Kodomo no Jikan



""My dream is to become sensei's bride.""

Kodomo no Jikan (A Child's Time) tells the tale of Rin Kokonoe, a girl in third grade who develops a massive crush on her 23-year old teacher, Daisuke Aoki. This in itself wouldn't be so bothersome, if it weren't for the fact that Rin is extremely forward about this and gives it a definitive sexual slant which is very inappropriate for her age.

Aoki is totally appalled by Rin's behavior at first, both because of its inappropriateness and because she uses it to blackmail him more than once, but he decides to help Rin out by trying to be a good teacher to her. The series as a whole in all its adaptations vacillates between playing this behaviour for laughs - and fan-service - and exploring the reasons behind such clingy and obsessive behaviour. This can result in a certain amount of Mood Whiplash, and is the greatest threat to the series' integrity as a coherent narrative.

The manga has a noticeable amount of Character Development, much of which found its way into the anime. This is what sets it apart from more comedy-driven shows with more or less the same subject matter. The amount of Fan Service (Lolicon-based or otherwise) waxes and wanes, but the general trend of the series is towards more fan-service.

The anime is based on the manga by Kaworu Watashiya, being her first work that got turned into an animated format. The manga itself was first scheduled to be translated and released in the USA by Seven Seas Entertainment as Nymphet, but the release was canceled because of the rather controversial nature of the series. In 2007 the first season of the anime was dropped from two Japanese stations following the generalized controversy, and only aired with massive amounts of censorship. The adaptation continued in 2009 in the form of an OVA series, which covered the fourth volume of the manga and stayed much more true to the original. Another OAV was released in January 2011 this time adapting a story from volume eight.

Please do not confuse with Kodomo no Omocha. Also not related to the 2000-2002 Hentai OVA of the exact same name.

Note: Due to this work's reputation, all links to it should probably be considered NSFW regardless of content and/or context.

"Mimi: You see, it was written by a school teacher for a 10-year old girl he loved, named "Alice"."
 * Abusive Parents:
 * Reiji's Freudian Excuse is that his father was an alcoholic and his mother was neglectful.
 * Mimi gets slapped with this hard. In chapter 66 her own mother all but says outright that it's Mimi's fault for being molested on the train because of how she was dressed.
 * Accidental Pervert:
 * Happens quite a bit to poor Aoki, with and  as two of the most extreme examples.
 * Happens to poor Mimi as well earlier, when Kuro pulls down Aoki's pants from behind as a prank, taking his underpants off by mistake as well. Mimi was standing in front of him, so she got the full view and everything. The next shot has her in bunny form, collapsed on the ground and foaming at the mouth.
 * A Cup Angst: The Magical Girls of Saint Rose become adults when they transform. One Omake has Rin and her friends becoming these characters... and Kuro is still flat as a board, even in adult form. Well, at least she finally becomes adult-sized. She lampshades both, complaining of growing pains and the fact that despite all that pain, she's still flat-chested. Lampshaded again in a recent chapter, when Kuro considers blackmailing Aoki with "child porn", Mimi, of all people, comments that anything short of full nudity wouldn't work since Kuro could easily be mistaken for a boy.
 * Adaptation Dye Job: The manga can't decide on Rin or Mimi's hair color, the anime can't decide on Mimi's and Houin-sensei went from blond (or light brunette if the one colored image of her is to be believed) in the manga to a redhead in the anime.
 * Adaptation Expansion: The anime tends to expand conversations, change the orders of scenes, and expand scenes, amongst slight character, and character development related, changes. The most obvious of changes has to be when we first see Rin. In the manga she's in her underwear for some reason but the anime changes it so that all the girls are in their classroom changing.
 * A Date With Rosie Palms: Rin discovers this at about the right age, but the very graphic depictions make one wonder how far the author is willing to go with this.
 * Adult Fear: Sure, Reiji is seriously immature, but when he breaks down in chapter 64 after he finds out that, it's hard for any reader to fault him for doing so.
 * Against the Setting Sun: In the episode "Memories".
 * Age Inappropriate Dress:
 * Rin often wears things that look like they shouldn't come in children's sizes.
 * Kuro, by virtue of liking the Gothic Lolita look.
 * Mimi, during her short time as a model. It does fit her, since she is Younger Than She Looks.
 * Alice Allusion: Leave it to Kodomo no Jikan to reference the Lolicon aspect of Alice in Wonderland. Afterwards Rin starts to read the book.

"Shirai:"
 * A Man Is Not a Virgin:
 * Subverted - Aoki seems like the poster boy for this trope at first, but as the story goes on, he grows out of most of the character flaws normally associated with virginity without any progress whatsoever on his sexual side, showing that the two issues were quite unrelated for him.
 * On the contrary, Reiji, who lost his virginity while fairly young, is shown to be remarkably immature and emotionally vulnerable.
 * Animal Motifs:
 * Kuro is often drawn as a black cat, while Mimi is a white rabbit,
 * In an early chapter, Aoki also compares Rin's character to that of a stray cat Rin has been feeding. When Aoki gets scratched for getting too close, Rin excuses its mistrustful behavior by suggesting it had been abused. This is one of the first hints at a sinister reason behind Rin's eccentricities.
 * Aoki himself was later compared to a dog, complete with a scene of him fighting a cat Kuro.
 * Rin is also drawn as a fox or wolf in chapter 70.
 * Anime Anatomy: Applied in earlier chapters more often than in later ones.
 * Anywhere but Their Lips: Rin does this a few times, one of which is not a cute moment.
 * Aren't You Going to Ravish Me: Aoki finds Rin passed out in the classroom. When she wakes up, she's disappointed to discover that he's only trying to help her rather than doing anything lewd.
 * Art Evolution: Compare the art of the pilot chapters to that of the full-fledged series that started a year later.
 * Attractive Bent Gender: Kuro's nosebleed lasts about 30 seconds.
 * Bare Your Midriff: Rin.
 * Beautiful All Along: Shirai-sensei. Just see chapter 48. Much to the shock of her colleagues, with hilarious results.
 * Beautiful Dreamer: Between Rin and Aoki, as seen in episode 7.
 * Be a Whore To Get Your Man:
 * This seems to be Rin's main strategy of attracting Aoki. She is smartening up as she grows. Somewhat.
 * Mimi decides to give this a try in promptly deciding to show off her assets to the shock of Rin, Aoki and Reiji.
 * Bedmate Reveal: Rin has invoked this on Aoki a few times, and planned to do so nude at one point.
 * Beta Couple: Shirai-sensei and Oyajima-sensei.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Played with. Aoki, never, ever mention that a May December Romance wouldn't work
 * Beyond the Impossible: Think you've seen all that Rin is capable of? Think nothing she does can shock you anymore? You might not want to be drinking anything while reading the next chapter.
 * The Big Board: Shirai accidentally uses a chalkboard one, and her students weight in on which option she should go with... date Oyajima or don't date him.
 * Big Breasts Big Deal: Mimi starts as Type 2 - she resented the pain and embarrassment caused from having noticeable breasts at age 9 for the longest time. However, since she decided to seriously pursue Reiji she's had a complete reversal of her complex and is now trying to make them bigger, making her a Type 4. Shirai-sensei is actually jealous of the fact that she's out-boobed by a nine-year-old.

