History Manga / KodomoNoOmocha

* AbusiveParents: Volumes two and three of the manga heavily suggest Tsuyoshi's dad is this. It's never brought up again, since he and his family move away from him. The fact his anger over people insulting his mother seems to be linked to this suggests DomesticAbuse too.
* AscendedExtra: Given that nature of the animated adaptation, Mami, Gomi and some other characters (just like the MC of "Kodomo no Omocha" becoming [[TheDanza Zenjiro]]) got more time on screen and more CharacterDevelopment than their manga counterparts.
* AdaptationDistillation: The anime took a different direction from the manga at the very beginning. That’s clear if you compare the first chapter of the manga and the first episode of the anime. Some of the characters differed in personality, others got more developed and some of the events got very tamed in comparison to the manga's. Considering that the manga was a monthly series and it was still published in Japan at the time the anime was airing, the anime staff had little to work with while it was reaching its climax.

** Misako Kurata was feeling remorse about telling Sana that she was adopted when she was 5, and after making a promise that after they both get famous in their own ways (by writing and being a child actress, respectively) just to look for Sana’s biological mother. After all those years, she was, in fact, really scared that the aforementioned woman would appear and take her daughter away from her. Worse, that Sana would choose her, even.
*** Rei doesn’t even take the news with a grain of salt, either. Especially considering he became an orphan at his late teens, and that he loves Sana as if she was his daughter and/or little sister.
** Sana [[spoiler:getting the "Mannequin Disease" is terrifying when it is considered that she does not have any physical symptoms of being sick, since it is a sickness that is completely emotional. While not having a known cure to get her out of it, no wonder why Misako was completely worried about her sanity, even to travel all the way upon where she was filming "The Mansion of Water" when it was a fake alarm]].

* AnimalMotifs: Whenever Akito is feeling mischievous (which is often), he gains the ears and tail of a cheetah. Sana's also referred to him as a "Lone Wolf" and "Monkey King", with appropriate {{Imagine Spot}}s for both, as well as imagined him as a baby chick.

* AuthorAvatar: Miho Obana appears several times as cameo in the manga (even as a waking up-bird, a la Creator/AkiraToriyama) but often more concurrently in the anime, only saying "I'm Obana".

** There is a bonus chapter which explains Akito’s complex personality back when he was a kid.

** Akito can NOT stand be called 'demon'. Especially since it was how Natsumi started calling him after she [[MaternalDeathBlameTheChild blamed him]] of the death of their mother.
** Tsuyoshi is not going to take [[UnstoppableRage second thoughts]] if people insult his mother in front of him. Or, if you insult or do something wrong to Aya.
* BetaCouple: Aya and Tsuyoshi, at the very first moment they start dating.

* BigBallOfViolence: On a few occasions.

* {{Bishonen}}: It’s often referred in the series that Naozumi is a pretty good looking boy, and even Akito has fangirls (however, his personality is another whole story). Rei may count as well, especially when Sana initially found him, since she thought that he looked 'cute' even if he was a homeless young man.

** Fuuka, being similar in Sana in some aspects (she is also from Osaka, where manzai comedy routines are more common), also falls into the StraightMan role… especially when Sana or Akito are around!

** Since the anime got canceled at episode 102, the epilogue is a bunch of non-continuity and AU segments from the series itself, and possibly acting as {{SequelHook}}s from some of the filler arcs they did. Examples, like a yakuza member wanting to marry Sana or Naozumi finding out his found-biological family went broke.
** Before even selling the DVD Box Sets, [[Creator/{{Funimation}} Funi]] released boxes to keep the [=DVDs=] safe with some freebies.
** The last edition (20th anniversary of Obana's career) of the DVD Box Sets in Japan (from 2010) contains addition material as bonus gifts and cases with new covers drawn by the author.
** The final volume of the manga in Japan contains several greetings messages from people such as Akitaro Daichi and even Brilliant Green.
** The kanzenban edition of the manga got extras included as the original color illustrations of the chapters' covers, clean illustrations from the Ribon covers and at the end of the final volume, and a last sketch of Sana and Akito if they were High School students.
** The Ribon magazines release bonus gifts to their buyers/subscribers; generally all the titles from the magazine receive their own gift treatment, so Kodocha was not an exception when it was being serialized.
* BoyMeetsGirl: Akito and Sana. Well, Sana knew he was a troublemaker. She starts to know him better. He gets her... [[spoiler:She loses him. He gets her again. She was way too close to lose him again]].

* BrickJoke: When Akito gives Sana her FirstKiss, a couple classmates on the background tell us that Akito gave his first kiss when he was a kindergartener, and when he admits it, they also add they had bet 10 yen each he couldn't do it. Halfway in the series, the girl he kissed as a kindergartener ([[spoiler:Fuuka]]) returns to Tokyo and slap him for that.

* CerebusSyndrome: Just after Sana starts middle school and when she agrees to film "The Mansion of Water", things get really serious around her. This is more emphasized in the manga, rather in the anime where the content varies in some degrees. If you thought that Sana got it bad when the GeneHunting was going on, it becomes emotionally worse for everyone involved, too.
* CharacterDevelopment: For a shoujo comedy series, almost if not all the characters receive a great development regarding their ambitions and how they eventually overcome their pasts.

** Akito can count as well (he even chased away a fangirl!) if his cold personality wasn’t such a turn-off (even in grade school, the girls found him disgusting as a bagworm due to the mess he pulled there). [[spoiler: In ''Deep Clear'', his adult self is seen as such because the nurses who work in the clinic with him, think that he has a mysterious air but also a ''cool'' personality]].

