The characters from the anime and manga series Kids on the Slope.
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Kaoru Nishimi
Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese), Chris Patton (English)
The Protagonist. Antisocial and introverted, first year high school student Kaoru has been constantly moving from town to town and transferring schools due to his father's naval job, his latest move bringing him to Kyushu. He is a classical pianist, but after befriending Sentarou and Ritsuko, he develops an interest in jazz. He has feelings for Ritsuko.
- Babies Ever After: In the manga's finale chapter, he and Ritsuko are expecting their first child.
- Brains and Brawn: The Brains to Sentarou's Brawn. Kaoru is intellectual, Sentarou prefers his fists.
- Chick Magnet: Attracts many girls after the cultural festival, much to his bewilderment. Ritsuko even returns his feelings for him and they become a couple.
- Dogged Nice Guy: To Ritsuko. He goes out of his way to treat her very well, even after finding out she likes Sentarou.
- The Glasses Gotta Go: A male example. He sometimes deliberately takes off his glasses around Ritsuko after she compliments his face once.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Sentarou. He becomes very attached to and concerned about him, they love playing music together and they practically become inseparable. Not that he'd admit it.
- High-School Sweethearts: He and Ritsuko are married and expecting their first child by the final manga chapter.
- Hopeless Suitor: He has unrequited feelings for Ritsuko (who has feelings for Sentarou instead), but it's subverted when she eventually moves on from Sentarou and reciprocates Kaoru's feelings.
- Hospital Hottie: Becomes a resident doctor after the timeskip and still a Pretty Boy but with longer hair.
- In-Series Nickname: Sentarou refers to him as "Bon," which is short for "Bonbon-dono"—the Kansai dialect for a green or naive man from a well-to-do family. The Crunchyroll subs and dub adapt it as "Richie".
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: Was an outcast in his past schools because of how smart and wealthy he is. In his current school it's not terribly different but he at least has Sentarou and Ritsuko with him.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He genuinely wants to support Ritsuko, in spite of his own feelings.
- Longhaired Pretty Boy: His hair grows after the Time Skip and he's still quite cute.
- New Transfer Student: Transfers to the school he goes to now.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Most likely inspired by Bill Evans, he's even compared to him multiple times in the series!
- Parental Abandonment: His mother left him for certain reasons and his father is often away for work.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue Oni to Sentarou's Red Oni. Sentarou is Hot-Blooded, Kaoru is intellectual and cynical.
- Second Love: Ritsuko later falls in love with Kaoru.
- Shipper with an Agenda: For Sentarou/Yurika, partly because he knows Sentarou is in love with Yurika and just wanted him to realize it and partly so Sentarou doesn't get in the way of his chances with Ritsuko. However, he is immediately guilt-ridden about his latter underhanded intentions when Sentarou appreciates how understanding he is (and when he realizes that since Ritsuko is in love with Sentarou, it hurts her to see him so obviously taken with Yurika).
- Smart People Wear Glasses: The glasses wearing protagonist who is also quite booksmart.
Sentarou Kawabuki
Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (Japanese), Andrew Love (English)
Kaoru's classmate and Ritsuko's childhood friend, Sentarou often gets into fights with other students and is labeled a delinquent. He befriends Kaoru, and despite their differences, they both have a mutual passion for jazz. His preferred instrument is the drums. He has feelings for Yurika.
- All Drummers Are Animals: Acts to the trope quite well being a taller guy with a rather intimidating build but, outside of this, he is more of a Gentle Giant than anything else.
- Almost Kiss: With Yurika. It gets interrupted by Junichi.
- Berserk Button: Refuses to play in a music club after a drunken American sailor makes racist comments regarding the type of music that's playing. Justified since Sentarou was a victim of racism in his childhood.
- Brains and Brawn: The Brawn to Kaoru's Brains. Sentarou prefers his fists, Kaoru is intellectual.
- Childhood Friends: With Ritsuko whom he's known since young.