"Aoki-sensei: Pillow fights are prohibited! Horror stories are prohibited! Porn magazines are prohibited! Sacrificing is prohibited!"
 * Big Brother Instinct: Aoki towards Rin and Mimi. Mimi even says she wishes he was her real brother.
 * Big Fancy House: Kuro's and to an extent, Aoki's parents' house.
 * Big Screwed Up Family: We have Aki, who was having sex with Reiji, Then she died. Now Reiji is raising her daughter to be his bride and is pretty insane. Rin herself is pretty messed up, considering murder of one her teachers and all.
 * Bishonen: Reiji in the anime.
 * Black And White Beauty: Kuro. She does it on purpose by staying out of the sun or carrying a parasol whenever possible. As a consequence she got a really bad sunburn at the end of the Beach Episode.
 * Blackmail: Rin creates her own blackmail material to use on Aoki, threatening to do various things after making it look like they're happening. The very first time she did this to him, she stayed after class, pulled down her panties and threatened to yell for help.
 * Bland Name Product:
 * "Ma Donald's"
 * "Buffles".
 * Blush Sticker: Shows up at one point.
 * Body Sushi: A student does this to impress her cooking teacher, with whom, she has a crush.
 * Brainy Brunette: Mimi, though the color pages in the manga sometimes make her a redhead.
 * Bread Eggs Milk Squick: In episode 7, when Aoki-sensei is prohibiting everything.

"Mimi-chan's ero-limiter finally broke down?!"
 * Break the Cutie: Happens to both Reiji and Rin before the manga even starts.
 * Break the Haughty: Rin did this to their former teacher, causing him to be hospitalized.
 * Breast Sponge: Rin offers to give Aoki a back wash, but realizes she can't do it properly because she doesn't have the pubic hairs with which to "scrub".
 * Brick Joke / Chekhov's Gag:
 * In chapter 64 Rin and Kuro sneak into Aoki's apartment. It's a mess and they manage to come across his Porn Stash. Kuro says she'll bring it up on the school bulletin board. Three chapters later the teachers find out about a secret bbs used by the students. Guess what one of the posts they read is about.
 * One chapter has Aoki musing over how to comment on Kuro's personality and behavior on her report card with out being overtly negative about it, eventually deciding to switch out unquestionably negative adjectives and phrases with ones that are ambiguous or neutral. A few chapters later, Kuro receives the report, which ends up sounding like a warm compliment to her as a person, shocking her into embarrassment.
 * Bright Slap: actually slaps Rin for being a major jerkass toward.
 * Broken Bird: Shirai. She's extremely cynical and emotionally stunted, because she was never shown any affection by her parents.
 * Broomstick Quarterstaff: A few unnamed students use them before being told to clean up.
 * Butt Monkey:
 * Look no further than Aoki himself. Poor guy.
 * Recently, Reiji, of all people, thanks to Aoki's antics. Man, talk about role reversal.
 * Cake Eater: Rin to Aoki, Mimi to Reiji, Kuro to Shirai (when she's not after Rin), Reiji to Aki... people who are attracted to people in the same age bracket are almost the exception rather than the rule in this manga.
 * Cannot Spit It Out: Houin just can't make herself tell Aoki that she loves him except when she's been drinking, and even then she can't follow through, twisting her confession into loving her job.
 * Cat Smile
 * Caught With Your Pants Down: Rin masturbates at school, and is embarrassed when she thinks her teacher has caught her in the act.
 * Celibate Hero: Aoki tends to be a combination of this and a Chaste Hero, as he doesn't make any real effort to find love (except once, which turned out to be a prank), and he barely notices the love interests that are right in front of him, because he's oblivious or they are way below his age limit.
 * Censor Box: To the point of totally obscuring the screen, and commonly with scenes that would be ignored and left alone in any other anime, thus making the scene seem much worse than it actually is.
 * Censor Steam
 * Cheerful Child: Rin, before her mother died.
 * Chekhov's Gun: In chapter 55, Rin sees a photograph of a younger Aoki sitting on a table. At the end of chapter 56,.
 * In one chapter, Rin . A few chapters later, Aoki take Rin's phone because she's using it in class and ends up seeing the picture, leading to some drama between them.
 * Cherry Blossoms
 * The Chikan: Mimi encounters one in chapter 66.
 * Children Are Innocent: The series, overall, subverts this to hell and back.
 * Reiji used to think this of Rin.
 * Mimi played this straight for a long time, but she's either done a complete 180, or she was a particularly good Covert Pervert.

"That really hurt..."
 * Christmas Cake: Shirai-sensei. Lampshaded in one chapter, when she and Aoki get into the usual argument, and the latter asks her if she's his mother.