* CleaningUpRomanceLooseEnds: At the end of the manga, [[spoiler:Sana and Akito reunite Fuuka with her elementary school crush, Takashi... and beyond the finale, during ''Deep Clear'''s timeline, Naozumi is [[BiTheWay dating a guy]] because if he was dating another girl, he didn't want to remember the love he had for Sana.]]
* ContinuityCameo: Babbit may be an [[CanonForeigner anime-exclusive]] character, but it doesn't mean he is an outsider of the group character portrait cover of the final volume of the manga.
* CoolBigSis: Natsumi starts acting more as a caring sister to Akito after Sana helps their family to overcome their problems.
* CoolShades: Rei uses a pair of sunglasses almost all the time.
* CreatorCameo:
** Miho Obana often appears in the manga and anime as a passerby, or just saying "I’m Obana".
** Maro-chan, at some extent, is based on Obana’s own squirrel pet (also named Maro) when she was still working in the series.

** There's an special crossover chapter drawn by Obana and Mihona Fujii (mangaka most known nowadays for her work, ''[[Manga/SuperGals GALS!]]''). Counting as {{cameo}}, Erika Sakurai from the latter's work, ''Passion Girls'', also appeared in the series as well.
** ''Deep Clear'' is a crossover special released for Obana’s 20th anniversary of her career, with her ongoing series, ''Honey Bitter'', where the cast of the series has an important plot role.
* DancingTheme: Both openings count, but "Ultra Relax" takes the cake.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: Once Sana has the opportunity to blackmail Akito, she changes her mind and intends to help him to improve his family’s situation. After this got resolved, this led up to both of them earning some respect to each other.

** Tsuyoshi felt as such to Sana, especially because he didn’t know it was just for a misunderstanding he had from her affections.
** Naozumi to Sana, as well. He thinks he is more capable to be with Sana initially because he shares the same career and they have a similar origin; however, Sana only looks at him as a friend or as a brother, rather than just boyfriend material.

* EverythingsNuttierWithSquirrels: Maro-chan, who lives on Sana's mother's head.
* FirstKiss: This is the one that is pretty important for Sana and Akito’s relationship, when they are in the middle of a school trip at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office. Although, [[spoiler:it wasn’t a first for Akito]], the kiss is both surprising and terrifying for poor Sana.

* TheForeignSubtitle: Tokyopop released the manga as "Kodocha: Sana’s Stage".

** Sana and Naozumi met each other when the former was getting adopted. It’s justifiable, given that both of them were babies when this event happened.
** Akito and Fuuka happened to know each other before she moved back to Tokyo. [[spoiler: That is because they went to kindergarten together. Then, in middle school, she starts remembering he was that "Hayama kid" who kissed her]].
* FreudianExcuse: Akito's cold and violent personality is a result of the lack of communication that his family had at home. With a MissingMom and a workaholic father, things weren’t easy for him or his sister. Natsumi even often abused Akito and treated him as a "monster" because she resented him and put all the blame of their mother’s death on him.
* GangOfBullies: At the start of the series, there was a group of kids that gave a lot of trouble to their teacher (even using blackmail to treat her!) and some of their other classmates. Akito initially was the "leader" of this group, too.

* HappilyAdopted: Sana.
* HeadPet: Maro, the squirrel, lives in Mama Kurata's hair.
* HeroicBSOD: Sana had a pair of moments in her entire life that broke her inside, [[spoiler:leading up to the "Mannequin Disease"]].
** Once when she was a kid and got a bad grade, fearing that her mom would not love her and that she would send her back to the OrphanageOfLove where she spent a time in.
** The other happened when she is in mid-school, [[spoiler:when Akito tells her that he is going overseas to get his arm cured]].
* HiddenEyes: The only way TheStoic Akito expresses sadness.
* HumanHummingbird: Sana. ALL THE TIME in the anime.

* TheIdiotFromOsaka: Fuuka - though it's subverted, as while she's obnoxiously hyper (though not any less than Sana, whose personality and accent say "generic Tokyo area native anime character") she's quite clever and somewhat more astute than Sana. When Fuuka first appears the rest of the characters briefly discuss the Osaka stereotype.
* IdolSinger: Anime-only. [[spoiler:When Zenjiro’s show is cancelled, Sana has the opportunity to be in an idol unit along two other girls]].
* ImprobableHairstyle: Misako Kurata purposely wanted to adopt some fun hairstyles because [[spoiler:after finding out she couldn’t conceive, she thought that if she wasn't a "normal woman" anymore, then she must had to start living as a "strange" one]], overjoying and expressing herself.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: Rei and Sana share a friendly-parental relationship even if he was hired originally just to be a nanny/guard/manager/'boyfriend'; when Sana first met Rei, he was a College dropout, while she was just 9 years old.

** Sana encouraged Rei [[spoiler:to reunite with his old girlfriend, Asako]].

** Sana, after realizing that her [[spoiler:sadness was because she didn't want Akito to go overseas, far away from her]], she needed to understand that it was just for a period of time.

* LateForSchool: The first episodes of the anime lampshades this so badly: Sana wakes up late, she does her routine, and for making worse the matters, Rei drives SO SLOW (until Sana freaks him out).
** However, it is probably due that the reason behind this is because since Sana is a child actress she wouldn't arrive earlier at school.

* {{Malaproper}}: Sana has a tendency to massacre proverbs.
** So does Tsuyoshi when he's trying to impress Sana. Only gets her angry, though to be honest Sana doesn't need much to get angry.

* AbsurdlyYouthfulMother: Sana's birth mother, Keiko. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as she was a teenager when she gave birth to her.

* SurprisePregnancy: [[spoiler: Sana's biological [[AbsurdlyYouthfulMother mother, Keiko]], didn't even know she was pregnant until she gave to birth. She assumed she was being ill, and the pregnancy didn't show up either.]]

* AdaptationDistillation: The anime took a different direction from the manga at the very beginning. That’s clear if you compare the first chapter of the manga and the first episode of the anime. Some of the characters differed in personality, others got more expanded and some of the events got really tamed in comparison. Considering that the manga was a monthly series and it was still published in Japan at the time the anime was airing, the anime staff had little to work with while it was reaching its climax.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited

** "7 O’Clock News" is notorious to even have short instrumental versions that were used on the [[OnTheNext next episode previews]] of the first sixteen episodes, which obviously was [[BadExportForYou troublesome]] when Funimation licensed the anime in the US due to some problems with Tokio’s management, replacing the opening with "[[DancingTheme Ultra Relax]]" for the rest of the first season and leaving the previews on mute.

* AuthorAvatar: Miho Obana appears several times as cameo in the manga (even as a waking up-bird, a la Creator/AkiraToriyama in ''Manga/DoctorSlump'' or ''Manga/DragonBall'') but often more concurrently in the anime, only saying "I'm Obana".

* BlueWithShock

* BrokeEpisode: Or more accurately, broke filler mini-arc.
** And non-continuity ''omake'' in the anime.

* CherryBlossoms

* ChildByRape: It's hinted to be the case in the manga [[spoiler:with Sana. Keiko gave birth to her when she was 13 or 14 years old and her dad was not only a much older man, but Keiko's uncle.]] In the anime, it’s [[AdaptationDistillation rather the contrary]], [[spoiler: since it is implied that, yes, Keiko got pregnant when she was a teenager, but Sana’s real father appears long after this event and he is apparently a good man, so it’s doubtful he could ''have'' raped Keiko]].

* CrossPoppingVeins

** There's an extra crossover chapter drawn by Obana and Mihona Fujii (mangaka most known nowadays for her work, ''[[Manga/{{SuperGals}} GALS!]]''. Counting as {{cameo}}, Erika Sakurai from the latter's work, ''Passion Girls'', also appeared in the series as well.

* GenreBlindness: Subverted.

* HandBehindHead

* HumanHummingbird: Sana. ALL THE TIME.

** Sana after realizing that her [[spoiler:sadness was because she didn’t want Akito to go overseas, far away from her]], she needed to understand that it was for some time.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: After all the trouble that Akito goes through his FreudianExcuse, he develops a heart of gold, even if he hasn’t changed lots of his character on the outside.

** However, it is also used because Sana is a child actress so, not always she would be at school at time.

* LoomingSilhouetteOfRage

* MerchandiseDriven: The anime series counted with Tomy (present-day known as Takara Tomy) as a co-producer. Every single toy that Sana had (the Burucha and the Nopia, for example) was real. There should be noted that this line of toys didn't exist in the original manga itself. However, finding them in auction sites is way too difficult to do due the age the series has right now (more than 15 years old). The most valuable of them is probably the Polaroid Camera that was available as a series-related edition (in two colors, the blue one is ''harder'' to get).

* MoodWhiplash: There are moments where you are not going to know if you are crying out of joy or because of the sadness. Or both. Sometimes, Sana’s funny antics are going to balance the mood, but still...
* MotionlessChin

* TheMovie: WELL, not exactly ''the movie'', but "Mizu no Yakata", The Mansion of Water, the movie that Sana, Naozumi and Asako were filming in the series was later adapted as a sole separate volume as a side story. It's as obscure as it was intended to be as a film in the manga, too.

* RainAura

* RecruitedFromTheGutter: Rei is literally begging on the streets when Sana finds him and brings him home with her to be her "boy toy" (of course Sana has no idea what being a boy toy actually entails). After that he works he works for Sana's mother as Sana's combination manager/bodyguard/nanny/father figure.

* RepeatCut

** In the manga, things got ''very'' serious once [[spoiler:Kazuyuki Komori disappears]], since Sengoku does not trust in Akito and believes he is much of an evil abuser and bad student... and once [[spoiler:he loses function of his right hand]], Sengoku’s actions get straight to abuse, humiliation and her takes advantage of the situation, [[spoiler:when in class, he ends up forcing Akito to write his group’s lab work on the chalkboard with his left hand. And when he makes some progress, Sengoku forces him to do it again because he "can't understand it". The rest of the class watch this with so ''much'' discomfort (however, after Akito finished, he ends up grading it as ''right''[[note]]Circle marks or "Marujirushi" mean as "correct answers"[[/note]])]]. No wonder why, when Sana hears about this, she becomes absolutely pissed off to know ''why'' he did it.

* {{Sneezing}}
* SqueakyEyes

* TheSweatDrop

* TalkingAnimal: Babbit.

** In Italy, the series was renamed ''{{Rossana}}''[[note]]Hence why there is a redirect to this page[[/note]].

** ''Deep Clear'' is a crossover special released for Obana’s 20th anniversary of her carrier, with her ongoing series, ''Honey Bitter'', where the cast of the series has an important plot role.