- Curtains Match the Window: Invoked. His brown eyes matches his dyed brown hair.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Is the child of an American soldier and a Japanese mother, and suffered racism as well as disapproval from his grandmother and foster father. He also witnessed his grandmother's death.
- Delinquents: Not above picking fights on guys that annoy him and is intimidating to many people.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Does his best to be gentlemanly and helpful to Yurika to win her affections.
- Gentle Giant: In spite of his label as a delinquent and his tendency to get into fights, he is particularly upbeat with Kaoru and Ritsuko, as well as a friendly and lighthearted older brother to his younger siblings.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: Suffers regularly from the local racism due to being half-White, so much so that his mother relinquished him to her brother and left town so as to avoid getting completely ostracized. Consequently, he cuts his hair short so as not to expose his naturally brown and wavy hair.
- Happily Adopted: His "uncle" lies and says that Sentarou is the child of his dead sister and an American soldier so that he can remain in the family.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kaoru. He becomes fascinated by him, comes to be almost never seen without him and values their music duo more than anything else.
- Hidden Depths: To start off, despite his delinquent status he is helluva good drummer and a lover of jazz.
- High-Pressure Emotion: Whenever he talks to Yurika, so much indeed that the first time he saw her wearing something else than her school uniform, her sheer beauty caused him to faint on the spot, to the surprise of everyone present.
- Hopeless Suitor: For Yurika, who ends up with Junichi.
- In-Series Nickname: "Sen-bou" by Junichi. Also eventually "Sen" by Kaoru.
- It's All My Fault: The motorcycle accident that badly injures his sister.
- Love Makes You Dumb: He's not bright to begin with, but being around Yurika usually leads to him losing his common sense.
- Oblivious to Love: Unaware of Ritsuko's feelings for him. He finally realizes it later on in the show but by that point she had fallen in love with Kaoru.
- Raised by Grandparents: A downplayed version. During the early part of his life, Sentarou was raised by his maternal grandmother but she was an abusive caretaker and dies when he was a child.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red Oni to Kaoru's Blue Oni. Sentarou is Hot-Blooded, Kaoru is intellectual and cynical.
- Rescue Romance: He falls for Yurika immediately after rescuing her from harassers.
- Scars Are Forever: Has a X-shaped scar by his left eye.
- Sexy Priest: What he ends up as at the conclusion of the story.
- Shipper on Deck: He tries to get Kaoru and Ritsuko together especially after he suspects Ritsuko is falling for Kaoru.
- Tragic Keepsake: The rosary belonged to his mother.
- Wrong Guy First: Ritsuko initially has feelings for him, but she eventually falls in love with Kaoru, who has always been by her side and had been supportive of her.
- "X" Marks the Hero: Is a good guy and has the scar mentioned in Scars Are Forever.
- Younger Than He Looks: At the start of the series, despite being brawny and intimidating, he is fifteen years old, a year younger than Kaoru.
Ritsuko Mukae
Voiced by: Yuuka Nanri (Japanese), Rebekah Stevens (English)
The class representative in Kaoru's class. Ritsuko is a kindhearted and caring girl, as well as Sentarou's childhood friend. She is the poster girl of her father's record store, Welcome Records, which doubles as a hangout for Kaoru, Sentarou, and other jazz lovers. Kaoru has a crush on her.
- Babies Ever After: In the manga's finale chapter, she and Kaoru are expecting their first child.
- Childhood Friends: With Sentarou whom she's known since childhood.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Has unrequited feelings for Sentarou.
- Class Representative: Is the representative of her class, and a particularly nice one at that.
- The Cutie: An adorable sweet and rather innocent girl.
- Genki Girl: A cheerful and bubbly girl.
- Girl Next Door: A Nice Girl who doesn't have any notable features or personality traits but nevertheless is easy to talk to.
