The beauty’s in the little things — this is the basis for the “12 moments of the year” series. For those who watch or read for “resolution” rather than “moment”, bad endings ruin their enjoyment of a series. Those who watch them for “moment”, however, don’t bat an eyelid at an ending less than satisfactory. This is why there are those who balk at the prospect of starting on an incomplete series, and also why those who go with the flow and survive on a month-to-month or week-to-week basis come out richer as a result.

Kodomo no Jikan is one of those. I’m not sure that an ending, assuming that KnJ ends eventually, will be one of KnJ’s strengths, even though I’m convinced that Kaoru Watashiya will have it all figured out like she has her main characters. What I’ve discovered this year while reading the manga is the clarity and strength of the messages that she delivers through her art, astute observations of pathos and empathy that are inevitably overshadowed by the pervasive fanservice she employs. For those who care to look beneath the surface, however, there’s gold to be found. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

also, the anime sucks by virtue of it being censored to hell and back, so it’s recommended that you actually pick up the manga or wait for the DVD raws unless you enjoy censorbars and random animal sounds

If rational, level-headed opinions (and sarcasm) offend your conservative, illogical sensibilities, you can still turn back. You don’t have to read beyond this. No one’s forcing you to do anything, no sirree. Exit’s that way.

It’s easy to spin anything. Bet you didn’t know that. The witch-hunting, pitchfork-waving mob gets their kicks from taking things out of context. I blame the rise of a post-modernist society. Because, you know, things should be taken at face value and all that. The importance of looking at something from a structured perspective, or in context, is antiquated fundamentalist bullshit; the new way to go about things is to analyse things on the surface level. Nevermind differing cultural norms, I mean, since it’s being published in my country I must be able to hold it to my own set of personal values, and say things like “I’m fully aware this isn’t part of my culture, but the PERVERTS! How DARE they!”

That’s brilliant reasoning there, if I say so myself.

My first ever Manga post is about lolicon. Awesome.

This is in response to a recent Mr Answerman column (scroll down) where Zac Bertschy, the writer, basically goes off on a tangent about Kodomo no Jikan because of the presumably pseudo-paedophile vibes the manga gives off which his perfectly normal, non-fetishist heterosexual nature can’t endorse. Nevermind how the manga isn’t even released yet.

It so happens I’ve got volumes 1-3 raw, and having read them before I’d seen the column, not to mention how Google actually fails for once at providing proper information in English about it, this would be a great opportunity to explain what KnJ’s really all about. Some spoilers after the cut.