Kids on the Slope

Kids on the Slope
Final volume cover, featuring (from top) Sentarō Kawabuchi, Kaoru Nishimi, and Ritsuko Mukae
坂道のアポロン (Sakamichi no Aporon)
Genre	Coming-of-age[1] Romance[2] Slice of life[2]
Manga
Written by	Yuki Kodama
Published by	Shogakukan
Imprint	Flower Comics Alpha
Magazine	Monthly Flowers
Demographic	Josei
Original run	28 September 2007 – 28 July 2012
Volumes	10
Anime television series
Directed by	Shinichirō Watanabe
Produced by	Noriko Ozaki Daisuke Konaka
Written by	Ayako Katō Yūko Kakihara
Music by	Yoko Kanno
Studio	MAPPA Tezuka Productions
Licensed by	AUS: Hanabee NA: Sentai Filmworks UK: Anime Limited
Original network	Fuji TV (Noitamina)
English network	NA: Anime Network, Neon Alley
Original run	12 April 2012 – 28 June 2012
Episodes	12 (List of episodes)
Live-action film
Directed by	Takahiro Miki
Written by	Izumi Takahashi [ja]
Music by	Suzuki Masato
Studio	Asmik Ace C&I Entertainment [ja]
Released	10 March 2018 (2018-03-10)
Runtime	120 minutes

Kids on the Slope (Japanese: 坂道のアポロン, Hepburn: Sakamichi no Aporon, lit. "Apollo on the Slope") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Kodama. It was serialized in the manga magazine Monthly Flowers from 2007 to 2012, and was published as ten tankōbon volumes (collected editions) by Shogakukan. The series follows Kaoru Nishimi, an introverted high school student who discovers jazz music through his friendship with his delinquent classmate Sentarō Kawabuchi.

The series has been adapted twice: as a television anime series in 2012, and as a live-action film directed by Takahiro Miki in 2018. The anime adaptation is directed by Shinichirō Watanabe with music by Yoko Kanno, making it the third collaboration between Watanabe and Kanno following Macross Plus (1994–1995) and Cowboy Bebop (1998). The series was produced by MAPPA and Tezuka Productions, and aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. In North America, the series was licensed by Sentai Filmworks and aired on the streaming service Crunchyroll, which simulcast the series during its original broadcast run.

The anime adaption of Kids on the Slope was widely acclaimed, with praise given to its direction, narrative, and music. Critics explored Kids on the Slope's depiction of Catholicism in Japan, its themes of male friendship and subtextual homoeroticism, and its relation to Watanabe's broader canon of works in their analysis of the series. Multiple outlets listed Kids on the Slope as among the best anime of the 2010s.