I think I watched two or three episodes of Kids on the Slope about a year ago, but it was online, which makes it hard for me to stick with it (not sure why exactly, that's just always been the case).
I did like what I'd seen though. Very different groove from most other anime. I think you're right, it may have been a bad timing thing for you; it seemed like a quality show to me, but yeah, probably something you have to be in the correct mood for. It seemed very much like a "slice of life" sort of thing, which probably isn't the usual thing we go into anime for. Really want to revisit it someday though.
I actually just discovered that Amazon Prime has all of Robotech and the three series that formed to create it (Macross, Southern Cross, Genesis Climber Mospeada) for free. I already have a big ol' box set of Robotech, but I've never actually watched the other original series before, pre-localization. Watchead a couple episodes of Mospeada (since that was always my favorite part of Robotech), and man, what a difference a Japanese voiceover and original music make. The little girl (she's named Mint here, but did she have a different name in Robotech? Can't remember) actually sounds like a little kid, rather than a forty-year-old woman. Still whiny as hell, but at least she doesn't seem like a weird little middle-aged dwarf thing now.
Macross is my favorite by far, but I have a hard time liking the original. Editing of episode 27 for example made the destruction of Earth felt far more shocking and epic.