The INSANE Music Animations of Kids on the Slope

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[@CharlesCornellStudios]

MORE. Give me MORE. What you got for me to check out??

[@defamink]

you should check out the music of Terror in Resonance (Zankyou no terror) !

[@MostLikelyMortal]

The Ace Combat series is world famous for its excellent music. The last installation actually stalled it’s release so the big important mission could have an appropriately amazing piece to accompany it. I’d recommend the following: Zero (AC 0) Daredevil (AC7) Mimic: Rage and Scream (AC7) The Liberation of Gracemeria (AC 6)

[@Grayfox541]

What about Michael Giacchino's Catwoman's Theme for The Batman (2022)? I think you're going to like it and it does some really cool stuff with the piano.

[@nielsr4578]

You really need to check out fly around and I'm scared from Bill Wurtz

[@ngma9807]

check out hollow knight music absolutely lol

[@lucianojuliannobati7627]

Yes, you are absolutely correct about the animation technique. Its called ROTOSCOPING. Its when you use live action video or photographs as a base for tracking movement of a character or an object. A great early example of this is Cab Calloway being used as a reference for a Betty Boop character singing Minnie the Moocher. Look it up, its great!

[@thespeedyyoshi]

I’m honestly a bit surprised that Charles wouldn’t know what rotoscoping is at this point. Cause…it’s kinda common at this point. ^^

[@louisp8561]

@@thespeedyyoshi he could be like me where I knew what rotoscoping was, but didn’t realize what i was looking at until someone pointed it out

[@thespeedyyoshi]

@@louisp8561 fair fair. I feel like rotoscoping definitely has a different FEEL to it tho.

[@nicholas_scott]

@@thespeedyyoshi it’s more commonly called motion capture, since the process had largely been automated.

[@rocketplane]

Came here to shout ROTOSCOPING at the top of my lungs. Was not disappointed. For Charles's edification: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4SUmXaJqNJ7Z6c

[@LuccasFranklinMartins]

In this case, regarding Kaoru's insecurity: He is a rich kid from a very large city, classicaly trained in piano, and the other ones are poor/lower middle class merchants who wouldn't typically have access to music teachers. So he's learned how to play "correctly" using theory and they've learned by doing it in the fly. There's even a discussion where Kaoru says "I'm playing this PERFECT" and Sentaro says "Nope. Its correct, but it' s got no SWING". A love triangle comes, music "purism" becomes a (tiny) issue, post war Japan occupied by the US, some teen pregnancy happens... Then they stop talking, Kaoru becomes a doctor, Sentaro follows his faith and becomes a Catholic priest (very rare in japan), NO ONE gets the girl, and they reconnect through jazz. And that church gets the coolest priest ever. This is one of the greats, amd one of the reasons why I started listening to Jazz.

[@stillhuman6708]

That sounds really cool!! Where can I watch this??

[@questionsayer]

@@stillhuman6708 illegally or legally?

[@davguev]

@@questionsayer Asking the real questions.

[@VonRibbitt]

read the manga, the girl is gotten by someone there

[@Shirley36]

I wanted to put this on my list to watch but that ending sounds incredibly... sad and depressing lol. Was expecting it to be a lot more feel good slice of life than that lmao

[@KaiTakamatsu]

I swear, Kids on the Slope is one of my absolute favorites of Anime. Not only for the music, but characters/character development, story, themes, etc. The whole anime on its own could be a whole series for Charles. There's so much to breakdown music wise, and so many fantastic scenes.

[@hosemarino]

Completely agree. Kinda shame he left out the bunkasai jam session - such a gold scene.

[@jordanl7685]

I’ve always been “jazz adjacent” in my musical tastes, but Kids on the Slope fully got me into the genre. Top 5 all-time anime for me.

[@insidiosity]

@@hosemarino yessss that was such a huge moment for them!! Best way to recover from a falling out. And when everyone in the school comes running in aaaa

[@KaiTakamatsu]

@@hosemarino Fo realz!

