Chobits

When computers start to look like humans, can love remain the same?

Hideki Motosuwa is a young country boy who is studying hard to get into college. Coming from a poor background, he can barely afford the expenses, let alone the newest fad: Persocoms, personal computers that look exactly like human beings. One evening while walking home, he finds an abandoned Persocom. After taking her home and managing to activate her, she seems to be defective, as she can only say one word, "Chii," which eventually becomes her name. Unlike other Persocoms, however, Chii cannot download information onto her hard drive, so Hideki decides to teach her about the world the old-fashioned way, while studying for his college entrance exams at the same time.

Along with his friends, Hideki tries to unravel the mystery of Chii, who may be a "Chobit," an urban legend about special units that have real human emotions and thoughts, and love toward their owner. But can romance flourish between a Persocom and a human?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Chii Main

Tanaka, Rie Japanese

Motosuwa, Hideki Main

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Sumomo Supporting

Kumai, Motoko Japanese

Freya Supporting

Tanaka, Rie Japanese

Kotoko Supporting

Yukana Japanese

Atashi dake no Hito Supporting

Tanaka, Rie Japanese

Yuzuki Supporting

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Kokubunji, Minoru Supporting

Kuwashima, Houko Japanese

Shinbo, Hiromu Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Ueda, Hiroyasu Supporting

Ueda, Yuuji Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Sekido, Yuuichi Producer

Oomori, Hiroyuki Assistant Producer

Asaka, Morio Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Aug 28, 2024

DrMechano

Recommended

Chobits is an interesting look at romance between a human and an AI. The premise is interesting enough, and I really enjoyed seeing Hideki and Chii's relationship develop over the course of the series.

With that said, I'm not full sold on the romantic aspect of their relationship. Chii herself does not come across as intellectually on the same level as Hideki, and at times their relationship feels almost more paternalistic than romantic. Hideki has to take care of Chii and explain incredibly basic things to her throughout the entire series. It's to the point that - when Chii *does* eventually confess her feelings - it's ... a hard sell. I didn't find it believable that she even knew what it meant to "be in love" with someone - and on that front, I feel like the series could've spent more time developing their relationship to make me buy it a little more.

So why do I still recommend this romance series if I think the actual romance is so undercooked? Well... despite that complaint, I still think Chobits has an incredibly strong cast of characters; Both the leads are likable individually, and the supporting cast is great as well, each with their own arc that gets explored.

From Shinbo's clandestine relationships, to Yumi's conflicting feelings about Persocoms, to the the baker Mr. Ueda's own tragic backstory (which I won't dare spoil), Chobits does an excellent job of fleshing out its characters. When they're introduced, they're just Hideki's wacky friends and neighbors - we're eased into who they are with comedy first, which helps us like them better, so that when we learn more about the tragedy in their lives, we already care about them. This is character writing 101 stuff here, but Chobits does a great job of it.

Another thing I really like about Chobits is how introspective it gets about personhood and the nature of artificial intelligence. Characters will just sit and have fairly realistic conversations, and these moments - to me - are the strongest part of the series. There are entire scenes where it'll just be two characters talking for several minutes, and I feel like these conversations go to some really interesting places.

Chobits isn't perfect by any means, and you'll certainly find better love stories out there. But I felt drawn into its world and found its characters so engaging. Despite my complaints, I still think Chobits is worth watching.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Aug 9, 2024

Kanudelgruber

Mixed Feelings

Chobits has the same characteristic quirks of every CLAMP story I've seen, as well as the same strengths and weaknesses. The characters are this show's strong point, and the plot (especially the ending) is a bit of a disappointment. The end result is a show that's overall just okay. There are aspects of it that I love, but the exposition-heavy section in the latter half gets to be a drag. In the end, I would consider its high points to be enough to justify recommending it to most, especially those who have enjoyed CLAMP stories or android-focused stories in the past.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Nov 26, 2024

DeepThinker1

Not Recommended

The story is plain and boring. In any case, I wouldn't enjoy it. The art style is fine. The characters were plain and had bad and cliche behavior. I only liked the opening. I hated the fetish in here. The story sometimes makes no sense or is ridiculous, and that pissed me off. Initially, I thought I was about to watch a mature anime, but it disappointed me. I hated Chii being so dumb throughout all the anime, hadn't she learned a thing? She is a machine! They would have saved themselves a lot of trouble if they had acted just a little bit. This ... anime is mostly liked because it is old school, but that doesn’t make it any good.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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