Sakamichi no Apollon

[lapassantjuriste]

Sometimes things just work out for the better. I am so glad that I didn't catch the final episodes of Sakamichi no Apollon when they aired, because I wouldn't have been able to wait a week for the episodes to come out, and also I don't think I would have enjoyed them as much as I did with week long intervals.

Getting back to the series as a whole, again I have to say how amazed I am at not only the quality of the storytelling, but just how real everything is. However the series isn't perfect. There where many points when I was so lost and confused, because a bit of the story had been left out due to time constraints. It is to be expected though, considering a 9 volume manga had to be condensed into a 12 episode anime, a lot of the story was going to get left out, and for the most part this was masterfully done by Watanabe-sensei, but there have still been times like the episode 10 were after Kaoru confesses to Ri-chan again and she responds to his feelings, its suddenly almost six months later and there has been no progress in their relationship, with nothing to explain it. I'm sure the manga holds the answer, but evidently the part that did, didn't make the cut.

But I have no other issues with this series, other than some confusing time skips, because even with all the time skips, the series still doesn't feel rushed, what it comes across as, rather than an ongoing story, is a collection of stories or rather snapshots of the character's lives, that when put together form a bigger picture.

The reason why I think this series is still a success despite all the editing, is because I still managed to understand all the characters, and at no point did any of their actions not make sense, and I can't say that I never saw anything that happened in the epilogue coming. Sure there didn't seem any indication that either Kaoru or Sen would choose the careers that they did, but that Kaoru became a doctor and Sen a Priest, really suites their characters.

Speaking of the epilogue, it was really nice to see some of the side characters appear again, like Seiji, Maruo, and Yurika. But the part of the epilogue which I really enjoyed was the end where Kaoru and Sen, again just like old times, let the music do the talking for them, and it not just any song, but Moanin' it says a lot about their friendship, which is what this series has been about essentially.

So in conclusion, I believe Sakamichi no Apollon to be one of the best slice-of-life series out there, and that I'm also going to enjoy the manga immensely.