Here’s one thing I don’t get: Kodomo no Jikan has had to endure a lot of bad publicity, just because of its premise: a grade-school student who falls in love with her teacher. People were dismissing it immediately, without giving it a chance, labelling it as useless bait for paedophiles. The backlash even caused the license of the manga this series is based on to be cancelled. And yet, Moetan, which aired in this summer, was 10 times worse and yet nobody doesn’t even squeak at it.
I’m not claiming that Kodomo no Jikan is perfect. Heck, there is indeed a lot of useless fanservice (thankfully censored in the tv-version, though). The haircuts for the three main female characters are ridiculous. Sometimes, the children behave a bit older than what you’d expect from their age. And yet, unlike Moetan, this isn’t a series just to extract money from the paedophiles.
Kodomo no Jikan is about how to deal with traumatized kids. The teacher in the story is just starting out, and in his homeroom-class, there are three problem-children, who have been raised unusually, or had some traumatic experiences in their past. In Rin’s case (the main character for this story), this causes her to fall in love with her teacher, in an attempt to help her forget her horrible past. The teacher, in his turn has to learn how to deal with her properly, and how to not focus all his attention on her, while neglecting the other children in his class. Rin has a lot of problems at home, but what can a mere teacher do to solve it?
Unfortunately, not the entire manga was animated, so the answer to this question is quite rushed and unnatural. It’s a pity, because the rest of the series works quite well. The comedy in this series is of the feel-good type, and this series knows exactly when to be funny and when to be serious. And unlike Lucky Star, the show doesn’t get the chance to be stale. One complaint would be that one or two episodes are a bit too dramatic, but the others provide an excellent drama between Rin and her teacher.
Overall, this series would have been better without the fanservice. There’s also a lot of fowl language in this series, but that one hit surprisingly close to home, and reminded me of my own days in grade-school, where we just learned the new perverted words and tried to use them at every possible occasion. ^^; Kodomo no Jikan doesn’t deserve the bad publicity it’s been getting, as it’s a very capable series.
I think the reason why there was much more backlash for KnJ was due to all the negative publicity that ANN heaped onto it, whereas Moetan was virtually untouched by comparison.
I totally agree with you on the fanservice aspect. Had they gone for a ‘hint, don’t show’ method, then it could have been so much better. It’s a shame really, as when it’s good, this series has been very, very good, but then it’s ruined by loli fanservice which is just Bad and Wrong.
What made this series for me was episode 6. If it had all been as good as episode 6, it could have been the best series of the year. Episode 6 was beautiful, and very very sad. I cried. Seriously.
Funny part is, no offense, awhile back there was a poll on which Anime you’ll watch this year, resulting Kodomo no Jikan as one of the top votes, you also judged at first glance and called us “paedophiles” too ^^
Ah yes, I remember that now. ^_^;
Just shows how easy it is to get a wrong bias about something.
Moe tan – is a mascot character and drawn in a loli style. she herself is a short 17-18 year old.
there is no talk about it, because people are aware of its origins. and the fact that its comedy.
Jikan – though i am disappointed the manga was dropped. i wish people would stop blaming ANN as the main reason. but everyone needs some kind of scapegoat. anime/manga is not mainstream in the US, so all the riffing was very Anime Fan related.
some people don’t like the aspect of a sexualized child. and though the manga has a fun to serious tone, the anime …ova -seems to want to grab viewers with fanservice. bringing down the message of the story.
perhaps S7 will come to their senses and translate it. consider the their other manga line that involves young girls. KnJ deserves to be read. or at least find someone with the balls to domesticate it. i appreciate scanlations, but i like to own my manga.
ah sorry typo
“Considering their other manga line”
He is my Master
Strawberry Panic.
and yet more Yuri manga.
I watched the plot of this anime, and I can imagine that it has a very deep story line. The setting may be offending, but the character was great. The main character tried his best to help three elementary delinquents despite his own lack of experience. During this time, he fell in love with the girl (who is still a primary schooler) who shows affection towards her. In order to let her live a life with no regrets, he decided to hide his feelings until the time is right, which makes him a responsible man (since such decision may make him experience his own mental scar once more, if you know the story)