Kids on the Slope / Sakamichi no Apollon (2012) Anime Review

Kids on the Slope / Sakamichi no Apollon (2012) Anime Series

source: crunchyroll.com

The story of Kids on the Slope really starts rolling when the classical piano-trained Kaoru encounters Sentaro and falls head-over-heels in love with jazz. One thing to look out for is the performance scene of an excellent jazz piece in every episode. Up-and-coming young jazz musicians are employed here, with Takashi Matsunaga (Kaoru) on piano and Shun Ishiwaka (Sentaro) on drums. Yoko Kanno produces the sessions, which are then used directly for the anime. Jazz standards like “Moanin’”, “My Favorite Things”, and “Someday My Prince Will Come” are played along with improvisational performances that reflect the mood of the characters at the time, whether they’re in high spirits, or feel lonely, confused, angry, and so on. How these occasional performances and feelings are portrayed and directed is one more highlight of the show. Director Watanabe’s “sessions” are a mix of images and music, so innovative and exciting visual expressions should be expected.

(source: crunchyroll.com)

Review/s below:

Shigurui: Death Frenzy (2007) Anime Reviews - Havana Cruz + PandaBearGuy

This is a review for Shigurui: Death Frenzy (2007)

image source: myanimelist.net

At the beginning of the Edo Era, when people enjoyed a time of peace, Lord Tokugawa Tadanaga holds a fighting tournament. In the past, matches were fought with wooden swords. This time, real swords will be used. One-armed Fujiki Gennosuke and blind Irako Seigen will fight each other in this match. Both are disciples of Iwamoto Kogan, who is known as Japan's greatest swordsman. Each of them are determined to prove himself the successor of Iwamoto's school. However, there can only be one champion. So begins a story of intertwining fates, conflict, and strange destinies. (source: animenewsnetwork.com )

Reviews below:

Kobato Summary

This anime made Havana's Favs.

Click here to read the review for Kobato.

Kobato is a girl who came to earth to fulfill her wish, which is to go to a certain place. To fulfill that wish, she has to find a bottle and fill it wich* scarred hearts. Together with her "teacher", which is a stuffed animal, she search for the scarred hearts. However she may not fall in love with any person whom she cures the heart of. (source: animenewsnetwork.com )

Rated: PG-13

Media Type: Anime Series - 24 episodes

Genres/Themes: Comedy, Magic, Romance, Slice of life, School, Fantasy, Drama

Havana's Commentary:
Magic, Romance and Drama genres fits this anime the most.

Explanation:
Magic. her collecting scarred hearts is magic although it comes through her plain actions.
Romance, a love story.
Drama, although it has fantasy undertones it's still deal with elements of joy and pain which is what makes it worthy of being categorized as drama.

Sources: myanimelist.net / animenewsnetwork.com

*Given the context I'm assuming the meant 'with' instead of 'wich'.

Kobato Anime Review

This is a review for the anime series Kobato.

To read the summary click here.

Havana Cruz links:

myanimelist.com / itsmyurls/ fiverr