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こどものおもちゃ [Kodomo no Omocha] #5
Kodocha: Sana's Stage, Vol. 05
Take one young actress used to getting her way, add a handful of ruthless bullies, some humorous twists, and a plastic toy hammer, and you've got the recipe for one crazy story Kodocha follows the antics of Sana, a spoiled 11-year-old TV star, and Hayama, a 6th grade Machiavelli who terrorizes both his teachers and his classmates. In their classroom war of wills, Sana and Hayama find there is more to both of them than meets the eye.
176 pages, Paperback
First published December 9, 1996
3 people are currently reading
191 people want to read
About the author
Miho Obana
45 books114 followersMiho Obana ( 小花美穂, born April 26, 1970) is a shōjo manga artist born in Tokyo, Japan.
She began her manga career as an assistant to Momoko Sakura, creator of Chibi Maruko-chan. She debuted in 1990 with the (one-shot manga) Mado no Mukō, which was published in the autumn 1990 issue of Ribon Bikkuri. Soon, stories from her started appearing in Ribon Original and in the regular Ribon magazine too.
Other notable manga by Miho Obana include Kodomo no Omocha (10 volumes, for which she won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo in 1998; the official English title is Kodocha), Partner, (3 volumes) and Andante (3 volumes). Partner is especially noted for its dark, mature, and almost disturbing tone, which is very rare in a Ribon series.
Her most recent manga is Honey Bitter, which has run in Cookie since February 2004. Also in 2004, she made a foray into the world of josei manga, writing several manga for the josei magazine Chorus. She has been on maternity leave for the past year, but will be returning soon, as Honey Bitter is expected to start up again in the Dec. 26 issue of Cookie.
Other works include Mizu no Yakata; a spin-off of Kodocha, Neko no Shima, Pochi, Setsunai ne, and Shiranami no Gensō.
She began her manga career as an assistant to Momoko Sakura, creator of Chibi Maruko-chan. She debuted in 1990 with the (one-shot manga) Mado no Mukō, which was published in the autumn 1990 issue of Ribon Bikkuri. Soon, stories from her started appearing in Ribon Original and in the regular Ribon magazine too.
Other notable manga by Miho Obana include Kodomo no Omocha (10 volumes, for which she won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo in 1998; the official English title is Kodocha), Partner, (3 volumes) and Andante (3 volumes). Partner is especially noted for its dark, mature, and almost disturbing tone, which is very rare in a Ribon series.
Her most recent manga is Honey Bitter, which has run in Cookie since February 2004. Also in 2004, she made a foray into the world of josei manga, writing several manga for the josei magazine Chorus. She has been on maternity leave for the past year, but will be returning soon, as Honey Bitter is expected to start up again in the Dec. 26 issue of Cookie.
Other works include Mizu no Yakata; a spin-off of Kodocha, Neko no Shima, Pochi, Setsunai ne, and Shiranami no Gensō.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
May 22, 2022
Sana has gone to the mountains with her filming crew to finish a movie, rest of her friends miss her, especially Akito Hayama who dreams of her. I find it sad that he wasn`t able to confess to her. Fuuka asks Akito to be her fake boyfriend-which will certainly develope matters in hand to a different direction. I just feel the melodrama coming when Sana comes back...
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September 5, 2024madre mía con las crías...
August 31, 2017
Not okay that my babies are getting involved with other people...got to keep on reading I guess!
October 25, 2017
I love reading this manga!
December 29, 2019
Così così: qualcosa mi è piaciuto, qualcosa no.
January 15, 2020
Manga che supera di gran lunga l'anime. Divertente, commovente, profondo ma sempre pieno di leggerezza.
September 24, 2020
水之館後來有獨立單行本（我應該有看過......吧）
＆身為一個黏人的人，兩個月真的太久了QQ
＆身為一個黏人的人，兩個月真的太久了QQ
December 22, 2022
those fans are literally insane omg
also rei <3.
“You’re a nice guy as a friend, but as a man, you’re completely irritating!” 💀💀
also rei <3.
“You’re a nice guy as a friend, but as a man, you’re completely irritating!” 💀💀
April 23, 2024
That ending wtf?! I swear fans like that only exist in stories!!!! That was so dramatic!
January 6, 2025
wth those girls, they are the bullies😭
February 24, 2013
~3.5/5
[Also available on my blog.]
I was unable to find this volume for a little bit, but now I have read it, and am only missing volume 10. So, it will probably be pretty quick reading until I finish book 9, then I will have to wait and find the last book. I’m super excited, though, now that I have most of the volumes and will actually get to finish this series. And it’s so good, too.
