Kodomo no Jikan (TV)

Kodomo no Jikan is a heavily controversial title, and with good reason. But like most controversial titles, its subject matter is not exploited in vain, and the end result is something that can be credited, at the very least, as a decent series in its own right.

No series has dared to tell the story KoJikan tells and gotten away with it, but for all the underage fanservice it provides, the heartwarming drama beneath the disturbing ecchi comedy ultimately shines. Had KoJikan been solely about the fanservice, this series would deserve all the negative criticism it has received, but there's a heavy dollop of character-driven drama ... and unique relationships, the context of which have never been explored up until now. One of its more important plot aspects is the recognition of children as having the same emotional needs as the rest of us. It's a touchy subject, but handled with precision and never crossing the line, though toeing it on occasion. Though KoJikan still handles issues it brings up head-on, it does so in an abrupt and awkward presentation, constantly and abruptly switching between drama and comedy. It may flawed in its execution, but its heart is in the right place.

Likewise, no series has dared to have characters like KoJikan's and gotten away with it. This is in great part to the main character being far more than she appears on the surface, especially when her laudably deep and complex emotions are explored. Unfortunately for most characters, they are relegated to often insulting cliche traits substitued as personalities, though this may change in future seasons. For now, the only real depth is in Rin and her cousin Reiji. However, the series should be commended on portraying 8-year-old girls with relative intelligence while acknowledging that they are still physically and mentally children. It's territory anime often skips in favor of taking the "moe" way out and its nice to see a series that portrays kids as kids.

The art is bright and cute, though the character designs are a little off-putting, especially Rin and Mimi's hair. Outside of this flaw, everything looks nice and neat. It's a slightly above-average job all around.

The music didn't stick to me but I don't remember it intruding in any way. The OP is one of my favorites, not for being a good song, but because the lyrics fit the tone of the series to a T. The ED is a hyperactive J-pop number that the audience this kind of show often attracts will enjoy greatly.

For me, KoJikan was a mixed bag. It is not anywhere near the horror that it was constantly advertised as prior to its release, nor is it entirely redeemable due to its abrupt swings between the drama and its uncomfortable brand of comedy. The end result is quite commendable though, assuming one watches this without a die-hard need to find as many disturbing details as they can.

Overall, I give Kodomo no Jikan an 8 out of 10.

I'll be honest here, Kodomo no Jikan is not the most normal animes I've ever seen but it is worthy of a review. Now this anime does takes sexual innuendo and pushes a lot and puts it onto a level of adult and child and even a little of incest in between which is where I found it to be somewhat weird.

Story 2/10
What can I say, this anime doesn't really have any major conflict or plot development. Its mostly just about the three girls: Kagami, Kokonoe and Usa harrassing there teacher Aoki ever day. When I said the sexual innuendo was present I meant ... it was coming from the children not the adult in question which just makes it even weirder than it already is.

Art 7/10
It was good and very realistic indeed. It wasn't too heavy and it usually fit itself into every situation. Can't really say whats holding it back but meh, it just seems generic though thats not to say that it was bad just generic.

Sound 8/10
Music for intro and credits were very good to be honest. They fit into the anime but I didn't really felt moved by them after listening in a couple of times through but damn that little rolling sound of their logo at the intro scares the shit out of me every time.

Character 7/10
Hmm the characters here are quite unusual. Our three main girls are in the third grade but seem very affiliated with sexual slang and terms which I don't know means anything but it really bothered me. It makes me wonder, where did they even acquire such knowledge. However they were still somewhat of an enjoyable bunch of friends. Kokonoe is in love with the teacher Aoki and forces herself upon him with harrasment and even goes as far as kissing him on the lips its kind of disgusting but yet at the same time I found myself laughing at some of this stuff. It beats me but they did a really good job of modeling child-like shenanigans. Other than that the character development was present but I didn't really feel like it took off any until the final episode.

Overall 6/10
Kodomo no Jikan is one of those animes that sticks holes in your morals if you got any but I did find it enjoyable to say the least. At first glance I was actually not going to watch it when I thought most of the character relationships were going to be the other way around [man on child] but was relieved when it was a child's doing. Though I do feel like there is something missing in this anime. The story if any, just didn't feel fulfilling at all and everything I saw was kind of expected from the git go. If you wanna watch something a little different for once I totally recommend this for you but don't take any of this anime to heart.

I had to take many, many cold showers after watching this show and I am sure that I have been added to some sort of watch list for finishing it.
This show is just blatant pedophilia. I can understand a 600 year old vampire loli or something of the sort; hell, I can even understand full on loli hentai existing but this show crosses the line for me. What makes this show so unsettling is the rationalization of pedophilia. It portrays the situation Aoki-sensei finds himself in as out of his control and not a very bad thing, partially because of ... that. It also portrays third graders as being a bit too mature, as if they could handle, or even understand the sexual situations they're constantly remarking about and being in during the entirety of the show. I'm not sure if the author of the manga has ever met a third grader. It's not just the sexual things, they all have phones and kononae-chan even casually went to the store on her own once like that was normal. If you saw an 8 year old girl alone in a store, you would be very alarmed for the safety of the child but no, this is okay apparently. This kind of thing is the problem with the show. It acts like a relationship between a fully grown adult and an elementary school student isn't a one sided thing and would be okay. Anybody that speaks up in the show about how Aoki isn't handling kononae's actions properly are framed like bad people. ei a super strict teacher who doesn't know what fun is or a trauma filled insane teen. This avoids the issue at hand that Aoki, a full grown man, is obviously a pedophile and should have never became a teacher in the first place.
If it was just the pedophilia I had a problem with I might not have rated Kodomo no Jikan a one star but this just isn't a good show in any way. All the characters are really flat and the animation is really bad too. I looked up what other anime came out around this time, thinking maybe it was dated but no, it's just bad. So, so bad.