A few short years ago I was introduced to anime by my brother and I have been hooked ever since. One series that had caught my eye and made its way into my collection is
Chobits.Chobits, by the four-woman artist group CLAMP, is more than it seems. The main character of this series is Hideki Motosuwa, a farm boy who didn’t quite make it into college. To get on the right path he decides to go to a prep school in the city. Here he discovers that everyone has a persocom. He was enthralled at first by these computers that look and feel like real people with the exception of their “ears”. Unfortunately for him these computers are way too expensive and he mopes all the way home. But then one night he sees an unconscious girl bound up near the garbage. He found his persocom. After discovering how to turn her on, he finds out all she can say is "Chi?" He now has to teach her about the world.
This series can be seen in different ways. At first the most obvious is the cutesy little robot that dresses in frilly dresses living with a horny, almost-in-college guy. When you hear her say her first "Chiiii?" you stop watching. But if you continue, get into it more you can start to see the levels.
Human or robot? Which is better? This is the question that is bombarded at Hideki throughout the series as Chi develops and becomes more coherent and emotional. This is exemplified through the supporting characters. They all have stories/ backgrounds that reflect this issue: Hiromu Shinbo (Hideki's helpful neighbor), Chitose Hibiya (manager of the apartment building), Minoru Kokubunji (persocom expert), Yuzuki (Minoru's custom-made persocom made to be like his deceased sister), Yumi Omura (friend and co-worker at the Japanese Pub "My Pleasure"), Takako Shimizu (prep school teacher), and Manager Ueda ( Manager of Tirol where Chi works). It is like a series of stories that support the main by how you are ushered through each stage with each couple until you get to the end where Hideki makes his decision.
The characters develop very well through this series. Chi is sweet and innocent as she explores the world and Hideki explains to the best of his ability. Hideki, (you'd think he'd bleed to death by the end with all the nosebleeds he gets) even though he likes his "magazines" and didn't make it into college, has his heart in the right place. He gives sage advice (even though he's either half asleep or half-starved when he gives it) and wants the best for everyone.
I like this series particularly its humor and the music (I have the opening theme stuck in my head now). The one thing I was not crazy over is the ending. I won't go into detail about what happens, but it could have been extended to give more airtime to the added characters. The way it was pretty much for the closure, how they handled it, to wrap things up. All in all it wasn't bad. The manga (graphic novel) is available at Amazon.com so that would probably go into further detail.
If you are interested in more of CLAMP’s work there’s
X, Card Captor Sakura, and
RG Veda to name a few. I am currently reading their work
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and I am enjoying it.
Boma at 11:38 PM