So, in this volume: Sana’s new friend, Fuka, hates Akito, because he kissed her when they were five and ruined her life. And she keeps bringing up things that he did wrong and yelling at him, and I don’t like it. She just needs to get over it already. And apparently her hate is because it ruined her chance with this guy from her old school, but we meet him and she lets him go; and, really, thank god. She needs to just move on already. Also, it seems like she’s starting to grow feelings for Akito, which is just not okay.
We also find out that Sana is questioning whether Akito does actually like her or not, and that ever since the thing with her manager (from volume 1), she’s just been very confused about love and romance, and whether a guy actually likes her or not. Which is why Akito needs to actually tell her up front, but he’s too chicken. Also, Sana gets confessed to by this guy at her school, and she told him she is going out with Naozumi, so she didn’t have to be mean and reject him, which is sure to backfire later
While some of this happens, Sana is gone on location filming her new movie, with Naozumi and Rei and Rei’s secret-girlfriend Asako. I really like the interactions between Rei and Asako; I wouldn’t mind seeing more of those. Also, it nice to see Sana growing up and getting some advice/having conversations with an older woman (including shopping for her first bra), as well as seeing how upset Rei is that Sana is getting older.
It’s surprisingly nice how funny the scenes with Naozumi and Sana are. I don’t like them together in a romantic sense, but seeing them just be friends and joking around is fun. Plus, it’s adorable how embarrassed and determined Naozumi can get. I’m warming up to him rather well, it seems.
While Sana and them are out on location out in the mountains, they have no cell service, and so have very little/no contact with the world back home. Which means that Sana hasn’t gotten to talk much with anyone, including Akito. This spells trouble, and I’m a little unhappy and suspicious. Akito was going to confess to Sana before she left, but kept putting it off, and then decided to tell her when she got back, which is in two months. I’m sure something is going to happen to complicate things, and I’m not looking forward to it.
Anyway, Sana is also having some trouble with Naozumi’s fans, three of which keep showing up and spying on them. They’re super jealous of Sana being Naozumi’s girlfriend, even though she’s not (magazines keep saying they are). And at the end of the volume, they’re all beating Sana up with a piece of wood or something, when Naozumi finds them and gets super pissed. He looks like he’s going to hit them, but I doubt that’ll actually happen. I am excited to see what he’ll do, though, and what the after-effects of their bullying is going to be. Hopefully it won’t result in some sweet, lesson-learning moment with the bullies.
A tiny bit off topic, but some of the characters cursed in this book. I think it was only twice, but I was a little surprised by it (I don’t think they’ve cursed in the previous books, but maybe they have?). I don’t know if it says the same thing in Japanese, or if they translated it differently, but I was kind of unsure on if the cursing really needed to be there or not, and I don’t really think it does. I mean, the characters are in middle school, and I know that some people do curse then, but these characters don’t really seem the type, and it didn’t really add much emphasis or empower the moment. Plus, I’ve always thought of this series as targeted toward the younger ages. It just didn’t seem like the cursing needed to be there, to me, but maybe I’m wrong.
I already have the next volume, and I’m planning to read it now that I’ve written this up.
[Also available on my blog.]
I was unable to find this volume for a little bit, but now I have read it, and am only missing volume 10. So, it will probably be pretty quick reading until I finish book 9, then I will have to wait and find the last book. I’m super excited, though, now that I have most of the volumes and will actually get to finish this series. And it’s so good, too.
So, in this volume: Sana’s new friend, Fuka, hates Akito, because he kissed her when they were five and ruined her life. And she keeps bringing up things that he did wrong and yelling at him, and I don’t like it. She just needs to get over it already. And apparently her hate is because it ruined her chance with this guy from her old school, but we meet him and she lets him go; and, really, thank god. She needs to just move on already. Also, it seems like she’s starting to grow feelings for Akito, which is just not okay.
We also find out that Sana is questioning whether Akito does actually like her or not, and that ever since the thing with her manager (from volume 1), she’s just been very confused about love and romance, and whether a guy actually likes her or not. Which is why Akito needs to actually tell her up front, but he’s too chicken. Also, Sana gets confessed to by this guy at her school, and she told him she is going out with Naozumi, so she didn’t have to be mean and reject him, which is sure to backfire later
While some of this happens, Sana is gone on location filming her new movie, with Naozumi and Rei and Rei’s secret-girlfriend Asako. I really like the interactions between Rei and Asako; I wouldn’t mind seeing more of those. Also, it nice to see Sana growing up and getting some advice/having conversations with an older woman (including shopping for her first bra), as well as seeing how upset Rei is that Sana is getting older.
It’s surprisingly nice how funny the scenes with Naozumi and Sana are. I don’t like them together in a romantic sense, but seeing them just be friends and joking around is fun. Plus, it’s adorable how embarrassed and determined Naozumi can get. I’m warming up to him rather well, it seems.
