Kodocha, vol. 1

Kodocha: Sana's Stage volume 1
Miho Obana
Tokyopop, 194 pp.

Sometimes an adaption of a media is better then the original. This is the case with Kodocha, a 1994 manga by Miho Obana. In this case, the anime was better. Why? Well, you'll find out in this review.

Sana gets a part in a TV movie, costarring with a hot new actress, but she’ll never get to the studio if she can’t survive the bullies at school. Akito "the Demon" Hayama continues his reign of terror so Sana comes up with a crazy plot to put him in his place. Sana takes advantage of Akito’s fear of heights and challenges him to a bungee jumping contest! Maybe the world’s biggest bully will finally back down.

Sana is the star of Kodomo no Omocha, a.k.a Child's Toy, one of the hottest shows on television. But she has to deal with Akito Hayama at school, the "boss monkey" of a group of boys who make school a neither a fun or safe places with blackmail, harassment, and bullying. After another one ofAkito's antics involving water guns, Sana finally stands up and tells him this is enough.

After that, she finds his weakness, which is a fear of heights. So what to do now? Challenge him to a bungee-jumping contest in the school gym, that's what! Of course, nothing goes as planned...so it's time to turn to blackmail! Give little demonAkito a taste of his own medicine! With Sana's friend Tsuyoshi and his brand new Polaroid Camera, it's time to take a picture of Akito with his pants down!

With Akito under Sana's control, school life returns to normal...but only for a short bit. Akito's former gang has found a new boss, who is ready to fight back and bring chaos to the classroom. After a quick bout, the gang comes crawling back toAkito, but he refuses.

Sana gets the chance to star in a TV movie about a sister and her younger sister and turning their hate relationship around. It hits close to home withAkito's family, who's sister hates Akito because their mother died giving birth to him. After watching it, Akito's family changes for the better. 4 out of 5 because of the fast pacing, with the drama and comedy combined nicely.

So what makes this book less then the anime? The characters. Sana is nowhere near as hyper or serious as she is in the anime, which is a bad thing. She was so expressive, it's hard to put into words. From her exaggerated expressions to her amazing voice, it's missing.Akito seems a bit bland, without the somewhat mature, adult tone in his voice. Tsuyoshi just seems like a regular dork without his talented voice actor.

Sana. She's surely an energetic girl, but she's oblivious to some things, and isn't that smart. Really, she calls her manager Rei a gigolo. Really Sana? Gigolo isn't interchangeable with manager or boyfriend last time I checked. Akito is the trouble causing boy in the class, but underneath the act he puts on he's actually a troubled kid who's had to live his life as an adult because of a dysfunctional family.Tsuyoshi has problems too, with an abusive dad, and the split of his parents. This brings him to call the teacher "Mom" by accident, then he starts freaking out when kids laugh at him.

I'd give the characters a 4 out of 5, simply because the anime added more personality to them. I mean, the manga-ka could have expanded on them, but it focused more on the antics and fast pacing of the story.

The art's average shojo. Big, glistening eyes and medium-sized, easy to follow panels. The characters aren't drawn too detailed, but Obana does a good job of drawing them nevertheless. Overall, it looks a bit dated being originally drawn in 1994 compared to newer shojo art. 3/5 because of aging.

Tokyopop did a good release, with this beinc one of the first non-flipped right-to-left manga published back in 2002. But I have one complaint. Why are only half of the sound effects translated? It's somewhat inconsistant to see something like Grrrr! next to characters like の, 区, ハ, and 啓. One other small complaint also is the rewrites by Sarah Dyer, but I only noticed a few. Some of the dialouge was changed and some more otaku-centric jokes were changed. 4/5

The total is 3.75, or a B+. There are things that could be improved upon, but they can pass for now. I'd reccomend the anime over this, simply because the drama and comedy is more balanced and the characters are more expressive. Worth a read if you find it at your library, though.