* AnimalMotifs: Whenever Akito is feeling mischievous (which is often), he gains the ears and tail of a cheetah. Sana's also referred to him as a "Lone Wolf" and "Monkey King", with appropriate {{Image Spot}}s for both, as well as imagined him as a baby chick.

* YokoOhNo: Invoked InUniverse, when [[spoiler:Sana is attacked by Naozumi's fangirls due to them being acting "very friendly" while filming "The Mansion of Water" (the gossips around the two during the shoot didn't help ''at all''). It was so bad, that they even break her leg!]]

* BoyMeetsGirl: Akito and Sana. Well, Sana knew he was a troublemaker. She starts to know him better. He gets her.. [[spoiler:She loses him. He gets her again. She was way too close to lose him again.]]

** Sana and Naozumi met each other when the former was getting adopted. It’s justifiable, given that both of them were babies when this event happened.

** Once when she was a kid and got a bad grade, fearing that her mom would not love her and that she would send her back to the OrphanageOfLove where she grew up.

** In the manga, things got ''very'' serious once [[spoiler:Kazuyuki Komori disappears]], since Sengoku does not trust in Akito and believes he is much of an evil abuser and bad student... and once [[spoiler:he loses function of his right hand]], Sengoku’s actions get straight to abuse, humiliation and her takes advantage of the situation, [[spoiler:when in class, he ends up forcing Akito to write his group’s lab work on the chalkboard with his left hand. And when he makes some progress, Sengoku forces him to do it again because he "can't understand it". The rest of the class watch this with so ''much'' discomfort. After Akito finished, he ends up grading it as '''wrong''']]. No wonder why, when Sana hears about this, she becomes absolutely pissed off to know ''why'' he did it.

!!This show provides examples of:

** Akito can NOT stand be called ‘demon’. That is because Natsumi started calling him as that ever since their mother died in the middle of his birth.

* BetaCouple: Aya and Tsuyoshi, after she confesses to him that she had always liked him and when they start dating.

** Sana is mostly to play the StraightMan role, all with complete Tsukkomi's weapon, a hammer. Akito happens to be her 'partner', or another one when the situation called it.
** Fuuka also counts in a manner, her living in Osaka and all.

** Before even selling the DVD Box Sets, [[Creator/{{Funimation}} Funi]] released boxes to keep the DVDs safe with some freebies.

** Akito can count as well (he even chased away a fangirl!) if his cold personality wasn’t such a turn-off (even in grade school, the girls found him disgusting as a millipede due to the mess he pulled there). [[spoiler: In ''Deep Clear'', his adult self is seen as such because the nurses who work in the clinic with him, think that he has a mysterious air but also a ''cool'' personality]].

* DoggedNiceGuy: Tsuyoshi was this to Sana, initially. Naozumi, also.

* GirlishPigtails: Sana.
** Curiously enough, as soon the manga progresses, she gets rid off them because she was growing up. In the anime... WELL...

* IdolSinger: : Anime-only. [[spoiler:When Zenjiro’s show is cancelled, Sana has the opportunity to be in an idol unit along two other girls]].

* OutOfTheInferno[=/=]UnflinchingWalk: After the house where Mizu no Yakata was being filmed was burning, and Sana was still harmed from her leg... she manages to make her dramatic exit just in time (while the others were worried that Sana would die in there), and this ends up being the perfect scene of the movie.

* OvertookTheManga: The manga ended in November 1998. The anime, however, ended earlier in March of that year. With little to work in the intervals (a weekly anime vs a monthly manga series), the anime adapted the original story up until volume 7 (with distinct difference of details, filler, one-shot episodes and whole arcs, giving it a GeckoEnding) before the last quarter of the anime series.

* PoorCommunicationKills: The whole debacle of [[spoiler: rumors and gossip stating Sana and Naozumi are a couple while they film a movie. Not only does Akito decide to date Fuuka as sort of a rebound, but Sana gets physically assaulted by rabit Naozumi fans to the extent that they ''break her leg''. When Sana finally returns to school after shooting the movie ''none'' of her friends ask her about Naozumi. Including Akito. They all just assume she'll just talk about her relationship with them, but then they all get insulted when she ''doesn't''. Sana only finds out they believed the rumors when she feels left out in the middle of hanging out with two couples (Akito and Fuka, Tsuyoshi and Aya) and then they bring up Naozumi]].

* OppositesAttract: Akito and Sana are complete opposites of each other in regards of their personalities. Akito is more violent, serious, and perhaps he is more of a realist kid than the other children that appear in the series. Sana, however, is more energetic and an idealist. Both grew up in different situations, and yet, they both learned secret aspects from themselves... if they didn't meet each other.

* AdaptationDistillation: The anime took different direction from the manga at the very beginning. That’s clear if you compare the first chapter of the manga and the first episode of the anime. Some of the characters differed in personality, others got more expanded and some of the events got really tamed. Considering that the manga was a monthly series and it was still published in Japan at the time the anime was airing, the anime staff had little to work with while it was reaching its climax.

* AnimeThemeSong
* ArtEvolution: Mostly expected since the series lasted for 4 years, but once you see how [[spoiler:the main characters look in the future, in Deep Clear (released 10 years later after its end), the art evolution is pretty notorious... which Shuri and Sana look almost the same...]]
* AttentionWhore: Sana, justified since she is an actress.
* AuthorAvatar: Miho Obana appears several times as cameos in the manga (even as a waking up-bird, a la Creator/AkiraToriyama in ''Manga/DoctorSlump'' or ''Manga/DragonBall'') but often more concurrently in the anime, only saying "I'm Obana".

