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Title (English) Chobits

Title (Japanese) Chobits

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Fantasy Novel

Notes

Classification -

Synopsis Hideki, a rube from the sticks, comes to Tokyo as a "ronin" student and finds an android-like personal computer in the trash. He drags it home to his room and turns it (her) on. She turns out to be several bytes short of the full program.

Review Last night I finally got to see the first episode of the new CLAMP/TBS series, "Chobits". For some reason it started several weeks later on the channel that my friend receives than in Tokyo. First off, it is a very "strange" start for a CLAMP anime � no cherry blossoms, no rings in a black pool of water and no Tokyo Tower. Next, the animation style is a bit odd, with the preamble being particularly schematic. But once it gets going, "Chobits" starts to turn on the CLAMP charm and the opening episode is quite promising.
Of course, being the cynical old s.o.b. that I am, my first reaction to the preamble was a nasty smirk � our hero, Hideki, is a rube who lives on a big farm in the middle of nowhere, with no one to talk to but cows. And somehow, from the initial images that I've seen, the strange "ears" on Chii keep on reminding me of the ears on some sort of hybrid sheep, which of course, brings to mind the Gene Wilder episode in "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex, But Were Afraid to Ask". But I digress, ( and even though this is a CLAMP show and a bit ecchi, it isn't "Abenobashi" by any means ).
So the setting is established � Hideki fails his university entrance exam and goes off to "the big city" ( Tokyo ), to become a ronin while he attends cram school. When Hideki first arrives in Tokyo, the scene is astoundingly like the equivalent scene in "Angelic Layer", but instead of seeing "Angels" fight in a near future Tokyo, Hideki sees lots of "Persocons", animated personal computers that are formed in the shapes of pretty young women and act as mobile assistants to a number of people. Hideki goes nuts over the Persocons, since there weren't any out "on the farm", and ensures his image as a total rube.
Hideki wanders around town until he stumbles upon his boarding house, thanks to a chance meeting with the pretty and young superintendent of the building. Hideki is overwhelmed with a feeling of "luck" upon meeting the super, who is quite friendly. Afterwards Hideki goes out to buy a few items at a convenience store ( where he is again taken aback by the Persocon at the cash ). But on the way home he passes a garbage pile, upon which lies a beautiful, non-functioning Persocon.
This scene is almost a mirror image of the scene in "Okojo-san" in which Tsuchiya finds the exhausted Okojo on a garbage pile. Hideki is garrulous and spends most of the opening episode talking non-stop in various inner monologues. Tsuchiya, on the other hand, is almost silent most of the time. Tsuchiya is also quite cool and almost indifferent to the various girls and women who try to get his attention, while Hideki acts as if he has never seen a girl ( human or android ) before in his life. Like Tsuchiya, Hideki decides to take his "find" home, only to find out that the Persocon is very heavy ( shades of Dorothy in "The Big O" ). But as Hideki struggles off with the very heavy Persocon, a disk drops to the ground unnoticed behind him.
Once back in his apartment, Hideki is faced with the problem of "turning on" his found Persocon. Here, in a scene reminiscent of "Hand Maid May", Hideki finds the "on switch" to be in the same location as May's power jack. The Persocon awakens, gets up while losing the bandages that had covered parts of its body, and starts to say the word "Chii" to everything, while looking at Hideki. Hideki decides to call the Persocon, Chii, and tries to communicate. Chii only says that same word in response to everything, although she starts to examine the room around her and imitate Hideki's motions and actions. ( As an aside, Chii has extremely long blond hair which falls down to cover all the "ecchi" parts. )
Hideki then goes through a routine of trying to hide the existence of Chii, first from his neighbor Hiroshi ( who has a miniature Persocon named Sumomo ), then unsuccessfully from the super, who takes it all in stride. So the scene is set for Hideki to try to find out about Persocons in general and Chii in particular.
One of the most appealing aspects of the first episode of "Chobits", in comparison with so many of the other "fembot" series, is that Chii doesn't immediately act as a "maid" to Hideki. Her behavior is, in fact, quite alien and interesting. In so many of the other series, I rapidly reach the point where the final line to Allan Sherman's parody of "Fascination", "Automation", comes to mind,
"But when it said I Love You and gave me a hug dear, That's when I pulled the plug"
So it will be interesting to see if "Chobits" eventually causes me to "pull the plug", or if it will keep my interest.
(Dave Baranyi)

Credits Creators: CLAMP (manga)
Series dir: Morio Asaka

Episodes 26

Release US:DVD

TV Showing See the whole series for free? This series may be syndicated to regional cable, satellite or terrestial TV stations. For Europe click here.

Date 2002 April 2 -

Production TBS, Chobits Production Committee

Broadcaster Tokyo Broadcast System

Animation Madhouse

References & Help Look up the latest data on this title at:
Richard Llewellyn's Animated Divots, or
Anime News Network (see Encyclopedia section) ,
or in "The Anime Encyclopedia" (Clements & McCarthy, Stone Bridge Press, 2001).
Help & further information.

