Chobits

Absolute gem.
I am not writing this review in multiple paragraphs like some refined connoisseur of anime, so I'll be short and sweet, but please take my word for it when I say this is (personally) one of the best and cutest shows ever! The amount of times that I've re-watched Chobits to show a friend has been more than I can count, I've even physically bought the hardcover anniversary books just from how much I enjoyed it.

Chobits is a comfy romantic comedy, and one of the first anime series I've ever seen and fell in love with.
It's Sci-Fi, comedic, mysterious, and sometimes fanservice-y (if ... you're into that, though it definitely doesn't annoyingly interfere.) Its setting/vibe just feels so nostalgic and soothing. One of my favorite parts about this anime is the incredibly relaxing music, from the opening and credits to the transitions, all of it is just so catchy and unforgettable. I even still listen to some of these tracks years after discovering the show. Strongly encourage you to give it a try, it's worth the experience and concludes in a way that leaves you feeling warm, so it doesn't really need a second season even though you'll want more.

oh.. it hurts to give this just a 6 because i genuinely enjoyed this anime in every way, but from a critical standpoint, its just.. okay! lets get the negatives out of the way first;
first of all-- hideki sucks. lets get that out of the way. lack of depth, basic perverted male protag, basic design, quite annoying, it seems like the writers weren't being serious when writing him, which of course isnt a problem for a casual watcher such as myself, but when you're criticizing something its important to point out. i feel like theres only one memorable character in this entire series, chii, ... which each character should have some sort of depth, especially as the main character you are first introduced to. i also read the visual novel for the gba & the manga and hidekis lack of depth is consistent throughout all forms of this media which is quite.. dissapointing to say the least? the anime had many chances to redeem him but it kinda fell.. flat?

now onto the positives, the art style and the concept of persocoms is very charming and creative in general, the idea of having a robot thats meant to be a personal assisant, thats way too expensive to buy brand new, and you just find one in the dumpster? amazing. chii's backstory and arc throughout the anime is all around great aswell. however, i feel like hideki needs to go outside and get some hoes instead of trying to fuck the damn robot.

Hideaki Motosuwa. Hideaki is a country boy with dreams of being a freshman in college; dreams which are dashed as he is summarily denied entry into the school of his choice. Having decided to go to prep school in Tokyo, he soon finds himself living on his own in a small apartment trying to make ends meet. On his way home after a food run, he encounters what he first assumes is a dead body but what turns out to be a persocom left out on the trash heap wrapped in bandages which just barely cover her body. Amazed at his stroke of luck, Hideaki ... takes her home and turns her on. Upon power-up, it’s clear that this persocom, doesn’t have much going on upstairs, but somehow, she knows enough to smile and glomp [Like many fan girls I know…]. Further intrigued, Hideaki decides to keep her, giving her the name “Chi” [as that’s the only word she knows at first]. Upon analysis by resident middle school persocom guru Koushiro “Izzy” Izumi Minoru Kokubunji, it is determined that Chi possesses both highly sophisticated firewalls for protection and learning software which allows Chi to learn much like a human being. Hideaki then decides to take it upon himself to teach Chi about the world around her while he in turn learns about her, all the while managing his part time job at a local pub and his studies to get into college. As the series goes on, questions soon arise about Chi’s origins with the only clue being the legend of the “Chobits” persocoms, who, internet rumor has it, possesses the ability to exercise free will and show emotion. One thing that I liked about “Chobits” is the fact that it can be enjoyed on different levels; it can be enjoyed on a science fiction level, a romance level, or even a slice-of-life level; you get a lot for your money with “Chobits”. The story has a very decent flow to it, and there aren’t any real moments that slow it down or drag it on; each episode has a purpose that lends itself to the whole overall plot. The little side stories, where the plot deviates from Chi and Hideaki and focuses on the relationships of other characters, are enjoyable and tugs at the heartstrings. The ending would be perfect, were it not for two characters that were thrown into the fray at the last minute only to depart just as quickly. The ending would’ve done WAY better if they were either introduced at one point earlier in the series or omitted entirely. Other than that, “Chobits” is an enjoyable story that anyone can enjoy.

The characters of “Chobits” are a very special group. Each character has a unique personality and backstory that makes the story worth watching. Even the persocoms, which are, for the most part, mechanical objects, possess a personality and a character all their own. Our male lead, Hideaki, is pretty much an animated version of yours truly plus or minus a few traits. He’s awkward and a little naïve about the world he finds himself in, different from the farmlands of Hokkaido. He’s dense at times, but overall his heart is in the right place and he cares deeply about those around him, including but not limited to his persocom Chi. Chi is downright adorable and a perfect match with Hideaki. As she has no memory of her past or the current world she lives in, she’s also a little socially awkward and naïve, behaving more like a toddler than a computer, but over time, she grows and matures like Hideaki. Overall, I don’t have a real problem with any of the characters…except Yumi, the daughter of the owner of the bar where Hideaki works. I swear it was like Koishi Herikawa from “Please Teacher” all over again. Okay, let me get this straight: you fall in love with a man who is CLEARLY older than you, and then, when he marries his persocom, you develop a grudge and start fawning over another guy who is younger than the first guy, but still older than you are! What the heck is that about?! Ugh…my head is starting to ache again like it did with Koishi in “Please Teacher”…just take the points, Samurai…

“Chobits” doesn’t offer much in terms of musical prowess. Don’t get me wrong, the music is good, but it’s not that memorable. The opening theme song, “Let Me Be With You” by Round Table featuring Nino is bubbly and catchy, going well with the awesome animation. The end themes, “Raison d’être” (Reason to Be) by Rie Tanaka [On episodes 1-13], “Ningyo-Hime” (Mermaid Princess) by Rie Tanaka [Used in Episodes 14-25], and “Katakoto no Koi” (Awkward Love) by Rie Tanaka and Tomokazu Sugita used in the series finale all match perfectly and fit in the respective episodes that they’re used in. The incidental music is good without being overpowering, and its funny how sometimes the music takes on a techno-like feel to it one minute, and then take on a woodwind and strings feeling the next. It does the job and does it well.

