Kodocha is frequently described as "Marmalade Boy on crack," and not for nothing. The two main characters Sana and Akito look remarkably similar to Miki and Yuu from Marmalade Boy. I liked Marmalade Boy, but it was still 70-some episodes of unrelenting teenage angst, where the characters spent most of their time crying or brooding. Of course, you have to expect love at 16 to be at least a little neurotic. But then, the characters in Kodocha are 11. If I found 16-year-olds tiresome, what I can expect from 11-year-olds?
Another turn-off for me was that the main character of Kodocha, Sana, is a child star. The term "child star" has come to have a vaguely icky vibe. So Kodocha didn't look very appetizing at first.
I finally decided to give Kodocha a try after repeated recommendations from several of my ani-pals, who insisted, "No one not likes Kodocha." So I gave it try. And they were right. Kodocha had me hooked by the end of the first episode. And then it just got better and better.
If you've seen Marmalade Boy, it's hard to not make a comparison. Parts of Kodocha practically feels like an homage to Marmalade Boy. The general color scheme is similar, and even the hair color of the main rival of both series (Kei & Naozumi) are the same shade of lavender. And there are many other common elements in both series: love triangles, a trip to NYC where everyone magically speaks perfect Japanese, and even that hoary soap opera chestnut - incest drama. I think I love you ... but you might be my sister! Oh the humanity.
And even though I do like Marmalade Boy (I would give it 3 stars), it's not anything I'd ever watch again. It's pure soap opeara, and kind of banal at times - Miki and Yuu had stupid problems, drama completely created out of their own angst. I also didn't like the way Miki's every happiness completely depended in her boyfriend Yuu.
In Kodocha, both Sana and Akito are strong, willful characters with their own mind and their own sense of self. They are really loveable, and have great chemistry. It's pretty ironic that the Kodocha characters are years younger than those in Marmalade Boy, but they behave with greater maturity and dignity.
I don't mean to bash Marmalade Boy too much, but one can't help it considering the very obvious physical differences. At some point, Akito's older sister dates a lothario who looks exactly like Yuu, the titular Marmalade Boy. While I'm probably reading too much into it, I like to imagine that it's an intentional spoof of Yuu.
In retrospect, Yuu never fooled around with anyone else, but he also did nothing to assuage Miki's insecurities about the throngs of women who threw themselves at him, and just kept telling her to trust him. And of course she freaks out and cries all the time.
Hmm, Marmalade Boy was kind of lame now that I think about it. Still a great soap opera, though. But that's the thing about Kodocha - I thought it would be a soap opera, but it turned out to be so much better.
There's a lot about their series that turns out to be surprisingly thoughtful. For example, Sana's stardom isn't made out to be just a plot contrivance or a character quirk. Over time it is successfully conveyed that she is a genuinely talented actress who earns her kudos through hard work. And to accomplish this with an animated character is quite an achievement. At one point, there is a genuinely moving scene of Sana acting in a TV drama. Think about it: a TV show within a TV show, and the whole thing is animated - that's about as artificial as it gets, and still, I found myself completely sucked into it.
The pace is frenetic, downright manic in the beginning episodes - Sana is a hyperactive character who frequently bounces all over the screen, constantly singing and dancing. And the rhythms of the show itself mimics the goofy rhythms of a Japanese variety show - a running gag features characters routinely being bopped on the head with a red toy hammer, and a little white bat/rabbit named Babbitt pops up regularly to break the fourth wall.
One of the best characters is Sana's mother Misako, a well-known author and eccentric who has a pet squirrel living on her head. Misako is an indomitable woman who is fiercely protective of Sana, but also doesn't coddle her, and firmly teaches her daughter to take responsibility for her own actions. She behaves like a goofball much of the time - when she's not dodging deadlines, she amuses herself by making a sport of torturing her editor and her feckless ex-husband. But when she gets somber and serious about something, Misako is nothing short of F*cking Awesome. After interrogating Akito for kissing Sana, she advises him, Do it as much as possible, it's enjoyable! As much as you like and admire Sana, you know that Misako had a lot to do with Sana's strength of character.
