So I was going through what most fans would consider the most controversial mangas, this one came up since it had the infamy of also getting an anime.

I read it, didn't thought much of it and forgot about it until someone mentioned in a random comment that the author was a woman.

That for some reason made some stuff fall into place in my head so I gave it a reread,and I came to the realization that this manga is not some weird fantasy about an adult man/teacher having a student fall in love with them like most of us thought. It's the fantasy of a little girl falling in love with her teacher and him becoming her knight in shinning armor.

The main girl lost her mom, was living with a very troubled relative and then came this guy who saved her from every bad thing in her life, even the manga ends with him saving her from the principal. Then parting ways and meeting years later. The thing it's that it was framed from his side because I'm guessing the editor knew that would make it sell more.

That put the manga in a different light, allowing me to see some of its good parts.

That being said, it still doesn't make up for all the questionable stuff that was there for some reason. It was annoying enough that we were getting fan service from the other teacher, which wasn't as bad since she was an adult, and it's not even how the manga tried to show some of the complexities of reaching puberty. It was that the character of Mimi Usa was either created for or relegated to fan service, it was bad enough that she was created with such an unrealistic image but then mid way trough they ramp up the fanservice with her. Basically undoing all the development she got. The story tried making the main three FMCs have troubled lives, but hers was apparently resolved, then used sparingly as fanservice and then she got paired with the aforementioned relative of the main girl. Which I'm not going to go into detail but let's say he had less than pure intentions.

If that wasn't part of the main story, it would be easier to accept some of the more controversial aspects of the manga. Regardless, it is better than I would like to admit when I looked at it in hindsight, some aspects bring it down a bit, and the core premise doesn't do it any favors.

I don't know if I could recommend it, I'll just say that if you decide to read it it will surprise you how solid it is.

I remember this title from way back when it was originally scanlated. Back then I had an idea it was a bit controversial but didn't read it, because it simply didn't appeal to me.

But recently I picked it up, perhaps as part of nostalgia for the 2000's and went through the entire manga in some 3 days. Perhaps its due to me being older now, but I was pleasantly surprised with the quality and nuance of this manga.

I know what I just wrote sounds funny when on the surface this manga is about a mischievous and suggestive pre-teen girl teasing her teacher in explicitly sexual ways (and she knows what she's doing).

But, if you're able to look past that suggestive (tho often plain funny) aspect of this manga, you will find a surprisingly deep, nuanced and touching story about an entire cast of characters, both children and adults, as they interact, understand their faults and problems, realize their mistakes, grow and learn to trust each other.

I think in this society many of us walk even as adults with unhealed scars from childhood, whether from bullying, parential abuse, abandonment, emotional withdrawal or any number of things which can leave scars which are difficult to acknowledge and even more difficult to heal. The topics here can hit home with many people from puberty to their 40s. Not every manga can do that.


And before you tell me that in fact it IS just low key lolicon, I'll say no. No, it isn't. If it was JUST a lolicon manga, then why bother to write such a quality story? Why bother doing so much research as was obviously done? If this was all the mangaka wanted, it would have been easier to just draw a hentai, OR something with a „simpler“ plot (where adults would just accept proposals of a minor for intimacy).

Rather, I think the manga-ka took a tongue-in-cheek idea and used it as a cornerstone around which to make his story.

The mangaka really did his research into this. Many topics are covered, ranging from first menstruation, shame of growing breasts earlier than other girls, parental abandonment, crazy parents openly preferring one child and neglecting another, as well as adults who have had such issues and now have to heal themselves in order to have a happy life.

The messages in this manga are many, but i think the most prominent one is that it takes sacrifice to raise children properly, to give them love, respect, boundaries, but more than anything else, honesty and dedication where they can thrive. Reiji, Rin's cousin/father figure is perhaps the best example of such sacrifice,

In the end, if we're set up correctly, we are set up correctly because of other's sacrifice, love and dedication. And if not, then to quote one writer:„we take a lifetime to heal from bad childhood“.



Characters
The cast of characters is large and varied. Both adults and children have their issues, and all of them grow over the course of the manga. There isn't a single character that's badly written, there was never a moment reading this manga when i rolled my eyes and thought “aah I'll have to deal with reading this for the next 10-20 pages“.

There is a lot of introspective moments of individual characters, where we see their worries, fears and etc. this is a needed part of the story but never feels too much or philosophical, because of the healthy pace of the manga.

