Most of the first volume is devoted to this contest, and it's hopefully not giving too much away to note that our heroine does best Hayama after several comic failed attempts (the best involves a bungee cord in the school gym). Enlisting the aid of Hayama's friend Tsuyashi, a bespectacled classmate who looks meek but bursts into tantrums if provoked, Sana finds a way to blackmail the former "demon child" into behaving. Once she sees him as more than a disruptive "jerk," the child actress begins to empathize with him. Both she and we learn about Hayama's scapegoat role in his family (his mother died during the boy's birth), so, naturally, Sana resolves to do something about this. Conveniently, she's acting in an upcoming TV movie about a family that parallels Hayama's (the speed with which this movie is filmed and broadcast is more than a little unbelievable, but let's ignore that). She bulls her way into the boy's home to convince his father and sister to watch the movie.
As a heroine, Sana is stubborn and impulsive, prone to malapropisms and misstatements (she regularly refers to her manager, Rei, as her "gigolo," though it's clear that she doesn't know what this means - and no one tells her until the second volume). She has an actress' flair for melodramatics and is more than a little bit spoiled besides. In a way, our little acting diva is like a younger version of the heroine from Happy Mania, only with much more self-confidence and an actual shot at some day maturing. Her kimono-wearing mother, a famous novelist, is determinedly eccentric, housing a chipmunk in her coiffure, blithely observing her daughter and only occasionally correcting her.
As in so many comic manga, the characters can turn cartoonish at a moment's notice: when Sana gets peeved, her teeth grow points; when she guzzles an energy drink on the way to the studio, steam and whistles spout from her head like she's a female Roger Rabbit. Whenever Hayama becomes closed off or non-responsive, he's rendered as a cheetah. By now, I've grown accustomed to this visual convention, which is really just a variation on those scenes in Warner Bros. cartoons when Elmer Fudd turns into a jackass after he's been led off a cliff. At times, Obana's art looks deliberately naive, in keeping with her heroine and the occasional child-like plot turns. Tokyopop rates this title as an age 13+ series, but aside from its joking references to "gigolos," the first two books seem to skew two or three years younger to me. Reading an interview with English adapter Sarah Dyer in Sequential Tart, though, I'm told that the material grows deeper as the series continues.
Article comments
1 - Ines Ait
I love the Kodocha series, they are so awsome. I'm at the ninth one and i can't seem to find number ten anywhere, they are probably sold out. i really can't way to read it!
2 - Ines Ait
I love the Kodocha series, they are so awsome. I'm at the ninth one and I can't seem to find number ten anywhere, they are probably sold out. I really can't way to read it!
3 - deedee maro
all the girls in my class are reading kodocha i am on the 7th book there great!:)
look maro!
OO
(..)
(00)
(oo)
4 - Mistix
Kodocha is a wonderful series :) Many, many times while reading in class I have burst into laughter and had people staring at me ("HAYAMA! I'll stay a virgin for you!!!")
XD
If you liked this, i would suggest picking up a copy of Digi Charat (Yes, it looks incredibly girly, but it really isn't - it's not about love and friendship, it's more about money, defeating enemies, eye beams, and selling products with their faces on it). It's really a hilarious, wacky series, despite its appearance.
5 - Mariah Fowler
I have all but # 5 and i'm not sure if i read it..... Has any1 ever laughed when your the only one who read the book and once u tried to explain it they still dont noe wat your talkin about? I always said , " Your wasting my time reading now be quiet pleaz!!!" >..
6 - Mariah Fowler
I have all but # 5 and i'm not sure if i read it..... Has anybody ever laughed when your the only one who read the book and once u tried to explain it they still dont noe wat your talkin about? I always say, " Your wasting my time reading now be quiet pleaz!!!" >.<'
7 - kp
kodocha is sooo great.I LOVE IT ! IT'S FATASTIC ! SANA IS SOOOO LUCKY TO HAVE HAYAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8 - SM
I have 1,2,10 They are all great i never read 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 I read ten i couldnt help myself! Hayama i luv you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
9 - habiba khan
KODOCHA IS THE GREATEST BOOK EVERRR!!!!! sana is Sooooooo luky to have HAYAMA!!!!!!! he's really CUTE!!!!! i wish i could be in that book !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!{L}!!
10 - Sana
I love Kodocha!!!!!!!!!It's sooo good it's amazing! I want to watch the anime but the manga will always be my favorite. I love it, love it, love it!!!!! I read it like 2 years ago but I remember every bit!
11 - Emily
I LOVE KODOCHA OF COURSE THE EPISODE WHERE AKITO KISSES SANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
12 - liz
I had first read 1 at home it was so cool i have to get the DVDs and see them wow! i saw 1,2,3,4,5,6,and 9 but i cant waite to see 7,8,and 10 i love HAYAMA!!!!!!!!!! he is really CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i wish i could be in that book!!!!!!!!!! "(:"
13 - Liz
Yo this is so COOL!!!!!!!!!!! I wish i have a live story like that!!! i feel like some one like Akito should be in my life and be my BF!!! (: