Apinys

I’ve watched the series and I’ve read the reviews by people who were interested in the series as well. In my honest opinion I understood that Kodomo No Jikan either failed to show what it had intended or people just did not understand what the series was all about. I for one would say that the anime did a perfect job, but people tend to ignore, skip or just fast forward anime nowadays and ignore what they don’t want to see.

Keyword:
KJ – Kodomo No Jikan

Story:
The story of “Kodomo No Jikan” focuses mostly on Kokonoe Rin and Aoki Daisuke. The main reason why this story made such a fuss is because of the illusionary pedophilia image people attached to it. In my opinion KJ had two choices considering the story 1) make a weird drama 2) make an even weirder comedy …. Thankfuly KJ took its own way  ( by the way this is also very stressed in the series,  Aoki is often forced to do things by the rules, but he tries to find his own way) and It worked magnificently. The author created a whole documentary on social problems within different families (child abuse, lack of attention, inconsideration, preferences) and showed how all of this affects the mind of a child, no wonder the series is called “time of children”. 

The loneliness that children feel and the isolation they get is well shown though sometimes it is done by using comical situations so you can easily get confused. In KJ we also see a lot of ignorance of adults towards children. For Aoki, who lived a slow life in a normal family somewhere in the country side, it is hard to understand everything at once. Nonetheless he tries to slowly understand people around him. I also loved how the series show adults and their problems that came from childhood it clearly shows how important it is to take care of the young ones and how fragile they are. Overall KJ stands out with its idea, sadly the humor is sometimes unnecessary and I personally would prefer a bit more seriousness. I think this comedy was like a shell to break through to wider audience, sadly for most, the shell was too hard to crack.

9/10

Characters:
I consider 5 characters to be the lead (RIN, AOKI, REIJI, MIMI, and KAGAMI)
It is hard to write about them and not spoil everything they do, but you can imagine that the 3 main girls are really interesting to watch and to analyze. All of them have different stories behind them and different backgrounds that formed their characteristics, so it is really enjoyable to look at their actions and listen as to what they have to say. It is really nice to see how Aoki influences the girls and how they change throughout the show, how their personalities mature and become stronger because of the paternal influence of the teacher. The main protagonist is of course Aoki and he is quite the static person, he really is somebody who you could call perfectly Normal, but this is exactly what makes his so peculiar, because when this normal and I would say untarnished person meets these children and starts looking into their problems, his persona matures in every episode making like the real all father not only for the children but for the teachers as well. His development gives the series the charm. Then there is Reiji, he is not a common guest in the series and you won’t see a lot of development in himself, but his character helps build up RIN as the lead lady of the show. His actions are constantly felt on Rins behavior and actions.

10/10

Audio:
The voice actors did a really nice job, and there is not that much to say about it since I am not that much of an export in that field, but the voices fit the characters quite well. The audio that is played during the series is a bit too monotonic for me, you will find quite usual audio tracks but most possibly nothing that will inspire you or something you would have on your usual play list. The OP – ED were both nice. I would say the ED theme was quite a blast J and enjoyable up to a certain point. Otherwise Audio fist the mood and does all the basic little things it needs to do.

7/10

Animation:
Nothing too much here, nothing very special at least. The background are done nicely and come in sync with the show but you should not expect eye candy here. The characters are well made and are shown of quite individualistically. As you could expect Aoki looks very normal, that flows together with his personality, but the girls are vivid and brightly colored. Since you won’t see that much action or combat here so prepare yourself for a reasonable, in my opinion above average slice of life quality animation pack.

7/10
 

Enjoyment & Conclusion:
Over all the time I spent with KJ was a great pleasure. I will gladly re-watch it some years later and I will be getting my hands on the manga series which actually ended at the beginning of the year. The problems that this shows brings up are really something that happens around us every day but we just don’t notice them or simply ignore them, thus not listening to the cries of children in need. The show is definitely not groundbreaking but for me it was a big load of pleasure filled with funny moments that make you smile and serious moments that make you wonder. Overall I recommend watching this one, but do keep an open mind while doing so. Thanks!

9/10

FINAL SCORE 8,5/10