"Have you forgotten that black-haired couples never work!?"
 * Class Representative: Rin is this, as well as a major subversion.
 * Class Is in Room X 01
 * Class Trip: Offering Rin a chance to show off her sweeter side.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl:
 * To a lesser extent, Kuro.
 * Played for laughs with Houin-sensei, who thinks that everyone is her romantic rival. Yes, even elementary school girls. And yet, she didn't know who her real "rival" is.
 * Clothing Switch: Between the three girls. Rin has Mimi's, Kuro has Rin's, Mimi has Kuro's. This ultimately leads to a rather humorous situation when the clothes look completely different from the way they were actually intended, the most prominent being Mimi who turned a normally demure and sensible gothic fashion outfit into a provocative maid-like outfit.
 * Color Failure: Happens a few times in the manga.
 * Rin has this and an Oh Crap face when the cat gets stuck in a tree, and she climbs up to get the cat down only for the branch to snap and drop them both.
 * Another example happens to Aoki at the end of the year, when he realizes that Rin (shown in a menacing silhouette) found him at the pool with Houin and that she thinks he's looking to make Houin his girlfriend.
 * Kuro and Houin both get this in chapter 66 when Aoki claims to have a girlfriend, though for very different reasons.
 * The Comically Serious: The manga often depicts Shirai-sensei and even Reiji in comical acts.
 * Comic Book Time: The series started in 05, both in-story and in real life. It's only progressed in universe by two or three years as indicated by the class numbers. Yet in chapter 69, calculating from Rin's birthday on the marriage form, it should be midsummer 2010, meaning the first chapters would had to have taken place in 2007. The writer must be sacrificing synchronization between story-time and real-time to maintain a fixed continuity.
 * Coming of Age Story:
 * Rin's of course.
 * Shirai-sensei seems to go through the late bloomer variety. Lampshaded by Oyajima-sensei, after she asked to touch his hand and later for him to pat her head. He imagined her as a grade school student both times.
 * Completely Different Title: It was going to be published under the title Nymphet in English.
 * Continuity Nod:
 * Chapter 47.
 * Chapter 47.

"Rin: But back when Mimi-chan got hers, you told me that I didn't need one...\\"
 * Chapter 52 with bras.

Aoki: That was two years ago! "Rin: I want to see your dick, sensei...\\"
 * Chapter 45 during the suicide note arc.

