Kodocha: Sana's Stage, Vol. 03

こどものおもちゃ [Kodomo no Omocha] #3

by Miho Obana, Sarah Dyer (Translator)

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.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Shojo, Graphic Novels, Romance, Comedy, Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 1996

About the author

Miho 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.

Reviews

[Azet · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are getting into the more darker and emotional aspects in this whole story and i got the answer to the question i always wondered at the beginning. We see Sana`s most vulnerable in this volume and how she is anxious for her fears to happen. But lucky her, Akito Hayama is at her side and always will be whenever she needs him. I can`t belive he joined karate class just to be worthy of her, and he have eliminated two of his rivals and now a third is coming. I am enjoying myself immensely.

[Natali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este volumen ha sido el más profundo en la historia de Sana. y es que te enteras de una gran tragedia de que Sana fue abandonada en un banco de un parque a horas de nacida 🥲.
Podemos ver su miedo e inseguridad a que esto sea revelado al mundo. Desde chiquita mostró una gran fortaleza acerca de la verdad que se le fue revelada a una corta edad de 5 años. Pero realmente ocultaba su angustia en su personalidad feliz y radiante, una mascara que solo pudo ser vista por Hayama. Esto se me hace tan lindo, porque parece que entre ellos dos pueden verse más allá de si mismos y se han apoyado en esas situaciones tan difíciles, es una conexión tan bella que espero que perdure 😭❣️.

Por el otro lado salió el nuevo rival amoroso, y recuerdo que antes me gustaba mucho perder ahora estoy teniendo una nueva perspectiva de la historia y es que desde un principio me encariñé mucho con Hayama que ahora solo me interesa que se quede con Sana.

[Francesca (LaRagazzaDeglieBooks) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Akito 💙💙💙

[Once upon a Dream · Rating 5 out of 5]

o(╥﹏╥)o qualcuno mi regali Akito!!!!!

[BookVolchitsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quanti ricordi 🥺🥺🥺❤️

[Ana Maria]

Kinda fuck la madre por lo del libro... Es que tía no.

[Nazish Ahmed (Nazish Reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rated this 4.5 stars
Warning, long review because a lot happens in this book.

I just reviewed this on my blog.
To view the full review and other reviews, click here Kodochai Volume 3 by Miho Obana




This is the third book in the Kodocha series. I read and finished this a few days ago.

Gore: No
Magic: No (This is a story set in a world that is the same as ours, I normally don't read these kind of books, I'll explain why this one is different and why I love it so much).

Romance: Yes (Even though there's no kissing, you can still see that Akito and Sana love each other, more will be explained below).
Action: (This one's hard to rate since it depends on what kind of action, Sana and Akito do fight a lot, like when Sana gets mad, she pulls out a rubber hammer or whatever it is and hits him)
Pacing: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4 stars
Drawings/Art: 4.5 stars


It's been a while since I last read a shojo manga, I've mostly been reading Kekkaishi nad Fullmetal Alchemist, and I'm almost finished the FMA series.

Warning, Spoilers

I'm kind of confused with the chapters in this series, there are no title pages for the chapters, yet there are more than one, since I checked online and found how many chapters are in each volume. I wonder why the mangaka did that. Only the last chapter has a title page, and from what happened in it, it looks to me like it is a bonus/extra chapter.

This volume starts off with Sana and Akito running to Tsuyoshi's house to see if he's ok because his parents got a divorce. But by the time they get to his house, only his dad is there, since Tsuyoshi, his mom, and his little sister are already almost at their new house by then. Akito and Tsuyoshi's dad get into an fight (wow, Akito really sucks at defence), and then Sana drags him out of there before something really bad happens. Sana's wiping Akito's forehead because it's bleeding and then Akito touches her chest and she immediately kicks him (I love the humour and violence in animes and manga), this is what he says after she calls him a pervert.

"Well...it was right there in front of me."

Oh Akito, he's so funny and acting like it's no big deal, lol.

Anyways, after that they decide to go visit Akito's dad who is in the hospital and guess who they find there...Tsuyoshi, the person they've been looking for and were worried about. Although he seems fine, he tells that they're currently moving into their new house, so Sana immediately decides to help him and makes Akito come too, she even calls Rei to help as well. Akito doesn't end up being much help. Then Akito and Sana leave. On the ride home, Akito asks Sana about her dad, she says she doesn't have a dad and that she promised her mom that she wouldn't talk about it, which just confuses him. When Sana arrives home, Aya's there, she wanted to know what happened with Tsuyoshi since he didn't come to school that day, although she says that she came because Sana left her book bag at school. After Aya leaves, she wonders why Aya was so worried, and being the dense idiot that she is about love, she thinks, "Aya is a big worrywart!!", which is wrong since it's so obvious that she's in love with Tsuyoshi.