[@ChrisakaMrXD]

I binge watched the entire thing after I watched this video yesterday and I still can’t stop thinking about it. I realized how lonely I actually am and how my whole life I’ve never made an effort to develop and maintain friendships because I never felt like I deserved them. I’ve let so many friendships fall away and fade and I have no idea how to begin to fix it lol. I literally don’t have anyone I can even express these feelings to, so I’m just putting them down here.

[@abecascade]

My favorite Anime scene of all the Animes I watched is Kids on the Slope episode 7. The accuracy of the medley of the piano & drum is super insane! You should check it out :)

[@janzlife]

That medley blows me away every time: the impact it has in the show is phenomenal, and knowing the significance of each song just makes it even better.

[@Bobbias]

I was really hoping he'd cover that medley scene.

[@harishbalamurugan152]

he's actually listened to the medley in one of his previous videos, not the animation but just the audio of it kzbin.info/www/bejne/mqa4fIWtbqZofs0

[@blackmask5422]

Njir bang abe nyasar di mari juga🤣

[@metacinn173]

That’s what i told a friend of mine when talking about Kids on the slope. Episode 7 is truly hype

[@saintlotus93]

My favorite thing about this anime is that they recorded multiple takes of the songs ,and played them better each take to match how the characters were improving through out the show. This is one of my favorite anime ever.

[@demian04_rta]

Yeah bro, these are a few of my favourite things too

[@MrArazion]

@@demian04_rta i see what you did there lol

[@feliperoa5821]

@@MrArazion we all did XD

[@payden101]

Where do you even stream this?

[@troyboi7662]

4:44 I love that they made an effort to show the drummer turning the snares on. You almost never see that! But that happens almost everytime. I’m about to go binge this whole show now lol Edit: I binged the show last night and man it was amazing. Highly recommend.

[@gappy3664]

@@rouge.cherrie do you googlee shows or something

[@ayayayay4859]

@@rouge.cherrie You don't know what binged means?

[@sumitrana2420]

@@rouge.cherrie Binging is a term that means that you are going to finish a show in one sitting. "Hey, are you going to watch that new weekly anime? Nah, I am going to wait till it is finished and then binge it all at once." Like that! The more you know! 👍

[@LetoDK]

I just wish they showed him putting in the snare power cord.

[@waynemason6162]

As a drummer it really irritates me to watch a movie it show and even a cartoon when music is being played and the drums don't even look like they're playing remotely the same song... As with you Charles, this BLEW MY MIND!! And the fact that I'm jealous of a CARTOON CHARACTER!! AWESOME STUFF!!

[@Croco_G]

Oh boy if the weebs hear you call anime "CARTOON"

[@Avarice0918]

@@Croco_G by technicality it's not wrong but anime is a whole two tiers above cartoons

[@rakuun8986]

@@Avarice0918 otherwise, what is cartoon mean? I think animation is more like what it is now

[@Avarice0918]

@@rakuun8986 Cartoon and Anime fundamentally are the same thing which is animation but it's the culture that differentiates them. Cartoons are bright, usually cater to children and more often than not is very whimsical, has no overarching plot and sometimes no character progression though some shows rated pg-13 like adventure time, steven universe and regular show have some of these qualities. While anime is extremely varied and a lot similar to movies and shows and depending on the genre it may have an overarching plot and character progression and not advisable to show to children eg. Berserk, Goblin Slayer, Attack on titan and etc. But there's something for everyone and there is a show that all ages enjoy.

[@jbullforg]

Not just the stick-drum hits, but watching his arms and elbows, they also match the energy of the playing.

[@saianmusic]

I totally recommend Carole & Tuesday (THUNDERCAT performs a song for the soundtrack, and there's a character directly inspired from him) and Beck (it has a lot of cool references, which i would never expect in an anime, for example a STEVE VAI reference, or extremely detailed pieces of guitar gear, pedals etc.)

[@Miglow]

To add: Carole & Tuesday is by Watanabe, who made Cowboy Bebop. There's speculation it's even the same universe. Both shows use the same currency and feature a city on Mars named Alba.

