The story is about an inexperienced, elementary schoolteacher (Daisuke Aoki) who’s having trouble with the class he teaches but there's one girl in particular he's finding hard to control (Rin Kokonoe) But what’s more is said girl has got a huge crush on him. That’s basically how this manga is laid out and for most of the beginning chapters it is littered with a superb amount of comedy, with Aoki-sensei being the punch-line to the jokes. But once Aoki-sensei’s struggle to be a teacher respected by his students ends, the real story kicks in. As the story begins to develop, it does show a far more serious side to it as it involves Rin Kokonoe. However this manga isn't marked "highly controversial" for no reason as there is a lot of questionable content that you may not feel comfortable with.
The characters are very interesting in this manga; with Rin & her 2 friends Kuro & Mimi being portrayed as very adult elementary kids, which can incredibly shocking at times but really hilarious at other times. What’s more is that they each have a great deal of depth to their persona, especially Rin. The actual adults, for the most part are portrayed fairly well, with each having their own personality and purpose in the story but a few can just feel irrelevant (Hoin-sensei).
The artwork of this manga is fairly simple, which works well with this manga. Very simple panel arrangements, which make it easy to read and follow and very cute and round characters design. Although it does seem as though this mangaka has some kind of Lolita complex, which you’ll understand after reading a chapter. Also the lack of detail does stifle the artwork from reaching its full potential.
Overall Kodomo no Jikan is a surprisingly hilarious and well-written comedy that in the beginning reminded me of the GTO (without the under-aged girls). What makes it so great as a comedy, is that it’s full of sexual innuendos that will leave anyone in laughing fits. Though the perverted jokes are completely original, you may be left with an awkward feeling after every joke. Something is just not right when you have 3rd Grade girls talking about sex. But things only get worse as you go on and the awkward feeling may turn to sheer disgust, with all the borderline paedophilia. The great story helps make up for that but remember… I did warn you.
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