Hello everyone! My name's turtle_222 and this is my first review,so it should be kinda bad but i'll be happy if u take your time to read it. I'm open for critism!

Chobits is romance drama anime with a lot of funny ecchi comedy situations. The plot isn't something unique but the idea of Persocoms is great in my opinion. The emotions from the main characters - Chii and Hideki are shown so great,that you even dont pay so much attention on the plot orginality. Sometimes you even can't trust that Chii is computer. I don't like some side characters,they don't look serious to me(for example,Minoru ... Persocoms,except Yuzuki of course), but the main characters who creates all the story is perfect,in my opinion.

The tehnologies have been changing so much. Personal computers now are "Persocoms",computers who looks like human beings.Typical perverted student,Hideki Motosuwa, has moved to the city to study. He sees those Persocoms everywhere,he wants one so bad. But he can't afford it.One day he's going home and near the trash he founds a Persocom and he tooks it. After he has brought it home,he turns it on and it seems like the Persocom only can say "Chii!". Hideki don't know anything about Persocoms,he really wants good persocom but he doesn't know what to do with Chii. Time is moving forward and Hideki meets more characters who knows things about Persocoms. Seems like there is a fact that Chi might be "Chobit",very advanced Persocom. Hideki will try to find out if Chii is one of those advanced persocoms called Chobits.

If you want to see good emotional romance anime,then you really should check out Chobits. Also it has a lot of funny moments, what makes it even better. The art is nice for that year i think,also there are no problems with sound. The opening song can confuse a little bit,but you will get used to it,haha!

English is not my native language,sorry for so many mistakes,but thank you for reading this!

Often in anime, the really small things can be what makes a show shine, or makes the show absolute crap. A single character may be the focal point in the decision of whether to recommend a show or not. The ending could be sub-par. It could be any little detail that can be overlooked by some people. This sorta happened to me after watching Chobits.

STORY
The story takes place in the future, where humans have built personal ‘’humanoid computers’’, basically robots that look like humans. These Persocoms, as they are called, are used for any job their owner wishes.
Enter our main male protagonist, Kyon.
Er, sorry... Hideki ... Motosuwa. I got confused as he’s voiced by both Crispin Freeman AND Tomokasu Sugita. He kinda looks like him too... Hideki is a typical village farmer boy, whose dream is to study in Tokyo, but he fails, and ends up in Tokyo at a cram school. He begins to wish he could buy a Persocom, but due to his lack of IT skills and money, he can’t. Until he sees one thrown in a dumpster, and decides to keep it.
As he switches on his persocom, he finds out that all she can say, is “Chii”, so he gives her this name.
As the story progresses, Hideki begins to realise that Chii is not like a typical Persocom, but in fact, could be, one of the legendary advanced Persocoms, Chobits.

CHARACTERS
The characters are in my opinion where Chobits trips and falls. The main duo, Hideki and Chii are what drives the show on, however it’s the secondary characters that are off. For example, let’s take Hideki’s new friend and neighbour Shinbo, who begins as a normal side character, and Hideki’s school teacher Shimizu Takako. The few episodes that are meant to put them into the spotlight for “character development” are SO stupid,
(SPOILER!) I mean, there are so many things you can do, but because the teacher (who is an adult, just as a reminder) is married to guy who prefers spending time with his Persocoms rather than his wife, she runs away with Shinbo, who later proposes to her. WHAT THE F......?!
(End of Spoiler)
Also, this anime features the most annoying character I have ever seen, Sumomo, Shinbo’s Persocom. Her dialogue at times made me want to put my head through a wall.

ANIMATION & SOUND
For a show that was done in 2002, the animation looks pretty decent. Well, this is Studio Madhouse we’re talking about. This was the time when digital animation was beginning, but the show still managed to pull off the two animation styles for comedic moments, and serious moments.

The soundtrack of Chobits is enjoyable, consisting of orchestral strings, with synthesisers for a relaxing atmosphere... The opening song, is one of the best I’ve heard. I didn’t like it as much from the beginning, but after listening to it over and over again, it ended up stuck in my head, because of how catchy it is... The soundtrack is also able to stay with the tempo of the story, so when things get serious, so does the music. The best example is “Dark Chii’s Theme”, which is a mix of upbeat digital synths, a 90’s style dance beat and lyrical strings.

I watched this show in English dub, and I really enjoyed the performances, especially by Crispin Freeman, Michelle Ruff, Karen Strassman, Mona Marshall, Wendee Lee and Tony Oliver... a really enjoyable dub...

Evaluation:

Overall, Chobits has a great story, which (unfortunately) focuses more on the slice of life/romance rather than the whole “Relationships between Humans and Artifical Intelligence”. In short, rather bad pacing, which ended up in a fast bucketload of explanations and a confusing ending. Could have been done better, but there are worse examples. Good show, but could have done better.