[@yunarukami14]

@@Miglow What's funny is the fact that Watanabe worked on Kids on the Slope

[@Sir_Zombie1ted]

@@yunarukami14 The Watanabe guy is a "gud-shit making" machine.

[@caiowatanabe]

i wish i was THAT kind of Watanabe...

[@jmgriffee]

I was about to recommend this, too! Carole and Tuesday covers such a range of musical styles, and it's all SO well done.

[@angeldquintas]

I love how in some of the close-up shots of the drummer, you can see the snare and other parts of the kit actually shaking as he plays it. Love that attention to detail. Might have to watch this anime!

[@emilio556]

Its a great anime!

[@langadubazana]

You'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't check out the drummer who recorded on this anime. Shun Ishiwaka is a beast on the kit and is a super composer as well. He was also only 19 at the time this was made.

[@fadhlysukawidjaja174]

Bro, same with the pianist. Takashi matsunaga, he was the youngest Jazz pro pianist in Japan at his time. I've been listening through his solo album and its amazing, he has sort of "cluster" kind of playing were everything is very rapid . Though when he was recording kids on the slope he's 26

[@nicolle2126]

woah 19 years old?? thats amazing!

[@chihamats]

I actually had the chance to play with Ishiwaka-san in a jam session in Tokyo twice this year; he's one of the most sought after young jazz drummers in Japan now and rightly so.

[@41illusion]

This reminds me of a similar anime series revolving around musicians that was called Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad. I remember being completely taken aback by the show as it was different from everything else on TV and showed real character progress in the storyline.

[@teerizzmusic]

Was about to comment this! Great series, more rock focused but still a great watch.

[@b.c.slumber3694]

I fkn loveeddddd that show!

[@tyrellwhite8993]

Watch Carole and Tuseday!! Its my third favorite music anime besides kids on the slop and beck!!!

[@morisakiii]

True, when it comss to music genre in anime my top 1 is Beck Mongolian Squad, I love how the story progressed and how it was realistic to be in a band and I remember them saying that its always about chemistry being in a band. So sad that the anime finished first before the manga

[@theholyhermit]

Beck did a pretty good job animating the playing of the instruments.

[@maychorian]

This show makes me cry so much. Thank you for covering it.

[@samlyons7052]

Where do you watch the show ? I wanna watch it

[@sydposting]

@@samlyons7052 Crunchyroll and Netflix both have it, I believe!

[@shahs1221]

Nodame Cantabile has great usage of recording actual musicians playing the pieces and animating them as well! One of the main characters is an eccentric pianist and over the course of the series goes through the highs and lows of becoming a professional. Half of the whole series is basically just watching orchestral concerts/performances and it's a joy!

[@spyz0rz]

love that series so much. i loved that they used such a variety of pieces, from things you hear in modern movies and tv to some you had to be in band to know they existed. kinda relived my high school band/orchestra days through that anime :)

[@Meimoons]

That’s what I’ve been recommending!

[@bowwing333]

I haven't watched the anime...but the live action is in my top 2 favorites, right next to Coffee Prince. I have never related so closely to a show than Nodame.

[@merpins]

The principle you're speculating about is called "Rotoscope." It's one of the first techniques developed for animation, and is used in this show. You can tell because the animation is correct, but it also looks stiff. Don't get me wrong, it looks fantastic for a show made for TV, but it doesn't compare to something animated by hand. Look at the guitar from Pixar's Coco, or the piano or even trombone from Pixar's Soul. They didn't rotoscope but used video as a reference to then animate the music by hand, and it looks much better than the animation from Kids on the Slope. But of course it does, it takes hundreds more hours to animate by hand like that, and they have the budget to do it where a show for TV doesn't have the time or money to invest into that. I had a longer paragraph and notes on the principles of animation, why it looks good, why rotoscope works but doesn't look good to a trained eye in animation, but accidentally hit cancel rather than comment. I don't want to rewrite everything so I summarized it.