While Sana and them are out on location out in the mountains, they have no cell service, and so have very little/no contact with the world back home. Which means that Sana hasn’t gotten to talk much with anyone, including Akito. This spells trouble, and I’m a little unhappy and suspicious. Akito was going to confess to Sana before she left, but kept putting it off, and then decided to tell her when she got back, which is in two months. I’m sure something is going to happen to complicate things, and I’m not looking forward to it.
Anyway, Sana is also having some trouble with Naozumi’s fans, three of which keep showing up and spying on them. They’re super jealous of Sana being Naozumi’s girlfriend, even though she’s not (magazines keep saying they are). And at the end of the volume, they’re all beating Sana up with a piece of wood or something, when Naozumi finds them and gets super pissed. He looks like he’s going to hit them, but I doubt that’ll actually happen. I am excited to see what he’ll do, though, and what the after-effects of their bullying is going to be. Hopefully it won’t result in some sweet, lesson-learning moment with the bullies.
A tiny bit off topic, but some of the characters cursed in this book. I think it was only twice, but I was a little surprised by it (I don’t think they’ve cursed in the previous books, but maybe they have?). I don’t know if it says the same thing in Japanese, or if they translated it differently, but I was kind of unsure on if the cursing really needed to be there or not, and I don’t really think it does. I mean, the characters are in middle school, and I know that some people do curse then, but these characters don’t really seem the type, and it didn’t really add much emphasis or empower the moment. Plus, I’ve always thought of this series as targeted toward the younger ages. It just didn’t seem like the cursing needed to be there, to me, but maybe I’m wrong.
I already have the next volume, and I’m planning to read it now that I’ve written this up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 3, 2011
I read Kodocha Vol. 5 LONG LONG LONG AGO, like in the 6th or 7th grade. I watched the anime of Kodocha (THE ANIME IS EXCELLENT BY THE WAY!!!) but for some reason, they didn't publish the third season of Kodocha in america, and THE THIRD SEASON IS LIKE THE BEST PART!!
So I wanted to find out what happens in the third season with Kodocha Vol. 5. I only read up to Kodocha Vol. 8, but I STILL LOVED THIS SERIES!!!!
Kodocha is about a young school girl named Sana Kurata, who is not only a school girl--but she is also a famous TV star. She endures her dramatic life along with her mother (a famous author), her chauffeur and manager, and her best guy friend and worst enemy, Akito Hayama.
In Vol. 5 through what I've read so far, Sana has entered middle school, and she is still completely oblivious about Akito liking her. I SHALL NOT SPOIL ANY FURTHER!!! I truly want my review readers to go and check this manga out for themselves because THIS MANGA IS AMAZING!! It made me smile!!!
And the interesting thing is that I've experienced a lot of what Akito and Sana have to go through with their relationship between each other, so it's fun reading a book and seeing how different characters deal with the same consequences I had to deal with.
Anyway, I seriously LOVED Kodocha. I wish I could blab about the whole entire thing, but I can't.
So anyway, THIS SERIES GETS FOUR-STARS!! WHOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
It seems that a lot of the manga I read are very original. I HAVEN'T READ A SINGLE EDWARD/BELLA-LIKE MANGA AT ALL (except for the Twilight manga, but that doesn't count). But I've been through novels that have the same idea of Twilight--either with the same theme or the same sort of vampires and events and such. I truly love manga.
This manga is hilariously funny, it teaches TRUE AND HELPFUL life lessons, and above all, it's completely original and it made me smile from ear to ear.
I totally recommend this manga to shoujo lovers in search for a good comical romance.
So I wanted to find out what happens in the third season with Kodocha Vol. 5. I only read up to Kodocha Vol. 8, but I STILL LOVED THIS SERIES!!!!
Kodocha is about a young school girl named Sana Kurata, who is not only a school girl--but she is also a famous TV star. She endures her dramatic life along with her mother (a famous author), her chauffeur and manager, and her best guy friend and worst enemy, Akito Hayama.
In Vol. 5 through what I've read so far, Sana has entered middle school, and she is still completely oblivious about Akito liking her. I SHALL NOT SPOIL ANY FURTHER!!! I truly want my review readers to go and check this manga out for themselves because THIS MANGA IS AMAZING!! It made me smile!!!
And the interesting thing is that I've experienced a lot of what Akito and Sana have to go through with their relationship between each other, so it's fun reading a book and seeing how different characters deal with the same consequences I had to deal with.
Anyway, I seriously LOVED Kodocha. I wish I could blab about the whole entire thing, but I can't.
