Kodocha

Alternate Titles: Child’s Toy

Original Japanese Release Date: 1996

Episode Length/Run-time: 102 (however the 56 released in English were reviewed)

Summary:

Sana Kurata is a elementary school student who also happens to be a childhood actress.  She lives in a large house with her award winning author mother and her manager Rei.  The story follows Sana through her life and showcases the social and professional pressures she has to undertake, and the hits just keep on coming.

Review:

This is primarily a comedy and a drama in relatively equal portions.  It would be a stretch to call this a slice of life despite the pacing and framework.  The fourth wall in this show might as well be a screen door for all the shouting at me the show mascot did during this show.  One thing I enjoyed, instead of the irritating episode preview footage slapped at the end, they actually left it as part of the episode.  Example, one episode shows in the last 20 seconds, a person in a dark room developing pictures of our plucky protagonist and saying that he was going to show everyone “The Real Sana.”  The next episode of course goes through this storyline.  I found myself going through episodes far beyond my normal session count because I wanted to see the episode more than I ever would have with a crappy episode teaser.  Another thing that really made this show interesting to me was the seamless transition between the comedy and the drama.  The comedy itself is slapstick in the extreme and the art is very busy on screen.  All in all, it’s an epileptic nightmare.  The drama on the other hand is quite cutting and I often felt like I should go have a harsh talk with the writers for picking on this sweet girl so much.
This is a show from the 90’s and I get the distinct impression this show is meant for a general audience.  As harsh as the drama can be, the comedy offsets it to keep it just above bearable for those terrified of conflict.  The art does look pretty dated but it’s still holds up for it’s time and there’s plenty of enjoyment that can be had for those who keep an open mind.
The plot is pretty straight forward and most story arcs don’t go past two episodes.  The drama for the most part falls into after school special territory with a few notable exceptions which could be chalked up to a culture clash thing.  Some story lines that fall into this category are the fact that at the beginning of the show Sana refers to her twenties something manager as her boyfriend and shares a bed with him nightly.  Did I mention she’s in the fifth grade?  You also find out that the manager is a bum Sana literally picked up off the street.  Another example is that the family at one point goes broke and the bank repossesses everything with no notice right before the family sits down to breakfast leaving them homeless immediately.
This show is now available in a box set from Funimation for the first time since it’s first disc by disc release were it didn’t do very well.  51 episodes are available for purchase and in English dub out of the 102 that were made and released in Japan.  The show itself is rather episodic and doesn’t leave on a cliffhanger if you are wondering.
I give this show 4 rubber mallets out of 5.  For those who are adventuresome and willing to keep an open mind you won’t be disappointed.  If you are new to anime or prefer a particular genre, you might want to give this a pass or just take a look at the first couple episodes to see if it’s your cup of tea.

[kodocha]

Reviewed by Chris from the 2lazy2bOtaku