[@suburbanindie]

I was just gonna say rotoscoping. I learned about this technique way back when Prince of Persia came out for Apple II

[@russellzauner]

*laughs in source film maker*

[@jetjaguar3000]

Super informative, thanks

[@nersh46137]

There’s a really funny content creator called Joel Haver who uses the jankiness of Rotoscoping to great effect. If you don’t know him I really recommend looking him up

[@darthtace]

I think this actually looks "unnatural" because it's switching between 1s and 2s, rather than the rotoscoping. The rotoscoping here is cleaned up to the point where only the accuracy is telling (doesn't have that problematic jittering you get from humans being unable to stand still that, for example, Bakshi's LotR's had), but animating on 1s always looks weird in hand-drawn since it's so much cleaner than we're used to. It's the soap-opera effect, but for animation.

[@shandya]

They probably recorded multiple videos in multiple angles when the musicians recorded the music in the studio, then the animators used the footages for rotoscoping. That’s why everything is spot on.

[@stone301]

Yes. It’s wonderful animation but the idea that the animators should be heralded as musically more competent than other anime with less accuracy is a fallacy

[@talkingdeer]

I'm pretty sure they traced over (rotoscoped) live musicians to get that 100% accurate animation which is really cool

[@Jaker788]

Yep. I thought it was 3d at first, the motion blur on the drum sticks and the stiff animation are what made me think that. But it was indeed rotoscoped.

[@downhillupside]

@@Jaker788 it was not rotoscoped. Read up on the show's development.

[@nevaladder]

Carole & Tuesday comes from the same lineage as Kids on the Slope and Cowboy Bebop. It has a couple of folk singer-songwriters making their own music in an age where almost all music is produced by AI. There is a songwriting session in season 1 where they try to feel each other out through their playing - faltering at times, then finding their way back - that's just beautiful.

[@sydposting]

Something hits real different when you rewatch Kids On The Slope and realize Yurika sounds the same as Eureka, since she's the driving force behind so many small plot developments. What an incredible series, it really captures the passion and emotion that comes from when you first start improvising, and moving beyond The Basics of music education.

[@GuyWhoLikesTheSnarkies1435]

I'd love to see more realistic anime/animation about modern, contemporary jazz music where it's not just another 'rag to rich' type of story but more or less a 'hard' fiction type story about being an aspiring, career musician and the long, winding journey of the said musicians to get to where they're right now (which would mirror the experiences of numerous real life musicians across the world).

[@sydposting]

I think Soul does an okay job at that, just more from the perspective of someone close to an opportunity at "making it" vs maintaining a creative career in addition to the Daily Grind. Like, ignore the afterlife/body-switching stuff, and it covers a lot of important ground.

[@JB_17x]

Try whiplash

[@dschiter]

Blue Giant (Manga Series) soon to be adopting into Animation. Another recommendable coming of age jazz manga.

[@peterlemieux7614]

Showing this October 6th and 7th in the US. Only two days so make sure you don't miss it.

[@cmchristensen]

Some of the characters of the show are based on real life Jazz musicians. The main character is based on Bill Evans, and the trumpet player is Chet Baker.

[@nicolle2126]

yes! i love how they even directly referenced how they look (like making fun of Bon for looking like Bill Evans), and the trumpet player even singing "But Not For Me" in one of the episodes

[@blacbamboo284]

The fact that they put so much work into the animation blows my mind.

[@Christianmtt]

I'm so here for more music anime. Definitely watching this with my friends

[@fionnanomahony8283]

It’s a great anime would 100% recommend

[@marksayosmejia7251]

Try nodame kantabile Gundam thunderbolt Forest of piano La corda d oro primo passo

[@Christianmtt]

@@marksayosmejia7251 added to the list! Thank you!!

[@tyrellwhite8993]

Best music anime besides kids on the slope is Carole and Tuesday, its by Watanabe

[@MaddDogg316]

@@Christianmtt, Kono Oto Tomare is about the Koto and has some extremely good music pieces. Fun fact, the music is written by the writer's mom and sister and is played by the sister.

[@KikoKay-Kay]

This was my reaciton to Kids on the Slope as well. Most musical media is based on sports movies. The music is just a theme layered on top of the story. Its so rare to have a show that is actually about hobby itself. Kids on the Slope, Nodame Cantabile and Welcome to the Ballroom (for dancing). Its always a joy to do a deep dive into these hobbies for me, and not just a surface level.

