Sana Kurata may be a famous TV star, yet her life is anything but perfect! And it seems as if the only time this 11-year-old superstar isn’t causing trouble is when she s trying to fix it. But even then, there is bound to be some sort of chaos! From feuding friends and neighborhood nuisances to tabloid reporters, classroom battles and scripted kisses, Sana has got her hands full. And just as her career takes an unexpected nose dive, the book she has worked so hard to publish looks to do more harm than good.
But life’s hardest lesson lies just around the corner, and Sana is gonna have to realize there are some problems that just can t be fixed. Will the distraught diva come to her senses before it s too late? Or will tragedy breed tragedy? Find out on Kodocha!
Buy “Kodocha: Season One Box Set” For Only $25.00
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Kodocha
- Kodocha, Vol. 11: Down the Drain | Jobs and Business Information
- Kodocha, Vol. 2: Hayama Hijinks Streaming « kane1406426
- Stream Kodocha: Season One Box Set Movie Online
April 2, 2010
#1
Even though the storyline is cute, I cannot recommend this title. Funimation advertises Kodocha (properly, Kodomo no Omocha, which translates as Child’s Toy) as being uncut. However, the original opening animation and music has been completely removed and replaced with the animation and music from the second season. In addition, about 25 seconds of Japanese dialogue is silenced in the first episode. I mean exactly that. There is no audio, and several words in the subtitles are replaced with Xs. Funimation stipulates contract necessities, but has never elaborated further, and refuses to do so.
Regarding the dub version, there is at least one word that has been purposely mistranslated. When Sana is talking with her hairdresser, she refers to Rei, her manager, in Japanese, as her boyfriend and her pimp. In the dub, Rei becomes her boyfriend and a very taken man. Earlier in the episode, Sana refers to Rei as her pimp, in Japanese, and “agent” is substituted for the word “pimp” in the English. When I brought up this discrepancy on the Funimation boards, a representative of Funimation protested that the studio translated everything accurately, in the subtitles and the dub. Naturally, concerning the evidence, this assertion is an impossibility.
Watching the dub with the subtitles activated was illuminating and served as convincing evidence why subtitles, in general, are preferable to dubbing. Not only was the English dialogue far different (especially when you consider the dropping of Sana’s pimp reference, a classic bit of the show’s humor) than the subtitles, English dialogue was introduced even when nothing was being said in the Japanese, and sometimes when something in Japanese was spoken, it was not represented in the English language dialogue at all. This has the effect of drastically altering the tone of several scenes. Another pimp reference in the English dialogue is simply omitted, and a string of “I love you” is substituted in its place, thus effectively neutering Sana’s idiosyncratic introduction of Rei to the audience. These are only a few examples. I can only conclude that the original script was treated as a mere list of suggestions and not even a guide, because the English dialogue sometimes in no way represented what was communicated in Japanese (and what was communicated in Japanese was, in nearly all circumstances, more artfully rendered than the bastardized English language dub interpretation).
I’d avoid this title. Had I known all that had been altered, I never would have picked it up.
April 2, 2010
#2
Ugh…can’t get the rights to the opening song? Cleans up Sana-chan’s depiction of Reiku as her “pimp” to “manager.” Actually leaves big gaps on the Japanese dub, to exclude the background music that they were too lame to secure the rights for. Thanks again (Un)Funimation…are you guys sure you aren’t just the old 4-Kids reborn?
Pass on this one, just get a fansub.
April 2, 2010
#3
i am about to order the second season. the first season was not great but good. worth watching and sometimes very funny.
April 2, 2010
#4
I’ve heard of certain Funimation flops that do well in Japan and are well-recieved critically, but… are financially a flop because not enough people in the U.S. are aware, appreciative, or just flat-out care about this type of show.
Kodocha (anagramical summaration for Kodomo-no-Omocha/a.k.a. A Child’s Toy) is a story about a SUPER-hyperactive girl and her everyday life through life at it’s highest and lowest moments.
Sana is, by far, one of the most energetic anime heroines EVERRR! So energetic that the word: “energetic” probably can’t even describe it!
She is an aspiring child actor who is egoless as much as she is energetic, making her one of the VERY FEW hyper anime characters that’s not annoying, but rather endearing.
She has a quarrel with one of the bad apples, Akito, and tries to best him, and ends up helping him in a way that forever affects him… She treats it like it’s no big deal, but for him… he can’t express how grateful and happy he is to her.
Sana thinks of Akito in a dual manner: One side of her thinks of him as a mortal enemy (and I say this in the most humorous of intentions), and the other side of her thinks of him as an eternal best friend.
With this as the initial premise of the story, we go through life in the eyes of kids. Rarely sappy, always fun(ny), sometimes confusing, and emotionally affecting.
(For spoiler reasons I’ve subtracted, to the best of my abilities, all of the details leading the events I’ve specified.)
As for the product itself: It contains the first 6 DVDs of the original releases, spanning from eps 1-24, handling the first 2 story arcs, and adding a fun recap episode, and some great slice-of-lifers.
The audio options are English 5.1, Stereo, and Japanese Stereo. You might think that a 5.1 seems unnecessary for this type of show, but believe me! IT IS A HUGE BONUS!
Dubbing is handled by Funimation. Funimation is widely known for their adaptable reversioning on Dragon Ball Z, their legendary voice work for Fullmetal Alchemist, and for their super accurate adapation of the life affecting Mushi-Shi.
Here we see more of an interpretation than an accurate dub effort. That doesn’t mean, by a long shot, that it’s on of their inferior works!
Laura Bailey shows some of the best talents an English VA can do. Her fast paced speech is PERFECTION for Sana’s character. COMPLETE PERFECTION!!! Need further proof? Watch the 1st episode!
Jerry Jewell initially disturbed viewers with his low-pitched tone, that some thought was too deep to pass as a kid. If you continue though, you’ll find that his voice connects quite… pleasingly… It’s an (extremely fast) acquired taste, so no worries with that issue.
Extra’s include textless opener, interviews with the director, and commentaries with Collen Clinkenbeard, and Laura Bailey. The commentaries were especially interesting, since you see how much fun they had with the series, in both dubbing and in actually watching it!
Kodocha is an overlooked anime that NEEDS much more attention than it already has.
Buying this is a no-brainer, and, while it may seem like a Saturday morning cartoon, it has some of the best insights of child life that NO cartoon, American or Japan, has!
April 2, 2010
#5
I enjoyed this Anime collection very much. You can find other reviews that will tell you all you could want to know about the story and content. So in summation it was amusing, some thought provoking content and enjoyable.