Kodomo no Jikan

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Kodomo no Jikan
Before Toddlers and Tiaras, Cuties and Shouju Ramune, there's this.
Genre: "Romance" "Comedy" Lolicon Running Time: 24 minutes Country: Japan Release Date: October 12 - December 28, 2007 Network(s): Chiba Television Broadcasting Kyoto Broadcasting System Created by: Kaworu Watashiya Distributed by: Seven Seas Entertainment Starring: Eri Kitamura Kei Shindō Mai Kadowaki Junji Majima Ryōko Tanaka Tomokazu Sugita Yuri Amano Yōko Sōmi Yuuichi Ishigami Seasons: 2 Episodes: 12

Kodomo no Jikan (Japanese: こどものじかん, "A Child's Time"; also known as Nymphet in English) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kaworu Watashiya. The story revolves around a grade schoolteacher named Daisuke Aoki, whose main problem is that one of his students, Rin Kokonoe, has a crush on him. It was serialized between May 2005 and April 2013 in Futabasha's Comic High! magazine and is compiled in 13 volumes. At one time, an English-language version of the manga was licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment for distribution in North America under the title Nymphet, but they ultimately decided not to publish it due to controversies over its content. It was then relicensed by Digital Manga, who released the series in English through e-book.

A 12-episode anime adaptation of the series aired in Japan between October and December 2007. While content of the broadcast version was sometimes heavily censored, the DVD releases of the individual episodes remain unedited. A second anime season was released as four original video animation episodes between January and July 2009. A third original anime DVD was released in January 2011.

陰謀 (Plot)

Kodomo no Jikan is centered around 23-year-old Daisuke Aoki, who has just landed his first teaching job as a grade school instructor at Futatsubashi Elementary School (双ツ橋 小学校, Futatsubashi Shōgakkō). He is placed in charge of Class 3-1, where one of his students, a mischievously precocious nine-year-old girl by the name of Rin Kokonoe, develops a crush on him and proclaims herself as Aoki's girlfriend. At first, he dismisses it as harmless, but she aggressively pursues her efforts to be with him. Aoki is in shock when she makes sexual advances towards him, thus leading him to believe that Rin comes from a troubled family. Aoki finds out that Rin's mother had died, and she is living with a cousin whose flashbacks lead to violent outbursts.

なぜ子供の時間ではないのか (Why It's NOT a Child's Time)

IMPORTANT NOTE: This anime is extremely controversial for containing pedophilic content to the point where it should be banned worldwide. Thus, no positive pointers/redeeming qualities are allowed.

1. This show is controversial as it has an awful lot of child pornography, pedophilia, rape, and the worst of all, underage incest!
2. In the first episode, Daisuke's students were partially naked, which is just plain disturbing.
3. In one episode, Rin and Daisuke had sex. What the hell? That's considered as pedophilia as mentioned in WINACT#3!
4. In another episode, Rin tried to send a nude photo of her own self to Daisuke; granted, it got deleted by him.
5. Rin is the absolute worst character in the show because she sexually harasses everyone, mostly Daisuke, gropes Mimi's breasts, forcing her previous teacher to retire, and other bad things without getting punished. This makes her a complete Karma Houdini!
6. If the anime isn't bad enough, Digital Manga had the nerve to release the English dub of the manga!
7. False advertising: The DVD cover art is SFW, which tricks buyers into thinking the show is a tame slice-of-life anime without realizing there's pedophilic content in it. Sound familiar?

批判と論争 (Criticism and Controversy)

Kodomo no Jikan was originally licensed for distribution in North America in 2006 by the Los Angeles–based company Seven Seas Entertainment, the first volume of the manga having been slated for an early 2007 release. According to Futabasha, the title of Nymphet was selected for the English language version at the suggestion—and later insistence—of the original creator, Kaworu Watashiya. The manga, however, soon became the target of controversy after questions were raised about its appropriateness for North American audiences. In a written statement, the president of Seven Seas Entertainment, Jason DeAngelis, observed that "those who are speaking out against Nymphet seem to be disturbed by the relationship between two characters in the story, namely an elementary school student and her adult teacher" and decided to delay the release of the manga so that he could "have an open dialogue with the large book chains and other vendors." The title was subsequently dropped as a result of these concerns, with DeAngelis saying that it was "not appropriate for Seven Seas to publish Nymphet," and that it would cancel its release of the manga.

In a second statement regarding Nymphet, DeAngelis explained some of the reasoning behind the decision to cancel the series. He stated that, "my primary reason for canceling Nymphet is due to my recent realization that later volumes in the series cannot be considered appropriate for the US market by any reasonable standard." He also cited the fact that, "[the vendors] began dropping their orders left and right, so their opinion on this matter became pretty clear cut." Specifically, DeAngelis stated that, during his re-review of later Kodomo no Jikan anthologies, he discovered content that he regarded as highly unsuitable for publication. The pages cited were of a scene of the main characters, Rin Kokonoe and Daisuke Aoki, stuck in a room with freezing temperatures. The two embrace in an effort to stay warm by sharing body heat, and Rin takes the opportunity to rub her crotch against Aoki's, almost causing him to get an erection.

On June 7, 2007, Kaworu Watashiya posted a blog entry on the Kodomo no Jikan controversy in the United States. She commented that, "what I heard about 'issues in volume 2 and later' made me realize the differences in the cultures between the countries." The author went on to cite instances in later volumes that showed intimate relationships between cousins and a bath scene with a child and adult, going on to say that "my honest feeling is, 'It's unfortunate, but what can I do?'"

Former manga translator Toren Smith commented on the issue in favor of its content, accusing people who support the reverse gender scenario in series such as Negima! Magister Negi Magi of being hypocritical. Anime News Network writer Zac Bertschy expressed complete disapproval of the content present in Kodomo no Jikan, categorizing it as lolicon and "comic book kiddie porn". He expressed dismay over Seven Seas Entertainment's decision in licensing the manga and hoped that nobody would buy it once it is out for sale.

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