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Plot Synopsis

Based off the shounen manga by Clamp, "Chobits" is set in the near future where persocoms (human-like computers) are common in the world. Cue in your average nice guy Motosuwa Hideki, 18 years old, a retester and a virgin at that~ He sets off to Tokyo to study at a prep school in order to get into college and on the way finds an abandoned persocom in the trash pile. Reasoning that he's reducing industrial waste, Hideki brings the the persocom back and switches her on.... At first it may seem like another boy meets mysterious girl kind of story, but Chobits goes much deeper that your average shounen story. The storyline explores some of the more mature aspects of an imminent future with machines replacing humans, of love, friendship, and what it really means to be "alive." Though even with it's mature themes, the overall look of Chobits is lighthearted at best. The comedy is very funny, though a bit ecchi at times it's done tastefully enough that anyone can enjoy it! All in all, Chobits plays out as a well written and thoroughly enjoyable love story.

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

8 (good)

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

8 (good)

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

8 (good)

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

8 (good)

Final Verdict

8.00 (good)

Reviewed by erkicman, 1y 38wk ago