I have to confess: I didn't like the FMC, Rin Kokonoe and needed time to warm up to her as a character. I was uncomfortable with her and her single-minded pursuit of her love interest Aoki-sensei. I felt something unsettling about her and she came over as too domineering, too manipulative, too, well.... sociopathic.

But as her backstory got more known, it put her behavior into context, and by midway of reading through it i had great respect for her maturity, intelligence and willingness to protect her friends. And because she cares for others, and is capable of feeling remorse and also takes the other side into account, I'm happy to say she isn't a sociopath,.


Fanservice
As for the fanservice, hm.... i honestly don't know. Maybe I'm too old, but I preferred to feast my eyes on the female senseis (and NO I will NOT elaborate on my fetishes for tracksuits and blouses, OK?). The rest simply didn't bleep on my radar and i was „OK cute girls frolicking, how sweet“.

Humor
yes, humor is a large and undersold part of this manga. This manga is pretty hilarious and there's never an instance where there would be a sexually suggestive moment of any kind that wouldn't be followed with a humor (often over-the top slapstick) resolution.
But my personal favorite humor moments are Chibi moments of Usa and Kuro, tho friends of FMC Kokonoe Rin. These two are HILARIOUS in their chibi mode. Kuro is drawn like a hissy black cat, and Usa, who is usually quiet, when she is excited or fawning over something and is drawn like a rabbit (Usa – Usagi – rabbit in japanese) and she is ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. And I think it adds to her as a character.

ENDING
Ending is half a manga, and many otherwise good manga were ruined by shitty endings (I'm looking at you, Ichigo 100%, Domestic Kanojo, etc).
Bur here, the manga-ka delivered on the quality he'd been building up during the course of the manga and made a proper, good quality ending worthy of this manga. And yes, it involves a time skip, so there's that.
Without spoiling anything, the ending focuses not only on th lead pair, but also on other characters.
(LOL Rin at the ending XD)

Having a good ending is very important to me because i noticed too many manga are ruined because of stupid, unneccesarily dramatic, „real“, or shocking endings which resolve nothing or ruin whatever had the potential to be good.


Rather, I will end this review with a quote from this manga.

„We all live in order to be happy.
Everyone has their own idea of happiness and it's up to them to find it. but it isn't hard. The things you love. Your friends, your family, your favorite foods and hobbies, those all allow you to go on living.
When you're feeling down and worthless, the things you love will save you. they will show you that it'll be OK. that you're never alone... so please try to find s many things as you can to love.
We go on living with the things we love. That why, there's no need to be afraid.“

... Last updated on January 3rd, 2023, 1:15pm

Reading KnJ isn't easy, there's lots of pain and sorrow, creepy uneasy situations and outright bad things that happen. But it's so FUNNY! The mixture of all these emotions is sheer genius.
The story isn't about paedophiles or even sex, it's about 3 little girls who have such tragic backgrounds your eyes will melt from tears. But they depend on each other, learn and grow, and bloom into (hopefully) happy teenagers by the end.
As the story progresses, the characters all age accordingly. We learn a lot, both good and bad, about major and minor characters slowly, but with great impact and perfect (if painful) logic.
But mostly it's funny. I laughed my brains out, and the anime is more focused on that side of things too. The ending seemed rushed, but still enjoyable for our trio of beautiful girls.
Intelligent reading of an epic story: 10/10

Great. I think that's the best word to discribe this manga. The manga itself tell's about the many trauma situations that a child can get and how to overcome them. But there is a big romance going on too. I expecialy love the end of the manga and i'm so glad I didn't stop reading it because of the moments when it was for me a bit 'depressing' too read it further(forgetting detaels, chapters mixing up in my head) Would defenetly recommend reading it. Its a very fine peace of work

Alright, firstly step back and throw away your preconceptions. Is this series perverted? Yes. Is it perverted with children? Yeah. Is it like a crazy fanservice manga? No, it really is not. This series is pretty much good to read for anyone so long as you're not going into it pre-offended, and I really do mean anyone. It's also really smart. I wrote a review on it explaining just how that is, but basically there's a ton of interesting and very serious subject matter at play here and with a lot of examination of it. The one thing I'll say is that if you're FIRMLY against student/teacher romance it might piss you off, but even then you'd be missing out on a fantastic story that is NOT just about the precocious main heroine. Plus, the author does a good enough job getting from A to B with the romance, in my opinion. Kodomo no Jikan is very good, more people should give it a read.

