The second volume of Kodocha avoided the dreaded 'sophomore slump' and turned out to be just funny and entertaining as the first volume.  This is a funny and wacky show, and is in the running for sleeper hit of 2005.  The trailer to this show that FUNimation included on their other discs makes the show look really stupid, but it is actually a great show.
 
Series recap:

Sana Kurata is 11 years old, in the 6th grade, and a TV star.  The only girl in her class with an agent, she has to balance her school work with her career.  Sana's mom is an award winning author who has taken to wearing very odd hats and doesn't want to turn in her latest manuscript.  The other adult in Sana's life is her agent, Rei Sagami, who is very loyal to the budding star, and she has a big crush on him.

Though her TV show is doing well, school is not so good.  She has the misfortune of being placed in the worst class in the school.  The teacher spends all day crying because the boys won't stop taunting her and so they never get any work done.  The guys are lead by Akito Hayama, the toughest kid in class.  He never has to pull any of the pranks himself, he has his legion of lackeys do it.

Sana has had enough of these disruptions and Akito has become her sworn enemy.  Now it's up to the plucky young star to put the bully in his place.

This volume:

Sana got the goods on Hayama, and he's stopped disrupting class.  Now he's turned into a "lone wolf" though, keeping to himself and not talking to anyone, which really bothers Sana.  Looking into his life, Sana soon discovers that Akito's home life is really rotten.  So, being the plucky your starlet that she is, Sana decides that she's going to fix her classmates life, even though he's her sworn enemy.

Sana also gets a staring role in a TV movie, and she gets to appear opposite her favorite actress Asako Kurumi.  The movie is a drama that mimics Hayama's life, and Sana thinks that if she can only get Hayama's family to watch it, everything will be alright.

Though the movie may cure all of Hayama's problems, it just creates a lot for Sana.  Ray, Sana's manager and the person she thinks of as her boyfriend, seems to have some history with Asako.  A history that might remove Ray from Sana's life.

This volume is a tad more serious that the first one, but still extremely funny.  As I said in my review of the first disc, this show was a cross between Excel Saga and Azumanga Diaoh.  While not being quite as funny as either of those series, it has the high energy of Excel and the odd sense of humor of Azumanga, which is a winning combination.

The plot about Hayama's home life was well done.  They manage to break up the serious moments with a good dose of humor, and the weighty subject never became a downer.  I was very surprised that they managed to pull it off.

It's hard to describe the humor in the show.  Some of the best jokes are throw-away lines that are said on the fly, like Sana referring to her manager as her "pimp." It's little things like this that give the show it's odd slant.  A lot of silly humor that makes adults laugh but will have younger kids rolling on the floor.

This volume contains the next four episodes of the series in a white keepcase.  Unfortunately, FUNimation is still including trailers before the main menu that you can't skip past.  This is really irritating, and this from someone who loves to watch the trailers on anime discs.  I wish they would stop this annoying practice.

Audio:

This disc has the original stereo Japanese language track as well as an English dub in both stereo and 5.1.  I alternated between the Japanese track and the 5.1 dub while watching this show and found both of them to be equally good.  The English track has some very good talent, and Laura Bailey does an outstanding job as Sana.  The way she pronounces the phrase "monkey-boy" while insulting Akita and his pals always gets me laughing.  Her delivery really made the English dub very entertaining.

The sound quality is very good.  The 5.1 dub makes very good use of the surround speakers as well as the front soundstage.  While the Japanese track isn't as enveloping or dynamic it too sound very good.

Video:

The full frame video looks fine.  The lines are tight and the colors are solid.  There is very little aliasing or other digital defects.  A very good transfer.

Extras:

There is a commentary to episode seven with John Burgmeier (Ray) and Lucy Christian (Asako).  This was definitely a better than average commentary.  John also worked on the English script, so he had some comments about the script and the problems with translating humor.  This was also a more sedate commentary.  I really dislike the "party" commentaries, and this isn't one of them.  A good track that's worth listening too.

There is also the second episode of Mr. Stain on Junk Alley.  This is an odd CGI series that's worth watching.

Finally there are also character profiles and a series of trailers.

Final Thoughts:

This is quickly becoming a favorite of mine.  They humor is off the wall, and the show has a lot of energy.  If you've seen the trailer on another FUNimation disc, just ignore it, the series is much better than that.  This show is highly recommended.