It's your basic Perverted College Entrance Exam Failure meets Cute Robot... well, if you consider anything like that basic, because before this, I wouldn't have even thought of something like that. After watching this series from Episode 1-24 and an OVA episode, let me just say, this really made me laugh my butt off. For those who love those animes with those awkward bath house or tripping and falling on top of a girl by mistake moments, this show has plenty of that. Aside from those things, this show has a lot of feel-good moments in it too. As you may have read in the ... description, an ordinary guy happens to come across a robot in the trash, but it's brand new, so he decides to take it home. He powers her up, and that's where the long, yet wonderful story begins.

For those of you who have seen those "boy meets girl" animes, let me just say it isn't anything like that. The story is original as far as I know, and there is one major plot mixed in with other minor plots all throughout the series, so of course they have a fairly good conclusion to the show, only I won't be giving any spoilers any time soon, so watch and see. The minor stories range from taking baths, going to underwear stores, and getting trapped in a MMORPG. Lots of randomness, but all good.

Artwork was good. I didn't particularly find any qualities that girls find in men with the main guy, but Chi and the rest of the characters are a different story. All of the girl protagonists in the show are cute, and you'll be able to see why he has all those perverted fantasies about them. Along with the characters, the rest of the scenery is fairly well made.

I like all the voice actors in the show, they matched their characters perfectly, but the only thing that bugged the heck out of me was having to listen to Chi say "chi" all the time. It was cute at first, but then episode 2 was like "Yeah, so does she say anything else?", and then later on I was all like "Ok seriously, learn more words, this is really getting annoying.". Luckily it doesn't go like that for the whole series, or I really would have thought about muting the sound and switching on the subs, but to take Chi's place, Momo came into the picture. THAT'S when I switched to subs every time she would make an appearance.

Setting the artwork aside, the characters are all lovable, funny, and with the exception of Momo, there wasn't 1 character that I disliked. Hideki's perverted personality was what sealed the deal for me when I started watching this show cause I couldn't stop laughing at every awkward moment in the show. Chi is playful, cute, and without her, I have no idea what this show would be like. Rest of the minors fit in well with the story.

On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a 9 for enjoyment, just because of those few "I can't stand it anymore, here comes the subs" moments. I liked the show a lot, like seriously, it was the first good anime I had to spend a full night awake watching. Hopefully this review was helpful to most of you.

This was my second anime and by far, my favorite! The story was the typical, some pervert finds an naked girl somewhere where he would least expect it, brings her home, and she ends up having some amazing power and an dark past that he would have never imagined kind of story, so I was thinking, here we go again when I saw this anime, and even though it is that typical anime, It managed to keep my attention more than any other anime with that story would, I just couldn't get enough of Chi! As the description says it has ecchi which i am ... not very fond of, but it was able to keep my attention by having an intresting story line and keeping me wondering what is going to happen next becuase i love Chi's fun personality and cuteness. She got into alot of mature situations which are unexpected becuase she is like an little girl, little common sense, very cute, overly sensitive, the whole lot of the little girl charasitics.But my attention grabber was not just Chi! As I said before, I loved the story line. So if you are 18 or,16 at the least, do not mind ecchiness, and are fine with this kind of typical story, watch Chobits now! You are in for a treat that will keep you coming back for more!

It’s been a while since I have written a review. Well here goes I will tell exactly what I felt while I was watching it and hope it will encourage you to watch this beautiful story of love breaking all boundaries "because no matter what being happy in life is the most valuable treasure".(It said that this has echchi comedy moments but there was very less and I wish there was a bit more comedy but it’s just me ok.the story is pure gold)

story-the plot starts very simple with lot of questions given from the very beginning so it’s fun because you feel like you ... have to find the answers right now just as the lead male character feel in this case "HIDEKI"this story is a pure definition to what real love is, like how love spouse to feel and what you should look for. it tells the viewer this is what real love is and kind of ask us in a way “have you ever known love like this?” if not then it’s not love. So if you watch it you will have a bigger heart than before to think different and the right way about love. This story contains all kinds of love and different plots for each character and their own happy endings. This was a very brilliant move by the writers.

art-was good very fluid like water very smooth and lot of fantastic details on the background but I had a problem (remember only i had a problem) with their eyes (hidekis eye was ok because it suited his character) it wasn't that animated (for me) at all it kind looked wired (for me) I mean it wasn't beautiful it was dead like in zombis.they didn’t put that much detail in to it (for me).that’s the only this that bugged me. This was an amazing story that’s why. Couldn’t they give them perfect anime eyes i hope you get what I’m saying? But that makes it unique form other anime there so it’s still a plus point.

sound-I loved the opening theme and the ending theme songs no problem but they should have at least change the animation of it though, seeing the same thing kind of board me but I got through with it because music was fun and energetic and i love the song and the story was just mind blowing good, there was a plot twist in every corner.background music was so much fun and funny but was dramatic when it needed to be, it was top notch.