Aoki: Why would you even want to see something like that!? Besides, you saw it in the toilet in third grade, didn't you!? "Mimi: *nosebleeds*"
 * Cool Shades: Aoki swaps his usual glasses for these while pretending to be Mimi's brother. Presumably he was trying to look Yakuza.
 * Covert Pervert:
 * Houin-sensei. She's also a "horny drunk".
 * Recently Mimi, of all people, was revealed to be one.
 * Cram School: Mimi goes to one of these.
 * Creepy Child:
 * Rin's antics really border, and often cross into this trope. In one episode, Rin is grateful to Houin-sensei for helping her gain a certain insight. She cheerfully thanks Houin and tells her, "I'm glad I didn't," to Houin's evident confusion. Unbeknownst to Houin, . The scene goes from heartwarming to chilling in two seconds flat. She does get better later in the story.
 * Kuro can be pretty scary, too.
 * Cute Little Fangs:
 * Kuro. Yes, she is scary!
 * Rin, too, though not nearly as pronounced.
 * Dancing Theme: The first anime has a very upbeat Ending Theme called "Hanamaru☆Sensation". The credits sequence itself with a Super Deformed Rin, Kuro and Mimi dancing has been the subject of Memetic Mutation, being recreated with characters from many other series.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Shirai-sensei's armor takes some serious cracks once Kuro gets...interested in her, to the point that she asks herself What If Kuro had been around when she was in high school and wishes they could have been friends. Lampshaded when she gets an Important Haircut late in the manga.
 * Digging Yourself Deeper: Aoki does this, when he asks Houin to tell a 9 year old to wear a bra. First he makes himself sound like a lolicon, then he tries to explain that he's not, saying that breasts don't matter.
 * Dirty Kid:
 * Rin, creating some of the hatedom. Unlike other examples, it's played straight most of the time.
 * Houin-sensei is frequently groped by the boys in her class, but that's always Played for Laughs. See a Double Standard there?
 * Disappeared Dad:
 * Mimi's father (and mother) is this in figurative sense as he never pays any attention to her.
 * Rin refuses to have anything to do with her real father and probably rightfully so, considering he ignored her for ten years.
 * Does Not Like Men: Kuro, more and more often. She no longer wishes Rin were a boy.
 * Double Entendre: There are so many there practically has to be a translator's note every other chapter in the manga. If you were hoping to learn Japanese sexual terminology, this isn't a bad way to go about it. is one of the more innocent examples.
 * Double Standard:
 * Houin-sensei's Imagine Spots often address the double standard by reversing everyone's gender.
 * Thoroughly abused by Nogita in the "First Grade Time" and another flashback chapter, who would probably be in jail if she was a man.
 * The staged confrontation between Aoki and Houin ends very differently depending on who's playing the villain.
 * Dude She's Like in A Coma: Happens multiple times.
 * Rin sneaks a kiss from a sleeping Aoki during the Class Trip.
 * Houin also kisses a sleeping Aoki. She feels terrible about it when she imagines the scenario with the genders flipped, i.e. if a persistent man stole a kiss from a sleeping woman with little romantic experience.
 * Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Rin had these during her Emotionless Girl phase.
 * Dysfunctional Family: Reiji's family, which he then brings with him to Aki and Rin.
 * Dysfunction Junction: You can pretty much put the entire cast in here, except Aoki and maybe Oyajima and Houin as well, though their backgrounds aren't as well known. In fact, Aoki speculates that one of the reasons he can't relate and solve the problems of the kids in his class is because he's had a normal, well-adjusted life so far. Pretty much everyone else has a Dark and Troubled Past, and worse, a Dark And Troubled Present.
 * Ear Ache: Rin bites Aoki's ear at one point. This traumatised him enough that for a while he would instinctively cover his ear whenever Rin got too close to his face.
 * Easily Forgiven: When in the anime, Reiji even thinks he deserved it.
 * Ecchi: To give it credit, the ecchi scenes are just as often used for Character Development as they are for Fan Service. On the other hand, they also go way past most people's comfort zone, which is arguably the point, but it also ensured the series would never gain mainstream acceptance.
 * Elegant Gothic Lolita: Kuro prides herself on her extensive and costly goth loli wardrobe.
 * Emotionless Girl: Rin, for a while after her mother died.
 * Enemy Mine: Kuro's attempts to keep Shirai and Oyajima apart have led her to an impromptu alliance with the little girl she competes with for Shirai's attention. Notable for possibly being this trope's
 * Erotic Eating:
 * Right in the wake of the "finger fellatio" incident. And in later chapters, Rin has a tendency to be shown with something sticking out of her mouth. The first anime's Ending Theme shows her suggestively eating a cherry.
 * Reiji does it with a cherry as well, during his confrontation with Aoki over his plans for Rin.
 * Every Girl Is Cuter With Hair Decs:
 * Rin's enormous hair baubles. Definitely a subversion of the innocent childish personality part of the trope.
 * Mimi gets a hair band with a flower motif during her one-time modelling session.
 * The matching rose hair pin Kuro gives to Shirai-sensei to make her look less like an old maid is actually a plot point in one manga chapter, and the corresponding OVA special from the second season.
 * Kuro herself has been shown wearing almost every type of hair decoration known to man as part of her goth loli look.
 * Expy:
 * Not in-series, but in a great deal of recent lolicon hentai, the protagonists bear a close resemblance to Rin, the Mega Twintails hairstyle in particular.
 * In-series, the ubiquitous teddy bear mascot, named Chuck, bears a strong resemblance to Pedobear. Pedobear himself was based on 2ch mascot Kuma, but considering the content of the series, this is probably a case of the meme coming full circle.
 * Eyes Always Shut: Oyajima-sensei. He opens them in while.
 * Face Fault: The flying variety occurs multiple times in the manga, particularly following instances of That Came Out Wrong or other sexual misconduct.
 * Fan Service:
 * A pretty massive amount of Lolicon fanservice, usually involving Rin, Mimi and Kuro.
 * Non-lolicons are treated to Houin-sensei's ample bosom... if you can still take them seriously.
 * Instances with other people are rare. It takes Shirai 57 chapters until readers are given a real glimpse of such images of her.
 * Fan Disservice: The lolicon elements can be this for some, especially when Rin is being blatantly manipulative toward Aoki.
 * Fan Sub: Like English speakers are going to get anything else.
 * More like anyone outside of Japan. And even then.
 * Fille Fatale: Rin.
 * Finger Suck Healing: In an early chapter, after a stray cat scratches Aoki-sensei's finger, Rin applies FSH to stop the bleeding. Kuro later calls it "finger fellatio".
 * First Name Ultimatum
 * Flash Back: Accompanied by misty edges or color filters in the anime.
 * Forceful Kiss:
 * Aoki has been a victim of four so far from Rin. Five, if you count an original scene in an OVA.
 * in chapter 55.
 * Forehead of Doom: Kuro has a really shiny one, though it's hidden behind her Hime Cut. When she gets drunk from an alcohol bath in one chapter she does a forehead flash.
 * Four Teacher School: In Chapter 68 "everyone's been asked to go to the principal's office". One should think you get to see at least some human shapes as the rest of the staff. Instead, it's just the four main teachers. There have been very rare instances where there are other staff in the background.
 * Frames of Reference:
 * Shirai-sensei is quite the Stern Teacher, but her actual personality isn't anywhere near as harsh as it first appears and she wears the oval type glasses.
 * Mimi is shy and naturally her glasses are the circular type.
 * Freud Was Right: Rin invokes this during the cow-milking scene.
 * Fridge Horror: In-universe examples:
 * Seeing Rin dressed as a boy prompted Mimi to reflect on an earlier Skinship Grope and
 * When Kuro is led by an insult from Rin to think Aoki's a masochist, she "realizes" that all of her insults, Groin Attacks, and other abuse have actually been turning him on. The Fridge Horror is driven home by  of Aoki wearing only a spiked dog collar and chain, his underwear, and Scary Shiny Glasses, and begging for even more abuse.
 * Friendless Background: As seen in a flashback, Rin when she first came to school. She was pretty much catatonic at the time.
 * From the Mouths of Babes: Considering the theme, this is a must.
 * Funbag Airbag: Houin provides hers for Aoki early in chapter 2.
 * Funny Background Event
 * Furo Scene: Quite a few involving Rin, including one manga chapter and an omake that take place entirely in a bath house.
 * Gag Boobs: Houin's huge breasts become increasingly so as the lolicon becomes more common and more extreme. The Gender Flip Omake implies that a male version of her would have a Gag Penis.
 * Gag Penis: Oyajima's "bologna sausage," according to Aoki.
 * Gainaxing: Poor Mimi.
 * Gender Flip: Done in one omake, and Houin-sensei has this in several of her Imagine Spots.
 * Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Rin owns a giant, yellow bear...that looks like Pedobear. To make matters odder, we can see for a split second that she has a pair of panties with that thing on them.
 * The Glomp: Aoki is a frequent target of this by Rin.
 * Godiva Hair: Zig-zagged. With roughly equal frequency it is played straight, averted by way of either Nipple and Dimed or Hand or Object Underwear, and invoked by having Rin deliberately hold her Mega Twintails in front of her chest.
 * Gratuitous English: The opening and ending theme of the anime have a lot.
 * Groin Attack: A Running Gag in the anime and just as bad in the manga, where the gag has gone on so long that Rin even joined in twice. follows a subverted Indirect Kiss.
 * Guile Hero: Aoki. He needs to be, if he wants to help Rin without getting arrested.
 * Guy On Guy Is Hot:
 * In chapter 19, Mimi suspects that Aoki might be gay. Cue three girl students (not the main three) of his getting excited.
 * Later Kuro says that, if she were a boy, after pushing Rin to the ground, he'd "take Aoki's manhood away from him", which prompts the following response.
 * Later Kuro says that, if she were a boy, after pushing Rin to the ground, he'd "take Aoki's manhood away from him", which prompts the following response.


