Chobits

Plot synopsis:
The series centers on the life of Hideki Motosuwa, a held-back student attempting to qualify for university by studying at Seki prep school in Tokyo. Besides a girlfriend, he dreams of having a persocom (パソコン): an android used as a personal computer, which is expensive. On his way home one evening, he stumbles across a persocom in the form of a beautiful girl with floor-length hair lying against a pile of trash bags, and he carries her home, not noticing that a disk fell on the ground. Upon turning her on, she instantly regards Hideki with adoration. The only word the persocom seems capable of saying is "chi" (ちぃ, Chii), thus he names her that. Hideki assumes that there must be something wrong with her, and so the following morning he has his neighbor Hiromu Shinbo analyze her with his mobile persocom Sumomo. After Sumomo crashes during the attempt they conclude that she must be custom-built.
Shinbo introduces Hideki to Minoru Kokubunji, a twelve-year-old prodigy who specializes in the field of custom-built persocoms. Minoru's persocoms, including Yuzuki, a fairly exceptional custom-built persocom, are not able to analyze Chi either, and thus they conclude that she may be one of the Chobits, a legendary series of persocoms rumoured to have free will and emotions. Although this is a possibility, Minoru is confident that it is only rumour. Yuzuki also adds that she does not resemble any persocom model in any available database and so she must be custom made after all.
A major part of the plot involves Hideki attempting to teach Chi words, concepts, and appropriate behaviours, in between his crammed schedule of school and work. At the same time, Chi seems to be developing feelings for Hideki, at an emotional depth she is not supposed to possess, and Hideki struggles with his feelings for her. The need to figure out more about Chi and her mysterious functions and past becomes a pull for the characters in the series.
Hideki's feelings intensify for Chi regardless of her being a persocom and despite his friends' painful experiences involving other persocoms. Chi becomes aware of her purpose through a picture book series called A City with No People which she finds in a bookstore. The books speak about many different things involving human and persocom relationships: persocoms and their convenience as friends and lovers, how there are things that they cannot do and questioning whether a relationship between a persocom and a human is really one-sided. It also speaks about the Chobits series; that they are different from other persocoms, and what they are incapable of doing unlike other persocoms. These picture books awaken Chi's other self, her sibling Freya who is aware of their past and helps Chi realize what she must do when she decides who her "person just for me" is. Together, Chi and Hideki explore the relationship between human beings and persocoms, as well as their friends' and their own.

Tags: psychedelic, romantic

Review:
The jokes are hilarious, the characters are lovable, and the obviousness of the fan service rivals that of Evangelion.I have to admit, I get very involved with anime.
She makes a great pair with Sumomo, a mobile persocon who belongs to Hideki's best friend.Before I get too far ahead of myself, let me explain a little about Chobits since the majority of even anime fans probably don't know much about it.
The gist of the Chobits story is about a farm boy turn city slicker named Hideki.
There's extremely little out right nudity, mostly just a ton of cute fan service.One thing I really like about Chobits is that it's very upbeat.
CLAMP is great at this kind of overall upbeat anime, and Chobits is no exception.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Superb anime series, gets a bit uneven at times but delivers 100%.
More particularly - man falls in love with found machine and, behold, it's vice versa.I stumbled upon these series by accident on the french MCM channel; the french dubs are perfect (Chii is exquisitely dubbed), but after a few episodes I got me the subbed originals - and found out that MCM messed up the episode sequencing.
The underlying storyline (who/what is Chii, what will happen between Hideki & Chii) gets hinted at once in a while, but all in all the first half of the series focuses on the problems that arise when Hideki tries to educate his persocon Chii and the embarrassing situations Chii gets her prude master in, all in your typical "harem" anime setting.The main thing is: it's so well-done!
The first say 8 episodes are often hilarious observations of masculine fears and obsessions as we get to know Hideki's thoughts every step of the way.
Through the parts of the comic-in-comic (Chii reads a favorite comic that seems to be especially designed for her and is a key element the overarching story) you occasionally get the idea that more is about to come.Of course, you can't keep Hideki as constipated throughout and as the often sexual jokes wear out, the series drifts towards fan-servicing with unfortunately pretty sexist undertones (not that I care).
At that point, despite the fact the the manga script lay there waiting to be developed, the series seems a bit lost, and the build-up of tension between Chii and Hideki comes to a halt, as do the other plot lines (Hideki and Yumi...), culminating in the low (plotwise) or high (imagewise *grin*) of #14, where all characters spend a day at the beach.
This wondering is only augmented by the following two episodes where Chii is hardly seen and the plot focuses on Shimbo and the Sensei...***Spoiler-laden paragraphs below***But in fact (though you only find out later) this is where they (finally) start developing the actual story about relationships between man and machine, and what machine is/can be, what it means to be human.
It's a bit of a mystery why the next 2 episodes again seem to fall to the earlier level, and nothing much is added, except for a hint at what the plot will turn out to be.But, in episodes 20-26 suddenly the stakes are raised and we get an entirely different anime, with all the depth and beauty that we've come to expect from this Japanese art form.
