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Kodocha: Sana's Stage, known in Japan as Kodomo no Omocha (こどものおもちゃ), is a manga written and drawn by Miho Obana, helped periodically by her sister, who is not named in the books themselves.
It is published in the United States in English by TokyoPop. Later, it became an anime series, which has recently been licensed for translation by FUNimation and will be hitting the shelves in 2005
Front Page characters are those who are depicted in the front page of the book, which lists the main cast. Alternatively, in the anime, they are presented by a clip show at the start. Although the book primarily follows Sana, when work takes over the storyline at school continues without her (much to her shock when she returns, that life carries on without the main character being there!)
Sana Kurata is the child-actress star of the manga. She has far too much energy, but always uses it in a positive manner. Although she's not very good at school (she's failing math), she's made millions in her so-far-small lifetime. The series starts with Sana in primary education, where a "devil" named Hayama is causing chaos in her classroom, and she sets out to stop him and bring peace to her world. However, she soon finds there is more to Hayama then there seems, and falls in love with him. Sana also suffers from a strange illness whereby she can become completely emotionless at times. The trigger for what causes this illness is making her very upset, and shocking her at the same time. The cure is unknown exactly, even by the readers. Sana does not live with her natural parents, although she meets them, and has three moles on her rear end shaped like Orion's Belt (her deepest secret).
Akito Hayama has been a bully all his life. He is amazingly strong, and has a powerful karate chop. Hayama's mother died when giving birth to him, meaning that his sisterSister may refer to: a female sibling a member of a sorority a nun or other member of a female religious order a female member of a mutual organisation such as a trade union one of a pair or larger group of similar things with established relations, such and fatherA father is the male parent of a child. Fathers may be categorised according to their biological, social or legal relationship with the child. Historically, the biological relationship paternity has been determinative of fatherhood. However, proof of pate resent him greatly, and his father also has to work long hours at work. As a result, Hayama basically lives on the streets and eats junk foodJunk food is a derogatory term, used for any food that is perceived to be unhealthy and has low or poor nutritional value. A diet rich in junk food is the antithesis of a " balanced diet", as suggested by the USRDA Food Pyramid. The term has been used by, he exerts this negatively at school- causing havoc in the classroom by blackmailing his teacher. He views Sana as an equal, and dare not challenge her- but eventually she causes his downfall, and he falls in love with her. Hayama soon quiets down, and becomes Sana's friend. Later in the series, Sana leaves for a long movie shoot, and Hayama begins to revert to his old ways- but when she comes back, Hayama stops immediately. Towards the end of the story, Hayama suffers an injury and is unable to move his hand and his father receives a job offer- as a result he has to move to America, to resulting shock triggers Sana's illness. When he returns in the final issue, Hayama has become a champion child karate fighter, as well as being able to speak flawless English.
Tsuyoshi Ohki is Hayama's best friend at school, and as a result becomes one of Sana's best friends. He is a quiet child and quite intelligent, Miho Obana revealed that originally she was going to make him a psychic! When he gets extremely angry, he goes into a rage, and begins to attack everything- this can be stopped with a sharp blow to the head (usually supplied by Hayama). Tsuyoshi plays a very background role in the manga, but at the start he is a fighter for Sana's love. Later, his parents divorce, and he has to cope with being a father figure as well as a big brother.
Aya Sugita is one of Sana's friends, and later Tsuyoshi's girlfriend. She is a quiet and sweet girl, with a good deal of common sense. She plays a big part in keeping Hayama under control when Sana leaves for temporary full time work.
Fuka Matsui is not in the earlier books, but later in the series she joins them in secondarySecondary can mean: An ordinal adjective indicating "Second" or second hand, see Primary The secondary in American football refers to the group of (usually four) cornerbacks and safeties ( strong safety and free safety) on the defense. In music, a seconda education, when she has just come back from Osaka. It is revealed that Hayama went to nurseryNursery can mean: A nursery is a place for the temporary care of children in the absence of their parents. A nursery is also a place where young plants or trees are raised. A nursery school is a daycare facility for preschool-age children. See also: Nurse with Fuka, and kissed her when they were age 5, taking away Fuka's first kiss- something that causes her great frustration. When Sana goes to work on the movie, Fuka dates Hayama for a short while- but is unable to keep him under control the way Sana did, and eventually gives us- leaving him to Sana. Fuka isn't mentioned at the very end of the series, after her and Sana decide not to be enemies anymore.
Naozumi Kamura is the second competitor for Sana's love, towards the end of the book. Just when things get settled between Hayama and Sana, he moves swiftly onto the scene- meeting Sana at work. Like her, he is a child actorAn actor is a person who acts, or plays a role in an artistic production. The term commonly refers to someone working in movies, television, live theatre, or radio, and can occasionally denote a street entertainer. Besides playing dramatic roles, actors m- and he also has a history with her. When they were babies, they were both in the same adoption centre, and when Sana's illness was triggered at a young age, Naozumi is the one who helped her recover (although at the time, Sana thought Naozumi was a girl due to his long hair). At the end of the series, Naozumi resigns himself to his fate, and becomes a loyal friend of Sana- but leaves the romance for Hayama (although it pains him). In the final book, Naozumi leave the country to film a different movie and advance his career.
Mariko Kurata (Sana's Mom) is Sana's adoptive mother. Mariko is a beautiful and intelligent woman, and as a result was very popular at a young age. However, when she broke up with her husband, she decided that being normal just wasn't "her", and began wearing komodos and wearing her hair in odd ways, making her look crazy. She found Sana in a bush and, after filling in the papers, adopted her legally. Mariko vows to be a famous author, and asks Sana at a young age to become better known than the average girl (by means of becoming a small-time actress), so that they could find Sana's real mother one day. Mariko and Sana are successful in their efforts beyond their wildest dreams, and as a result Mariko is able to release a controversial book named 'My daughter and I', and find the real mother. Mariko cares dearly for Sana and shows that she would literally do anything for her. She has a much larger part in the anime, largely due to her crazy ways being very amusing when animated.
Rei Sagami is a homeless person who was left by his girlfriend, Sana bought him home much like she does with stray dogs (they own three). Mariko decided to keep him around the house, and he has lived there ever since. Sana declares him as her gigolo after reading a book which included the word, however she does not understand what this means. Later, it is explained by Hayama that Rei is playing with Sana, and sees her as little more than a little girl wanting to play- this leaves Sana devastated. However, later Rei becomes an able manager for her.
Asako Kurumi is revealed to be Rei's girlfriend, who left him. She is a famous actress who did not know that Rei would end up homeless, and blames it on his stupidity. When she finds Rei again, she wants to get back together- but Rei says that he belongs to Sana now, and can't leave until she grows up. However, Sana realizes (with Hayama's help) that Rei is not her gigolo nor boyfriend, and stops acting like a child, so Asako and Rei can get together again. Asako continues to reoccur until the end of the series.