 * Hand or Object Underwear: Averted as often as it is used.
 * Harmful to Minors: Rin has way more knowledge about sexuality than your average 9-year old and is very eager to learn more. Of course, one of the underlining messages of the story is that children are not always innocent and that trying to force them to be such is likely to make things worse.
 * Here We Go Again: The end of chapter 68 shows that the kids have made a new message board after the previous one was taken down but this time they have no teachers to monitor them.
 * Hesitation Equals Dishonesty: In the unaired episode of the anime, Rin lies to Reiji about what trying to make a birthday gift for Aoki. She hesitates several times while trying to claim they were doing schoolwork. Reiji asks if she's lying, but either believes her or decides to let it go.
 * Hime Cut: Kuro.
 * Hint Dropping: Between Shirai and Oyajima in chapter 69, with a reversal of the usual gender roles.
 * Hoist By His Own Petard: During an impromptu cooking contest in Aoki's class, Kuro pours what looks like Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce on her bowl of nikujaga before offering it to Aoki. She turns her back on Rin, though, who switches that bowl with the one she left for herself. Aoki enjoys the clean bowl, and when Kuro eats the saucy bowl of food...
 * Holding Hands: Used a few times between Rin and Aoki.
 * Hot Mom: Rin's mother, Aki.
 * Hot Springs Episode: Episode 7 of the first season.
 * Ho Yay: It's not hard to some of Reiji's  as this, especially
 * In the first image Reiji most likely thought it was Rin who was in the bed (because it was HER bed). She earler slipped into Aoki futon and since he couldn't make her go out he went to her bed instead, Aoki didn't say anything because he would then had to explain to Reiji what he is doing in Rin's bed...
 * I Am Spartacus: Chapter 68..
 * I Didn't Mean to Turn You On:
 * of Aoki-sensei milking a cow named Kyouko excites Houin-sensei to the point that her nipples show through her sweater. (Her bra hook had snapped earlier, and she counted on the sweater to cover that up.) When Aoki asks why she suddenly turns nervous, she gave him a Megaton Punch with a Big No.
 * The Ear Cleaning scene between Rin and Aoki in the gender-flipped extra.
 * With Rin it's usually subverted, since she absolutely does mean to turn Aoki on and will sometimes attempt to make it look like something innocent if they are in public.
 * Idiot Hair: Surpisingly, Shirai-sensei. She's far from an idiot though.
 * If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her: Kuro says to Aoki: "If you ever do anything to hurt [Rin], I'm going straight to the Board of Education." Unlike most examples however, she does not believe he is right for Rin and has not given up on her just yet either.
 * Image Boards: In chapter 68 the schools message board gets noticed by Zchan. It doesn't end well.
 * Imagine Spot: Happens frequently to a number of characters.
 * Imagine Spotting: When Houin examines the Double Standard of Shirai slapping Aoki a genderflipped retake. Oyajima, whom she had been talking to, demands to know why he had been genderflipped, as well.
 * Incompatible Orientation: Poor Kuro. She never had a chance with Rin or Shirai-sensei.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun
 * Incurable Cough of Death: Aki. Justified, as it's stated outright that she has lung cancer.
 * Indirect Kiss:
 * Subverted in similar scenes in both manga and anime, wherein Aoki was unaware of the "kiss".
 * The latter, however, plays it straight later.
 * Intergenerational Friendship:
 * Aoki and the girls.
 * Kuro and Shirai.
 * The Internet Is for Porn: Rin's discovers A Date With Rosie Palms through this trope by accident. In a public computer, no less..
 * Intoxication Ensues: In chapter 38 Kuro gets drunk from soaking in an alcohol bath and then goes running in the male bath in her birthday suit yelling that she's looking for virgins (presumably to kick them in the balls).
 * Invented Individual:
 * Rin pretend to be a young female teacher so she can have a date with Aoki, who is understandably against going out with a fifth grader. When he asks for a picture, she sends one of her late mother. He later sees the picture at her house and puts it together, but he tells Rin he just broke up with the female teacher.
 * An unintentional case happens later when Kuro sees Aoki walking hand in hand with Mimi, while he was escorting her back home from a secret model shooting. She didn't recognise her due to the make-up and the different clothes and hairstyle, so she assumed she was his girlfriend. When confronted, Aoki confirmed this, because he didn't want to get Mimi in trouble, which in term led to much hilarity when Rin found out about it.
 * Is It Something You Eat: When Shirai informs the first graders that she will be recording the class, one kid asks "What's "recording"? Is it tasty?"
 * I Wished You Were Dead: Reiji wishes his parents would die. They get killed in a traffic accident.
 * The Jail Bait Wait: Reiji, as part of his Wife Husbandry plan for Rin.
 * Jerkass: The asshole parent that believes their child is being bullied when it's the other way around.
 * The Jimmy Hart Version
 * Just a Kid: One of the ways Aoki dismisses Rin's affection. It really pisses her off and when she proves him wrong, it causes him to start to realize Reiji might not be a good person.
 * Kissing Cousins: Reiji and Aki.
 * Kissing Under the Influence: Kyouko "Horny Drunk" Houin has a habit of making out with people when she's plastered. On two occasions she kissed a passed-out Aoki and his little sister, who was also drunk, but still concious. She was very ashamed of the first one, but didn't even remember the second.
 * Lap Pillow: During the Sleep Cute scene in episode 7, we have Aoki using Rin's lap as a pillow. They soon move, the roles reversing, them both falling asleep. Then Kuro and Mimi find them. Mimi just leans up against the other side of Aoki, but Kuro decides to use Rin's rear as a pillow.
 * Les Yay:
 * Mimi, oddly enough, is a frequent victim of this.
 * Kuro wishes she was. She finally gets a taste of what she wants during chapter 64.
 * Houin-sensei and Aoki's sister Chika have an... interesting bath scene in the omake. And while their earlier drunken kiss isn't seen in much detail in the manga, in the OVA Chika apparently just decided to go with it and make out with Houin.
 * Kuro's mother might be involved in this too, which she meant to send to one of her lady friends.
 * Limited Social Circle:
 * Rin, Mimi and Kuro make up one.
 * Aoki, Houin, Shirai and Oyajima are the only four named teachers. Of them Aoki is the only one shown having outside of work friends... once, really early on.
 * Limited Wardrobe: The adults almost always wear the same clothes. The lolis, not so much.
 * Little Girls Kick Shins: And balls. And balls into balls.
 * Little Kid Lover:
 * Ironically happens to Reiji when he walks Rin to school, to make sure she's not attracting lolicons with her Stripperific outfit. He also tries to cover her half-exposed butt with his hand. Unusually for an example of this trope, he's detained by police officers, rather than bystanders.
 * Happens to him a second time when he enters the school looking for Rin and gets tackled and put in an arm lock by Houin-sensei. Complete with caption text saying "don't underestimate Boin".
 * Locked in A Freezer: Aoki and Rin get stuck in one and end up cuddling to stay warm, at which point she starts dry-humping him.
 * Lolicon: The concept itself is addressed several times throughout the series, mainly with Aoki and Reiji. The former is often accused as such by Kuro while the latter often pegged as such by Aoki and the fanbase due to his Hikaru Genji Plan.

