Great review...well-written and you captured the main points of the show
Chobits tv Review
Story & Characters
"Ended much sooner than I expected"
I came into Chobits expecting a cute, idealistic boy-meets-girl story with plot and characters that were only designed to make me happy. The protagonist is Hideki, a farmboy looking for success in the city. When he gets to Tokyo, he doesn't meet a mean inner-city that many city-dwellers experience. In fact, everyone he met was so nice to him, it scared me.
The Persocom, a computer that looks and acts like humans, is introduced early. The viewer is immediately shown that Persocoms can be used as any computer would be used: internet browsing, e-mail, games, etc. The problem is that Hideki is too poor to afford one. Lo-and-behold, Hideki finds one, and an extremely powerful one, in a dumpster!
One thing I would like to point out is that Hideki is so lucky, it's stupid. All of his accquaintances are unerringly nice to him. He gets a good job with a cute girl at his side (right when he needed one, too). All of the women in his life are beautiful. He befriends a child-genius who works on his persocom for free. Chobits looked so much like the idealistic boy-meets-girl story I was looking for that it eventually turned me off. The only reason I was still watching this show was that I wanted to know two things:
- What exactly was Chii
- Why was she in a dumpster
Halfway into the series, something happened: the series became intellectually stimulating. The characters who were so nice to Hideki began revealing secret lives and alterior motives that allowed them to become more real and interesting. Some of their secrets were shocking, and all of them involved persocoms.
So, this was not just an idealistic love story; it was also a series of case-studies showing the interface between man and machine. We see men loving their mechanized humans instead of their own wives, we see a man who marries a machine, and we see a barren woman using machines as replacements for children. All of these societal implacations of the persocom were summarized in Chii's books, "The Town with No People". When these were first introduced, I realized there was something to this series.
Every character in the story represents a side of the argument of whether or not Persocoms should exist. Shimbo was a person who did not really mind if people fell in love with persocoms. Sumomo was a persocom who existed purely to show the original purpose of a Persocom: a data assistant. So, all the characters work out.
One little touch that I liked was the fact that the anime kept Hideki's relationship with Chii ambiguous, at least until later in the series. Does Hideki love Chii as a person, or does he love her like a man loves his golf-clubs?
My big beef with the series was that the ending really didn't do it for me. At the end, a character stated, "The one who created the persocoms considered his creations to be his children." I wanted to meet this person. Also, I found out what Chii was, but I didn't know why she ended up in the dumpster in the first place. I also wanted more of an explanation of how Chii was connected with all operational Persocoms. Although love was found at the end, I wanted to see the life after. "They lived happily ever after" doesn't work for me anymore!
Rating:
Art
"Idealised, but well-done"
Big-eyed women, plenty of bathing suits, not a single ugly woman in the series. Um... well it works for this story, I guess. Look: everything is so sterile idealised that it isn't very believable. We see a very clean tokyo with no slums. Ugliness does not exist in the youthful cast of characters. But, this sterile setting is well-drawn and well-animated. This is the art expected in a love-story, so let it be.
But what's with all the gothic lolita clothing? Elaborate dresses are used only in sex and the Victorian period! I note the scene where Yume clutches the black maid's outfit at the baker's shop, and I wonderd: "do you honestly want to wear that in public?" It was wierd.
Also, I liked the little touches outside of the show: the loading screens and the mouse-clicks in between commercials let the viewer know that this story is about Persocoms and technology.
Rating:
Sound
"Everything works, but for one Voice-Actor"
The most brilliant musical aspect of this series is the change from the first ending theme to the second ending theme. The first theme, Raison D'etre, portrays an idealised love story with its sugar-coated swing. Switch to Ningyo Hime, and things get serious.
I listened to both the subbed and dubbed version of Chobits, and all voice-acting is on target... except one notable voice actor in the dubbed version.
WHY DID STEVEN JAY BLUM HAVE TO PLAY THE TOOL-BAG BAKER?!!!!
"VICIOUS?! YOU THINK I'M VICIOUS?!"
"BIG-O! IT'S SHOWTIME!!!"
"I'LL CRUSH MY WAY THOUGH!"
"Even if you were a persocom, I still would've fallen in love with you..."
It doesn't work.
Rating:
Presentation
"A Cuter Version of Ghost-in-the-Shell"
This show is a bag of surprises. Most of the time, it's a cute, funny show, in an idealized environment, that really is designed to make the viewer happy. Then the series gets intellectually stimulating, showing the relationship between man and machine. Granted, with all the good stuff in there, one shouldn't forget that Ghost in the Shell is still the reigning authority of the Man-machine interface. But I was impressed.
I must say, though, that a guy who watches Chobits can't really mention to other guys that he watches Chobits. One has to see the whole series to understand. Just... keep it as a guilty pleasure.
Rating:
Final Verdict
8.0000 (good)
Reviewed by erkicman, Aug 20, 2006
Comments
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cyd84 Aug 21, 2006
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theangel-adam Aug 25, 2006
Wow man... that reviw is great, you have talent for this things.
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JKLeganes Aug 26, 2006
Great work! i agree Theangel-adam, you seem to be gifed for this, please keep on it! :)
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xmonkie Aug 29, 2006
I agree, the manga is very deep and touching. Wonderfully written review! It's very thorough! (:
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pretears Aug 30, 2006
wow! tt was NICE... =) keep it up! ^^
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Kukuru Aug 31, 2006
Interesting review - I love the fact that your intial thoughts echo what my thoughts are of the series at the moment. I've only seen about 5 episodes, and was a little annoyed with the blankness and guy appeal to it all, but because it is clamp, I still consider watching it, and after reading your review, it has me interested in watching it more :)
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cheza2283 Sep 12, 2006
Chobits was the very first anime that I ever watched. And I loved it from beginning to end. But I am with you in that I wanted to know the after story. But I find that most animes leave you hanging and wanting more. Even when animes have a second season they rarely finish up the series. Ai Yori Aoshi being one.
I really enjoyed your review and it gave me a new perspective. Thanks so much!
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Rhyme097 Sep 14, 2006
Yeah.. thanks for the great review ^^
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cereshe22 Sep 20, 2006
wow! nice review i enjoy reading it!
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gabysango2011 Sep 24, 2006
very very complete....i know everything about this anime...and i can say that this is a very veru good review
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Arekisu Oct 11, 2006
This is a wonderful review. Hope that you can write more!
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Hellsing15 Oct 23, 2006
u wrote a great review i agree that the end wasnt what i expected they should have added abit more to the story iwanted to see what exactly happened to Chii and Hideki did they live happily ever after anyway great review man keep up the good work
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Lionhearted911 Nov 02, 2006
yeah i agree totally with hellsing...
great review
but i still donno what happened with chii! haha
anyway thanks for the review, good job. -
V-chan88 Nov 17, 2006
i agree
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justsozo Nov 22, 2006
hi, I'm a fan of chobits here in Davao City, Philippines... well i really like it...i just hope that there are anime stores here... well it's great
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Chiro-kun Feb 14, 2007
A review which does the show justice though I feel it was a bit rushed towards the end. Nevertheless a good show and a good review!
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rukasu04 Mute Member Apr 28, 2009
Esta review esta muy legal, yo gostei mucho
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SchRita Jan 15, 2010
Thanks for the review!
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agasca311 Nov 08, 2012
If you want to buy this series for a cheap price in blu/ray or dvd go to www.artruoga.gps5.com/shop.php
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