Kodocha - School Girl Super Star (Vol. 1)
Based on the long-running manga by Miho Obana,Kodochabecame a broadcast series in 1996. Sana Kurata is an 11-year-old TV star, who lives with her novelist mother and her manager. When she learns that Akito, one of the boys in her 6th-grade class, is blackmailing their teacher and reducing the classroom to chaos, Sana blackmails him. She spies on Akito, discovers he comes from an unhappy home, and pities him.Kodochajuxtaposes extremely limited animation with Sana's grating, nonstop chatter. The double-blackmail storyline feels inappropriate for a series aimed at adolescents. Colleen Clinkenbeard (ADR director) and Laura Bailey (ADR director and voice of Sana) offer an inane, giggly commentary that was apparently more fun to record than it is to listen to. After the real-life adventures of the slightly older Olsen Twins,Kodochaseems passé. (Rated TV PG, suitable for ages 12 and older: minor toilet humor, comic violence)--Charles Solomon