"Rin and Kuro: (Shocked) She believed every single word..."
 * Lonely Rich Kid: Kuro used to be something like this.
 * Loners Are Freaks: Rin used to be a victim of this. Then again she wasn't just lonely, she was borderline catatonic. Ironically, her deviant personality developed after she made friends with Kuro and Mimi.
 * Loudspeaker Truck: Reiji thinks about stealing one to broadcast how cute Rin is.
 * Love Dodecahedron: The second page of the first book gets this out of the way with a relatively simple The core is two Love Triangles: a type 5 between Kuro, Rin, and Aoki, and a type 3 between Aoki, Rin and Houin. Not pictured in the chart is Mimi's crush on Reiji, which means it was probably thought up later.
 * Love Makes You Crazy: Rin, Reiji, and Kuro to a lesser extent.
 * Love Mother Love Daughter: Reiji first loved Aki, and when she died, he decided to raise Rin to replace her. The two of them are very similar in appearance as well.
 * Luminescent Blush
 * Man Child: Deconstructed with Reiji. He's mature enough to support Rin and himself financially as a Salaryman, but he is incredibly messed up due to his abusive childhood and the death of his lover/cousin Aki, Rin's Hot Mom. He has severe dependency issues as a result, and genuinely sees nothing wrong with trying to raise Rin to take Aki's place. The situation is so bad that.
 * You know what? Read the entire series. Oyajima-sensei is probably the only character  who don't show some shade of this.
 * Marshmallow Hell: Houin-sensei is not above doing this to students as a means of persuasion. It backfires spectacularly when her students became old enough to realize how great her assets are.
 * Maybe Magic Maybe Mundane: A lot of episode 12, the voodoo doll in the unaired episode.
 * Meaningful Name / Punny Name: Usa Mimi. Usamimis are rabbit-eared people, Mimi's Animal Motifs is a white rabbit, and her nature is shy and reserved like one.
 * Measuring Day: The main focus of the second pilot chapter. The girls get measured by Houin-sensei and when Kuro accuses the school of discrimination, she agrees to get measured as well. Sadly, we never get the numbers. Much of this plot is later recycled in the series proper with even more zany antics.
 * Meganekko:
 * Mimi and Aoki-sensei.
 * Shirai-sensei is a Double Subversion. Initially her glasses only serve to heighten her stern image. However, she's having more and more genuine Meganekko moments as the story progresses.
 * Mega Twintails: Rin's and Mimi's are almost as big as they are, though Rin's get more attention.
 * Missing Mom: Rin's mother, Aki.
 * Mistaken for Dying
 * Mistaken for Gay:
 * At the end of chapter 53, Rin, Kuro and Houin-sensei interpret Oyajima and Aoki's argument as a lover's quarrel.
 * Prior to that, teasing from Houin and Aoki cause Shirai to think this way about Oyajima.
 * When Aoki was trying to avert Oyajima attention by proposing to wash his back (so Rin can sneak out of men bath) Oyajima got full view of Aoki Rin-induced erection which caused him to be really anxious about sharing a bath with his kouhai.
 * Mix and Match: Shojo + Lolicon + Ecchi.
 * Model For A Day: The overall plot of chapter 66, in which Mimi is given an offer to have a glamour shots-style photo session. Aoki poses as her older brother and accompanies her to the shoot, partly because he's suspicious about the whole thing and partly because Mimi didn't want to ask her mom to do it. The end result is a fantastic morale boost for Mimi, a major bonding moment between her and Aoki and some humor.
 * Modesty Towel: In the Hot Springs Episode.
 * Moe Stare
 * Ms. Fanservice: Rin is a loli version of this, with Kuro and Mimi supporting in the otaku and the classical moe fields respectively.
 * Mugging the Monster: The previous teacher cussed out, insulted and tormented Rin's class. Then he caused Mimi to stop coming to school. Rin proceeded to harass him until he quit due to stress-induced illness. A 9 year old girl caused a grown man to become physically ill. The Aesop? Don't fuck with Rin, she's willing to ruin your life.
 * Murder the Hypotenuse: . One of the most disturbing scenes in the series, which is saying something.
 * My Name Is Not Durwood:
 * Houin Boin-sensei (Boin = The sound of bouncing boobs), which has now ascended into a Running Gag / In Series Nickname.
 * "Doin"-sensei from chapter 53. (Doin = The sound of bouncing gut flab.)
 * Naive Newcomer: Aoki really wasn't ready for the class he got stuck with.
 * Nakama: Rin, Kuro and Mimi.
 * Naked Apron: This imagery is used in some of Rin's fantasies about being Aoki's wife. She also pretends to be wearing one during cooking class.
 * Necktie Leash: The second kiss between Rin and Aoki happens this way. Emphasis on the "pulling", as Aoki didn't want anything to do with it.
 * New Year Same Class: Aoki invokes this every year. He wants to keep an eye on Rin and knows better than to separate her from her friends.
 * Nipple and Dimed: Subverted halfway through the manga when the girls suddenly gain nipples, which is kind of... jarring.
 * No Export for You: Seven Seas was reportedly nervous about this one to begin with, and when they saw the later volumes, this was pretty much inevitable.
 * No Periods Period: Averted quite aggressively, starting with the scene where Mimi was unaware of the blood trickling down her leg. Mimi learning different ways to deal with her period comes up including one uncomfortably graphic internal view of a tampon insertion, as well as Aoki and Houin taking the initiative to lead sex-ed courses for their classes together.
 * Not So Above It All: Shirai-sensei. Still the Stern Teacher, yet the Rule of Funny of some of the later gags depend on how she reacts to them.
 * Nosebleed:
 * Rin causes Kuro to get these a lot.
 * Mimi and Oyajima-sensei have also been victims of this as a one-time gag.
 * Discussed in the pilot chapter, where Rin asks Aoki if he got a nosebleed from seeing her panties, when in fact it was from the physical impact between her crotch and his face.
 * Oblivious to Love: Aoki is unaware of Houin's feelings for him.
 * Obliviously Evil: Reiji. He's mostly clueless as to how messed up Rin is, and honestly doesn't see anything wrong with their squick-tastic relationship. Although he has been getting more sympathetic as the story progresses.
 * Recently, he's had a Heel Realization, as it's finally dawned upon him that his relationship with Rin is far from normal and vows to control himself in order to avoid doing any harm to her.