And then of course there's the final two episodes where a lot of questions are answered and the series DELIVERS.
Love DOES conquer all and after a series of emotional lefts and rights in the final episode, you get positively uppercutted by the rare 1% solution: the relationship between man and machine is a fact.
Bingo this is heaven.***SPOILER ENDS - but don't look an inch upward from this line***So, despite the fact that the series seems a bit lost in the middle, the absolutely charming and hilarious first third plus the final third with its deep issues, superb plot and magnificent denouement make this series a solid 9 for me.
I would have given it a 10, but it is a fact that the whole could have been better 1) had they from the start opted for a continuous story (like the final eps) with the story lines more mixed like in the manga, rather than more or less separate episodes focusing on one topic or even gimmick, 2) had made a better mix of humor & drama and developed the Chii character a bit better (like in the manga).
Presto!!!O, and don't forget to have a box of Kleenex within reach once you start on the final episode...PS: if you buy the DVD's (6+1 bonus), disc 1 and 2 are really worthwhile (though 2 has quite a bit of sexual/sexist fan-servicing), while disc 3 may be the least interesting.
Within a few episodes, I had fallen in love with Chii, one of the main characters.
Within minuets you feel as though you know Hideki and his persocom Chii.
"Chobits" is the best anime I have ever seen!.
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..
(26 if you count the filler episodes.) Any fan of anime needs to watch this immediately..
As those characters in the series keep mentioning about relationships between computers and humans, i asked myself a couple time - do i support them?Despite chi's "specialness" and the fact that she is the cutest girl in the world, she is - although i don't want to admit, a computer.
It is cute and weird, but not to the point where you want to vomit though."Chobits" is about a farmboy named Hideki, who finds a persocon (Humanoid-Computers) on the street and as she is ressurected, she is revealed as a total sweetheart named 'Chii' and at first, she repeats her name alot, but after a while, she learns more speech and learns what is right and wrong and so on.Sure Chobits is not for everyone.
I do not hear it or see it as much as Clamps other works.If you wish for Clamp to change their face, and tired of their usual over-cutness, or if you want an ARTISTIC anime outside of Studio Ghibli, "Chobits" is for you..
not many things has made me laugh as much as chobits and the episodes gets after a while so very exciting u don´t know what to do.
All the other characters in the anime have their own interesting personas which makes the anime even more interesting past it's cutesiness.Overall I would definitely recommend watching Chobits if you are looking for something light and fun with still a good story behind it..
Holy cow.Anyways, The story is about a poor 18 year old boy named Hideki who wants his own personal persicon, a robot that can do menial tasks and help out around the house.
I only discovered this anime last night, after a friend told me about it, and i got to say, Clamp had a good idea right here.
All I could I say about this series, is that when I had heard the name it sounded like "hobbits" with a "c." Actually this great anime series, which is based on a manga, is about "persocoms."Persocoms are attractive female-type robots who often look younger than they ought to.
One man named Hideki Motosuwa (the male lead character of the show), finds a cute persocom in the trash and decided to take her for himself.
Some time later the series was finally re-released here on DVD so I could watch the whole thing.
The rest of the series was just as good as the opening episodes although the tone does shift somewhat midway through; the earlier episodes are light hearted and while never explicit often feature situations that suggest that that Hideki; the main character, is a bit of a pervert!
Later on things get much darker when the 'person' he cares for disappears.To summarise the plot; Chobits is set in a world where instead of using personal computers people use Persicoms; robots that fulfil the roles of computers but look almost human.
As the story progresses it becomes apparent that Chi isn't like other persicoms; she may be a 'Chobits', this is a persicom capable of genuine emotion if so other people may want to get their hands on her.This was a really fun series with plenty of laughs as well as one or two genuinely tear-jerking moments.
While I watched the whole series in Japanese with English subtitles I saw enough of the English dub to say that is sounded pretty good; so dub-fans shouldn't be disappointed.
personal computer?"Chobits" is an unusual Anime' (Japanese animation) series that I took a wild gamble with earlier this year, having never seen or heard of it before, but nonetheless liked the concept because I found it very interesting.
"Chobits" is a romantic sci-fi/comedy series from the all-woman Manga-writing team CLAMP, who also did another Anime' series I've always liked: "X." Basically in "Chobits," you'll find yourself wondering if it's possible or not to have a meaningful relationship with your personal computer.In its storyline, "Chobits" seems to borrow heavily from cyberpunk, the computer-tech and hacker subcultures, and the cult-classic science fiction film "Blade Runner" (1982).
Set more or less in the present (the early 21st century, most likely between 2001-2002 when the Manga was still being serialized in Japan), the protagonist of the series is a socially clumsy/technologically inept 18-year-old country bumpkin named Hideki Motosuwa, who has just moved from his family's farm to the big city of Tokyo.
To help make ends meet, he gets a job at a local restaurant simply called My Pleasure.So far, "Chobits" sounds a lot like any run-of-the-mill, fish-out-of-water comedy you've come across (whether it be in Japan or the United States), but I've only described what happens in the first 10 minutes of the first episode!