Full review:
https://terrenceswiff.wordpress.com/2016/06/30/kodomo-no-jikan/

The story is great once you pass the first volume. This said, since the thematic are troubled children you will come upon a gray area and only be able to enjoy the story if you can accept that the world doesn't work according to conventions;

A new teacher in elementary school is afflicted by an adorable little girl in his class who believes she's in love with him. And at first it really is an affliction. He has no interest in little girls as romance or sex objects, AND since he is the girl's teacher, any relationship with her at all, if misconstrued, could ruin his life.

So far, so good, and very promising. For those of you who don't know yet, manga writers delight in creating "unworkable" couples. There are so many opportunities for humor in them! And this female mangaka clearly started out to produce such a funny story, and succeeded completely. The first few volumes of the manga are hilarious.

But there is another reason that manga delights in incongruous couples, and that is the great value that approaching and retreating from the breaking of moral boundaries has as a holder of attention for the reader. The creator of this story uses this advantage to the fullest as well.

But something fascinating happens as time goes on. The writer of the story rises to the occasion of having a successful manga running to explore multiple issues of relationships among all the characters, and likewise many issues of child treatment in Japan. Meanwhile, as time passes the teacher is depicted as increasingly torn by an inner conflict: He begins to love the little girl, but he is, like all young men, much in need of a sexual partner. He is thus presented with a very serious moral dilemma: his need for sex versus his increasing love for the girl--which of course calls upon him, a decent man, NOT to have sex with her.

Time passes, many events occur, and our hero suffers. We all wait to see how it all will come out. A great romance of a unique kind unfolds. It is truly a memorable story.

PS: No-one ever has sex with a minor in this manga.

... Last updated on September 3rd, 2015, 2:05pm

well, this have heavy issue not focus only on child issue, but parental issues
c'mon, children nowadays most likely act like a bitch, it's not a natural, but he/she is having issue on family affair, in any form

take an example, Rin, she is an orphan, her uncle have complex with her mother and see her as her opposite sex figure
cannot lose any "family" she do anything to keep him
teasing her teacher, make her feel better, but the she become so dependent on him
etc etc and then something develop

abaout Daisuke the teacher


also when you read it don't take the nudist children as main point of this series..
are you fa*ping on children nude? seriously that's sick man...
at least i enjoy the story, their struggle, their pain, their effort
the story itself is not common



SO for those who came to this series at least i can warn you :
1. those story revolves around teacher, student (at class 5-6 elemntary school) and their parents/guardian, at least no straight teacher who said aishiteru to their children student
2. mostly here is girl children, some or more of them is on heavy exposure or even nude situation, so beware where you read it, you've been warned
3. the main issue is parental relationship, classmate issue, self confidence, family also some SEX spice (at least no sex action in here on children)
4. if you think it's about a lolicon take a form of teacher,, i can guarantee there is not such thing, no panting over children, over excited when see children etc (but some tease from RIN is too heavy for Daisuke to handle, so expect some blushing etc)
5. it will different view and culture from you read it, and the japan nowadays (let's say, you're from a country or family which said sex before marriage is forbidden, in japan, and many of manga have those theme at everyday life) so prepare for culture shock if you new
6. you will see many disturbing relationship at near end, be ready

also yuri is welcome for me

so here,,,,
the manga which have many comment, both good or bad taste, it's not some fun to read manga

... Last updated on December 21st, 2014, 10:58am

I'm not quick to say that a manga can disturb me saying that I read a lot of the crazy ones.. And love them!.. But this one goes too far. Whoever wrote this has childhood issues. Art is ok.

It's grotesque but I couldn't help wanting to know what will happen next.. Still waiting on the Final story.

I personally enjoyed this manga because it covers an area that media tends to avoid, and I'm not referring to the relationship between Aoki and Kokonoe. Watashiya Kaworu is probably the only mangaka that has truly dived into the psychology of child development and upbringing. The way that she portrays the correlation between deprived development and its various side-effects is realistic and well-done. Many of her characters are manifested from this theme, and through them we are able to reinvent the way that we perceive some people and their actions.

Kodomo no Jikan has generated a lot of controversy because of its sexualization of minors. However, its also an excellent manga with beautifully executed character development and a plot that is surprisingly touching.

... Last updated on August 24th, 2014, 10:40pm