originally Posted by Fevvers

*goes off to watch Baby Love for some dose of Watanabe-inflicted original romance

I think you mean Baby blue. The 7th episode of Genius Party right? Been meaning to watch that. Apparently some people said that it "out-Shinkaed Makoto Shinkai".

Back on topic, it was nostalgic hearing YUKI sing the OP again because the last time i remember her doing an anime OP was back in Honey and Clover days. Gotten a lot better too cause she sounded really whiny back then.

Compare the Sakamichi no Appollon OP to this and this. Quite an improvement imo.

[Haak]

A bit late to the party but like everyone said, this was one great episode. It wasn't perfect since it wasn't that gripping but it definitely had some real class. Loved it.

[sa547]

Originally Posted by DemiSoda

I think you mean Baby blue. The 7th episode of Genius Party right? Been meaning to watch that. Apparently some people said that it "out-Shinkaed Makoto Shinkai".

Back on topic, it was nostalgic hearing YUKI sing the OP again because the last time i remember her doing an anime OP was back in Honey and Clover days. Gotten a lot better too cause she sounded really whiny back then.

Compare the Sakamichi no Appollon OP to this and this. Quite an improvement imo.

Been looping Melody for most of the day. Best earworm this far.

[SeijiSensei]

I'm probably about the same age as the characters in this show would be today. I'd been exposed to classical music but never really had much contact with jazz. In college my roommate was an Art Blakey fan so I listened to some of the Jazz Messengers work back then. Though he's well-known among aficionados, he has always been invisible to the general public. It's nice to see his work featured in this episode.

If you'd like a crash course in jazz, you might want to track down the series by Ken Burns for PBS called simply Jazz. Americans can watch it at Hulu; for those of you in foreign venues you'll have to rely on other resources. I find this a better introduction than you would get from reading a book about jazz because you can see and hear the performers and not just read about them. Some critics have said that it was too influenced by Wynton Marsalis, who was a major consultant to the show, and that it spent too much time on the development of jazz in the first half of the twentieth century and too little on more modern variants. Despite the critics I enjoyed watching early performances by masters like Armstong and Ellington; Blakey is profiled in episode nine.

Watanabe sure likes these triangles, doesn't he?

And, just so Enzo won't post another, "Gee, Sensei, didn't expect to find you here," messages , I'll reiterate that I have nothing against shows about adolescents per se if they have real content and aren't relying on boobs and sex jokes to sell merchandise. Coming-of-age stories aren't really my thing any more, but this show has a lot more going for it than simply the crises of adolescence.

[Kirarakim]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

And, just so Enzo won't post another, "Gee, Sensei, didn't expect to find you here," messages , I'll reiterate that I have nothing against shows about adolescents per se if they have real content and aren't relying on boobs and sex jokes to sell merchandise. Coming-of-age stories aren't really my thing any more, but this show has a lot more going for it than simply the crises of adolescence.

But so does Chihayafuru

Anyways a bit late to the party, but brilliant first episode. I can already feel the chemistry between the 3 leads and the soundtrack was great (although that was to be expected)

Loved the part of Kaoru skipping down the street at the end.

This is a definite keeper.

[Utsuro no Hako]

When I watched the episode, I had to pause right here:



and examine the records in the background. I'm pretty sure I own everything on the wall. And I love that they threw in a Sonny Rollins album instead of filling the scene with Parker, Davis and Coltrane. But can anyone identify the bands in the foreground? I don't recognize the names I can read, but if they warrant a shout-out they should be worth checking out.

Originally Posted by Blaat

edit:
Haha why am I not surprised to see Japanese comments at the Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Moanin' youtube video.

Balances out all the Americans commenting on karuta videos.

[sa547]

^
The screenshot is one of the best examples on how they do the research, and down to exacting detail. Another reason to get this show.

[SeijiSensei]

The album in the front center is by The Searchers, a "British Invasion" band known in the US for its songs "Needles and Pins" and "Love Potion No. 9." The one above and to the left of that album is probably by another British group (the hair styles are a dead give-away). Even though the guy on the left looks a bit like Lennon, it's not a Beatles cover either. The label is clearly Philips; the Beatles recorded with EMI. Looking at this list of Philips artists makes me think it could be Manfred Mann, but they had five members and again, I can't find a matching cover. US album covers were often different from those released in the UK and Europe, which might have been more commonly distributed in Japan. The one to the right of The Searchers might be an intentionally distorted version of "The Seekers," an Australian folk-rock group. The "88" is obviously a piano reference.

Just so I'm sure I know who's who, is the music that plays behind the fight scene an original work by Kanno or a cover? I'm guessing it hers.

[Sageblink]

Gosh... That OP !!

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

And, just so Enzo won't post another, "Gee, Sensei, didn't expect to find you here," messages , I'll reiterate that I have nothing against shows about adolescents per se if they have real content and aren't relying on boobs and sex jokes to sell merchandise. Coming-of-age stories aren't really my thing any more, but this show has a lot more going for it than simply the crises of adolescence.

Gosh Sensei, another high school show for you? You're weakening!

But seriously now, glad to see you on-board with this NoitminA batch, because they're both off to a great start. I expect to see you in the Chihayafuru thread soon!

[SeijiSensei]

For those interested in the mechanics of the drumming sequence, each frame is unique. Most anime is shot "on-twos" or, more commonly, "on-threes" where each frame is repeated two or three times. Obviously this reduces the production costs enormously, but it gives anime its characteristic "look" of relatively fixed backgrounds and small amounts of on-screen movement. There was no repetition of any of the frames during Sentaro's performance, though obviously the background remains constant. Some of the intermediate frames have motion blur like this:


One subtle touch I noticed, and someone else mentioned at ANN, was how Kaoru takes off his glasses when Ritsuko speaks to him in the sweeping scene. Given her comment to him in the infirmary the previous day, a lot gets conveyed in such a simple action.

