The main character of Kodocha, Sana Kurata is a girl who gets involved.
Found abandoned on a park bench as a one-day-old baby, Sana was adopted by Misako Kurata, a novelist. She enrolled her daughter in the Komawari school to learn acting as a young child. Sana grew up knowing she was adopted, and while the initial shock affected her when she first learned of it, she got over it, and is happy to have been found by her adoptive mother.
The story begins with Sana at age 11, in 6th grade, dealing with bullies in her class. All the boys are led by “boss monkey” Akito Hayama. The boys constantly disrupt class, and the teacher can’t do anything about it, because Akito has a picture of her making out with another teacher, and he is blackmailing her into looking the other way. Sana devises a way to blackmail Akito back, by getting a picture of him with his pants down (then she will trade her picture for his). While scouting out his house to find the right time to snap the picture, Sana sees that Akito’s homelife is miserable; his father ignores him, his sister Natsumi constantly screams at him and kicks him out (she demands that he not come home until after she’s fallen asleep). She calls him a demon, because he killed their mother. Akito tells Sana that his mother died giving birth to him.
Sana tells Mr. Hayama and Natsumi that their treatment of Akito is causing his misbehavior at school, and that they are FOOLS to treat an eleven-year-old the way they do. She yells at them “YOU MORONS BETTER DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!” And after running into Akito at the park, where he was eating his dinner of fast food, Sana shows Akito how a mother would treat him. She makes him lay his head on her lap while she says these words to him: “Akito, I love you. That’s why I gave birth to you. You must live, Akito, for both of us.” These words resonate with Akito, as he now sees that he didn’t “kill” his mother– his mother gave her life for him, because she wanted him to live. Then, Akito’s father shows up and apologizes for all the years of ignoring his son. He thought his own son hated him, because Akito was so quiet and closed-up for all his childhood. The Hayama family slowly starts to heal, have family dinners, and function as a real unit. Because of her help, Akito is very grateful to Sana (though he has a hard time expressing it), and also develops feelings for her.
Akito can’t express his feelings verbally, so he sexually harasses Sana throughout the story (kissing her against her will, putting his hand on her chest when she leaned over him, feeling the back of her tank top to discover that she doesn’t wear a bra, etc. etc.).
Sana, for the first 2 volumes of the story, thinks she is in a relationship with her manager, Rei, who lives in the same house as her and her mother. She found Rei living on the streets when she was little, and thought he had such a cute face, she wanted to take him home (as she already collects stray dogs). Rei became Sana’s manager, and even though he, like everyone else, knows it’s impossible for an 11-year-old and a 25-year-old to be in a relationship, he humors Sana and lets her think they are. It’s his way of thanking her for rescuing him from homelessness. After his ex, Asako Kurumi, comes into the picture after doing a movie with Sana, he admits he still loves Asako, and Sana’s mother explains to her that Rei was never her boyfriend, and that Sana’s possessiveness of him is not love, but a childish obsession, not unlike a child might have for their favorite toy. Sana, humiliated that everyone knew Rei was just humoring her, runs away. But she runs into Akito, who helps her understand that the people in her life who let her believe the lie, were just doing so to let Sana have a dream, because it’s good to let kids dream before they have to grow up. He also reminds Sana that a lot of people love her, so there’s no reason to run away. She goes home and gives Rei and Asako her blessing.
In the third volume, Sana’s mother publishes a biography called My Daughter And I, which reveals to the world how she found Sana abandoned on a park bench. The reason she told the world this story is because she actually WANTS to find Sana’s birth mother. Sana is worried that her mom wants to give her back, but Misako really wants to meet Sana’s birth mother so that she can tell her that Sana is hers and that she will never give her back. Akito helps Sana through this ordeal, and the two grow closer, but Akito still won’t tell Sana that he likes her, and she’s too dense and naive to figure it out.
In the 4th volume, the characters enter junior high, and Sana makes friends with a girl from Osaka, Fuka Matsui, only to find out that Fuka and Akito went to the same preschool, where Akito stole Fuka’s first kiss. This makes Sana doubt that Akito really likes her, as she figures he just likes kissing girls.
Later on in the 5th volume, Sana leaves to go on location to shoot a movie with her co-star (and teen heartthrob) Naozumi Kamura, who is in love with her.
While filming the movie up on a mountain with limited cellphone reception, tabloids publish false reports that Sana and Naozumi are dating. Akito, while appearing not to care on the outside, is actually very distressed. Thinking he’s lonely, Fuka asks him to be her boyfriend, and he accepts. Meanwhile, Naozumi’s jealous fans find Sana on the set, and beat her up (because THEY love Naozumi), fracturing her leg. But Sana won’t quit the movie, and works even harder. Sana calls Akito from the set (in a certain spot that gets limited cellphone reception) and he tells her that he and Fuka are dating, and Sana falls into a funk, though she doesn’t realize why. Asako, who is in the movie too, talks to Sana and helps her realize that she actually likes Akito, and that THAT’S why it hurts to know that he’s dating her best friend. Sana is heartbroken.
