Kodomo no Omocha (1996) - Anime - AniDB (2024)

Note: This review is based on.. err, some weird soft subs which came with the torrent I downloaded. It seems those are the only subs though, so there is little room to chose, but hell, were those the worst subs I have ever seen. It all starts good, though rough around the edges, they get the meaningful things and so on. However, after a dozen of episodes subs start to fall out of sync, well, that's no problem, you can still adjust. Unfortunately, it's later followed by one of the most atrocious translations I have ever witnessed, not only the text doesn't make sense, English itself is completely broken and even names are misspelled. I think the subs recuperate again when the show hits middle school, but they still remained low quality and I turned them off. It's really sad that such a great show doesn't get encodes its worthy of, while we get twenty groups subbing one below average harem anime.

Originally written as manga by Obana Miho (Andante) and directed by Daichi Akitaro (Fruits Basket) Kodomo no Omocha[/b] is a shoujo light romance show with much comedy to keep your mood up. It follows the life of a very talented hyperactive actress Kurata Sana covering her late elementary and early middle school years of life. Yeah, I know, she is young, you'd think she's still a child, but what I will try cover later is that she is not only one of the best main characters in anime industry, she is one of the most mature as well. She meets a weird class bully by the name of Hayama and here their war starts. In essence Kodocha is a deep, full of really good angst, realistic romance anime with many comedic relief moments and coming of age concept as spices.

The Brilliance of old shoujo anime never fails to astound me. Unlike old brainless shounen shows like Dragon Ball Z or Yu Yu Hakusho, shoujo shows always possess at least a mandatory level of intelligence. Yeah, it's girly, but as long as it offers some new insights in anime for me, I'm content. The best thing about Kodomo Omocha is that, despite its seemingly childish premise it succeeds as a really entertaining and even educating show (remember Full Moon wo Sagashite?). I wonder if even the creators of this anime are aware of the significance Kodomo Omocha has in adult world, as it seems it's aimed at younger female audience. However, it's not even clear whom would like this show better in the end, young girls or older anime cranks like myself.

Animation: 5/10

Let's face it, this show was made in 1996 and it's 102 episodes long. They would have had to be billionaires to pull out great animation there and since it's clear they weren't, the animation by Studio Gallop (Initial D, Yu-Gi-Oh) is what you would call below average when looking at it from today's standpoint. It's outdated and it shows; motions are choppy and inbetweens lacking. However, I must say they still put quite a few frames in Sana's outbursts of hyperactivity. Backgrounds are exactly what you'd expect from a show made in middle nineties', they possess little detail and somewhat bleak color palette, which makes them look even duller. On the other hand, character designs aren't that bad, though they differ considerably from the manga's version as Obana Miho adapts a drawing style which is quite hard to animate. Everyone looks great in manga and everyone looks good in anime. Anyway, however it looks, I had little time to spare for technical faults as I was completely immersed in the plot and characters of Kodocha.

Sound: 7/10

Though 102 episodes long, this show has only two different OPs and three different EDs. However, little variety is excused, because all of those OPs and EDs are damn good. Not only they fit the show perfectly, they are great as stand alone pieces as well. First and second OPs, 7 O'Clock News by Tokio and Ultra Relax by Tomoe Shinohara, not only perfectly mirror the present relationship between Sana and Hayama, the animation which follows them even reveals some of their personality traits. I also found first and third EDs, Panic by Still Small Voice and Pinch ~Love Me Deeper~ by Rina Chinen, exceptionally good. Though still upbeat these songs are considerably slower than OPs and create wonderful atmosphere for viewers to contemplate about the plot they've just witnessed. I mean, I haven't skipped nor OP nor ED even once in this show for 102 episodes, it has to say much.