[Cal-Reflector]

Taking the plunge, although I'm 99.9% the show is going to be an emotion-wringer, which I'm weak against. *Crosses shipper's fingers*

[kuromitsu]

Originally Posted by DemiSoda

Back on topic, it was nostalgic hearing YUKI sing the OP again because the last time i remember her doing an anime OP was back in Honey and Clover days. Gotten a lot better too cause she sounded really whiny back then.

Compare the Sakamichi no Appollon OP to this and this. Quite an improvement imo.

Just a note about Yuki - she didn't "get better," she simply sings the song in a fitting style. She's been singing for a very long time (I've known her since her Judy and Mary days, that was a great band...) and that affected, "whiny" sound was one of her trademarks. She could always sing "normally" when she wanted to, see for example here.

It's like, a long time ago I once heard some female singer do a pretty decent acoustic cover of B'z's Itsuka no Merry Christmas... and it turned out to have been Hamasaki Ayumi, without her then-usual affected nasal voice. That was the shock of the week.

[AbZeroNow]

Originally Posted by DemiSoda

I'm ... speechless.

This first episode managed to give me Honey and Clover, Nodame Cantabile, Beck and Wandering Son vibes all at the same time. In others words, BEYOND AMAZING. This has everything. Crisp visuals, bromance, drama, comedy, music and best of all - no frakken lolis or moeblobs. This is the definition of anti-otaku and this is the noitamina spirit at 100% (and thus I'm expecting this to completely bomb in sales) Fwak... now I'm torn what I thought was better, this or Space Brothers. Ah stuff it, I'ma give both of them 10/10s.

Actually who am I kidding. This was better. 11/10. Move over all other slice of life animes. Watanabe and Yoko Kanno are in town.

Yeah, I'm really late to the party on this, since I was behind since I spent a lot of time last weekend at Anime Boston and since a ton of shows that I am watching this Spring fall on the weekend, I had to catch up with those before I watched the first episode of this.

This is my first NoitaminA series so I have no basis of comparison to a few of those series that you named. Since this is Watanabe-sensei we're talking about, I cannot say that the series feels "anti-otaku" since there have got to be some Western-loving otaku in Japan and I have a feeling that this is a Jazz otaku's wet dream.

I can see the fujoushi digging this series if the homoerotic elements that were present in the first episode(Sentarou holding hands with Kaoru briefly, the two on the roof being soaked by the rain, Kaoru's tsundere attitude towards Sentarou's love of jazz, the bro-tap at the end) continue and I certainly hope that once this is released in glorious Blu-Ray by Sentai, that Western fans just grab up this series like mothers grabbing up the latest toy fad(I almost said the next Tickle Me Elmo or something to that effect).

Watanabe's directing is top-notch. The episode had the right timing, like Sentarou on his drums, and I am sure that 12 episodes won't feel like OMG-rush to cover the manga. The subtle ways the characters change in their interactions with each other was well done too(Kaoru taking off his glasses when talking to Ritsuko, Sentarou's greeting towards Kaoru and Ritsuko at the end).

I somehow see a Ritsuko X Sentarou end that Kaoru helps bring about(the fujoushi would love a SenKao end.) First episode is a 9.5/10(I somehow also keep getting the idea of Sentarou as a genderbent Ritsu from K-ON, am I crazy there?)

[Theowne]

I'll just cut to the chase, this is the first new series that has interested me right away in quite a long time. I'll see all of you in this thread the coming weeks....Don't know where this story will go but I hope it will be like Honey and Clover at its best. Perhaps that's just the YUKI opening talking.

Speaking of the opening song, I do love the instrumentation in the first 25 seconds with the march-like rhythm with the guitar layering. Not the biggest fan of Yuki's voice , but even Dramatic eventually grew on me.

[Somnus]

Late to the party, but am extremely glad I didn't miss it altogether. I had my eye on this one since the season preview list was released and did it ever deliver.

Right off the bat this one knocks it out of the park. It doesn't need every colour known to man exploding on the screen, nor does it need the latest and greatest spin on the latest and greatest spin. It accomplishes its greatness through pure class and quality. The result just ends up pulling you in and personally I found myself wishing I didn't have to let go.

An easy way for a show to get a high-grade from me is to involve music somehow. More often than not I'll like it. Like it was mentioned earlier this show has the charm that could be found in Nodame Cantabile, and Beck. What's even better is that it doesn't step on the toes of either title by using a different genre of music. Again, winning formula here.

All in all, I must have more and will definitely be lurking around in this thread for weeks to come. Unsurprisingly, I'm finding a gathering of many familiar names here in terms of good quality shows (not necessarily the most popular). Here's to a good time, all.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Here we go, the first of probably many more to come, inspired by all that jazz.

[-Sho-]

Ow good , i'm relieved that this season got more interesting & unusual anime than before <3

[Kouvley]

Superb start, high quality, understated and classy. Seriously good.

The seiyuu for the main trio were also excellent, it's a shame Nanri Yuuka doesn't do more voice work.

[Haohmaru]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Here we go, the first of probably many more to come, inspired by all that jazz.

Nice drumming dude. That was pretty awesome.

Ep2 had a great live session. The animation during live sessions is really something else. Episode was nice as well. Almost got some info on Sentaro, but he had to ruin it for us.