Chobits

'Chobits' at first glance can be considered as nothing short of a generic anime that draws comedy out of perversion. As true as it maybe, that is not the case. At first I could not stop laughing my heart out at the hilarious accounts of Hideki's city life and his fantasies. As the story progressed, I realized that the show has more to it than the belly aching comedy.

The story explores the society's obsession towards electronics and the artificial for companionship. In the 'Chobits' world, people are spending more time with the persocons or the androids. There are people who are falling in love with their persocons and cheating on their spouse. All these reflect the societal interactions that we see today. People are obsessed with the computers, portable music players, gaming systems and phones that have reduced the level at which people interact with each other everyday in the streets, office or in public transportation. As more electronic devices come to our life, more we are pushing each other apart. 'Chobits' explore these issues in a light-hearted but emotional tone that would make anyone shed tears in laughter or sorrow.

Yes, this is the best anime series of 2002. I loved Onegai Teacher, Hellsing, and I My Me Strawberry Eggs, but I fell in love with Chii. How could you not?

Hideki comes to Tokyo to attend cram school since he failed his college enterance exams. On the first day there he finds Chii (what a lucky guy !!!) in a pile of trash. Of course then he has to figure out how of turn her on. Of course after 4 hours finds her "on" switch - which is located in a more interesting spot. Now what do you do with a cute nude female android?

When his new friend shows up he hunts for something for her to wear and how to hide her. The show just gets funnier from there. Another hit from the CLAMP ladies !!!

Chobits hasn't been officially subtitled, but I have seen fansubbed episodes and I must say, since I was first introduced to manga and anime at the age of 13, I have never seen anything this cool! No other anime series is as funny, and none as addictive.

Every ninth episode seems to be a long set of memories so that new viewers can get updated on what they have missed in previous episodes. Good idea, but bad for those of us who have seen all the previous episodes, and want to see more of Hideki and his quest to find out wether Chii really is a Chobit.

I hope I will never have to see a final episode of Chobits.

When I first heard about this anime on the internet, it was created by CLAMP(the animators of CardCaptors,Magic Knight Rayeareth,Tokyo Babylon, etc). My cousin and her friend were really into it. I wanted to get into it too,and I did. I wasn't long till I got the first volume for Christmas, and I bought the rest of the series on my own. This series is just like Hand Maid May, the Persocoms are just like the Cyber dolls from Hand Maid May, and I believe they have different. capabilities as the Cyber dolls from Hand Maid May. Another thing I would say about this show that it is very funny. I know that the character Hideki is very strange and he does want to get into College, but he had to study and quit talking to himself or he would get thrown into a Mental Hospital aka the nut house. Another thing I like about this show is the beginning theme song, "Let Me Be With You" it's very touching and very sweet. I also think that Michelle Ruff, and Crispin Freeman make a good team playing the roles of Hideki and Chi/Black Chi. So in closing to that series, add it to your collection. You will see what I mean.

The story revolves around a farm-boy, Hideki, who has come to the big city of Tokyo to try to raise his grades so that he may enter college. There he finds a Persocon - a computer shaped as a human - in a garbage-heap. And it is a cute female model at that! Though it appears to be broken (the only word it can say is "Chii") his hacker-friend soon discovers that the persocon (naturally named Chii by Hideki) may be much more powerful than appearances imply. It soon becomes obvious that Chii hides a great secret within that cute little body.

The series has a nice naivistic feel to it, sometimes the story-line of an episode is almost at grade-school level. At the same time there are quite a lot of very adult insinuations. Chii is a _very_ attractive robot, and doesn't mind taking her clothes off! (Though there is always an object strategically placed in front of the "camera"). Hideki constantly throws himself into fantastic fits of shame whenever he has (or believes he has) made a fool of himself - which is quite often. His problem with shamefulness is of course extra strong in sexual matters.

There are some deeper questions raised in the series too, such as the question if love of technology and might be keeping people apart. Another question is the fact that all young men in the series appear to prefer robot-girls (who robotically obey their least whim) to human girls. Persocon shops are filled with rows of attractive girls ready for anyone with money to buy. Interestingly questions like these are actually given at least a little bit of depth, rather than just picking one of the possible answers as the truth!

This anime series is more of a very long story, it doesn't meander around too much like series sometimes do. There is a clear beginning and an end (after 26 episodes) and the whole main story has obviously been thought out before the series was made. There doesn't appear to be any official version out, but a version subtitled by fans can be found on the peer-to-peer nets.