Background music composed by four different artists, one who also took part in Fruits Basket compositions, is pretty good as well, though nowhere near as marvelous as the OP/ED combinations. There are quite a few good "romance-inspiring" tunes, some even offering vocals. One song even reminded me of the Final Fantasy VIII's Eyes on Me, though it isn't THAT good. Anyway, though very good at those melancholic moments and packing a few nice high tension tunes, BGM is also quite repetitive and packs some of those generic "cheery" tunes I usually frown at. Actually, just in case I've downloaded the OST and found out that few tracks sound even better stand alone than in the show, so direction is not perfect. The music is still very good and the show will leave an impression of being audio pleasant. It left enough for me to download the OST, so.

Finally, voice-acting came as a major surprise to me here. I thought voices sounded fresh and I wasn't mistaken. Both Oda Shizue and Nakazaki Tatsuya are completely unknown in seiyuu business. And I don't mean unpopular, I mean they have no other roles in their biography apart from those in Kodomo no Omocha. And I must say it's a waste of talent, because both of them offer marvelous performances for their respective characters. On the other hand, having only performed here they certainly leave that good feeling of novelty behind themselves. Other seiyuu were pretty generic, those did sound like amateurs.

Story: 7/10

The first thing I would like to note is that I, after watching anime for a couple of years, have noticed it really lacks in romance department. When you cut silly shounen harems and emotionally exaggerated shoujo shows out, you get a feeble quantity of shows you can count on your one hand's fingers. I mean, so far, the only really good, mature, original and believable romances, possessing strong female and male leads I've seen are Seikai no Monshou, Rose of Versailles, Full Moon wo Sagashite and, finally, Kodomo no Omocha. You could say Tsukihime had it cool too, but it only was the very few details, it managed not to screw up, which it had inherited from its novel counterpart. Anyway, Kodomo no Omocha is strong both at comedy and serious moments. It offers deep, multi-dimensional characters, with real life troubles and the type of angsty romance which really happens in real world. At times it's heartwarming, at times it's heart-breaking and you'll feel sad more frequently than you'll feel happy, but the feelings it offers are both strong and great.

This show had no fillers for the first 20 or so episodes. To tell the truth I was completely dumbfounded, I mean, I have never ever seen such a long shoujo show having no fillers for such a long time. Unfortunately, it had a comeback ready. After those 20 episodes, a malicious filler spree is introduced, more than 15 filler episodes in a row, uugh... What's worse is that absolutely nothing moves in these episodes. Yeah, we learn new things about side characters like Tsuyoshi, Sana's classmates or her teachers. However, those characters' significance to plot is so little that they are not even worth to count. Hayama and Sana are the true stars of the show, as long as they don't have mutual screen-time - the show sucks. And when Hayama doesn't develop and is kept static he loses all of the interest anyway. After all, the development of Hayama is the highlight of the show in the first and best 20 episodes. And those episodes are damn good, so good I nearly cried, what I seldom do in romance anime. When watching the fillers, rather than being annoyed by them, I felt more scared that it might not finish the great romance it started. And it didn't. Manga did. So I've read it. Twice.

As it appears only Hayama's (first 20 episodes) and Fuka's (first half of the second season) arcs were originally in the manga. It's not surprising that those episodes are way superior to both fillers and "fake" arcs, like Gojyou Takeshi and New York. Hmm, they could have done a 52 episodes show with a complete ending, without any filler episodes. Wow, that would have been one hell of a show. Unfortunately, since anime is both filler filled and incomplete it is nowhere near as good as the manga. In other words if you've liked Kodomo no Omocha you will have to read its manga. It brings closure and is much better both plot and character wise.

The most important thing in this show is that the love story is portrayed in a completely original and creative way. There was not a single moment in the whole show where I could feel that I have seen something similar before. With every passing show my thirst of originality grows bigger and bigger, yet, Kodomo no Omocha, despite being one of the triple digits under my belt, satisfied my lust.

