Kids on the Slope

Kids on the Slope
Japanese volume 1 cover art
坂道のアポロン (Sakamichi no Apollon)
Genre	Coming-of-age, Romance
Manga
Written by	Yuki Kodama
Published by	Shogakukan
Demographic	Josei
Magazine	Flowers
Original run	September 28, 2007 – July 28, 2012
Volumes	9 + 1 extra edition
Anime television series
Directed by	Shinichirō Watanabe
Produced by	Koji Yamamoto Masao Maruyama
Music by	Yoko Kanno
Studio	MAPPA Tezuka Productions
Licensed by	AUS Hanabee BI MVM Entertainment NA Sentai Filmworks
Original network	Fuji TV (Noitamina)
English network	NA Anime Network, Neon Alley
Original run	April 12, 2012 – June 28, 2012
Episodes	12 (List of episodes)

Kids on the Slope (坂道のアポロン, Sakamichi no Apollon^?, lit. "Apollo on the Slope") is a Japanese manga series by Yuki Kodama. An anime television series adaptation of the same name aired in 2012. 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. The anime has been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks.

The beginning of summer, 1966; because of his father's job situation, freshman high school student Kaoru Nishimi moves by himself from Yokosuka to Sasebo in Kyushu to live with relatives. Until then, Kaoru was an honor roll student who tended to keep to himself, but meeting notorious "bad boy" Sentaro Kawabuchi starts to change him. Through his devil-may-care classmate, Kaoru learns how much fun it is to play jazz and finds the first person he can call a real friend.

An anime TV series adaptation of the manga started airing on the noitaminA timeslot of Fuji TV on 12 April 2012. The opening theme is "Sakamichi no Melody" by YUKI while the ending theme is "Altair" by Motohiro Hata. The anime series was broadcast on Viz Media's Neon Alley online channel on January 17, 2014. The anime also aired and continues to be available on Crunchyroll in English-speaking countries around the world.