Modern society has elevated the protection of children to such a level that an adult acting in a kind, genuinely caring manner, can be percieved as a malicious sexual predator, prowling for their next victim. We have reached the level of paranoia, and show no signs of slowing our progress toward an overprotective insanity that is, in the end, a detrement to society, rather than a benefit. Children are important, and should be protected, but the extent to which we have taken it, mostly thanks to mass media, is absurd.
I open my comment on this title with the preceding statement for a very specific reason: Kodomo no Jikan contains controversial material depicting children in an unapologetically realistic manner. It explores a fact often overlooked by adults hellbent on sheltering their children from anything even remotely related to sex: children are sexual beings, capable of feeling everything an adult does, and often without the proper foresight or warning (probably due to said overprotectiveness.)
To anyone enraged over the alleged "loli fanservice" in this title, I implore you: please stop being a part of the problem, and understand that everything depicted in this series is deliberate and with purpose. That purpose is to clearly depict, in an accurate-to-real-life-children manner, the characters portrayed in the story. A story which explores, in-depth, the physical, emotional, and sexual growth a child experiences while maturing, and the difficulties associated with incorporating that growth into their everyday lives. This title dares to explore—and illustrate—the child pshyche, and touches on many topics, including family, friendship, parenthood, self-discovery, sexuality, psychological trauma, love, responsibility, death, separation, trust, honesty... I could go on for a while. So many important themes are approached in such an honest, deliberate, straightforward manner, that it becomes infuriating to see the blatant ignorance of people despising this title because of its child-oriented sexual content.
You don't have to enjoy reading about little kids depicted in this manner, but please don't ignorantly claim this title is somehow socially dangerous without even admitting it could possibly contain important messages and themes addressing something all too often ignored by a culture hell-bent on sheltering children well beyond the necessary.