* BerserkButton: Akito CANNOT stand being called a demon. [[spoiler: Natsumi used to call him that, given that their mother died giving birth to him.]] Also, Tsuyoshi if you insult his mother.

* {{Bishonen}}: Akito and Naozumi. Rei may count as well.

* BonusMaterial: Several cases.
** Given that the anime got canceled at episode 102, the 'epilogue' is a bunch of omakes of non-continuity and AU events from the anime itself, and possibly [[SequelHook Sequel Hooks]] from those filler arcs they did. Such like a yakuza member wanting to marry Sana or Naozumi finding out his found-biological family going broke.
** The final volume of the manga in Japan contains several greetings messages from people such like Akitaro Daichi and even the band Brilliant Green.
** The kanzenban of the series got nice extras as the original color illustrations of the chapters' covers, clean illustrations of the Ribon covers and at the end, a recent (by 2003 speaking) sketch of Sana and Akito [[spoiler:if they were High School students]].
** Before even considering the DVD Box Sets, Funi released boxes to keep the [=DVDs=] safe with a freebie Babbit plushie.
** The recent anniversary edition (20th anniversary of Obana's career) of the DVD Box Sets in Japan (from 2010) contain addition material as bonus gifts and new covers drawn by Obana herself.
** Also, the Ribon magazines are a general example for this, but since the magazine was directed to girls, without a doubt they gave freebies of this series (and others as well) when it was still being serialized.

** Akito can count as well (he even chased away a fangirl!) if his cold personality wasn’t such a turn-off (even in grade school, the girls found him disgusting as a millipede due the mess he pulled there). [[spoiler: In ''Deep Clear'', his adult self is considered as such because he has a mysterious air but also a ''cool'' personality in the clinic where he works]].

* CoolBigSis: Natsumi, after the Hayama family's problems are partially resolved by Sana and they start to emotionally heal.

** Miho Obana often appears in the manga and anime, as a passerby, or just saying "I’m Obana".

** ''Deep Clear'' also offers a more ''distant'' closure after these events, while also being a crossover special with ''Honey Bitter'', [[spoiler: giving a sight of BabiesEverAfter ending for both Sana and Akito]].

* FirstKiss: One that's pretty important for Sana and Akito's relationship, as well as surprising and ''terrifying'' for poor Sana.
** But it is absolutely hilarious in the anime, as her reaction causes a good deal of traffic accidents, and they were on the top floor of a tower.
*** [[spoiler: However, it wasn't '''his''' first kiss. That one was with Fuuka. AND FOR A BET.]]

* FreudianExcuse: Akito's family situation.
* GangOfBullies: Akito was the leader (initially, at least).
* GeckoEnding: The anime adds an entire "America" Arc, where Sana [[spoiler: goes to America with Naozumi for an acting gig and runs into an American version of Akito. At the end, they return to Japan, and trying to play the same arc of the manga where Akito looks one of his classmates succumbing with his arm disability, just eliminating all the suicidal and mutual suicide triggering themes in it]].

** Once when she was a kid and got a bad grade, fearing that her mom would not love her and that she would return to the OphanageOfLove where she grew up.

* ImprobableHairstyle: Mama Kurata purposely adopted this look as part of her persona... [[spoiler:after finding out she couldn't conceive, so shee needed to look to a more positive way of life]] for the fun!
* IntergenerationalFriendship: Rei and Sana. Rei was in College when he got drop out and when Sana met him.

** Sana, after realizing that her [[spoiler:sadness was because she didn’t want Akito to go overseas, far away from her]], she needed to understand that it was for only a time.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Akito. He formed like that given his FreudianExcuse with his family.

* LoveDodecahedron: At the start, Sana 'loved' Rei. Tsuyoshi liked Sana. Akito loved Sana. Rei 'loves' Sana as a sister or a daughter.
** Later: Sana likes Akito. Naozumi loves Sana. Akito loves Sana. [[spoiler: Fuuka loves Akito.]]
* {{Malaproper}}: Sana has a tendence to massacre proverbs.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: This of course comes up with Zenjiro, since he's TheChewtoy and TheDanza.

* TheIdiotFromOsaka: Fuuka - though it's subverted, as while she's obnoxiously hyper (though not any less than Sana, whose personality and accent say "generic Tokyo area native anime character") she's quite clever and somewhat more astute than Sana. When Fuuka first appears the rest of the characters briefly discuss the Osaka stereotype.

* OppositesAttract: Again, Akito and Sana.

* OvertookTheManga: The manga ended in November 1998 (recollected in tankoubon until January 1999). And the anime ended in March from the same year. The anime adapted the original story up until volume 7 (with added fillers, the America arc and finally, a GeckoEnding) until around episode 75. Of course, since the manga started to go in a dramatical point since volume 6, and the anime clearly was made for more comedy moments... However, this wasn't the only time that this happened: the anime overtook the manga series at least twice when it was still being aired.

* PuppyLove: It needs to be considered that from the very start, Akito and Sana, or Tsuyoshi and Aya (without forgetting about Naozumi & Sana, and Akito & Fuuka) are ''11-13-year old''-kids.