The next day at school Tsuyoshi tells the whole class about the divorce and that his last name changed, then some of the boys start making fun of him, calling him a mama's boy and saying that now he has his mom all to himself, they're so mean, it made me feel bad for poor Tsuyoshi, it was obvious that after that both Sana and Akito would be very pissed, which they were, they were about to do something (it's obvious that the boys are scared of them when they're angry), and suddenly Aya yells, "Cut it out!" Which shocks everyone, since she's always so quiet. Then she admits that she likes him. Although everyone knows that Tsuyoshi's likes Sana, so Akito tries to convince him that Aya's better for him and asks him why he likes Sana? Later on, Aya gives Tsuyoshi an early birthday present since his birthday is tomorrow. The next day Tsuyoshi says that he's in love with Aya. Aya tells Sana that the birthday gift was Akito's idea, and then she says that he's really nice, Sana finds the part about Akito being nice hard to believe. While Akito's walking home, he's thinking, "Well, I've shot both rivals down." That confirms that he's in love with Sana, even though it was obvious before too, I love those two, they're so cute.

The next day or a few days later, I'm not sure which since it doesn't say, Sana and her mom talk about the promise they made when she was 5 years old and that it's time to fullfil it. Her mom explains that she just needs to put the book together which should take about three days and that it would probably be out after her summer break.
Then the day after that she goes on a class trip, which is going to be three days and two nights. Sana seems happy, but then later she's worried, but no one except Akito notices (aw, they're really close friends). The next few days Sana and her class go mountain climbing and do some other stuff. On the second day when they're having a campfire, Sana's worried again and sees a firefly and she follows it with a crazy look on her face. Akito notices that and follows her and falls down a small cliff/hill (whichever it is) and sees Sana there. Then Akito and Sana talk about what's bothering her which is has to do with the book that her mom is writing. (I won't explain it in detail, you'll just have to read the book to find out). Then Akito says something and smiles for a second, Sana's cheered up and she wants him to smile again so she ends up chasing him up the cliff and they didn't even notice (they're weird kids).

When everyone gets back home, it's the summer holidays and Sana's really busy. Another rival shows up (meaning another boy that's in love with Sana and this time it's serious unlike with Tsuyoshi, his name is Naozomi Kamura and he and Sana are doing a commercial together. He tells her that he knows everything about her and that he's the same as her. On the next few pages, Akito meets Naozumi at a play that Sana's in and they both get jealous of each other because they both like Sana. Later Akito decides to do karate, which shocks everyone since he's so lazy.
In the next few days rumours are spreading in magazines and other media that Sana and Naozomi ae in love and Akito ignores Sana because he thinks they're true and he's jealous (so much drama for 6th graders).

Finally, when Miss Kurata's new book is out, the truth about Sana's birth and childhood is revealed, which of course shocks everyone (it's so sad even though it happened when Sana was a baby). Akito and Naozomi want to go help Sana in her time of need. Sana's mom and Rei have an argument about the book which makes Sana cry and then Akito suddenly shows up at her house and takes her to his house. She finally lets it all out and Akito tries to calm her down.

I think the last chapter is a bonus chapter, and since this review getting way too long, so I'm not going to summerize it, plus it's not important to the story as a whole anyway.

Those are the major incidents of this volume, of course more happened, I tried to condense it but I got carried away and now I'm not sure what to get rid of. It's my first reviewing a book that is not paranormal, even if I did review one in the past, I don't remember if I did, so it's kind of new to me.

Overall, I'm not sure if I like the manga as much as I love the anime, since it feels like some of the scenes are rushed, I liked them better in the anime, like when Miss Kurata's ex husband comes over to beg for money.

[Benny Leoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://ioamoilibrieleserietv.blogspo...

[新新 Xin-Xin · Rating 4 out of 5]

不小心脫口而出把老師喊成媽媽真的是很常見的童年回憶吧
都已經長大了，但再重看一次還是不確定實砂子媽媽在想什麼唉

[bow down to our ace king victor vale · Rating 3 out of 5]

love all these characters <3 the mom is especially a mood lol.

[-moonprismpower- · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a reason to become famous…!

[any୨ৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

first book in 2025!!! gave it 3.5☆. oh god, i just love the dynamics between hayama & sana.

[Kristin ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ow, that took a bit of darker turn that what I expected. but also they are so cute? (':

[Judyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

~3.5/5
This volume starts where the last one left off, with Sana and Akito rushing off to find Tsuyoshi. They get to his house, only to find that he's moved away already and his father doesn't seem to care. Akito gets hurt in their interaction with his father, and when Sana tries to bandage him up, he gropes her. They then go to see Akito's father, who's still in the hospital, and find Tsuyoshi visiting him.
Sana and Akito, and Rei, help Tsuyoshi's family move into their new place, where Tsuyoshi is being brave and the man of the house, but later cries in front of them. (When he asks Sana, who was comforting him, to marry him, Akito gets a bit enraged.) (A bit after this, Tsuyoshi finds out about Aya's crush on him, and when she gives him a present, he immediately falls out of love for Sana and into it with Aya. It's a bit ridiculous (in a funny way) how easy he is.)
Rei takes them both home, and Akito asks about Sana's father. Rei immediately stops the car and warns Akito away from mentioning him, ever again. Turns out Sana and her mother get scary dangerous whenever he is mentioned, and Rei doesn't know why, but has decided not to bring it up. Sana, though, tells them that she doesn't have a father and leaves it at that.
Which bring us to the subject of this volume. Sana seems preoccupied for most of it, and we see that her and her mother have some agreement that they are now going to fulfill which is bothering her. Rei is worried, and bothers Mariko a little bit. Akito is worried and asks Sana, mentioning that sometimes it looks like she's acting happy and she can cry on his shoulder if she needs to (which, surprisingly, helps her) (most of this happens when they go on a school trip for three days, and Akito falls down a cliff when following Sana). We find out that Mariko found Sana left alone on a bench in the park when she was a baby, and were unable to find her parents. Their agreement was that they would both become somewhat well-known (Sana in acting, Mariko as a writer), and then Mariko would write a book about it, which she does.
When it all comes out and the book is released (which happens way too fast, like within days) there's a big commotion about it, and Sana is upset about it but doesn't say anything to her mother. She feels like Mariko doesn't want her anymore, which is obviously not true, but she won't say anything to Mariko, and everyone seems to realize is while Mariko ignores it.
Also within this book, Sana starts working with another actor, Naozumi, who freaks her out at first but she later finds out was at the same orphanage as her (or something?). He tells her he likes her, to which she doesn't know how to react, and Akito starts ignoring her and being mean again when he finds out about him. On opening night of the play Sana is in, they both meet and there's an obvious competitive air around them (which Naozumi starts, instead of Akito, surprise!). After the big blow-out of the book, though, Akito charges into her house (where she's been hiding for a few days) and drags her out with him, as Naozumi watches (because he was going to talk with her as well). The volume ends with Sana crying on Akito's shoulder.
Oh, and Akito starts taking karate classes, suggested by their principal, which will definitely be good for him. He gets frustrated, though, when he finds out that they're not learning any actual moves yet, but have only been cleaning and meditating.
I'm loving this series. It's cute, funny, the characters are so much fun; it's just fun in general. I'm looking forward to seeing where the whole book about Sana's past is going, as well as where the triangle (Naozumi-Sana-Akito) is going. Obviosly, I'm Team Akito. No doubt about that. Still, I'm looking forward to getting to know more about Naozumi. I'm just looking forward to the next book, really, and am hoping it won't be too hard to find.
[Taken from my blog: http://geekyreading.blogspot.com/2012... ]

[Valentina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seguivo il cartone animato da bambina e ricordo che mi piaceva molto. Apprezzavo soprattutto l'ambientazione scolastica e disegni dei personaggi, cosa che apprezzo tutt'ora. Avevo un ricordo positivo anche dei due precedenti volumi manga, ma li lessi diversi anni fa e sono certa, se li rileggessi, emergerebbero diversi elementi critici, soprattutto in merito alla caratterizzazione dei personaggi. Ne cito alcuni:
- anzitutto Akito Hayama (che per me rimane Eric) risulta essere un mezzo maniaco. Capisco il voler sottolineare il carattere problematico del ragazzo, ma credo che determinate scene dovrebbero essere evitate.
- Sana è una donna in carriera che affianca, e spesso antepone, il suo lavoro alla scuola. Ma ha 10 anni!
- La mamma di Sana che pubblica la sua autobiografia, in cui mette in piazza elementi importanti della vita privata di sua figlia e si sente legittimata a farlo, perché aveva stretto un accordo in merito con lei quando era piccolissima.
Certo un manga destinato ai bambini non deve essere necessariamente verosimile, ma personalmente penso che sarebbero state opportune scelte differenti considerando il pubblico di lettori al quale il manga è destinato.

[Eka Masih SMA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bener-bener aku pengen tepuk tangan buat yg ngarang...


Gila.. kereeen ^^;.
Seperti yg aku bilang dia pintar banget ngemas cerita biar apik dan terarah tapi tetap seruuuu ^^;


Dan walau tokohnya anak SD, tapi ceritanya juga gak 'sebiasa' itu. Aku sudah menduga dari awak sih bakal ada twist dalam seri komik ini. And i enjoy it, penuh keteka-tekian dll.


Tapi sebel juga ada nambah satu tokoh cowok yg naga-naganya jadi saingan Hayama (--")

[Marika Florio · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Jessica Lower · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I wanted a plot twist and I certainty got one, I did not see that coming! As you go through this series it just gets better and better. The characters are getting more developed. My only main problem with it is the unrealistic age of these characters, but if you just look past that it's a pretty great series so far.

[Shigaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's 3 in the morning, and I have to go to sleep or I'll be dead by tomorrow at 17:00, I have such a tight schedule =3. If I hadn't I would keep reading the whole thing till 10! I really enjoy this manga ^^. It's surprising so many times xDD

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!!

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Che bellissimo numero! Nonostante sia pieno di vignette spassose e caricaturali, dove i personaggi fanno pose assurde, ci sono anche dei disegni bellissimi, soprattutto per quanto riguarda gli occhi e i capelli di Sana. Bellissimo lo spot che gira insieme a Naozumi.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kodocha: Sana's Stage Vol. 3 by Miho Obana (2002)

[Sara]

What 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.

[⋆☆☽ Jen ☾☆⋆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect!! ♥

[Sarah Hammel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor Sana!!

[Yaoyao Pei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funniest!