Characters: 9/10

I'm already in the territory of four digits when it comes to counting the narrative art I have been through and, frankly, I still have never seen a character as hyperactive as Sana is. Darn, in one episode she says more words than other show characters say in ten. Not like they always make sense, but... I usually hate blabbermouths, however, like Onizuka in GTO she manages to do things in a smart way, while not being intelligent at all. Again, she develops a lot and the feelings she has, they are very real. I must say, however, that the complexity of her personality is quite unrealistic considering her age as she thinks about problems more relevant to twenty-year olds. It might be that she already has a full fledged job as an actress that makes her think about the future, about the complexity of emotions, meaning of family and so on. Anyway, Sana is not only a great heroine, she is one of the best shoujo leads I have ever seen. And that doesn't come out lightly, believe me. It's an equal ground with Oscar from Rose of Versailles. Anyway, I bet you still haven't seen an eleven years old girl in anime who likes to express her complex feelings through hip-hop. It's funny how she manages to put her sad emotions into an upbeat music and don't sound awkward.

Then we have Hayama, the main male in the show. His sarcastic and nihilistic attitude is certainly not what you'd expect from an eleven years old. I mean, kids of that age would either whine or just be unable to comprehend the complex situations Hayama is always put in. However, not only he manages to cope with everything being an intelligent bully, leader of a gang and so on, but he also has this complete unawareness of fear. Due to hard childhood he constructed so many walls around himself that simply no one can reach his heart. He even denies life as a significant thing, there is this scene in the beginning where he gives Sana a knife and suggests her to kill him if she doesn't like his behavior that much... with a bored face. There are very few shows I've seen which managed to pull out a situation like that without being the slightest bit emo and Kodocha might have been the best out of them. Anyway, the chemistry between Sana, who masks her sadness with hyperactivity, and Hayama, who is usually lost in his thoughts and always secluded from everyone, but is never really in the right sense of the word sad, is what ultimately bought this show for me and made it into one I will never forget.

Anyway, Kodocha is not that kind to its side cast as after side characters get "used up" they are stripped of all their seriousness and are given comedy roles. As Rei and Hayama's Father for example... They were great characters at the beginning, but later, after their story arcs ended they got their roles cheapened... a lot. It isn't that bad, maybe only slightly disappointing. After all, it's hard and not particularly efficient to maintain a big cast of good characters and keep them interesting for 102 episodes. They were certainly hurt the most for wandering too far from the manga's tracks.

P.S. Babbit is probably the most brilliant shoujo anime mascot I have seen to this date yet. While 99% of other mascots are nerve-wrecking annoying or just annoying, Babbit is actually funny and interesting. Best thing is that he can't really interfere with story as nobody sees him, so he just gives funny comments to the watcher from time to time (and those comments are really funny).

Miyers-Briggs personality type indicator:[/b]

Value: 7/10

Kodomo no Omocha is amongst the best shoujos I have ever seen. If not for the huge amount of fillers this score would have been a lot higher. It also led me to its manga version which became my second favourite after Berserk. So, yeah, it is valuable. Though I doubt I will watch anime version with all its fillers again, I will still open up some better places in one episode or another from time to time. Anyway, if to relive it whole again - I'd rather read the manga, as that paper, well, it's a masterpiece, shoujo in its finest form.

1. Conclusion[/u]: Kodomo no Omocha is a great show offering both wonderful characters and profound romantic story. Though fillers hurt, they are tolerable because the characters are simply awesome, they can carry whatever you throw at them. Anyway, I recommend this to anyone who has even a slightest interest in romance anime as it's one of the finest there is. Finally, though the manga is better, I recommend watching anime prior to it, as without a closure it ultimately makes manga's version absolutely compelling to read. I mean, the RAW scans of manga are extremely hard to come by, so I searched frantically through the darkest corners of Share for days to finally pull it out. I don't remember a better sense of fulfillment than the one I've felt when I finally confirmed it was readable... Anyway, if you've liked this show you will probably also want to check Rose of Versailles, Full Moon wo Sagashite and Kaleido Star out. Then Princess Tutu is also a very good not by the book shoujo and Seikai no Monshou, though not shoujo, has the best romance I have ever seen in anime.