 * Oddly Visible Eyebrows
 * Ojou: Kuro is the second type.
 * Online Persona: Houin-sensei uses one in chapter 68, named Mama Melon to advocate abstinence to the kids on the message board.
 * Original Video Animation: TV broadcasting censors and this series don't exactly get along very well.
 * O Ring Orifice: Discussed by Rin several times, including one instance when she undresses and sneaks into Aoki's futon while he's asleep. She then does a massive Eye Take when he turns over, pushing their naughty bits together in ambiguously-close proximity. The next scene has her mumbling "It'd never fit" as she's getting back in her own futon.
 * Out of Character Moment: For whatever reason, in the final episodes of the first anime Reiji was changed from a heartbroken man, who clings to his past and plots to relive the happiest moments of his life with his legal ward, into an obsessive Yandere who just wants to keep her caged for her own good. The later OVAs ignore this and return him to his manga character, causing confusion among fans who haven't read the manga.
 * Overdrawn At the Blood Bank: Kuro gets a 10 second long, extremely powerful nosebleed at a pressure normally reserved for getting cut in half. Considering Kuro is 3 foot tall, she should be dead right there.
 * Panty Shot: Too many to count, beginning on the third page of the first chapter of the manga, where Aoki stumbles into his class while the students are changing after phys ed. Rin regularly flashes Aoki throughout the series, even practicing in front of her mirror.
 * Papa Wolf:
 * Reiji. Very much so. Lampshaded by himself in an Omake.
 * Aoki, especially towards Mimi, unlike her actual father.
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil: What Rin did to her last teacher.
 * Pedo Hunt: One of the reasons Aoki-sensei is extremely reluctant to talk to Rin in public. With the way she behaves, she might easily get him arrested. And yes, she is completely aware of this fact and has used it to blackmail him more than once.
 * Pillow Fight: Briefly seen during the Class Trip, though not between the girls. It's quickly prohibited, along with porn and sacrificing chickens. Yes, there were actually elementary school students planning to sacrifice a chicken.
 * Playboy Bunny: Kuro dresses Mimi up as one near the end of chapter 46.
 * Portmanteau Series Nickname: "Kojika". It's used in the official audio CD as well.
 * Precocious Crush: Aoki at first assumes that Rin's feelings for him are just this. Unfortunately for him, she's rather more serious than that.
 * Psycho Lesbian: Kuro might not be nearly as crazy as most examples, but she is rather obsessed, as demonstrated by the pictures of Rin all over her room and the life-sized Rin-chan love pillow that she makes out with before she goes to sleep.
 * Quivering Eyes
 * Raging Stiffie:
 * Aoki gets one when Rin starts grinding on him while they're Locked in A Freezer.
 * In the gender-flipped extra Rin gets one when the female Aoki-sensei cleans his ears.
 * Rape Is Funny When It Is Male On Male: Kuro says that if she were male, after "pushing Rin to the ground", (s)he'd "take [Aoki's] manhood away from him".
 * Rapunzel Hair: Rin, Kuro, and Mimi all have this.
 * Real Men Wear Pink: Oyajima-sensei loves cooking and baking.
 * Relationship Upgrade: in chapter 56, though the real They Do moment isn't until chapter 70.
 * Relax O Vision: Available in several kinds of banners. Strangely enough, this was often used to censor things that were barely objectionable, which just made the show seem even worse.
 * Replacement Love Interest: Reiji sees Rin as this, combined with Wife Husbandry.
 * Rubber Hose Limbs: Kuro takes this to a new level in one of the ending credits.
 * Running Gag: Cringe-inducing example: Aoki getting kicked in the nuts over and over and over and over again.
 * Sacred First Kiss: Rin steals Aoki's, much to his dismay.
 * Sadist Teacher: The former teacher of Rin's class. The harassment she gave him in return hospitalized him.
 * Scanlation: Many believe SaHa's translation is the closest the manga will ever get to short of the author getting it vanity published after the Nymphet disaster.
 * Schoolgirl Lesbians: Kuro, who has a Rin love pillow and pictures of her all over her room. Her advances are always cut short for one reason or another. Later, she begins hitting on Shirai-sensei and tries to prove Oyajima-sensei is a lolicon to keep them from dating.
 * School Swimsuit
 * Selective Obliviousness: Poor Kuro. Likely intentional, because later in the manga, it seems as if Rin is well aware of Kuro's crush on her.
 * Sensei-chan: Houin-sensei. She's definitely the most popular teacher (especially among the boys), but the students don't respect her much.
 * Shipper On Deck: Since chapter 69, Mimi has become one of these for Rin/Aoki. Of course her motives are not entirely selfless.
 * Show Within a Show: A Magical Girl-esque tv show called Saint Rose is referred to a couple of times. One special chapter of the manga has Rin and her pals depicted as these superheroines.
 * Shower Scene: Rin gets several, one of which involves A Date With Sally Shower-Head.
 * Shrinking Violet: Mimi.
 * Skinship Grope: Rin is constantly doing this to Mimi. Mimi's gotten so used to it, at one point she pretty much willingly offered to cheer Rin up with her breasts, but Rin just ignored her.
 * Sleep Cute: At one point during the Class Trip, Rin and Aoki fall asleep under a tree, she resting on his lap. Then Mimi and Kuro find them, and it cuts to evening. Kuro is sleeping while using Rin's ass as a pillow, Rin is sleeping while using Aoki's crotch as a pillow and Mimi is on the other side, leaned up against him. Quadruple Sleep Cute.
 * Sliding Scale of Anime Obscurity: Level 4.
 * Smug Snake: In the manga, Reiji has shades of this after he thinks Rin has now rejected Aoki in favor of Reiji's Wife Husbandry plan.
 * Sneeze Cut:
 * Happens to Kuro when Aoki considers moving her to another class next year.
 * Happens to Rin immediately after while Kuro is fantasizing about her on her love pillow.
 * Social Services Does Not Exist / There Are No Therapists: 2 hit combo! The former is double subverted when Aoki tries to call social services, but is told that they can't do anything without evidence.