Characters-this was the main point in my case the characters had so many different but same views in love. it’s like everyone's going to the same school using different kind of transportation, sub characters were like “teachers to hideki and chi “in to showing what love actually is.sub characters were like cherry on top, they worked really well together .I felt like they belonged there and nowhere else. Every character was handle perfectly very carefully and it paid off “hands off to the writer”.hideki- I think represented us in this unknown advanced world....he was so much fun to watch also you can feel what he can feel at the moment because he is a normal person like us.i was very touched by his actions and emotion because he did things that I would have done. The way he think, the things he say, the things he go through, I felt everything the same way he felt at that very moment. He was the character that I saw myself in. Chi-was just adorable learning little by little, what she is looking for (she knew it from the begging that she want a special person to love but it was hidden in the past), what love is and when she found out the uneasy feeling that she has deep inside her heart is love, she wasn’t afraid to follow her heart think she was very brave and inspiring to all girls out there to know what they really want and learn to do what your heart tells you. this was a story of love, for all kinds of people, so I invite you to come fall in love like never before "the story tells being loved by someone, anyone and falling in love with the special someone is the way to be happy “so what are you waiting for go watch it now!

From the moment I started this anime show , judging by the genres,characters I knew I would drop it, and yes I did!

Story 6/10
I do admit, the story line was unique and new to anime. Set in the future, computers have developed in to Persocoms that a humans have a human appearance. Hideki, this farm guy who transfers to tokyo for prep school, its one of those who want one but cant afford to, because he is poor and dumb- no offence, but ALL of FrEaKin sudden he finds one that has been thrown away! He gets it and keeps it in his ... flat! Oh wow how sad is that, its pre owned one! Then guess what! The Persocom turns out to be a rare one that has its own self conscience. And guess what, the ugly guy falls in love with the Persocom...
How sad

Art 9/10
The art and animation was quite good for a 2002 anime show, aswell as it was available in 1080p, which was impressive. The animation for the opening fitted the opening music efficiently. The was quite detailed animation at some part. Definitely deserves 9/10.

Sound 3/10
The song for the opening/ending themes we kawaii and really fitted the story and atmosphere of the anime show and scored some points. The OST was like urrrrrhhhh!!!!. It was horid and annoying. They completely destroyed the atmosphere of the show for me, in my opinion. There were only a few good OSTs in the anime show.

Character 5/10
The character design of Chi was quite impressive. The Persocom had a mysterious appearance but has a kawaiii element. But the rest of the designs for rest of the characters were awful. To be honest they didn't suit the show.

Enjoyment 5/10
When I first started this it seemed interesting, but got awful rapidly. There were some awkward scenes throughout. They were some boring scenes, that in fact I had to see the video bar on how much minutes were left of the episode.

Overall 4/10
Its a below average show in my opinion. Its not my type to be honest. Overall 4/10 Quite simular to the movie 'Her'.

Thanks for reading my review :-)

I absolutely loved this anime. I had been hearing about it for a very long time and out of curiosity decided to try it out, and I’m glad that I did.

The story was very original. I have never heard of or seen anything like it. I liked the fact that it was romantic but not too over the top. The episodes themselves were very interesting. At times, I had to forcefully pull myself from the screen to stop watching. It had been a while since that last happened. The characters were designed beautifully. Chii, especially Chii, was made into a totally cutie. She had ... the right mix of innocence and sensuality. I’m glad that she wasn’t made into the typical over the top sexy protagonist. Personality wise, I loved the character development. The characters were well rounded and relatable.

I first began watching Chobits in Japanese. I think the voices fit every character perfectly. About 10 episodes into the series, I began watching it in English and I was amazed. The voices sounded so familiar to the Japanese ones. I was really impressed.

Overall, I recommend this to anybody. I’ve heard of some people that refuse to watch it because they think its all ecchi. But that’s really not the point of the series. Sure, it has its moments done in good taste for humor, more toward the beginning, but it eventually steps away from that. It’s a heartwarming, romantic, funny, and interesting anime. I give it a 9/10.

This is one of the best Animes I've seen so far, and I've watched many. Chobits is a Sci-fi - Romance basically, that shows a possible future, and what true love can do.

Story:

Pure Romance, and it doesn't just show 1 couple, but others too, and it shows that love can be hard sometimes, but if you really try, everything is possible, and you may be happy, so what the anime shows is, even an "impossible" relationship, with really hard things and differences on the way, love can beat them. If you like Romance mostly, you shall LOVE this anime, from the ... beginning to the end.

Art:

Really great art, but I don't know....it seems like there's something off, but I really don't know, I still really love the art. Oh well...

Sound:

Sounds are perfect. No problems in any type of sound, everything seems so....real.

Characters:

I really love the personality of almost every character in the anime, mostly Chi's and Hideki's. Chi is a girl that if I were in Hideki's place, you can be sure that I would fall in love with her deeply. Hideki because he remembers really much how I am, the way he acts, everything, I love it.

Enjoyment:

Perfect. I enjoyed every episode, no episode was useless, and every of them was really fun to watch. Even thou I have little time and prefer playing games, all the time I had, I prefered to watch the Anime, I couldn't stop watching it, when the episode ended, hah, I got crazy like "I MUST WATCH THE NEXT EPISODE OMG!!!!!".

Others:

Oh, by the way, if you are going to start watching this Anime because there is "Ecchi" in the Genre, sorry, forget about this anime. There is Ecchi in the anime? Yeah, but it's really, really, really weak. There are no big boobs and big asses, the main character always falling over the girls and putting his face between their boobs or legs, nothing. This is more of a Romance anime, not ecchi, sorry.
______________________________________________________________

That's it, hope it was helpful, and, thanks for reading.

This is the most boring anime that I have ever watched. Seriously, I really had to force myself to complete the series. A total snooze fest. Also, Hideki and Chii’s relationship made me really uncomfortable, it gave off pedophilic vibes. Chii looks like a pre-teen and acts like a child. Really disturbing. Hideki basically ends up falling in love with a underage looking robot, with the mentality of a child and who has no personality, and that he can’t even have a proper conversation with.
Another creepy thing is how her power switch is located in her private parts... And Hideki has to molest her ... to turn her on (literally).