[@ComfyBoi404]

The number one reason I adore this anime is their rendition of Lullaby of Birdland, I wish it was in more media- but this anime? NAILED IT! 😤😤😤

[@cupcakepink1299]

It's so cool and nice to see an animated show with instrument animations that actually match the music 🎶😎 Love your videos! 👏

[@strings1984]

Often animations are better than movies about that.

[@conoredwards4423]

Yes!!! I'm so glad Charles did a deep dive of Kids on the Slope. The animation is incredible, especially the drums!

[@Ashyri]

God I love Kids On A Slope. I accidentally found it while scrolling through VRV back in 2019, and fell in love with it instantly. The more realistic side of the 'slice of life' genre never really gets explored so this anime was a breath of fresh air, and is what made me really fall in love with it all those years ago. Plus, the jazz in this is bad ass. Especially the ending.

[@romedebaine]

I love that you're looking at more anime now. One thing I realized a while ago was expression is going to be different around the world. I've noticed that people in Japan specifically express their ooos and ahhs stronger than people in America. That's showcased in anime. Then sometimes it's movie magic.

[@ch0sahe1dan]

this anime is absolutely ASTONISHING. one of my all time favorites, so glad you touched on it!

[@pepessz32]

I play drums, and I understand completely why you're so excited when you see the animation sync perfectly with the notes. This is such a rare thing to see in animes, especially In drums animation. Ironically it's the most noticable ones, like when the cymbal hits but the animation just keep playing randomly. As a musician (or even common people) It's quite irritating. Thanks for the vid! I'll surely watch this one.

[@omnipresentnoob4776]

Man I love watching music anime when the instrument animation is on point

[@jonasw3945]

The animation technique they use for these scene requiring realism is taking real musicians as reference but It's not exactly drawing over them like in Rotoscoping, they draw main lines based on the real footage but actually draw the rest from scratch while trying to mimick every frame of the live action. That's why it doesn't look weird and fits with the actual character design of the show not the actual real life musician who they based it on and that's why also you have other effects like smear effect and action lines when the drum sticks move for example which you don't see in fully rotoscoped animations. This actually takes even more effort to do than standard rotoscoping. But the main idea is the same which is using real life to produce realistic animation

[@chriszellmusic]

I am so happy that someone is funding large productions that show respect and appreciation for musicianship! ❤

[@Justin_9423]

The only other anime that I can think of with the playing accuracy, would be Nodame Cantabile, Your lie in April, & maybe Forest of Piano(haven’t watched that one yet, just heard about it). Those are all centered more around classical music.

[@collinbeal]

Forest of Piano is amazing not only for its music, but also its positive portrayal of the main character as genderqueer (lives as both a man and a woman)

[@drumma4lyfe06]

On the ending scene when Sen and Kaoru are playing in the church, I don't know the finger placement for the pipes but as a jazz drummer, I was definitely locked in on Sen. Although I played traditional grip, capturing his matched grip was perfect. I think that's what made that scene much more impressive. Catching the fills and the speed of hands without undermining the animation is *chefs kiss. Really, really great stuff!

[@Cherucha]

My favorite scene from this anime is definitely the school performance the mix of all those different songs used at different times throughout the show into that wonderful medley sounds flawless and it just makes me so happy whenever I hear that piece. A reaction to that would definitely be fun.

[@angeliquecheung574]

The story of how they love to play is just too real. Watching it, I loved the process: solo transcriptions, the Jazz Standards, the Jam Sessions for fun. Too real of my story of getting into Jazz and studying it for being a Music Major.

[@MikassaAckermann]

I'm so happy this anime is getting more rendition. It's beautiful and a love letter to jazz

[@kiri6897]

Seeing kids on the slope in the anime jazz video was exciting enough, now a WHOLE video on just kids on the slope? THANK YOU!

