First impressions, so when i first heard about this seruies in my rookie days,
I first thought in passing that it was about a county hillbilly and the used sexbot he found in the trash bin. Which don't get me wrong the series is anything but like this in the slightest it just during the rookie days I was very willing to judge things with quite the superficial leans rather than judging the content a series provides.
Chobits is one such example for me of how you never should judge a book by its cover.
Story, 7/10
So in our modern day society where almost everything is connected to the internet that allows us to talk with people from all over the world and have endless information at the edge of our figure tips or smartphones that can download terabytes of porn at the speed of light, what is going to be the next big leap in technology.
Well,the answer is obviously sexbots robots with wi-fi capacities but in all seriousness and jokeing aside. The next step in technology would be humanoid robots and advanced A.I that look and act almost human and how would that development affect humanty and socialty as a whole well we are about to find out?
So the story of Chobits begins being is about a poor as fuck college student named Hideki who trying to make it in the big city, one day while coming back from work he comes across an abandoned persocom unit laying in the trash, seeing this as his only chance to get a persocom he takes the unit home with him, hoping to reap the benefits of owning his very own computer. While trying to activate his new persocom he soon finds out that his new persocom is completely blank and can only say the word chi. after seeking help from local computer geeks he learns that he has to teach his new persocom unit ( who he has named chi) everything she needs to function day to day life, while a bond starts to form between the two.
So Chobits is basically clamp honest attempt at talking about human and robot relations and how they affect society as a whole. Which in all honesty I have seen the concept done better in series like time of eve and ghost in the shell which not only talked about this concept with more maturity and depth but also talked about the psychological, physical and social issues that came with it.
Now When it comes to a social commentary I feel this is where Chobits fall flat on its face as its more a less focuses on emotional impact than anything else Rather that any meaningful social commentary, beside people likeing teacholgy a bit to much.
Like for one example Hideki teacher Mrs Shimizu who husband has become obsessed with this persocom unit that their marriage is falling apart as a result, and if your married or in a relationship i think that can really hit home and have a lot of impacts, because the thought of being in a relationship with someone and one day your basically replaced by a machine. (That is pretty fucked)
But being a rational bioGundam who has given up most of his humanity I am not exactly impacted or impressed by this emotional, narrative by any stretch of the imagination, now i feel that chobits heart is in the right place but it's just doesn't resanate with me as much as it should have.
But even though I may dislike this narrative style in its entirety I feel that when it comes to Chobits that criticism in itself is a double-edged sword.
As Chobits is possibly one of the best series talking about a human and a robot bonding and falling in love I have ever read to date so far and I feel that the focus on the more emotional side is what makes chobits work so well.
Becuase at the start of it, Hideki doesn't really know how to approach her, dose he treat her like a robot or does he treat her like a person, as time gose time the lines start to bur heavily. Which brings me to my biggest priase of the series is how they develop and explore the relationship. Becuase they could have easily turned this into some sort of ecchi series with robots like beatless or over bloweted malow drama like plastic memories. But Chobits plays it simple and sweet like a Disney movie about a human trying to understand his feelings and a robot who is looking for the person just for her and I can't but help wants to pat studio Clamp on the back for a job well done.
Characters, 6/10
When it Comes to main character Hideki, I like his goofy, farm boy personality and while it he isn't that deep or complex as some characters can.
But what really sell me on him is the fish of water aspect to his character, becuase he is in the big city and dealing with things that are way out of his elament.
Seeing him try to adapt and overcome these different situations is really cool and they explore this a lot with his interactions with chi. Becuase compters and robots aren't really his thing considering he is a farm boy who lived way out in the stix and seeing become more tech aware is just great.
Now when it comes to chi, in modern fiction there is only two ways to write robot characters. They are ether just a robot that are all logical or a robot who is trying to become more human with the feels and i feel that chi has a nice bulince between the two, even if she has the personality of the perfect wifuu bot.
Because she isnt to robotic nor is she full on with personality.
When it comes to side character most of them have a an OK personality and desent backstory that hand in hand with the messages that chobits like to voice its view point about. But my only problem with the side characters as a whole is that there more a less used more as vehicles for Chobits message and themes rather than people with actual lives, because a lot of the characters aren't fleshed out enough beyond the personality, backdrop and hobby. Which makes up their entire character in this series and even if I find the characters interactions a bit more interesting than most series I have read so far, but the underlying problem is if you take these characters out of the series and place them in another series they would probably easily pass of as background characters.
Art, 7/10
When it comes to artwork chobits has a very simplistic Shoujoish art style, and while isnt that detailed or polished when compared to some other series i have read.
But the artwork has a consistent quality althoughout the entire series and as the series gose on there are some palnels that have more details in them.
Especially all the colour pages that the series has every now and then that look really nice. I thought the design chioce for Chobits was cool when it came to the robots, and because they all came in different sizes and styles which I thought was really cool.
Enjoyment, 6/10
When it comes to enjoyment I enjoy this series more as an emotional driven love story between a human and robot than social commentary aspects of people becoming coming way too obsessed with technology and I enjoy every page of this series from top to end, because I love robots, mecha and romance series so love at first sight for me. The only thing that lessens my enjoyment is that there was a few plot points and elaments that are a bit undercooked for by likeing.
Overall, 7/10
Now I feel that Chobits does deserve some of the critical acclaim it has received, because it's a pretty decent romance series and if shojo-ish romances storeys are your thing then totally check this series out.
But if your looking for more social commentary or a series that show cases the inhumanity of technology i am sad to say you will not find it here.
But overall I highly recommend this series and if you're looking that talk is about more intense themes I would recommend ghost in the shell and time of eve.