Honestly, I have no clue why this series is so popular. Many people seem to love it and are gushing over it like its the best thing ever. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I mean, fine the premise seems promising(which is the only reason why i bothered starting it) but thats about it.
The series doesn't even have a proper plot or story arcs. The explanation for why chobits exist and why they are able to exhibit human emotions were also very vague. The human brain is a complex thing. It's the only part of the human body that can't be replicated or cloned. And this ... series isn't even set THAT far into the future, just a couple of years from now. That means that science couldn't possibly have progressed to a point where you can have robots, oh sorry i mean PERSOCOMMS that can think and feel on their own. I mean, come on. Even sci-fi should be based on what we already know. But i shan't bore you with the scientific inaccuracies of the series. Let's move on to something more fun to mock: the plot. Or shall we say, the NON-EXISTENT plot.

Each episode is just random and mundane things happening to chi and hideki in a setting thats small and uninteresting. One can probably argue that thats the appeal of the series, but it didn't work for me. That's just an excuse for filler anyway. When I read the synopsis, i expected the series to be a sci-fi/psychological anime but it took a whole other turn which genuinely surprised me. It would probably have been better if it were done in a darker tone.

Another huge problem for me were the characters. Chi was obviously designed to be cute and innocent but she just came off as stupid and annoying. Her mannerisms were slightly irritating in the first couple of episodes but then it just became unbearable. Maybe i just hate these overrated, so-called kawaii female characters. Hideki was just your typical horny teenage boy with a stash of porn mags. He is stupid, pathetic and makes you wonder why the hell he was chosen as the protagonist instead of shindo. By the way, if shindo was the protagonist, the series would probably be called 'the mundane troubles of my perverted neighbour and his insipid robot'. He's also shallow and doesn't give a hoot as long as the chick in front of him is cute and bangable, which was probably the only reasons why he fell for chi, since she doesnt seem to possess any other traits. In the underwear episode, as i like to call it, he insists repeatedly to chi that he isn't a pervert, which totally explains why he leaves he porn mags lying around the apartment and letting his mindless pet robot browse through them whenever she likes. The only thing that surprised me about him was why he didn't just rape the crap out of chi the second he brought her back.

The plot(oh wait there wasn't one) was just so mind-numbingly slow moving it kills brain cells, man. And the thing about the book..oh god. come on, what are the chances? she just LOOKS at a random book in a bookstore and coincidentally, it becomes a huge part of the ''plot''.
So yeah, this series hovers between average and bad for me, when its not teetering on the edge of hentai.(if there was such a rating)

This was quite a cute anime indeed. Chii's adorable persona is irresistible and Hideki's pervert-like nature adds a a comedic flair to the series. Chii's senselessness personality, however, made it a bit difficult and irritating to watch sometimes. I get that her memory was wiped and she didn't understand how to function properly, but did she really need to be "dumbed down" that much?

Even so, it was still a fairly enjoyable series to watch and the supporting characters were just as funny and adorable as the main characters. The story along with Hideki and Chii's bond were both strong factors that kept the series ... entertaining.

Synopsis
Having failed to earn admission to a university, Hideki Motosuwa has moved to the big city, determined to study his hardest for next year's exams. However, an unusual distraction presents itself one unsuspecting day in the form of Chii, a robotic young girl that has been discarded in the trash. In a world where an increasing number of people turn to these 'persocons' for company, the bonds and limits of human relationships are tested as flesh manages to fall in love with the machine itself...

Story (8/10)
Chobits is a charming series which portrays, weirdly enough, a touching relationship between man and his computer. Incidentally, it ... also brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘to turn a girl on'.

As well as providing excellent comedy moments to enhance the emotional experience, Chobits delivers an intriguing social commentary on the relationship between humans and machines. Sure, watching Chii stumble adorably through simple social situations with hilarious consequences left me feeling warm and cheerful. However, later, as the series introduced the more controversial subplots, I found myself emotionally confused (in a good way) and a touch saddened. I am unsure whether I agree with the possibilities opened up by the story, although I appreciate how important these issues are for the characters. At the least I take this as a sign of the series' complexity.

Whilst largely episodic, with the series revolving around Chii's step-by-step development and Hideki's bumbling responses to it, there also exists an overarching sad tone which only comes to the fore towards the end. In this way, it is comparable to series like Fruits Basket and, just like Fruits Basket, the delivery of the last few episodes is great. On the one hand, what happens to the central protagonists is quite melodramatic but, in terms of the wider implications, the series delivers an intriguing, open-ended conclusion.

Everything considered, only one question remains: why does it not deserve the full marks available? The problem is that Chobits remains trapped by its genre, with the plot hinging upon the ‘single male with female guest in his apartment' gimmick. Although presented with utmost skill, the fact remains that there are only so many new ideas to be found here. The result is that the bulk of episodes in the middle are stereotypical and wholly skippable with the second viewing.

Animation (8/10)
Being a typical CLAMP feature, Chobits has a clean, fresh look, with the palette comprised mostly of pleasant pastels. Movement is smooth throughout and the comic expressions hit the spot every time. Because of the combination of simple-yet-elegant design and quality visuals, dating the series is not straightforward; meaning it will continue to look good for a long while yet.

