The story focuses on Hideki moving from the country to the city for a good old college education. Persocoms or better known as personal computers with human form are all the rage in technology. Of course, they are expensive and Hideki doesn’t have one, but low and behold he finds a mysterious abandoned one and takes it home. He names it Chi based on that is the only word it can say along with the memory wiped (amnesia for robots). The story unfolds behind the origins of Chi and the developments of Hideki’s relationship to it. All with the main question of the anime, “when computers look like a human, does love remain the same?”
The theme, plot, and drama have a good idea that is unfortunately poorly executed over 24 episodes (plus 2 recap). As much as the series starts off as interesting, everything seems a bit too much like trying to grasp at romantic comedy straws very similar to Maison Ikkoku, but failing instead. Semi-perverted college guy moves into a new boarding place and ends up falling in love. Comedic elements ensue with romantic developments, and a slow moving plot to say the least. All aspects similar to the formula Maison Ikkoku used in the 80s, but Maison Ikkoku told a story the audience cared about.
Chobits misses these elements by instead focusing on the perversions of Hideki and his new robot, and the robotic demeaning of women. This series takes a lot of flak for this. Persocoms are mostly obedient woman and stripped of thinking on their own with only what the man programs into them. This series literally objectifies woman. There are even episodes where there are entire episodes focused on Chi doing cute robot things like getting lost chasing a cat for example.
Looking past all of that, the series is animated well, but everything else seems a bit just above average for the time. Characters only develop slightly even though one is a robot with development to program, art has little detail but foreground animation gets emotions across with the character designs, while side characters are more interesting than the main ones. It’s hard to gage an anime where there is just enough to hook an anime fan, but improper fan service and an unsatisfying conclusion just leads a little too much to be desired. Chobits had the potential for something more, which leads to nothing more than an average anime with some extra elements for slightly more entertainment.