[@swampghost835]

YES!! kids on the slope is so gorgeous. glad to see it getting some love

[@LiftedBlader]

The bassist's fingers while he was getting excited over the drums made me want to play an upright for the first time in years

[@TGMinnieeMee]

"Your Lie in April" is SUCH a good music anime that gets the animation right! (no spoilers, but a warning, it's really sad)

[@Jefftarnish]

Episode 16 :(

[@MaxxMcGeePrivate]

One of my all time favourites. I still get sad thinking about it. The animation and piano performances are so insane!

[@Traumglanz]

There should be a rule against mentioning Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso out of the blue and making people feel blue.

[@briangruenewald7536]

In the behind the scenes content from my favorite anime of all time, Your Lie In April, the way to get the music segments 1:1 is they actually put musicians in MoCap suits and did some editing to make the characters play the notes as they should be played. Correct fingerings, positions, and also capturing the performers’ movements and passion as they perform. It’s truly incredible. Please check out Your Lie In April!

[@eddjordan2399]

Despite pressure to render the performance scenes as computer-generated imagery to reduce time and costs, Watanabe rendered these scenes using hand-drawn animation by utilizing motion capture: real-life musicians were filmed performing the scene's music from multiple angles, which was then edited into a single "scene" that animators used as photo reference.

[@frankholdom2089]

The name of the main piece is called "bag's Groove" for anyone who wants to know

[@numnumgames]

For anyone curious, The song at the end of the vid is Better Place by spring gang

[@brayden1671]

A pinnacle moment for instruments in anime is 'The session' from an anime 'Given'. The feeling that that songs creates for a guitarist such as myself is astounding. Would recommend the watch. The isolated scene is posted on youtube.

[@daotran5707]

Kids on the Slope holds a special place in my heart. It's one of the few animes, or even shows that captures the joy in making music, which is espcially important for something like jazz. Watching it back, it reminds me of the good old times I had when I was just starting out to play jazz piano, and the undescribable zeal of just jamming out and feeling the music for the first time.

[@muhammadryan654]

I've been waiting for this since I know how much you love jazz. I watched this years ago. I was disappointed when you only listened to a piece of it until now. Glad you made this. Looking forward to your next upload, sir. Love your content, sir.

[@VegasTechno]

This anime, through random jazz records and youtube recommending Adam Neely to everyone with a pulse, is what brought me to your channel

[@backgroundcharacter2615]

Played piano for a while. This show was so fun to watch

[@cinnamonrollypoly]

What always amazed me about kids on the slope is that whenever the two main characters play together, they sound like more than just a piano and drums. They sound like an entire band just with the two of them.

[@ibarkis]

I really really loved this anime when I first watched it and it truly gave me a appreciation for Jazz and loved how throughout their life experiences music always brought them back together through the good times and the bad. For me that’s absolutely been true and is why I am still playing and making music and seeking out connections with others through it. Excellent video charles!

[@icystorm9968]

"LOOK AT THAT!" **hides it with himself** 😭😂

[@fluffycritter]

I hadn't heard of this anime before. I love the idea of it but the rotoscoped animation gives it a ridiculous uncanny-valley feeling to me, as rotoscoping usually does. Love that they're bringing jazz music to a whole new audience though. I might have to watch it.

[@chillmanchan3829]

As someone who’s learning jazz Hammond organ, I’ve watched that clip so many times just to listen to the technique by the organist.

[@matthewgonzalez2555]

In the fall of 2017 I ran into this anime. The first scene I ever watched was episode 7. this scene inspired me to go back to college and do jazz. Spring of 2021 I graduated with a BA of music and my emphasis was jazz. This anime is a God send.

[@ruukaoz]

my favorite part of the anime when the two kids are kind of angry at each other and they play against one another and then gradually start to play with together and all their grudges just evaporate through music.

[@janzlife]

FINALLY: I’ve been waiting forever for you to cover this. Such a great show. Edit: the one clip I wish was covered was the scene of Miles Davis’ ‘Four’ from midway into the series; more insane animations and an incredible performance

[@Songsandpoemsfromus]

This has been one of my fav animes for at least 8 years, a really solid art style, music, and portrayel of human conditions.