Animation-wise, my only problem is with the character designs of Chii and Hideki. I find it discomfiting that this guy who looks twenty-five (although he is nineteen) is supposedly in love with a girl that looks twelve (although, technically, she is ageless). There is a believable reason why she looks that way, but that does not stop me pulling the odd face, particularly at the ecchi scenarios.

Characters (8/10)
Chii is everything a guy could ever want - docile, loyal as hell, and forever pubescent. Not to mention that she looks great in a towel. Going by past experience with similar characters, I expected nothing substantial from her... which means I was pleasantly surprised at the extent to which she did develop. At first she just does a lot of endearing things like mimic Hideki's actions and act innocent at the most inappropriate times, which only evokes a lot of sentimental gushing. Eventually, her own will and personality start to come across; although, disappointingly, she does not mature to the extent that she could have. By the end, she still seems a lot more victim than heroine, albeit a highly sympathetic one.

Just like Chii, but on a different level, Hideki Motozuwa is a fish out of water character. A farm boy trying to make it in cosmopolitan Tokyo, he is shy around girlie things, kind and considerate, and totally lacking in the brain department. Hideki is ninety percent stereotypical - down to the nosebleeds and the virginity - but the ten percent of personality that he has stops him being annoyingly flat. For example, his patience when teaching Chii, how he provides for her at considerable cost to himself, his active concern for her when she is not with him, and his willingness to learn from her in turn, are indicators of a deep and admirable soul. Moreover, the fact that Hideki provides some classic comedy moments makes warming to him very easy.

The rest of the cast, including Hideki's best friend Hiromu Shinbo, Yumi the waitress, Minoru Kokubunji the child expert, Mr. Ueda the baker, and Chitose Hibiya the landlady, all have fantastic backgrounds. They provide subplots which are not only emotional in their own right, but feed meaningfully into the central plot as well. Each character's situation is a memorable variation on the same theme and gives a fascinating insight into Chobits's controversy.

Overall (8/10)
Chobits is enjoyable through and through, just not rewatchable through and through. Barring the formulaic structure, it seems to have no major flaws to speak of; after all, it has characters that are interesting, delivers some truly heart-warming moments, and looks very good. If you are looking for a romance with a mostly-sweet-sometimes-sad feel, then this one comes highly recommended.

Chobits is an anime that I always wanted to watch since it came out, but somehow missed the chance every time. Years later, I finally got to watch it, and all I can say, it was almost everything I expected it to be. Almost.

Chobits takes place in the near future, where Personal Computers (or Persocoms for short) are no longer boxes on desks, but walking talking androids...with inexplicable cat ears. In other words, persocoms are laptops, tablets, smartphones, GPS system and a lot more, in a human-like cybernetic body, with the power of a supercomputer. It's a sight straight out of the "Uncanny Valley".

At the ... beginning of the story, we meet our protagonist, Hideki. A plain farmer boy from a rural village, who decides to ditch the pitchfork, leave the family farm, and go to a college in the big city. His ultimate dream is to buy his own persocom. Growing up in the middle of nowhere he only ever seen them (and modern technology in general) in magazines, so he doesn't really know what to expect. Imagine his surprise, when the first day walking home from shopping, he finds a seemingly completely intact persocom, with the looks of a hot high-school girl, thrown out in the trash. Seeing it as a divine gift, he lugs the thing back to his apartment and ushers it to life.

Enter Chi, our second protagonist and poster girl of the series. She is unmistakably a persocom, but apparently she lost all her programming somehow, so aside from basic motions the only thing she is capable of doing is saying "chi" a lot. She does have a learning software, so it seems it's up to her new owner Hideki to teach her everything about everything.

As far as story goes, we've seen this master-disciple (or senpai-underdog) dynamic in tons of other anime and movies already. But, given this premise, one would expect hilarity and fun times to ensue, as Hideki, the clueless hillbily, tries to teach the oblivious android about life in the big city. It's the typical "blind leading the blind" formula, which can be a really fun concept when done right. And it also could be a heartwarming coming-of-age story, as Hideki and Chi go on a journey together, to experience and learn about life. Or, more precisely, could've been, since apparently the creators of this series had a wholly different thing in mind.

Instead of letting this pretty damn good premise loose to run it's course, they forced the story into a quite uncomfortable scaffold of high moralizing and pretentious "deeper meaning". In the first half of the series, there is tons of fun to be had, as both Hideki and Chi are struggling to adjust to life in the futuristic big city. But as the series progresses, the story and the tone unapologetically starts to weer off course from the fun hijinks, and shoves a lot of needless drama and hard questions in our faces, like human rights of androids, persocom addiction, dependency on technology and the whole argument about whether or not android could have real feelings or what constitutes being "alive" or "human". I had flashbacks to the Bicentennial Man from Asimov, since this is the same exact story, sans the cute nekomimi android chick. Don't misunderstand me, I was always a proponent of anime having many layers and a meaningful story that deals with real problems. Even in Chobits, there are a number of pretty well made arguments about said things, and it asks a few hard questions to think about. But sadly, it doesn't stop there, and goes beyond to the point where it started to feel extremely forced and tacky. Especially the last few episodes, where the anime completely goes off the rails to force in a vapid, self-serving "big reveal" about some secret conspiracy and a forced tear-jerker backstory. Add some unnecessary action scenes, a pedantic life lesson about the power of love or something, and it all congeals in an ending that just makes no sense whatsoever. Trying to pull a half-"Elfen Lied" and half-"Do Androids Dream Of Electic Sheep?" was the wrong move here.