* SadistTeacher: Mr. Sengoku. He goes so far as to take Akito aside and punch him in the stomach, then getting him suspended when he fought back. In the Manga, [[spoiler: after Akito loses function in his right hand, Sengoku forces Akito to write a sentence on the chalkboard with his left hand. This pisses Sana off so much she goes and yells at Mr. Sengoku after class.]]
** It's actually much worse than that [[spoiler: the teacher has Akito write out ''all'' the written work for his group's lab work on the board, including drawing the diagram. After Akito makes some progress, the teacher forces him to erase it ALL and ''start over'' because he "can't understand it". Akito spends almost the entire lab period writing out their group's work while the class watches in discomfort (and even Aya's on the verge of tear). When Akito ''finally'' finishes, Sengoku picks up a red chalk and circles all the work, most likely implying that he thinks it's wrong. He puts Akito through that humiliation, knowing his disability, and marks all that work as WRONG.]]
*** Actually, in Japan, red circle means that the work is right. Red Xs mean that the work is wrong.

* SexAsRiteOfPassage: Sana and Akito wanted to do this before [[spoiler: he was sent overseas]], but [[spoiler: Sana proved to be too ticklish and the mood was ruined. Plus Rei and Misako barge in before anything else can happen]]. She gets an earful from her mother about what a bad idea this was.
* SickeninglySweethearts: Tsuyoshi and Aya. Very much so.

* SurprisePregnancy: [[spoiler: Sana's biological AbsurdlyYouthfulMother Keiko didn't even know she was pregnant until she gave birth. She assumed she was being ill, and the pregnancy didn't show.]]
* SunglassesAtNight: Rei, because Sana told him to never remove them in public.

* UndyingLoyalty: Rei to Sana in some ways, after she 'saved' his life from being broke and homeless.

** In Italy, the series was renamed ''{{Rossana}}''[[note]]Hence why there is a redirection to this page[[/note]].

* AdaptationDistillation: The anime took a more diverged comedy direction since the very beginning of the series. That's more clear if you take a look to the first chapter of the manga and the first episode of the anime. Some characters were changed a little in personality, there's a bit more of exposition of others, the situations are a bit more exaggerated, and even some of the events got more tamed in the animation. That's also considerating that the manga was still being published in Japan at the moment that the anime was airing (it was also a monthly manga series) so they had little to work with. In the end (also probably because of the popularity it had), the series had 102 episodes, it [[OvertookTheManga overtook the manga]] ''several'' times as pointed below, and so, it had a lot of filler, and ended with a GeckoEnding.
* AdaptationExpansion: As a result of the above, some arcs are ridiculously expanded with filler, trying to make time between some events that are canon in the manga.

* AuthorAvatar: Miho Obana appears several times as cameos in the manga (even as a waking up-bird, a la Creator/AkiraToriyama in ''Manga/DoctorSlump'' or ''Manga/DragonBall'') but often more concurrently in the anime, only saying 'Obana desu'.
** [[spoiler:Though at the end of the manga, Sana and the others are going to see a M person... could it be an anonymous cameo of Obana?]].
* BackStory: How Rei ended working in the Kurata's household, and how unlucky he had been after his and Asako's break-up.
** There's a bonus chapter about shows how is Akito's complex personality, and how he suddenly started liking dinosaurs when he was a kid.
** Serving as proof for the BrickJoke example below, [[spoiler:the bet of Akito to kiss a girl... who ended up being Fuuka]].

* BetaCouple: Tsuyoshi and Aya.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Again, Tsuyoshi.

* BigFancyHouse: Both Sana's house and her grandparents'.
* {{Bishonen}}: Akito and Naozumi. Rei may count as well.

* BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine: Sana is mostly to play the StraightMan role, all with complete Tsukkomi's weapon, a hammer. Akito happens to be her 'partner', or another one when the situation called it. Fuuka, also counts in a manner, her living in Osaka and all.

** Given that the anime got canceled at episode 102, the 'epilogue' are ''omakes'' of non-continuity and AU events of the anime itself, and possibly [[SequelHook Sequel Hooks]] from those filler arcs. Such like a yakuza member wanting to marry Sana or Naozumi finding out his found-biological family going broke.

** And non-continuity ''omake'' in the anime.
* ButNotTooForeign: Naozumi.

* CharacterDevelopment: For a comedy, a pretty good one.

* ChickMagnet: Naozumi, in-universe but [[TroubledButCute Akito]] is by far the biggest one in fandom.
** Akito is one even in-universe, and has actually been shown chasing away a fangirl. Between Sana and Fuuka, it's implied he'd be literally surrounded by fangirls if his personality wasn't such a turn-off (in grade school the girls even found him disgusting as a millipede due the shit he pulled there).
* [[spoiler:ChildByRape]]: Hinted to be the case with Sana in the manga. Keiko gave birth to her when she was 13 or 14 years old and her dad was not only a much older man, [[spoiler:but Keiko's ''uncle''. In the anime, we only know that Keiko was a teenage mom and that's all.]]
** In fact, in the anime we get to know [[spoiler:Sana's father, and he's apparently a nice man, so it's doubtful that he did rape Keiko]]. Then again, the anime series is an AdaptationDistillation of the manga...

* CreatorCameo: Miho Obana appears many times in the manga's panels [[spoiler:and theorically she could be the ''M'' person that appears at the end of it, but it isn't totally confirmed]] and in the anime she also makes several cameos only saying "I'm Obana". Bonus points for Maro-chan, since it is based on Obana's own pet (even named Maro) from the time she was writing this series.

