Reviews Kodocha (Anime Review)

Kodocha/Kodomo No Omocha-Anime Series Review

It’s said that it’s rare for mature audiences to like a Shoujo (girls) anime, especially one that was made back in 1995. Kodocha is one of the rare cases. Especially since the kind of comedy back in that day was different to the comedy (which is mostly perverted, or making fun of somebody in a way) in these years.

Kodocha goes beyond all that, as kid superstar, Sana Kurata (Age 11) tries to solve problems wherever she goes. She’s apparently part of an elementary school, that’s not so normal. Guys have taken over that class because of their rebellious leader, and not to mention Sana’s greatest nemesis, Akito Hayama. Not your average thug, since he’s well spoken, and doesn’t necesarly look like a punk.

It’s at the beginning of the Anime that Sana tries to see how Akito got control of the class, and how to get it back to the teachers. She definetly goes out of her way trying to get rid of Akito’s “evil monkeys” as Akito himself is “The Boss Monkey”. Things get out of hand after that, and it’s just one crazy thing after the other.

Like mentioned before, the comedy is deep, really, really deep. There’s no need for that perverted humour in this Anime, since Sana’s does of hyperactivity does it all. The anime looks great, especially for it being so aged in the years. The style of drawing is pulled off well, as most expressions catch a great manga-like look, which is good.

The soundtrack also does terrific. Each and everyone of the songs blends perfectly with the situation or enviroment of the given scene. This of course gives the anime more life, and it also sometimes gives it more humour. Not to mention, Sana does have her “Raps” in the Anime. As weird as it sounds, Sana singing isn’t like your regular anime, since the songs are also funny and great at the same time.

As far as the voice acting goes, it does terrific. Shizue Oda plays the role of young Sana Kurata, and Tatsuya Nakazaki plays the role of young Akito Hayama. Both of course doing an excellent job in the anime as one enjoys making the other mad. Others include Ryo Naitou as Sana’s Manager, the still-in-his-twenties Rei Sagami, and Mayumi Misawa as Akito’s best friend, Tsuyoshi Ohki.

English dubbing is magnificent. Never will anyone hear a better translation from Japanese to English in their life. Laura Bailey outdoes herself as Sana Kurata, as she does an impressive fast and crazy speaking phase. And she also does the raps that Sana does in an outstanding way making the sound as if they were meant to be in English. Jerry Jewel does the voice of Akito Hayama. Although his voice is a bit too deep for an 11 year old, he does a great job at blending in the voice with the attitude. Also starring John Burmgmiher as Rei Sagami, and Greg Ayres as Tsuyoshi Ohki.

Altogether, Kodocha excels the limits of amazing and goes beyond that. Keeping comedy at best, and a deep storyline all throughout, which is rare in it’s case, since only ten manga volumes were made, but 102 episodes were released.
As a final word, watching this anime over and over won’t be a problem for anyone. There’s over a hundred different fun episodes, all of course filled

FINAL SCORING:
Animation: 9.5/10.0
Sound: 9.5/10.0
Japanese Voice Acting: 9.0/10.0
English Voice Acting: 10.0/10.0
Storyline:10.0/10.0
Rewatch Value:10.0/10.0
Soundtrack:9.5/10.0

FINAL SCORE: 9.8/10.0

Undoubtadely one of the highest scores I will ever give in a long time. In all, Animation does extremly well at doing move-by-move of everything that Sana does, especially for it’s year. Soundtrack also does impressive, but there’s a small little spark missing. Japanese voice acting does extremly well, but again, something’s not right about some things. However, English does perfect. Laura Bailey’s voice especially, gives true life to the show. The story is also great, fun, and also serious, especially nearing the end, which won’t make it a problem for you to watch the show over and over. And as far as the sounds go, everything is great. Japanese could have used a bit of a clean up, but FUNIMATION helped with the English a lot with perfectly clear, and distinct sounds.

The good and the Bad:
+Fun with no pervertedness
+Enlish Voice Acting
-Some jokes may seem too childish, but it’s rare

Personal Opinions:
This Anime is right for any fan of anime, period.

About the Anime-Who made it happen:
Director:
Akira Suzuki
Akitaro Daichi
Hiroaki Sakurai

Script:
Akira Okeya
Akitaro Daichi (eps 20,39,81)
Isao Shizuya (ep 80)
Miharu Hirami
Miho Maruo
Rika Nakase (eps 84,88,94,100)
Ryousuke Takahashi (ep 51)
Tomoko Konparu

Screenplay:
Miho Maruo
Ryusuke Takahashi
Tomoko Konparu

Music:
Hiroshi Koga
Jun Abe
Keiichi Tomita
Seiji Muto

Original creator: Miho Obana

Character Design: Hajime Watanabe

Art director:
Katsuhiro Hashi
Kyouko Nakayama

Animation director: Nobuyuki Tokinaga

Director of Photography:
Kenji Akazawa
Yasunori Hayama

Direction Support: Ryousuke Takahashi

Key Animation: Yasuomi Umetsu

Producer:
Noriko Kobayashi (TV Tokyo)
Yoko Matsushita (NAS)

Series Composition: Miharu Hirami

Sound Effect Director:
Naoko Asari
Tomoaki Yamada

Theme Song Performance:
Still Small Voice (ED)
Tokio (OP)
Tomoe Shinohara (OP 2)
Tomoko Hikita (ED 2)
About the Anime-Japanese Companies:

Animation Production: Studio Gallop

Broadcaster: TV Tokyo

Distributor: Sony

Production:
NAS
Pony Canyon
Studio Gallop
TV Tokyo

About the Anime-English Staff:
ADR Director:
Colleen Clinkenbeard
Laura Bailey

ADR Script:
David Haynes (eps 2-3)
Eric Vale (ep 1)
John Burgmeier

ADR Engineer:
Tyler Walker
Zach Bolton

Assistant Talent Coordinator: Scott Garner

Assistant Video Editor:
Jessie Mancilla
Shane Ray

Audio Mixing Engineer: Evan Jones

Executive producer:
Cindy Brennan Fukunaga
Gen Fukunaga

Japanese Translations: Steven J. Simmons

Line Producer: Justin Cook

Producer:
Barry Watson
Daniel Cocanougher

Production Assistant:
Chase Landerman
Clarine Harp
Diane Fonner
Duane Deering
Jayme Westman

Production Coordination: Neil Weathersbee

Script Supervisor: Jeremy Carlile

Talent Coordinator: Tara Williams

Video Editor:
Daniel Mancilla
Jeremy Jimenez

About the Anime-English Companies:


Broadcaster: FUNimation Channel

Distributor: MVM (UK)

Licensed by: FUNimation

Out now For Kodocha:
Anime DVD-Vol.1-4 (Episodes 1-16)
All Manga Volumes (1-10)
All Episodes aired on Japan (102)

Review Made by Seishin on 01/15/2006