(Honestly, I would've been fine just watching Hideki and Chi learning things together, experiencing many things for the first time and trying to both find their ways in a quasi-unexplored world of high-tech city life, and life in general. Seeing things and situations from both Hideki's (human) and Chi's (android) point of view would've made for some very interesting moments and things to think about. This duality in their relationship could've been explored way more, and would've made for a really intriguing series. But alas, nothing in life is perfect.)

In closing, I would still recommend Chobits, despite all the criticism I just laid on it. It's a really fun anime through and through, with laughs, emotions, drama and some hard questions. The art design and animation is top notch, Chi is super cute and the whole story is charming and endearing, despite falling apart in the end. If you want to watch a really good anime with lots of personality, Chobits is the one for you. Just...try to take the latter half of the series with a grain of salt, and you'll have much fun :)

First off, I'd like to say that any CLAMP lover would surely love this. As would (I'm sure) someone who is a bit new to anime, as the typical scenario of a male surrounded by females would not seem as overdone to them. But unfortunately I've seen it so much that it started, for me, on a wrong note.

The characters are a typical setup, which you will quickly notice. Not all anime can have unqiue and well thought out characters, I know, it's just unfortunate. The actual designs are quite appealing in some cases, as far as visuals are concerned. I really liked Chi's overall ... look, in fact, all the persocoms had quite nice designs. Again though, I felt the personality really lacked.

Story starts out simple but we know there is something bigger, or some kind of secret behind why Chi was thrown away. I'll admit a few things, there were some nice plot twists, even though a lot were predictable. And I'll also admit there were some lovely, almost magical scenes in the anime, often involving Chi. The anime is surprisingly pleasing to the eye (considering I personally hate CLAMP's art style, this is a big one for me), and the point of humanxmachine romance is oddly interesting. But I never really felt like there was much more, even with the story, something about it was just weak. Whether it was the typical ecchi/harem setup I mentioned before, the fairly predictable story, or the boring and overused personalities, it simply did not come across as much more than a visual pleaser with some romance. And for me, that's what let it down.

Don't get me wrong though, it's definitely good for a light romance with an actual plot leading it on, I just wouldn't personally call it anything of a masterpiece. Nor would I suggest it to anyone watching for the story instead of the romance. It's quite simply, a very typical anime.

First of all, if you always associate the "seinen" genre with extreme perversion and lots and lots of nudity, think again. I think Chobits might be an acception to this.
If anybody ever found anybody calling this anime "perversion with computers", anybody who says this is wrong.
There are no sex scenes in this anime and almost NO nudity. Sure, there's partial nudity in one scene and one scene where a character is seen naked from a distance, but it's so brief and undetailed that it doesn't really matter and doesn't affect the storyline at all.
In fact, I'd say most of this series ... is quite funny. The antics of the innocent and clueless Chi brought a smile to my face and brigtened my mood. Of course, the gangly and easily-excitable Hideki Motosuwa also contributed to my enjoyment of this series.
The story takes a darker turn closer to the end, and it left me excited and wanted to watch the final episodes one after the other right away. There are shockers in the end of the storyline. I thought something was coming, but I just didn't know what. Not at all. This series is full of surprises.
Going back to the misconception of "perversion with computers", this anime has a storyline. A storyline with many elements. If you are looking for perversion and no plot, go look for a hentai doujinshi. Seriously.
Chobits will not have that.

Chances are, even if you don’t know what anime is, you’ve seen Chii before. You’ve seen the persocom ‘ears’ before. They’re iconic.

Despite being a cloyingly cute, dusted-with-powdered-sugar and raspberries on the side slice of life anime, Chobits actually has much more to offer than what the plot summary would initially have you believe.

Technically, Chobits is a good looking show, not great. Slice of life anime often gets the shaft in terms of animation quality, and here it’s very basic. The character models are equally simple and the colors are very sweet, muted pastels; it’s a very cute anime to look at. CLAMP’s unique art style ... actually translates from manga to anime pretty seamlessly—something that sometimes works well, like in Rayearth, and sometimes horribly fails, like in xxxHolic. The music is equally precious and poppy, unbelievably catchy, and a perfect fit for the series.

The first two thirds of the show are all kinds of adorable, where Hideki and Chii find themselves in different every day situations—a day at the beach, looking for a job, cramming for a final. Unlike most persocoms, Chii doesn’t understand humans or their world, and it’s endearing watching Hideki attempt to teach her how to play an MMORPG as well as impress upon her the importance of wearing underwear.

Chobits was good because it finds itself in every position to degenerate into a raunchy ecchi fest—after all, we’re dealing with a 19 year old male and his beautiful, innocent, eager to please computer—but it never does.

Given our magical girlfriend and harem genres, we should expect to get the typical character tropes we’re used to seeing: (a) totally average, sexually aroused teenage guy at the harem’s center, (b) innocent, eager to please beautiful girl who is in love with the average guy for seemingly no good reason, and (c) other varied members of the harem, some sweet, some feisty, but all hot and all pining after character (a) also for seemingly no good reason.

What CLAMP does is smartly adjust these tropes to make it legitimately work in the story they tell, and not simply pandering for the sake of entertainment. Is Hideki a pervert? Of course he is; he’s a 19 year old male. But at heart, Hideki is really an old fashioned, good guy. Yeah he enters a conversation with any female who will engage him, thinking ’good things’ will come by the end of it, but then he usually finds himself in the position of the guy who sits there listening to her feelings, sincerely offering advice, and talking through the problem. Hideki is also in a perfect position to take advantage of Chii. He is after all her master, and she doesn’t have the human sense or even conventional persocom sense to know any better. The difference is, Hideki ultimately views Chii as a person, not a machine, and no matter how hot and bothered she makes him, he could never bring himself to treat a someone he views as a woman that way.

