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It was cute. Mostly. If you're jonesing for Chobits, in particular, Chii, Sumomo, and/or Kotoko, this is a fine, quick fix of kawaisa. It's more of the panty fetish, which seems to be a big thing for the anime writers.

However, and let me preface a huge caveat with this: I love Sumomo. Dearly. She's as cute as a button and I'll be the first guy on my block to get me a little Sumomo persocon when they come out.

BUT - if I EVER saw Sumomo or Kotoko with the horrifying expressions on their faces at the 4:30 mark, I ... would have no other recourse, but to burn them both, with a Eucharist wafer stuffed in their mouths, and a wooden stake pounded deeply through their adorable little hearts.

And, having seen them like that, and knowing they're even capable of such a look, it's kind of hard to forget it and go back to adoring them. What has been seen cannot be unseen, and all that.

Why CLAMP would sign off on those four seconds of animation is utterly beyond me.

A bit late coming to this table, I know. I don't, however, see this point mentioned elsewhere, so I'll pitch in my two cents.

On first pass, the anime appears to be a fairly close adaptation of the manga. Yes - there are filler episodes and a lot of "fan service." And, for the latter, the focus is shifted from Hideki to Chii. She's cuter and less hysterical and annoying than he is. These don't, to me, change the story, and its implications fundamentally.

Spoiler alert -
What does make a big difference, IMO, are the terms of Hideki's and ... Chii's future relationship. In the manga, I read that, because of Chii's (unfortunate) reset switch location, they can never physically consummate their love without sacrificing all of Chii's personality. In the anime, however, the idea seems to be that - being the one "just for her" - Hideki will be an exception. Only he can "come inside." (Was this an intentional pun?)

Let's set aside, for the moment, issues about sex with a computer (even a very cute one), let alone one with a child-like innocence, and the appearance of a 12-year old. Carving out this exception for "the one just for Chii," seems to trivialize Hideki's final dilemma. Having accepted the possibility of loving a computer, and Freya's assertion that even a Chobit doesn't have genuine, organic emotions, but merely programmed responses - his next hurdle is whether he can forgo physical love, eros, for the very strong, if albeit synthetic love, agape, that Chi has shown.

Hideki is, after all, a guy. We've established by his extensive collection of porn that he's quite the horndog and, from various comments, eager to shed his virginity. For him, this is no small sacrifice to ask.

In the manga, Hideki may have one, or the other, but not both. Ever.

On the other hand, the implication in the anime seems to be that, since they truly love each other - Chi and her personality will, somehow, survive the physical consummation of their love. Hideki can have his cake.... Hmmm.

By this, superfically, slight turn, it seems to me the weight of Hideki's Big Decision is changed from a powerful Wife of Bath sort of dilemma, and one that deeply affects, if not defines, their future relationship - to a trivial, after-school special public service-type message: "Wait to have sex, kids," if not until marriage, then at least until you have found "the one for you."

CLAMP's original version puts a very deep and provocative question to the reader, and by extension leaves a lot of threads dangling about the durability of this relationship. The anime adaptation, however, ties it all up very neatly. Maybe a bit too neatly.

Ultimately, I'm not clear on why this change was necessary. It's not like they "cleaned up" the whole story for a G audience. So why deviate from the original story in this substantial detail?

This niggling issue aside, both versions offer a nice story. The characters are sweet and endearing. The art is very good and the music ranges from deep and evocative to silly and fun. I Dream of Jeannie meets Small Wonder meets SexWorld.