* {{Crossover}}: There's a special chapter that is a crossover drawn by Obana and Mihona Fujii (mangaka mostly known for her work, [[Manga/{{SuperGals}} GALS!]]. Counting as {{cameo}}, Erika Sakurai from her other work, ''Passion Girls'', also appeared in the series as well.
* DancingTheme: In both openings, but more specifically ''Ultra Relax''.
* DeathByChildbirth: Akito's mother, Koharu, died right after she gave birth to him. Of course, milked as melodrama for all it's worth, since the badly traumatized Natsumi psychologically abuses her brother and blames him for that for years.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: Once Sana has the opportunity to blackmail Akito, he could be considered a friend for her, so much, she tries to help him make better all of his family situation. Of course, this also leads to something else between them.
* {{Diary}}: Though it is not very relevant as it is at the beginning of the series, Sana keeps a diary since she was a child as a petition from Misako.
** Maybe because of a misunderstanding (the diary doesn't play any RELEVANT role later, it's just something that Sana likes to do), when the manga was licensed in Mexico, it was called ''El Diario de Sana'' rather than ''El Juguete de los Niños'' (direct translation of ''Kodomo no Omocha'', and maybe not taken because the publisher wanted to avoid confusion with an 80s telenovela called ''El Mundo de Juguete'') or ''Kodocha''.
* DistantFinale: In the manga.
** Even more if you consider too the ''Deep Clear'' special chapter (crossover for the 20th anniversary of Obana's career, with her last manga, ''Honey Bitter'')

* DrivesLikeCrazy: Rei, at Sana's behest in the anime. But also Misako, though she does so ''inside'' the house in some kind of mini-car.

** Sana and Naozumi met at least once before the former getting adopted. Justifiable, because both of them were babies.
** Akito and Fuuka... [[spoiler: when they were in kindergarten, it is brought up back when Fuuka gets transferred and she couldn't remember at all, at the start, about this 'Hayama' kid who kissed her]].

* HeroicBSOD: Once when Sana was a child and she got a bad grade, fearing that she'd be sent back to the OrphanageOfLove where she grew up, and another time when [[spoiler: Akito had to go overseas to get his arm cured]].

* IdolSinger: [[spoiler: Sana becomes this alongside other two girls, once Zenjiro's show is cancelled.]]

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Naozumi; Sana, eventually, at least in regards to [[spoiler: Akito going overseas]].
** Sana also encouraged Rei to reunite with his old girlfriend Asako.
* [[spoiler:JapaneseDelinquents: Akito and Natsumi's parents were ''rebels'' back in their younger days... No ''wonder'' why Akito has it in his blood. Somehow.]]

* MarketBasedTitle: {{Rossana}} in Italy, hence the redirect.

* MerchandiseDriven: Exclusively in the anime series, since it had Tomy (present day known as Takara Tomy) as a co-producer. Every single product that Sana had (the Burucha and the Nopia, for example) were real toys. There should be noted that these line of toys (at least the majority of them) didn't exist in the original manga itself. However, as of now, finding them in certain auction sites is way too difficult to do due the age the series has right now (more than 15 years old). The most valuable of them is probably the Polaroid Camera (made by Tomy) that was available as a series-related edition (in two colores, the blue one is HARDER to get).

* MoodWhiplash: So, so much. From one moment you can treat the funny antics of Sana trying to tame the mood, but then, sadness happens. One of the best series that could describe this whole in its genre.

* TheMovie: WELL, not exactly ''the movie'', but ''Mizu no Yakata'', The Mansion of Water, the movie that Sana, Naozumi and Asako were filming in the series was later adapted as a sole separate volume as a side story. It's as obscure as it was intended to be as a film in the manga, too.

* PuppyLove: This is what it could be considered from the very beginning that Akito and Sana, or Tsuyoshi and Aya (and Naozumi & Sana, and Akito & Fuuka) are kids of 11-13 years old.

* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: Akito and Sana.

* {{Pilot}}: There was an OVA, produced by J.C. Staff, released in 1995. It's a little bit more closer to the manga, actually. But, compared to the actual anime series, it has not only different designs, but also a different seiyuu cast, notably Creator/ChisaYokoyama as Sana and MegumiOgata as Akito.

Sana's irrepressible energy and rapidfire dialogue is second only to Excel of ''Anime/ExcelSaga'' for its speed and outrageousness. (In fact, Excel's original North American voice actress, JessicaCalvello, once expressed an interest in voicing Sana in English.) But unlike Excel, Sana is a force to be reckoned with, despite her non sequiturs and baffling leaps of "logic". Possessed of an immense empathy and a willingness to help even someone she characterizes as her worst enemy, she plows through troubles and problems with a bold determination and a choice of skills from the acting school she attends. It has frequently been described as "''Manga/MarmaladeBoy'' [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on crack]]" due to Sana and Akito's superficial resemblance to Miki and Yuu.

* RecruitedFromTheGutter: Rei is literally begging on the streets when Sana finds him and brings him home with her. After that he works he works for Sana's mother as Sana's combination manager/bodyguard/nanny.

''Manga/KodomoNoOmocha'' ("Child's Toy", and frequently [[PortmanteauSeriesNickname contracted]] to "''Kodocha''") is a fun, entertaining {{shojo}} series that mixes comedy and drama in equal parts. It was created by Miho Obana and published in Shueisha's ''Ribon'' magazine from 1994 to 1998. It got adapted into an anime series in 1996 and run into 102 episodes, directed by Akitaro Daichi, the later-director of series like ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' and ''Anime/NowAndThenHereAndThere''.

