Kodocha is one of those legendary anime that I’ve never seen. Well, actually I had seen a few episodes on fansub back in the day and gave up on it. But now I have the DVD, so I’m giving it another shot!
Story:
Sana Kurata is a super hyper elementary school girl who happens to be a famous television personality. She’s so famous that she even has her own pimp! Her school life is being ruined by Akito, the leader of the boys in her class. They do all sorts of evil things to the teacher, and generally make class into a giant mess.
The teachers are helpless, since Akito has compromising photos of them making out! It’s up to Sana to convince Akito to stop the madness. Between doing that, filming television shows, and coming up with interesting raps, Sana is a really busy girl!
Analysis:
I think I’m having the same issues this time around as the first time I watched Kodocha. There doesn’t really seem to be a concrete plot at all. There’s hints that Sana will find out more about Akito’s abusive family, but nothing has really happened so far. I guess I’m just frustrated that the plot is going so slowly.
Having said that, the anime is still pretty funny. The humor is really random, which I like. For example, Sana’s mom wears a new strange hat every time we see her. There’s one that’s a hamster wheel, a pyramid, a tree… The anime is fun to watch, but there better be a plot soon!
Character Designs and Art:
Kodocha is a pretty old anime. It originally aired in 1996, so it’s more than 10 years old. I can’t really say I like the character designs. Like Akito has the same exact look on his face all the time! I guess he’s supposed to look like that, but it’s kind of annoying.
The art quality is good, considering the age. It’s got an old school feel and reminds me a lot of “Daa Daa Daa,” the J.C. Staff anime about the alien baby.
The DVD and Extras:
I checked out the English voice track and thought it was actually fairly well done. Except that Akito’s voice is lower than mine! There’s no way I would believe an elementary school kid (or even a middle school one) could have such a low voice. Couldn’t they have found a girl to do his voice?
The extras include character profiles and English commentary on episode 4. Nothing too interesting here.
I noticed that for the Japanese audio track, entire sections of audio were just left out. I read that it had something to do with licensing. It’s really freaking annoying to watch and then just have no audio at all. All of the next episode previews are totally silent.
Conclusion:
Kodocha is funny. I just found that it was a little boring to watch due to the lack of a significant plot. I’m pretty sure there’ll be some interesting stuff coming up in the later volumes, though. I wish there was some more juicy stuff in the first volume.
Thanks to Funimation for providing me with a review copy of Kodocha Volume 1. The box set with the first 6 volumes is available now, in case you want a ton of Kodocha at once.
12 replies on “Kodocha Vol. 1 – Anime DVD Review”
The Kodocha manga actually has a plot and is more conclusive than it’s 102 episode anime counterpart. However I really enjoyed the anime for what it’s worth: brainless fun. However some episodes really were SO stupid I coulda done without them. Me and Jp managed to plow through 41 episodes but I don’t know if he can handle watching it raw so we might skip the first filler arc.
So are you saying it never gets a real plot? I’m guessing Sana and Akito fall in love or some crazy nonsense like that. Or she at least saves him from his crappy family.
Oh yea she does obviously….but there’s multiple “story arcs” like Sana’s background, and then HAyama and his Karate and then Naozumi and Sana’s past etc
She doesn’t save him from his crappy family, she saves the family. 😉
But anyway, the anime is about Sana, her acting and the friendship with Akiko, thats the plot of this anime. There is no real plot that stays constant from the beginning to the end but the anime is not episodic, except a few filler episodes.
Even tho its a comedy it often forgets that and turns serious, and that is what makes it so good in my opinion.
Kodocha one of my favorite animes.
“Kodocha is a pretty old anime. It originally aired in 2006, so it’s more than 10 years old.”
er.. typo? >_>
Wait, this isn’t 2017? Oh right, this anime was aired in 1996. Silly me.
Kodacha requires acclimatization – it took me three or four episodes to adjust to Sana’s insane pace and the hyper humour. It has its problems – oh yes – but it’s still weirdly involving and moving when you get wrappped up in the ongoing story. I cried a few times. After a while it’s almost like watching Fruits Basket – with sugar-crazed filler snippets added.
Kodocha starts to have a plot 40-50 episodes in after like 20 eps of filler but the episodes in elementary were better and funnier than the middle school ones. It’s still a greaat anime and manga.
The Kodocha anime is one of my favourites, just wait till Fuka comes. Things will heat up. Akito and Sana are te cutest everr!
I’d have to chime in what the other commenters have said and agree that the manga version does follow progression than its anime counterpart. I could guess this was to give the anime watchers a preview of what the manga is really about.
Kodocha is one of my favorite animes. It really gets good after they enter middle school.
Ahaha, someone else named Tess replied here. o.o;
Kodocha was one of the original anime/manga I really liked, when I was like 12 or something… pretty funny, I never thought about it till now but I guess I was the same age as the characters then!
Anyways, it’s still my favorite anime and I’m currently rewatching it! Just started on episode 57 and it’s been a lot of nostalgic fun. Now that I’m older and understand more watching it is a lot more rewarding. Especially being able to watch it without subtitles now…
So in the end I’m saying I recommend it! There are certain filler episodes that you may want to just skip but some are really funny! Though I’d skip ep’s 42 or something till episode 50… it’s a useless arc.