On his way home from work one night, Hideki stumbles across a discarded "Persocom" in the trash, the human-looking androids made to resemble attractive young girls/women.
(So yeah, they're basically an iPhone, PC, and telephone/cell phone all rolled up in one!)Hideki thus names his new Persocom "Chi," after the only word she knows how to say.
He discovers, with help from his new neighbor/classmate/best friend Shinbo Hiromu (who also has his own cute little "mobile" Persocom named Sumomo) and wealthy 12-year-old computer genius Minoru Kokubunji, that Chi has absolutely no data and only one program installed on her CPU.
Kokubunji suspects that Chi is actually a "chobit," referring to an urban legend that states that certain Persocoms were programmed with free will and the ability to feel a full set of human emotions.
Hilarity ensues pretty much as Hideki tries to teach Chi common sense, manners and how to properly act in the larger Japanese society, but he soon comes to realize that she is harboring a dark secret somewhere in the depths of her (supposedly) blank CPU - a secret that could prove dangerous if it's truly possible for a Persocom to ever truly find happiness by coming to love a human being."Chobits" is a nice romantic comedy series with a neat sci-fi twist that asks us an important fundamental question: Is it ever really possible for a person to love his computer?
And "Blade Runner" seems even more prescient now that you think about it.)For the first half of this 24-episode Anime' series, it's pretty funny and sweet with the interactions between Hideki, who despite his social and technological ineptitude, is a really nice guy who actually cares about other people and helping them out (he's another one of the many great shy-guys common in Anime'), and Chi. Chi is basically like a child who has to be taught proper manners and the such.
But things start to take a dark turn in the second half, as the dark secrets surrounding Chi's past start to arise and the implications it has for her burgeoning love for Hideki, as well as all other Persocoms in Tokyo.
It all begins with the arrival of some very well-thought-out cyberpunk elements in the story."Chobits" is a great Anime' series that will definitely put a big happy smile on your face.
Despite some of the darker elements in the second half of the series, be rest assured that things end on a good note.
Yes we see a sexually frustrated guy finding a girl robot with cute elephant like ears among the trash bags outside of his student apartment .
It makes you kinda think this is like a hentai or ecchi wanna be anime and I decided to just not bother watching the second episode.
Yeah you may think that i should give the anime a second chance but for me, I give only the first episode a chance before watching the second episode and until I'm really satisfied that I can continue watching the series.
Just how I roll and I'm proud of that!Overall I would recommend it if you like cutesy robot inspired anime but for me, I wouldn't go back watching it again and rather forget about it.
Can be fun, extremely fun...the first half of the story is a naive good guy (Hideki) dealing with his new lifestyle (a very hard way o life for anybody, you must admire him to resist that much) and struggling to make his new acquired persocom, Chii, to understand and learn form the world.
ALL of the characters start to show their hidden secrets, one by one they shock us to the point of taking a moment to understand "what the f**k just happen".To really understand their feelings, the story has its sub-context: technology alienating people.
While in other shows, this means "the director didn't want to provide an answer" in this "the answer is extremely personal, the story ends, everything is solved, but the context don't" that's quite nice.Sadly, the quality of this anime has decreased by his original run, but that's no obstacle to enjoy it.
As another great anime, Serial Experiments Lain, it can be watched, and the story became so timeless, that you will enjoy it any year of your life..
This Show Is Really Good, But Because I'm From The UK I Had To Watch It On Youtube, But It's One Of My Favourite Anime's Of All Time, It Has Lots Of Humour In It Which Makes It Very Amusing!
I Would Strongly Recommend Watching This, You'll Like It. I Dislike The Dodgy Names In This Anime, They're Kinda Hard To Remember And Pronounce.
As I've said many times, I'm not really a fan of anime since it seems most of the series seem to go on and on without any definite conclusions, and forget trying to watch a random episode out of sequence since you won't know what the hell is going on without the proper context of the previous episodes.
*winks*)It turns out that the persocom lacks any programming except for an operating system that allows her to slowly learn stuff and it is up to Hideki to teach her the ways of the world.
He has his work cut out for him since at first she is only able to say "chii", a word that would later become her name.Basically, the series is broken roughly into two parts.
Obviously, this turned out to be quite messy.The second half of the series gets to the nut of the problem presented by the availability of human-like computers who are able to interact like normal people.
Chi seems to expect the latter due to her readings of a series of depressing "Lonely City" picture books she has purchased in which an anonymous woman seems doomed to search in vain for her one true love.Finally, there is the question that traditionalists have been fighting against for centuries: is it right for humans and persocoms to even fall in love?
The answer the series gives is that as long as the love is sincere and does not hurt other people, then it's sanctified.Although the overall story is quite solid, especially the end where it almost made macho-me shed tears, there are some draw backs.
Like the fact that they have no less than three clip shows for a series with only 27 episodes (plus a six-minute epilogue special).
The excitement and love present whenever Chi cries out "Hideki!
Also a character, a persocom called Sumomo that is owned by Hideki's friend and neighbor Shinbo, is not properly portrayed in the English version.