[@CrimzonWolf777]

Literally one of my all time favorite anime to watch! Specifically because jazz! And the way the did Moanin' had me geeking out so loud

[@connorobrien7570]

It makes me so happy that you were geeking out about the drums as much as I was

[@cthellis]

Yes. YES. I have always been overwhelmed by the music animation in this. I think Hibike Euphonium is done really well, but less accurately. Which makes more sense, considering the scale of instrumentation required for a whole band and not a jazz band. But still, way better than Nodame Cantabile ever seemed to pull off.

[@cthellis]

Also Episode 7 has one of the best musical-anything in all media. Please watch through the show if you have not, just to take their medley in. Obviously you have some scenes from the first and last episodes, but can’t tell if you are just looking at scenes vs watching the show. There is so much good here, and the series would be hugely rewarding as a whole work, for any jazz enthusiast.

[@samuelharmoko250]

You can also see the drummer putting the throw off into the on position which is insane attention to detail

[@geekexmachina]

Another famous music themed Anime is "Your Lie In April" which follows a young broken classical Pianist Prodigy rediscovering the love of the art of playing. Would be interesting to see if there is the same level of accuracy in this one too.

[@crookeddream]

it's generally beautiful too watch something that its creator cared about it

[@paulh.9937]

Oh I've been waiting for you to do this one. It's one of my favorites

[@paulwest3905]

Thanks for this Charles. Kids on the Slope is a really underrated anime. I particularly like the care that the creators took in representing the early 60's in Japan. Real world events are part of the story and I absolutely get misty-eyed watching it again. Of course the music is a huge part and I love how the anime transports us back in time to when Jazz was evolving. Great stuff. Folks, if you haven't seen this anime, do yourself a favor and make time. Don't want to spoil it, so just give it a few episodes before making a judgement call.

[@Xplayer007]

Sound Euphonium, Your Lie in April, and K-on have some incredible music animation scenes that I recommend you check out!

[@tjl9458]

You should probably add in the God Knows segment from Haruhi. Animating that song was what convinced KyoAni that they could do a whole anime about music, simply because they knew they could do a decent job of animating people playing. Without God Knows, we wouldn't have K-On! and without that we wouldn't have had Sound! Euphonium. Certainly, there's other music anime, but that's the lineage for how the animation of music happened at Kyoto Animation. It's not as well done as some of the later works, but it's still pretty good at the time.

[@mikelmiell2002]

as a drummer this was amazing to see how accurate it was and especially getting all the fast fills correct too

[@ChristopherCricketWallace]

i loved this anime so much. I was truly sad when it was over.

[@thalb4279]

I don’t know how accurate it is but I really enjoyed the anime “These Snow White notes” it’s focused around the shamisen

[@BigSh00tsie]

Have you done Disney/Pixar's "Soul?" I'm curious if it's also accurate.

[@cooldebt]

I was thinking of that too. Apparently they used Jon Batiste as the 'model' for the piano playing

[@BigSh00tsie]

@@cooldebt my instinct was that it looks accurate, but I'd love fir Charles ti do a video on it.

[@sonjaquan5775]

that final jam session in the church is so impactful

[@StarlineHodge]

I know nothing about music but I love these videos because watching someone find joy in something they love is the best!

[@issipnoodles]

Hey Charles, i was wondering if you could make a video about the music in the videogame Omori. I saw that your Undertale video did really well and I think this could be a good video as well. I also love that game and its OST and it would mean a lot to me if you made a video about it:)

[@gaiele5249]

I second this

[@Nightstick24]

One of the reasons I love anime so much as a medium. You can take it in so many directions and tell all sorts of stories. You can have animes that are so emotional I still tear up when I hear the openings to amazing weekend anime like One Piece or Naruto, you can have the amazing fantasy Isekais that take you to other worlds, you have cute stuff, all the sports anime that take you on such a ride, and you have pieces like this that explore something so specific and unique and interesting. And it all works so flawlessly.

