Random sampling: Kodomo No Jikan
Yes. I went there. Not going back.
So, I’m getting rid of all my shit, trying to sell my house (turns out, at a loss… *cry*), and up sticks to another state. Not to mention organize a podcast. So post frequency is slowing down.
But for some reason, while good animated television goes unwatched (Chiko!), I watched a random episode of Kodomo No Jikan. This post was gonna be one sentence, but I couldn’t decide on one:
- Why plunge yourself into the depths of such well-warranted controversy for something so stupid?
- It’s intermittently more shocking than Kanokon, but unsurprisingly lacking in heart-shaped pasties.
- Accuse the viewers of being perverts if you want, but no one’s gonna be turned on by such ugly animation.
- If you act like a wet-blanket anime lead, even an 8-year-old will take advantage of your dumb ass.
- I don’t remember any of my teachers being so stacked.
Story?
I fought hard for a caption. but I lost.
For those of you who don’t know the plot, it’s basically this: Your standard dumb-fuck anime noodle can’t see that his fellow teacher with giant cans is into him because he’s too much of a pussy to fight off an 8-year-old girl with daddy issues who is dead set on doing stuff that will get him arrested.
I read a bit of the manga, after all if there’s that much talk about something you have to investigate a little. For science.
Right?
Well, in this case, curiosity made the cat lose a couple brain cells.
Pedo-sensei’s report card
You cannot, CAN NOT pretend to be a deep and important symphony when the title of your overture was Ecchi in Pedo Major. Not because you’re not allowed, but because it doesn’t work. If I thought it did work, I’d write that there was some exquisite balancing act going on, but if the series wanted to tackle a serious issue with any profundity it wouldn’t focus on children’s panties so much.
You want me to get really into a show? Don’t give me such unbelievable situations, and don’t package it in an anime that I feel like I have to keep one eye on while the other looks over my shoulder. At least Kanokon knows what it is. And at least there is more than one pair of breasts in it. I really think there’s something else worth saying about this, but I don’t have the brainpower or time to write a dissertation.
Shame? Disgust? No... Suicidal Despair!
The things I do for you people. I’m gonna go watch Golgo 13 now.
Ecchi in Pedo Major. I like that.
Watched the first episode of this a while back on a ’sure, what the hell’ whim as well, and my reaction was somewhat the same, although overall I was much less repulsed than you.
For me, the interesting children dynamics (saying that, I almost dare to compare this to Kure-nai) and the random pedobait alerts just about canceled each other out, for a zero-sum anime I’m quite ambivalent about. I do see what you mean by how KnJ seems very confused about what it is – unless it’s trying to pull the ol’ trick of coating the soft, tasty center of storyline and development in a hard shell of fanservice, in order to make it more palatable to the masses.
(Although, in this case, I wonder what kind of masses would flock to this…)
Hm, I didn’t even get past the first episode of this, probably because of anime saturation at the time. I did read a good chunk of the manga, and although it was decidedly not innocent, it had an intriguing story somewhere in it. Took a while to get there though.
Loved the eechi in pedo major line. XD
@CCY I wasn’t really repulsed, I think that’s too strong a word for a reaction that really wasn’t all that strong. In the end, the lead character is very much the same lead character we’ve seen so many times, which does make me uncomfortable about what our favorite Keitaro-type characters would do in the situation, but mostly makes me hate him for being the classic tired “omg-panty-misunderstanding” series idiot.
@Dreanged I suppose I’d have to read a little more of the manga to get a clear idea of whether it’s going somewhere, but I’ve read a good bit and it really should have shown its colors by now.
Ultimately, I don’t think that KnJ is confused about what it is — I think it’s trying to lie about what it is.
Coincidentially, I’m moving out of the house in California on 6/27 and driving to New Mexico. However, we decided not to sell at a loss, and rent the house out instead.
I thought KnJ was about Rin using her… looks to attract pedophiles and get them in trouble or arrested or something.
* has not watched or read KnJ *
Many people claim that Kodomo no Jikan is a lot deeper than the pedophilia. They say there are emotional undertones that you don’t have to be a lolicon to like.
Are you calling them liars?
Am I the only person who noticed that the title’s referring to reptiles P:
Well, I’m not even going to try defending KnJ, though you might want to try out the manga a little further. Things do get serious later on, to some extent at least =D
@Author we had the thought, but values around here are supposedly going to continue to drop for the foreseeable future (measured not so much in months as years) and I don’t want to be a long-distance landlord for that long (or really at all). Good luck to you in that.
edit: decided to rent it after all, it’s working out well, too.
@IcyStorm She seems to have a genuine attraction for her teacher, and though she does tend to try to get him in trouble, it’s basically to blackmail him into doing whatever she wants him to.
@Baka-Raptor I wouldn’t dream of it…
@Shin Seems like it means “Time of the Komodo Dragon” or something and I have a hard time ascertaining the meaning behind that… (also, fixed).
Regards to all fans!:)