- Girlish Pigtails: A naive teenage girl who wears pigtails.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Her depression and jealousy towards Sentarou's closeness to Yurika during their group date to the Rendezvous Crag culminates in her having small outburst when Yurika suggests going to the top of the crag with one of the boys (where it is said a couple who does that will stay together forever) and later crying in the woods.
- High-School Sweethearts: She and Kaoru are married and expecting their first child by the final manga chapter.
- Hopeless Suitor: She has unrequited feelings for Sentarou (and is the object of Kaoru's unrequited affections), but overtime, it's subverted as she eventually reciprocates Kaoru's feelings.
- In-Series Nickname: "Ricchan" by Kaoru and "Rikko" by Sentarou.
- Japanese Christian: Is a devout one, just like Sentarou.
- Nice Girl: Has a good personality and genuinely cares for everyone, especially Sentarou and Kaoru.
- Oblivious to Love: Isn't aware of Kaoru's feelings until he confesses to her.
- Youthful Freckles: A teenage girl and The Cutie who sports freckles.
Yurika Fukahori
Voiced by: Aya Endo (Japanese), Maggie Flecknoe (English)
A beautiful second year high school student who Sentarou rescues from harassers at the beach. She has a spunky and curious personality. Sentarou has a crush on her.
- Almost Kiss: With Sentarou. It gets interrupted by Junichi.
- Babies Ever After: She and Junichi have twin daughters.
- Curtains Match the Window: Has brown hair and brown eyes.
- Dude Magnet:
- In a dark example, a group of boys who obviously think she's cute...but are also a group of Jerkasses who refuse to respect her space. Thankfully, Sentarou rescues her.
- Following from the above, Sentarou gains a crush on Yurika the first time they meet.
- Junichi gains feelings for her and they become an Official Couple later on.
- Elopement: Elopes with Junichi to Tokyo since her parents don't approval of their relationship.
- Important Haircut: Sick of being called Ojou-sama by Junichi, she cuts her hair to chin-length so that he'll take her more seriously. Her classmates also note afterward that she's become more rebellious.
- In-Series Nickname: She is briefly called "Ojou-sama" by Junichi until he learns her name. She feels insulted by the nickname because it makes her feel like she is being mocked. However, following the Christmas party and after getting charmed by Junichi's performance on-stage, she develops a better opinion of him—as well as a crush on him.
- Long Hair Is Feminine: A very graceful girl and The Ojou, and her long hair compliments it. Contrast to Ritsuko who has shorter hair and leans toward being just cute.
- Love at First Note: She falls for Junichi the moment he starts singing on-stage during the Christmas party.
- Oblivious to Love: Unaware of Sentarou's crush. She eventually realizes it and has some regret about hurting his feelings.
- Official Couple: Elopes with Junichi.
- The Ojou: A graceful and well-respected girl at her school.
Junichi Katsuragi
Ritsuko's neighbor and a big brother figure to Sentarou. Junichi attends a university in Tokyo, but he visits Welcome Records whenever he's in town. He plays the trumpet.
- Babies Ever After: He and Yurika have twin daughters.
- Big Brother Mentor: An older guy that Sentarou (and to a less extent, Ritsuko) looks up to.
- Broken Pedestal: For Sentarou when the latter finds he is involved with Yurika.
- Curtains Match the Window: Has brown hair and brown eyes.
- Elopement: Elopes with Yurika to Tokyo. He originally doesn't want her to because his professional future there is unsure, but he pulls her into the train with him at the last minute when he realizes her parents will make her marry someone she doesn't want to otherwise.
- In-Series Nickname: "Jun-nii"/"Brother Jun" by Sentarou and Ritsuko.
- Official Couple: Elopes with Yurika.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Very likely inspired by Chet Baker's real life, in more than one way.
- Recurring Character: Is not a major character but still pops up on a regular basis throughout the series, especially in the latter half when his issues arise.
- Smoking Is Cool: He smokes and is also the cool Big Brother Mentor.