[@ButterflySeraph612]

iirc, Japan has a HUGE jazz scene, so honestly, seeing so much jazz and jazz-inspired anime soundtracks is not surprising but still awesome oh god

[@breadandbrews]

I'm certainly no expert on this sort of thing, but the animators were probably just animating the actual performances of the studio musicians. The way the musicians in the show move reminds me of Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings movie, where as all of the other characters move in a way more conventional of anime.

[@Jaker788]

Basically. When you trace over a reference it's called rotoscoping, which is what they did.

[@daffo595]

Yooo, kudos to the composer who composed the a storyline of a hesitant pianist trying to improvise. Also its shun ishiwaka on the drums he's got some videos on youtube and he's fantastic.

[@bucifejke]

Charles..... You completely missed the medley scene that is an absolute musical gem!

[@Xayr]

If you havent, please watch the whole thing! It means so much more if you watch through their journey as musicians and friends.

[@edou_2743]

Your lie in april and Forest of piano are both classical related animes that have spot on playing animation, Your Lie In April is more drama related while Forest of Piano is literally an anime about the Chopin piano competiton.

[@arcanask]

The animation for the instrument playing is either rotoscoping, which is as you described, the animators are basically drawing over a video of a person, or motion capture. If you'll notice the animation when they are playing and the rest of the show are a little off from each other. Like they used a different animation technique for them. Also, I don't know how far down the Yoko Kanno rabbit hole you've gone, but I got a couple more soundtracks of hers you will appreciate: Wolf's Rain, Arjuna, and Macross Plus.

[@xerojo]

this anime definitely inspired me to learn jazz drums. came from a rock/metal background so my vocab was always small

[@DrStabkill]

The maniac circus music battle shows exactly what’s happening in the music accurately on screen. I know because it took me a stupid amount of time to animate it accurately

[@ItsPengoo]

As a drummer I really enjoyed this because as you said, in most tv shows and movies, instruments are inaccurate, but I think drums are the instrument that is done the worst. And that's not anyone's fault really. The directors or animators most likely don't know anything about music. But this just absolutely changed that. I could see all of the gost notes, the ride and crash cymbals had the perfect physics, the fills were almost on point, it was just beautiful.

[@killer79957]

Your Lie in April is also really accurately depicts music performance. Not jazz, but it's still incredible

[@thegrandvisionaire5619]

Growing up in an extremely charismatic, traditionalist family, I can recognize the gospel influence that at least partially influenced that 2nd session and it's nearly spot on. This anime has intrigued my interest.

[@dz.audiovisual]

The animation technique is called Rotoscopy where you can draw on top of video footage

[@rodigorojassanchez3342]

Duuuuude this anime got me into the jazz and it made me cry a whole sea!!! How cool you liked this scenes!!!

[@cattudoggu]

I couldn't help but feel the same enthusiasm and smile along with you when you praise it! I am not that well versed in music, but when I watched this anime it just tugged on my heart strings so much I love it. Seeing a musician be as happy as I am towards such a wonderful show, you made my day!

[@x1101126]

You really should see that Japanese professional drum guy in a children's event performance. It makes me smile everytime I see it. 👍

[@paulgreen9059]

The anime "Those Snow White Notes" used the same techniques years later with shamisen players. That's another anime about teenagers learn to play music. And you can't overstate how great Yoko Kanno is. I'll always get the soundtrack album for shows she worked on, sometimes the shows themselves aren't so great or only use 20 second clips of amazing pieces. In "Macross Plus" she wrote a national anthem that they only used a few seconds of.

[@elliottwood5423]

thank you for introducing this anime to me, it has become one of my favorites of all time, its truly a masterpiece

[@llencoram]

Big old weeaboo here. Watching you geek out about the music makes me really happy. Nicely done.

[@GatZter]

Your enthusiasm for this content is so infectious! I also love geeking out over details like these when I’m watching amazing content. Thank you for sharing your great energy!

[@generallysweet8434]

I've never loved a drum sceen in any show or movie that has captivated me as much as these scenes I've just witnessed... I'm going to have to watch this anime now.

[@pietateip]

oh so great you brought it up, I already forget I watched this. time for a rewatch