It affects her acting performance, and her mother flies in by helicopter to check on her. She tells Sana that it’s OK to like someone even if he likes someone else, and that if she obsesses over it all night, by morning, it won’t seem like such a big deal. Naozumi confesses that he loves Sana, but she rejects him. Sana recovers and finishes the movie.
When she gets home, she tells her friends that the rumors were false, and that she and Naozumi were never involved. It’s also terribly awkward to be around Fuka and Akito now that she realizes how she feels about him. Naozumi, kind-of to get back at Sana, tells reporters in an interview that Sana turned him down because she liked someone else. He doesn’t say who it is, but he says “I’ll give you a hint– the day we left for location, he came by to see her off.” Akito overhears this, and knows that it is him Naozumi is talking about.
In the 7th volume, Akito confronts Sana and demands to know who she really likes. Sana struggles, but tells Akito that she loves him. They get in a big fight, because Akito has always loved Sana but she never figured it out, even though everyone around them knew. Sana decides to just get out of Akito and Fuka’s way, and quits school to become a full-time actress, hoping to forget Akito.
But it doesn’t work. With Sana gone, Akito reverts back to his trouble-making ways, and starts talking back to his teacher Mr. Sengoku, and eventually gets into a fight with him, and gets suspended. Fuka is furious that Akito would act this way, and their relationship crumbles. Sana learns of all this turmoil, and feels guilty, because she thought if she left them alone, she’d forget about Akito and get over him, but she can’t. She still thinks about him constantly. She goes back to school for a bit, and she and Fuka have a little spat over Akito, but before they can settle it, Akito is called into the principal’s office because a student, Kazuyuki Komori, has left a suicide note, blaming Akito. But he has also left a journal in Akito’s locker for him to find, where he mentions the location at which he wants to die. Akito decides to go find Kazuyuki alone, without telling anyone but Sana where he’s going or what he intends to do.
In the 8th volume, Akito finds Kazuyki, and is also stabbed by him in the arm. Akito brings Kazuyuki home but dies (briefly) of blood loss. While on the operating table, Akito has an out-of-body experience, and while he is in between planes of existence, he sees the spirit of his mother, who tells him the same words Sana told him; “I love you, that’s why I gave birth to you. You must live, Akito.” Akito comes back to life and survives the stabbing, but his right hand is paralyzed because of nerve damage. Akito accepts his paralysis as a form of punishment for all the things he’s done over his life. After learning about everything that happened between him and Sana, Fuka breaks up with him and tells Sana to go to him.
By the 9th volume, Sana and Akito are a couple. They go on a date, during which they visit Akito’s mother’s grave. Akito tells Sana that he saw her while he was dying of blood loss, and Sana (in prayer) thanks her for saving Akito’s life. Everything seems to be going well, but then Akito’s father announces that he is moving the family to Los Angeles. Akito doesn’t want to leave Sana, and when he tells her this news, she begins to suffer from “Doll Syndrome” again. Her mother reveals that she cut a chapter from My Daughter And I that tells about the first time Sana suffered from this syndrome– her face became frozen and unable to express any emotion.
In the 10th volume, Sana’s depression worsens. She loses weight and falls into a deep sleep at random times, and no one knows how to help her. All the doctors can determine is that she is depressed because Akito is moving. Her mother tells everyone not to confront Sana with her illness. Because of this, Sana doesn’t realize that she can’t smile or express anything on her face. Sana and Akito run away to “Dreamland,” an amusement park that Sana had previously won 2 tickets to. They were planning to go anyway, before Sana got sick, and this is the only thing Sana says will make her happy.
They get a hotel room, and Sana faints in the bathroom, suffering from a fever. Akito tries to call a doctor, but Sana begs him not to, because if any adults find them, they will force them to go home. Akito finally breaks down and cries, begging Sana to realize that she’s sick and to get it together, because HE needs HER. All this time, Akito has been relying on Sana’s strength to get through life. Now that she is the broken one, he doesn’t know what to do or how to face life. This emotional breakdown forces Sana to see that Akito really does love her, and that even though he is moving, he doesn’t WANT to move, and that he’s suffering just as much as she is, and her Doll Syndrome is cured.
It is then revealed that Mr. Hayama wants Akito to move to L.A. with him because he has found a special doctor there who might be able to fix Akito’s hand. Sana wants Akito’s hand to get better more than anything, so she encourages him to go.
Even though they are now separated, Akito and Sana maintain their relationship, and Akito comes back to Japan for high school.
Personality:
Sana is cheerful and energetic, and makes it her life’s purpose to improve the lives of those around her (whether they want her help or not). She takes in stray animals (and sometimes people), and loves to try new things and make new friends. Unfortunately, she can be dense, naive and childish.