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Information
Title (English)	Chobits
Title (Japanese)	Chobits
Advertising Fantasy Novel
Notes
Classification	-
Synopsis	Hideki, a rube from the sticks, comes to Tokyo as a "ronin" student and finds an android-like personal computer in the trash. He drags it home to his room and turns it (her) on. She turns out to be several bytes short of the full program.
Review	Last night I finally got to see the first episode of the new CLAMP/TBS series, "Chobits". For some reason it started several weeks later on the channel that my friend receives than in Tokyo. First off, it is a very "strange" start for a CLAMP anime � no cherry blossoms, no rings in a black pool of water and no Tokyo Tower. Next, the animation style is a bit odd, with the preamble being particularly schematic. But once it gets going, "Chobits" starts to turn on the CLAMP charm and the opening episode is quite promising. Of course, being the cynical old s.o.b. that I am, my first reaction to the preamble was a nasty smirk � our hero, Hideki, is a rube who lives on a big farm in the middle of nowhere, with no one to talk to but cows. And somehow, from the initial images that I've seen, the strange "ears" on Chii keep on reminding me of the ears on some sort of hybrid sheep, which of course, brings to mind the Gene Wilder episode in "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex, But Were Afraid to Ask". But I digress, ( and even though this is a CLAMP show and a bit ecchi, it isn't "Abenobashi" by any means ). So the setting is established � Hideki fails his university entrance exam and goes off to "the big city" ( Tokyo ), to become a ronin while he attends cram school. When Hideki first arrives in Tokyo, the scene is astoundingly like the equivalent scene in "Angelic Layer", but instead of seeing "Angels" fight in a near future Tokyo, Hideki sees lots of "Persocons", animated personal computers that are formed in the shapes of pretty young women and act as mobile assistants to a number of people. Hideki goes nuts over the Persocons, since there weren't any out "on the farm", and ensures his image as a total rube. Hideki wanders around town until he stumbles upon his boarding house, thanks to a chance meeting with the pretty and young superintendent of the building. Hideki is overwhelmed with a feeling of "luck" upon meeting the super, who is quite friendly. Afterwards Hideki goes out to buy a few items at a convenience store ( where he is again taken aback by the Persocon at the cash ). But on the way home he passes a garbage pile, upon which lies a beautiful, non-functioning Persocon. This scene is almost a mirror image of the scene in "Okojo-san" in which Tsuchiya finds the exhausted Okojo on a garbage pile. Hideki is garrulous and spends most of the opening episode talking non-stop in various inner monologues. Tsuchiya, on the other hand, is almost silent most of the time. Tsuchiya is also quite cool and almost indifferent to the various girls and women who try to get his attention, while Hideki acts as if he has never seen a girl ( human or android ) before in his life. Like Tsuchiya, Hideki decides to take his "find" home, only to find out that the Persocon is very heavy ( shades of Dorothy in "The Big O" ). But as Hideki struggles off with the very heavy Persocon, a disk drops to the ground unnoticed behind him. Once back in his apartment, Hideki is faced with the problem of "turning on" his found Persocon. Here, in a scene reminiscent of "Hand Maid May", Hideki finds the "on switch" to be in the same location as May's power jack. The Persocon awakens, gets up while losing the bandages that had covered parts of its body, and starts to say the word "Chii" to everything, while looking at Hideki. Hideki decides to call the Persocon, Chii, and tries to communicate. Chii only says that same word in response to everything, although she starts to examine the room around her and imitate Hideki's motions and actions. ( As an aside, Chii has extremely long blond hair which falls down to cover all the "ecchi" parts. ) Hideki then goes through a routine of trying to hide the existence of Chii, first from his neighbor Hiroshi ( who has a miniature Persocon named Sumomo ), then unsuccessfully from the super, who takes it all in stride. So the scene is set for Hideki to try to find out about Persocons in general and Chii in particular. One of the most appealing aspects of the first episode of "Chobits", in comparison with so many of the other "fembot" series, is that Chii doesn't immediately act as a "maid" to Hideki. Her behavior is, in fact, quite alien and interesting. In so many of the other series, I rapidly reach the point where the final line to Allan Sherman's parody of "Fascination", "Automation", comes to mind, "But when it said I Love You and gave me a hug dear, That's when I pulled the plug" So it will be interesting to see if "Chobits" eventually causes me to "pull the plug", or if it will keep my interest. (Dave Baranyi)
Credits	Creators: CLAMP (manga) Series dir: Morio Asaka
Episodes	26
Release	US:DVD
TV Showing	See the whole series for free? This series may be syndicated to regional cable, satellite or terrestial TV stations. For Europe click here.
Date	2002 April 2 -
Production	TBS, Chobits Production Committee
Broadcaster	Tokyo Broadcast System
Animation	Madhouse
References & Help	Look up the latest data on this title at: Richard Llewellyn's Animated Divots, or Anime News Network (see Encyclopedia section) , or in "The Anime Encyclopedia" (Clements & McCarthy, Stone Bridge Press, 2001). Help & further information.