This manga is incredibly good. If you enjoy your quirky manga and also like to think seriously about life, you'll find a very, very good story in Kodomo no Kodomo.
I've given this manga a 9 out of 10, because the art sucks. It could be worse, it has it's own unique style, but it's not well drawn anyway. So one point off for that. The story totally makes up for it though and the art shouldn't push you away or anything. It's just not polished.

For some reason, generation after generation of adults seem to keep on wanting children to be "innocent" about sex until it's convenient (for the adults) for them to be enlightened. There's some crazy dream in parents' minds, apparently, that kids never care about sex, or feel curious about it, or even want to try it, until The Official Time for all that. Too bad, since you can never really tell when your child is going to be mature enough to reproduce. This story demonstrates that simple fact.

The manga is very well written and cutely drawn, and tells the truth like it is. I believe it's intended to alert Japanese kids and, through them, adults about the dangers inherent in ignoring the simple facts of life as they really are. How sad, though, that first we had to fight out this struggle for enlightenment over 5 decades in the USA (and it's still resisted in the hinterlands here), and now the same struggle has to play out in Japan

I'm glad some people -- the teacher in this story and the mangaka of the story itself keep fighting the good fight!

... Last updated on June 4th, 2014, 4:33pm

@That3rdGuy: You didn't understand akari_mizunashi's comment. I'll try to explain without being too explicit.

"Shriveled genitalia" is the default for humans of any age. Males have an obvious sign when their genitalia is no longer shriveled. Females are similar though relatively subtle.

Sex can occur with two shriveled partners. Pregnancy has to have an un-shriveled male (outside of IVF and the like). The phrase "girls mature earlier than boys" partly refers to when they can maintain an un-shriveled state.

If the girl remains shriveled during the sex act, then the act is usually painful (hence groans instead of moans when the male isn't attentive). Yes, elementary school age girls have become pregnant. But the males in these cases are nearly universally older. Often times, they are 10+ years older and the females did not consent (and I don't mean in the statutory sense).

Long story short: for the humans, most conclude that "the brain is the biggest sex organ". 11 yr old x 11 yr old is not only biologically unlikely to result in pregnancy, but neither participant is likely to have the same mental state before and after the sex act regardless of pregnancy. Their dialogue was like two kids playing doctor or playing "I'll show you mine if you show me yours". Hence they "stick their shriveled genitalia together".

Sex education is not about teaching kids what to do. It is absolutely true that kids can figure that out themselves. But those kids tend to be ignorant not innocent.

And four chapters is more than enough to decide to stop reading a series. I have limited time and limited budget. I would rather spend my money elsewhere because of the above. At some point, a manga will explore pre-teen pregnancy (or even pre-teen sex) in a thoughtful manner but I don't feel that this is that manga.

... Last updated on April 20th, 2013, 10:09am

I find it quite interesting how the adults react to the developments throughout the story so far and the relationships that blossom and wilt. While I agree with another commenter (akari mizunashi) to an extent that they act way too innocent for an eleven-year-old, at least where I'm from (USA). The part when the actual sex took place may seem ridiculous, but it would seem as if the other commenter expected screams and a bloody mess from the incident. I found it to be much better than the groans, grunts, and moans of an adolescent, despite the strange choice of dialogue.

@akari mizunashi- Children that age don't have "shriveled genitalia" (not that I have seen any nor desire to) as I've known girls that were pregnant at that age who knew as much about sex as I did when I was 15. Girls have been known to start their periods and want that type of affection before the age 13, since it's not some rule made by whatever God you worship, so that biological part is horribly incorrect. Since you wrote that probably at the time that said chapter where sex took place was released, it shows you know nothing about the author nor this story. You act like you were expecting a pseudo-lolicon series but was disappointed. You were too quick to make a judgement, too. This story isn't about the sex (which seems to fascinate you so), but more about the relationships and hardships that follow. About 99% of the time the only people who want to hear about child sexuality are pedophiles. Sure they went a bit overboard with the innocence, but some children (especially in middle- to upper-class households) are shielded from things such as sex. It's because topics like sexual education isn't being taught early enough or at all. You may have a somewhat intellectual diction, but that's about the extent of your intelligence. It's apparent by how quick you were to condemn this series (after the fourth chapter of an approximately 30 chapter series). Just stick to all the other "realistic" manga lol

EDIT: @tamino- I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you've never seen somebody trolling while seeming sincerely genuine. I mean, come on! This series sucks hard and is completely unrealistic. I skimmed through 5-6 chapters just so I could sound like I was serious, but make my arguement absurd enough that people would give a more heated response. I simply argued for the sake of argument while talking out of my ass. Though my intentions were to incite a response, I didn't expect someone to take my comment so seriously that they felt the need to explain somebody else's comment to such an extent. Sure does take the enjoyment out of trolling, but I suppose the goal isn't to bring out the rage in people, though that was what I was aiming for. I guess I'll just chalk this one up as a failure. I guess they all can't be winners. I just wish people would take notice of the obviously negative overtones and return in kind instead of trying to act educated about prepubescent sex, which is actually pretty disturbing. Thanks for "schooling" me on the finer points of sex between children, I guess. I feel dirty now. Time to tone down the seriousness from seemingly ignorant to mildly retarded to avoid such blunders. People sure can be disappointing...

... Last updated on March 18th, 2014, 2:10am

I like the story so far, waiting for more chapters, it seems very realistic to me, and to the previous comments, believe it or not there are children that don't know anything about sex (pretty damn obvious), some people are raised too fast for their age (the 11 year olds that believe they're ready) and others too slow (the main character of this story). rukori, I agree wholeheartedly, the fact that 2 beings mate and give birth to another living being!? PREPOSTEROUS! Oh, right, I was 11 when I learned what "it" was, you guys should be less narrow minded, don't forget that these are children.

The author seems to be trying to picture it as an innocent and beautiful tale, but I can't think of it as anything but a disgusting and terrible thing. The art isn't very good. the story is boring. I give this a minimum rating with a whole heart.

I thought this was an interesting concept and I liked the unusual art style. I imagined Kodomo no Kodomo might have some interesting things to say on the ideas of maturity and child sexuality. Too bad its philosophies are shallower than a Lifetime movie.

11-year-olds may be short, but they aren't mindless blobs of beautiful innocence. The idea that two of them would be guileless enough to stick their shriveled genitalia together "because it's hilarious" is ridiculously sentimental and unrealistic. (Biologically unrealistic too, by the way.) There are 11-year-old girls that are pregnant right now, and I'm ready to bet most of them don't have lives as pleasant and innocent as this girl in her blissful suburban sphere. Kodomo no Kodomo is using a theme ripe with potential for drama and serious discussion. It's a shame the author isn't talented enough to take advantage of it.

... Last updated on April 1st, 2010, 9:50pm

Well, there's a live action movie in Japan, September 2008, based on this manga... A 11 year old child giving birth to a child due to an act of oblivious innocence.

The girl has to pay the price and mature really fast to be a mother while the boy went "duh...." homer simpson style.

Since I did not read the manga completely, I assume this manga covers up to the birthing of the child but does not cover the effects of raising such a child and the impact on her life when she had to work and even consider a lover/marriage prospects.

... Last updated on March 22nd, 2009, 6:27am