“Socially isolated honors student Kaoru befriends delinquent Sentarou and discovers jazz music, finding true friendship through their musical collaboration.”
Sakamichi no Apollon
坂道のアポロン
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Based on your preference for character-driven stories with layered emotional arcs, this title's exploration of identity and belonging would deeply resonate. The pacing mirrors series you've rated highly, and its thematic depth aligns with your appreciation for nuanced storytelling...
However, the slow initial episodes might test your patience given your history of dropping shows that don't hook you early. The art style shift in the middle arc could also be a concern...
Synopsis
Socially isolated honors student Kaoru befriends delinquent Sentarou and discovers jazz music, finding true friendship through their musical collaboration.
Constantly transferring schools since childhood, Kaoru Nishimi has always been seen as a social outcast when he transfers due to his intellectual nature and wealthy background. But after moving to Kyushu for his first year of high school, things begin to change. Kaoru befriends the class president, Ritsuko Mukae, and, unexpectedly, the notorious school delinquent, Sentarou Kawabuchi. While Kaoru is an honors student, Sentarou is constantly getting into fights and skipping class. However, these two opposites find a common ground in one thing—music. One day, Kaoru is invited by Ritsuko to visit her family's record store, where he finds Sentarou in the basement showcasing his skill in jazz drumming. Kaoru, being a classical pianist, knows nothing about jazz. But inspired by the performance, he begins to open his mind to the genre alongside Sentarou. The duo begin to practice in after-school jazz sessions in the record store's basement. As he spends more time improving his skills in jazz, Kaoru finds a person whom he can truly call his friend and comes to learn the joys of playing music.
What people say
Community consensus
Derived from 11 sampled reviews
What 11 readers settled on.
Mostly aligned
σ 1.23 · some divergence
—
Not enough recommend signal yet
↓ 0.36
Running avg · Apr 2012 → Sep 2021
- 10 “I came across this manga while I was looking for josei manga and decided to read it because it won an award. I thought it could be boring but that wasn't the case! The story takes place in a small...”
- 10 “Again, I am not writing a review just because and I rarely write reviews for things I've completed. I randomly found this tile (Kids on the Slope) while browsing Tumblr, so I checked its wikipage...”
- 7 “"Manga about music, that's not going to work well, isn't it?" is what you might be thinking. Well, wrong. Sakamichi no Apollon is about jazz and one of it's best qualities is certainly how well can...”
Read Order & Related
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A Manga Publication
- Format 45 × 9 ch × vol
- Total read 6h 00m approx
- Published Sep 2007 – Jan 2012
- Source Manga media type
- Ref. BS-M16737 catalog