Sana is far from infallible. Despite being the embodiment of spunk and cheerfulness, she's not above tantrums or malapropisms. And despite liking school, there are no illusions that she is a good student, especially since she misses so much class due to work.
Even the secondary characters are well-defined and interesting - each of Sana and Akito's friends are memorable, loveable and distinct in their own way. They are not mere placeholders to prolong the angsty drama. Naozumi is about Sana's age, and also a popular child actor. Naozumi is usually very gentle and sweet, but has a streak of nastiness. His love for Sana is based on hero-worship and evolves into genuine appreciation.
Another fully developed character is Fuka, who becomes Akito's girlfriend. She's not just an obstacle, but a very likeable character in her own right. Smart, energetic, and a little bit on the bossy side, she develops a kinetic rapport with Sana, and a very realistic and meaty bond with Akito. Fuka isn't the type of girl who would date someone just because he's cute, and you can also see why Akito, who thumbs his nose at just about everyone, finds Fuka worthwhile and interesting.
Akito's evolution is the most interesting. He begins the series as the ringleader of the bad boys in class (the "monkeys") who leads them into disrupting lessons and terrorizing their teacher. It's remarkable that Akito's bad side is depicted starkly, with no punches pulled. Akito is casually destructive and mean, he behaves like a real hellion, and looks headed straight for reform school.
Sana, in her usual spunky way, is fixed on teaching the "boss monkey" a lesson, but discovers that there is a hurt little boy behind the cold eyes and the mean scowl. This revelation and its resolution threatens to veer into After-School-Special territory, but with humor and genuine emotion manages to never become trite or hokey. (Misako is so impressed by Sana that she remarks that Sana grew up just the way she had idealized. I told you she was Awesome.)
I also loved that Akito sees the error of his ways, but is not magically transformed into a choirboy, and retains his prickly edge. Akito is not a cookie-cutter bad boy, but is also bluntly honest and principled in his own way. Even the teacher he terrorizes admits that Akito will never lie. I really loved that we saw Akito becoming "good" without changing his essence.
Sana's acting career is treated not simply as a quirk or a showbiz fantasy, but in a very realistic way, with all its perks and pitfalls - during the course of the story Sana endures her share of trials - tabloid rumors, obsessive fans, jealousy of fellow performers, ruthless agents, and even an imposter. She gets blackballed from the industry not just once, but twice. With each setback, she mopes for a bit but then grits her teeth and cheerfully and determinedly deals with it head on, and you can't help but root for her each time.
Kodocha deals with a wide-range of issues such as family dysfunction, divorce and even death with a surprising amount of depth and sensitivity. (Yet another contrast with Marmalade Boy, which treated divorce as a joke.) Even the weakest story arc of the series - Sana and Naozumi's trip to NYC, still gets a solid "B" grade from me. Despite featuring absurd soap-opera twists and taking the story away from the main (and most interesting) dynamic between Sana and Akito, it's still a fully-realized and satisfying part of the whole series.
I've crabbed in the past about whether I buy the love between characters in TV/movies. Sometimes it really seems forced, and it's hard to see why these two people even like each other. but in Kodocha, found myself completely sucked into the blooming romance between two 11-year-old kids, which despite being between children, still managed to be as squishy and swoon-worthy as anything I've ever seen on TV. All credit goes to the effective storytelling and acting. There aren't any cliched love-at-first-sights in Kodocha - each bit of love is hard-earned and acutely felt.
Kodocha has a lot of common tropes in anime - romance, the reformed delinquent, and show business. But it manages to make them seem fresh and new. No small feat for a show that is more than 10 years old.
The director of Kodocha, Akitaro Daichi, is also the director of Fruits Basket. While the two shows are very different in tone, and the two heroines (Sana and Toru) are very different characters, the show achieves something which I think is not easy - making the audience believe that the main character is a special, wonderful person, and someone you'd like to know.