Hideki’s ‘harem’ is similarly adjusted. While he may be lusting after them, his landlady, his cram school professor, and his cute coworker all lead their own lives and have their own set of problems to be dealing with, instead of blindly lusting after a guy just because he happens to be the protagonist. The three of them also actually serve purpose; they all directly tie into the plot and persocoms in some way and contribute to the overall discussion Chobits engages in.

And then we have Chii, the innocent girl ready to do whatever Hideki asks of her. But here, it actually makes sense. There’s a reason for Chii to be this sweet and naive; she’s a robot, and one who’s memories were completely wiped from her hard drive. Upon waking up again, Hideki is the only person she has; why wouldn’t Chii like Hideki? He’s kind to her. He takes the time to find her a job and buy her books, when he really should be studying. She should want to reciprocate his kindness. And he other thing that makes us invested in her, is that we, like Hideki, are left to wonder what makes Chii different from other persocoms; who she really is, what she was like before Hideki found her, and why she was abandoned on the side of the street.

So characters established, in the first two thirds, among all the cutness and the antics, there’s foreshadowing of an odd sense of foreboding about Chii, and not even she knows what it is or what it means.

But it’s the shift in focus for the last third of the series that really made it stand out. Throughout, Hideki has attempted to fall in love with all of the members of his ‘harem’. However, at the end of the day, Hideki always finds himself happiest and most comfortable when he’s with Chii. But how can he in good confidence fall in love with a cold yet captivating machine?

The anime explores the relationship between the persocoms and human beings, and then uses this to explore relationships in general. The issues they cover are complex as these humanoid supercomputers have become fully integrated into daily life. Whether we’re referring to persocoms or people, it gets into themes of perfection, age and economic differences in relationships, and societal norms and stigmas that force people both together and apart. What is it about human beings that separate them from these machines? Or can you program a person’s physical appearance and personality traits into a computer, and synthesize a replacement?

I’ve read before that CLAMP are notorious for exploring and manipulating the concept of love from all angles; Chobits does just that.

Are these computers are really capable of emotion, or are their owners are just projecting onto their already human like forms—and even if they are, who’s to say it isn’t okay? A lot of stories try to convey the message of true love having no boundaries, but Chobits pushes the idea in a different way that is still translatable to the world we live in now. Decades ago, interracial relationships were considered blasphemous and marriage between different ‘racial’ groups was illegal; today, gender and sexuality identity is under the same debate. Who’s to say that decades from now, the notion of love between humans and humanoid robots won’t parallel these same issues we see today?

Overall, there’s good reason to strongly recommend this series. It’s really done a lot to class up our typical magical girl harem style fanfare. Chobits is a great classic because it got us to really think about a simple love story between a hormonally stressed out boy and his computer.

The story is pretty interesting, though the anime sadly lacks compared to the beautiful manga from CLAMP. They cut so much out and yet seemed to add things to it that were not in the original manga. In that way, it loses a lot of the meaning behind it. The story line isn’t really all that new, something we have seen a lot in media where humanoid robots take over the world, being built to be peoples slaves and sometimes sexually created. Then suddenly one goes crazy.

It’s not only in the anime but the manga as well that Chi’s restart and turn on button is ... her… privet place. It makes it rather creepy and pretty perverted. This whole show has a lot of fan service that isn’t in the manga which just makes things even worse. Another strange thing that happened to the anime is that the numbers got a bit odd when they brought it over. It happened from the 9th episode up. You see, the 9th episode was supposed to be actually a half episode called 8.5 instead. It was a recap…and the same goes for episode 20 which was supposed to be 18.5. Now I have to ask… why do we need this many recaps for a 26 episode series? I mean, we really aren’t that dumb and it does get really old. And even more bothersome is that there is actually a 27th (24.5) episode that was unaired and is only shown as on the DVD! You can guess what I’m going to say about that… its another bloody RECAP! Like we need one after the last show has aired! And because its on the DVD, it feels very stupid on their part because the person watching was probably marathon the show to begin with…

The comical part is actually pretty funny and the only Romance I see is Hideki’s problems with women. It’s rather bothersome sometimes. He just seems really off a lot of the times and though they give him a good reason to be, it just makes him like every other character in a harem anime. It’s a bit annoying because he doesn’t seem to have his own characteristics.

Unfortunately, the same goes for Chi and her strange personality. She’s like a little child who doesn’t know anything at all and a lot of times, it just feels really annoying. She just has no real emotions for most of the show and when she does show them, it’s rather sad or really happy. I would have at least liked to show her mad at one point.

The art style is beautiful, no duh, it is clamp that first created it and the style matches the manga pretty damn well. Unfortunately, it also has its downsides with how flat the faces look and you don’t really see their noses well when they are looking right at you. The mouths are rather small and every once in a while, you will get a character that has a chibifide expression but otherwise, it’s rather plain. The women’s hair normally is what looks the most beautiful.

The voices are alright, some work well and others in both the English and Japanese dub are not that good. Chi is really cute but her voice hurts my ears when I have to listen to her for long periods at a time like when she is walking down the street saying underpants. It’s funny, but ugg… my ears!