 * Sound Effect Bleep: Comes part and parcel with the Censor Steam. Rin and Kuro have an entire conversation in bird, in one of the more ridiculous instances of the trope.
 * Split Screen Reaction: The teachers have one in chapter 68, when they find out the school's underground message board was discovered by Zchan. Shirai even does a Spit Take for bonus points.
 * Sprouting Ears: Occasionally happens to the girls. Kuro does often wear actual nekomimi (and less frequently a tail) though.
 * Stealth Pun
 * Stern Teacher: Shirai-sensei.
 * Strong Family Resemblance:
 * Chika is essentially a female Aoki with a ponytail and without glasses, which is why Houin couldn't tell them apart when she was drunk and kissed Chika instead.
 * Rin looks like a child-version of her mother, Aki, which is heavily implied to be the reason behind Reiji's Wife Husbandry plan.
 * Sugar and Ice: Shirai-sensei.
 * Super Deformed: Most of the closing credits for the anime use it.
 * Sweat Drop
 * Teacher Student Romance: The foundation of the entire story. Played to the extreme between Rin and Aoki-sensei. It's one-sided, thanks in no small part to Aoki's desire to avoid a Pedo Hunt and Rin's attempts to blackmail him with that trope.
 * Teru Teru Bozu: Mimi and Shirai use the upside-down version the night before the sports festival. In Shirai's case she hangs about a dozen of them, because she really didn't want to participate in the mandatory teacher cosplay parade.
 * Thousand Origami Cranes: After Rin's Ill Girl mother Aki began to die, Rin started making cranes day after day, and Aki was covered in them when she finally died. In chapter 70 Rin admits she thought it was her fault at the time, because she couldn't fold all 1000 in time.
 * The Three Faces of Eve: Kuro (Child), Mimi (Mother), and Rin (Seductress)
 * Too Hot for TV: There was a 13th anime episode that wasn't aired but was on the DVD. In the wake of a certain real life incident, Japanese TV stations decided that basically the whole show was this and those that didn't drop it altogether censored the hell out of it making sure that anyone who wanted to enjoy the series had to wait for the DVD.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Aoki, towards the end of chapter 59.
 * Too Kinky to Torture: Rin suggests, probably falsely, that Aoki's actually a masochist. The mental image of a slavering Aoki enjoying Kuro's abuse squicks her so badly that she stops doing it for a while, which is quite possibly what Rin hoped would happen. On the other hand, sweet little Mimi then starts verbally abusing him, because she thinks it'll make him happy.
 * Troubled Backstory Flashback: Played with. First, Reiji's life with his drunken, abusive father is seen. Afterwards it gets to him and Aki being together though, setting up this trope.
 * Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: Too many examples to list. The times when the children in this series act like children are the exception.
 * Tsundere:
 * Rin - roughly equal between tsuntsun and deredere, though her form of affection is more lecherous than it is mushy.
 * Kuro has tsundere moments towards Rin, though she more often takes her frustration out on Aoki. She even muses over whether to act as a Type A or Type B when she
 * Reiji becomes a non-romantic example towards Aoki, as lampshaded
 * Twelve Episode Anime: The first adaptation, now known as season one, contained 12 episodes that aired on TV, plus one that was separately released as a promotional OVA because it was deemed unairable.
 * Unlimited Wardrobe: Rin and Kuro.
 * Visual Innuendo: In this scene, Rin's just drinking from a drinking fountain, but it looks like she's doing something much more X-rated.
 * The Voiceless: After her mother died, Rin. She got better, thanks to Kuro.
 * Wacky Homeroom
 * Wacky Marriage Proposal: In chapter 69, Rin somehow gets her hands on a marriage license and tells Aoki to fill it out.
 * Wanting Is Better Than Having: In a later Omake, Kuro challenges Rin to show something that Kuro had prior, with the seeming expectation that Rin would be reluctant. Much to Kuro's dismay (read: horror), Rin is not only immediately compliant, but decides to tutor Kuro in what she knows about her, um... parts.
 * Well Done Daughter Girl: Mimi.
 * Wet Sari Scene: During P.E., Mimi gets so sweaty that her shirt becomes quite clingy and see-through, enough to inform Aoki that she doesn't wear a bra.
 * Wham Episode: Quite a few chapters but chapter 72. Just...just this entire damn chapter.
 * Wham Line:  It was something that the readers either anxiously waited for or dreaded to see.
 * Whole Episode Flashback: The episode "Memories" is mostly this, with the occasional Deliberately Monochrome scenes set in the present.
 * Wife Husbandry: Reiji, in regards to Rin. Rin feels obligated to go along with it.
 * Will They or Won't They: Rin and Aoki.
 * Wise Beyond Their Years:
 * Rin and Kuro, at least in terms of using Double Entendre.
 * Played straight more frequently with Mimi.
 * Xanatos Speed Chess: Chapter 30 opens with a mini-version after Mimi gets a coded porn e-mail and attempts to decipher it, while Aoki quickly stops her friends from helping her. Before Kuro can explain that o-nko with the blank filled in is omanko (pussy), Aoki tells her it's actually oshinko (pickles). Rin follows up by attempting to reveal komeo-shidaruma (backwards-syllables for marudashi-omeko / bare pussy), but Aoki intercepts her and passes it off as Kome-Oshi-Daruma (Rice-Pushing Dharma). Mimi finally accepts that it's actually a food-preparation site and understands Aoki's warning that it requires a fee to keep people from just signing up.


 * Yandere:
 * Reiji, near the end of the anime, seems to be extremely protective over Rin, going so far as to attack Aoki and keep her away from school. It's not entirely unreasonable, however, considering how close Rin and Aoki are. If that's not creepy enough on its own, when Rin tries to tell him again that Aoki did nothing wrong, he grabs a chef's knife out of the cabinet.
 * Rin becomes this when she gives in to her inner darkness. Thankfully, she seems to have gotten over it thanks to Aoki.
 * Yandere Love Triangle: Reiji --> Rin --> Aoki.
 * Yank the Dogs Chain: Not-so-serious example: Aoki thinks he might have found a chance at a date with a, *ahem*, normal woman, when it's actually just Rin pranking him.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: All three girls, but especially Rin, who regularly takes it all the way to S-rank.