This is a romantic drama about issues specific to Japanese culture. If you've seen Usagi Drop, it is in a similar vein, except instead of from the perspective of a struggling single father, it is the perspective of several high-school kids with dysfunctional families (with the exception of the main love interest, who seems to have a loving father). Ultimately the characters find an outlet for their various personal struggles through playing in a jazz ensemble. As someone who dabbled in jazz ensemble myself, I found the idea very relatable and the characterization of the musicians very accurate. Jazz is something that requires a fair bit of practice, but once you "get it," it is like a black hole that sucks away all your negative emotions while you play. The characters' relationships go through several hardships, but jazz always brings them back together like a bungee cord.

The two main male characters are very likeable. While I thought I wouldn't like the protagonist at first, his character development is very significant within the first half of the series. The latter half focuses on romantic issues for the main characters. Each character is glaringly flawed in some way or another; even the main love interest is not an immaculate angel like many romance series. This reflects their personal past as well. Overall each of the main characters are very well supported and they feel very "real," despite the series reminding me of a soap opera at times.

Obviously the soundtrack deserves its own separate mention, since this is a Shinichirou Watanabe anime. I'm not really good at relating to most people when it comes to music, but I like jazz quite a lot and this series features some of my favorite artists and songs. The art is pretty good but it really shines when the characters are playing jazz. The musicians, especially the two male mains, really come to life in these scenes and again I'm impressed by how realistic they look when playing music, down to their "going primal" expressions when they really get into it. If you really don't like jazz, I'm not sure what to tell you -- maybe you'll find this show difficult to relate to, or maybe you'll have your worldview expanded by this show. As usual the "three episode" rule is a good rule of thumb. Keep in mind this show takes place in the 1960s so jazz was current back then as opposed to now.

Overall if you like romance, drama, jazz or all three I'd recommend this series. I always have trouble with endings in romantic series so maybe my opinion is not very valid, but I'd say it was just "okay." It definitely didn't feel like a stab in the back certain other anime (Working!! season 2 for example).