* BadExportForYou: Not a particularly bad case, but there were a lot copyright issues involving TOKIO, who performed the first opening theme.
** According to some reports, Funimation proposed re-scoring the music for relevant scenes in order to avoid referencing TOKIO or dropping the audio entirely, but the TOKIO handlers (Johnny & Associates management) didn't find that solution acceptable. For some reason Funi was allowed to substitute different music in place of TOKIO music for the English track, but not for the Japanese track.
** Given this problem, the audio of the first 16 [[NextEpisodePreview Next Episode Previews]] was muted in Japanese.
** And the reference of one of the members of the band was replaced by 'XXXX' in the English subtitles.

* TheDanza: [[http://www.zenjiro.com/ Zenjiro]], a famous Japanese stand-up comedian, as Zenjiro.

* HeyItsThatVoice: A lot of Funi voiceactors, starting with Creator/LauraBailey and Creator/JerryJewell.
** [[Manga/OnePiece Nami]] is Akito's [[Creator/AkemiOkamura sister]].
** Creator/OmiMinami is Naozumi.
** Creator/RyoNaitou is Rei-kun. A bit funny when they also [[NamesTheSame share the same kanji]] in their given names, but read completely different.
** It wouldn't be the first time that Takashi Matsuyama would be doing the role of a father (Akito's dad) in his career (''[[Manga/KimiNiTodoke Sawako Kuronuma]]'''s dad, for example).

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Not only Funimation left hanging the license for the second part of the series, but at the beginning of February 2012, they also dropped the whole license of it. However, getting a physical SAVE edition of the two complete parts of Season One, is pretty expensive as of 2013 (from 70 dollars to beyond), having the solely option of getting the individual DVD volumes of 4 episodes each.

* NoExportForYou: The second half of the anime was never licensed.

* PortmanteauSeriesNickname: Kodocha.

* RelationshipVoiceActor: Creator/LauraBailey and Creator/JerryJewell as Sana and Akito.
** In the Japanese version, some seiyuu had worked with each other several times in another series that Akitaro Daichi had directed.

* HeyItsThatVoice: A lot of Funi voiceactors, starting with Creator/LauraBailey and JerryJewell.

* RelationshipVoiceActor: Creator/LauraBailey and JerryJewell as Sana and Akito.

* AdaptationDistillation: The anime took a more diverged comedy direction since the very beginning of the series. That's more clear if you take a look to the first chapter of the manga and the first episode of the anime. Some characters were changed a little in personality, there'a a bit more of exposition of others, the situations are a bit more exaggerated, and even some of the events got more tamed in the animation. That's also considerating that the manga was still being published in Japan at the moment that the anime was airing (it was also a monthly manga series) so they had little to work with. In the end (also probably because of the popularity it had), the series had 102 episodes, it [[OvertookTheManga overtook the manga]] ''several'' times as pointed below, and so, it had a lot of filler, and ended with a GeckoEnding.
* AdaptationExpansion: As a result of the above, some arcs are ridicously expanded with filler, trying to make time between some events that are canon in the manga.

* BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine: Sana is mostly to play the StraightMan role, all with complete Tsukkomi's weapon, a hammer. Akito happens to be her 'partner', or another one when the situation calles it. Fuuka, also counts in a manner, her living in Osaka and all.

** Given that the anime got canceled at episode 102, the 'epilogue' are ''omakes'' of non-continuity and AU events of the anime istelf, and possibly [[SequelHook Sequel Hooks]] from those filler arcs. Such like a yakuza member wanting to marry Sana or Naozumi finding out his found-biological family going broke.

* DeathByChildbirth: Akito's mother, Koharu, died right after she gave birth to him. Of course, milked as melodrama for all it's worth, since the badly traumatised Natsumi psychologically abuses her brother and blames him for that for years.

** Maybe because of a misundertanding (the diary doesn't play any RELEVANT role later, it's just something that Sana likes to do), when the manga was licensed in Mexico, it was called ''El Diario de Sana'' rather than ''El Juguete de los Niños'' (direct translation of ''Kodomo no Omocha'', and maybe not taken because the publisher wanted to avoid confussion with an 80s telenovela called ''El Mundo de Juguete'') or ''Kodocha''.

* TheSweatDrop

* {{Pilot}}: There was an OVA, produced by J.C. Staff, released in 1995. It's a little bit more closer to the manga, actually. But, compared to the actual anime series, it has not only different designs, but also a different seiyuu cast, notably ChisaYokoyama as Sana and MegumiOgata as Akito.

** RyoNaitou is Rei-kun. A bit funny when they also [[NamesTheSame share the same kanji]] in their given names, but read completely different.

* HotMom: Subverted. Misako would be one for Sana (even other characters remarked that if she wore her hair normally she'd be submerged by marriage proposals), if she hadn't adopted her.
** Played straight by Akito's [[MissingMom late mother]] and [[spoiler: Sana's biological mother]].

Sana's irrepressible energy and rapidfire dialogue is second only to Excel of ''Anime/ExcelSaga'' for its speed and outrageousness. (In fact, Excel's original North American voice actress, JessicaCalvello, once expressed an interest in voicing Sana in English.) But unlike Excel, Sana is a force to be reckoned with, despite her non sequiturs and baffling leaps of "logic". Possessed of an immense empathy and a willingness to help even someone she characterizes as her worst enemy, she plows through troubles and problems with a bold determination and a choice of skills from the acting school she attends. It has frequently been described as "''MarmaladeBoy'' [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on crack]]" due to Sana and Akito's superficial resemblance to Miki and Yuu.