So anyway, THIS SERIES GETS FOUR-STARS!! WHOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
It seems that a lot of the manga I read are very original. I HAVEN'T READ A SINGLE EDWARD/BELLA-LIKE MANGA AT ALL (except for the Twilight manga, but that doesn't count). But I've been through novels that have the same idea of Twilight--either with the same theme or the same sort of vampires and events and such. I truly love manga.
This manga is hilariously funny, it teaches TRUE AND HELPFUL life lessons, and above all, it's completely original and it made me smile from ear to ear.
I totally recommend this manga to shoujo lovers in search for a good comical romance.
July 2, 2016
Sana Kurata is an average middle school girl except for the fact that she's been on tv since she was 5. In this volume Sana enters middle school and meets Fuuka a girl just as energetic as her. It turns out that Fuuka's life has been ruined by Sana's friend Akito who kissed Fuuka back in kindergarten. Regardless Sana's friendship gets them to tolerate each other. When Sana gets a lead role in an upcoming movie everything changes.
This manga might be about 13 year olds, but it is really intense. Akito likes Sana, but she's too dense to know about it or even that she likes him. The 4 months spent on the mountain with another famous child star Nazomu does not help things. When the tabloids publish the "declaration of love" between her and Nazomu, Akito and everyone else believe it.
This manga is very funny, emotional, and overall addicting. Once you start reading you can't stop flipping pages.
This manga might be about 13 year olds, but it is really intense. Akito likes Sana, but she's too dense to know about it or even that she likes him. The 4 months spent on the mountain with another famous child star Nazomu does not help things. When the tabloids publish the "declaration of love" between her and Nazomu, Akito and everyone else believe it.
This manga is very funny, emotional, and overall addicting. Once you start reading you can't stop flipping pages.
June 29, 2010
In middle school, Sana met a new friend, Fuuka. Fuuka is actually Hayama's classmate in kindergarten, and she holds a grudge against him. During kindergarten, Hayama had stolen Fuuka's first kiss. And it leads to many misfortunes for Fuuka. The guy that she likes suddenly avoids her because the news that Fuuka have had her first kiss spread during sixth grade.
Sana is becoming a lot more busy with her upcoming movie. She even has to go to the mountain for two months for shooting, which means Sana have to skip school as well. During this time, Fuuka have asked Hayama to pretend to be her boyfriend. She wants to show the guy she likes during elementary school that she has got over him (since he also have a girlfriend already).
Sana is becoming a lot more busy with her upcoming movie. She even has to go to the mountain for two months for shooting, which means Sana have to skip school as well. During this time, Fuuka have asked Hayama to pretend to be her boyfriend. She wants to show the guy she likes during elementary school that she has got over him (since he also have a girlfriend already).
July 10, 2023
La mia recensione sarà identica per tutti i volumi di questa serie manga.
Sono veramente stupendi, l'anime è identico per moltissimi aspetti, cambia solo verso la fine, dato che almeno in Italia il finale è stato censurato.
Tornando ai volumi devo ammettere che li ho divorati.
Sono molto scorrevoli e pertanto li consiglio veramente tanto!!
L'intreccio che si crea tra Sana, Heric, Charles e Alyssa è un qualcosa di stupendo essendo dedicato principalmente verso un pubblico giovane.
Sono veramente stupendi, l'anime è identico per moltissimi aspetti, cambia solo verso la fine, dato che almeno in Italia il finale è stato censurato.
Tornando ai volumi devo ammettere che li ho divorati.
Sono molto scorrevoli e pertanto li consiglio veramente tanto!!
L'intreccio che si crea tra Sana, Heric, Charles e Alyssa è un qualcosa di stupendo essendo dedicato principalmente verso un pubblico giovane.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 16, 2013
I soo loved this manga. I loved the art though it looked pretty much old for today’s generation. I loved the story. I laughed, became sad and even shed one to four drops of tears haha. I really enjoyed it!!
December 10, 2008
This one was good and hilarious.... just a little weird.... anyways, read it!
October 1, 2010
This is a really sweet/cute series!
April 15, 2011
It really is 4,5 because the last chapter was keeping my attention so bad XDD So... I'll read next quickly!
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August 5, 2011What a cute and funny little series! :D I enjoyed reading this, though I was out of the target age group by the time I got to it.
July 9, 2021
Finalmente iniziano le riprese del film! Rei è così carino insieme alla signorina Kurumi, ma Fuka continuo a non sopportarla.
December 31, 2019
Questa ri-lettura è stata particolarmente interessante poiché molti dettagli li avevo completamente dimenticati la prima volta che lessi questo volume e rileggendo mi sono sorpresa di ciò.
October 17, 2014
Another good installment
January 7, 2016
3,5 bintang
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews