| Title | : | Chobits, Vol. 1 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1931514925 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781931514927 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 184 |
| Publication | : | First published February 14, 2001 |
Chapters 1-12
Chobits, Vol. 1 Reviews
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No idea why this manga is so popular. It honestly creeped me out. Why people find this cute? I can imagine otakus loving it, since most of them are guys obsessed with doll and no interest in real life girls. To imagine that most people in this manga falls for a robot... where would the civilization go? Is that the future of Japan, where guys spend more time with figures and games? Where they find a 2D girl far more interesting than human girls? wow, I did not expect to go that deep, but this is what I was thinking while I was reading it. Pervs doing all kind of stuffs with dolls. Because, read this: the way to turn on the robot is by inserting your finger in her private parts. O_O huh, how cute **vomits**
The art is beautiful, the concept of robots is interesting, hence 2 stars, but the MC is a perv (supposed to be a funny, nice character), the persocom (the main girl-robot) is a lolita who is constantly providing fanservice, and the whole thing of falling for the robot/using them as sexual objects is highly disturbing. I hate ecchi, so this is a no for me. -
I'm not wild about any of the characters, but very interested in seeing where the AI and related themes go.
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I have no idea what's so appealing about this series, but it's definitely something. The story isn't all that broad, the characters are mostly comic relief, and Chii is so adorable that it makes one sick to their stomach. Yet something kept me reading this series, and I didn't regret it one bit.
If I were good at writing reviews, I'd give you a synopsis, then my deep thoughts on where CLAMP when wrong or right, but I'm not, so basically I'll just say that "Chobits" is worth a try. Sure, it's cutesy and a little out-there, but it's an entertaining read, all the same. -
Una historia tierna, muy sublime y eso me encantó. Como el amor puede sobrepasar todo y poco a poco nacer en algo que se supone no puede sentir como uno, como un ser humano. Simplemente me encantó!!!
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Although the first chapter contains some very prurient content (and for that matter, so do most of the other chapters in the series), Chobits remains one of my all-time favorite stories ever. Ultimately it's not about risqué humor (though there is plenty of that); at its heart, Chobits is a story about finding love in unexpected places, and the slow metamorphosis of friendship into True Love™. It's also about finding your soulmate, and learning to let go of who you wanted your lover to be and instead loving them for who they actually are.
The first volume, like all first volumes and first seasons, gets off to a bit of a shaky start. The characters are not yet solidified; the authors (in this case, a team of four female artists) are still getting to know their characters. Plot points are brought up that ultimately have little impact on the later plot, while minor details introduced in the early chapters return in later with major consequences.
One of the things I really love about Chobits is that there are no true villains. There are a few antagonists, but for the most part the struggle is not against adversaries but against feelings, against the limitations and foibles of flawed human (and artificial) hearts. There's not much more I can say about the first volume without giving too much away, but trust me: if you stick with this series and read to the end, you will be pleasantly surprised by its emotional maturity and large cast of interesting characters, both human and robotic. -
Back to my favorite mangaka team, CLAMP, and this is one of their mangas that I was most excited about.
It's mature and has a boy for a protagonist, which is different from their usual stuff I've read, but it's extremely fun. Reading this I realized that Absolute Boyfriend (which is one of my favorite mangas) is completely inspired and adapted by this, and I find myself loving Chobits even more.
Chobits tell the story of a Japanese society where robots/artificial intelligence/whatever you call them are a big part of society, people get them to use as computers, assistants, and some get overly attached to them. Chi is one of them she's extremely cute, but appears to be of a different species, different from the others manufactured, and this volume is all about getting to know her and Hediki, the guy who found her.
I loved this beginning, it's defintely mature, but in a playful way, and I absolutely love Chi! -
Eight volumes total, read all of them several times in high school during my manga phase.
The plot is your basic "We Designed Robots That Look Like Super Hot Underage Girls Because This Is The Creepy Future" featuring an awkward 20 year old guy finding a previously-mentioned robot in the trash. Hilarity and much inappropriate content ensues. -
Review for complete series
Hideki may not know much about computers, but he does know he is lucky when he finds one abandoned on the trash. Computers with human appearance are increasingly more common and people are starting to prefer their company over fellow humans. Hideki is sure he knows his computer, named Chi, isn't human, yet he too can't help but react to her very human behaviour.
Chobits was one of my first manga and so it definitely gets nostalgia points. This is also one of my favourite works when it comes to CLAMP's art - it's gorgeous throughout! Chi has a beautiful design and, whether programmed or not, has such a cute personality. Hideki is also a nice guy - I mean, he's perfectly average and there's nothing that really stands out, yet I can't help but like him for his kindness.
The plot, however, isn't quite my thing. Even when I read it the first time around, I remember thinking it was moderately boring at parts and the finale was lacklustre. The characters are all likeable and it's nice how the supporting cast is included in the story, but there are just some elements that feel very off about this story. There is a certain amount of fan service which doesn't suit the rest of the story. The fanservice is nowhere as extreme as you can get it in other manga, but it didn't match well with the philosophical take CLAMP was trying to pull off.
To make matters worse, the whole philosophy aspect was a bit of a miss too. The story raises many questions along the lines of spending too much time with computers rather than fellow humans or what it means to love an object, one you know doesn't have a soul. Somehow, I feel as though CLAMP threw common sense into the wind and went with the less rational choice; loving objects is perfectly natural and equal to loving a human. I'd honestly rather have had some conclusion of computers being able to develop human emotion rather than just it's ok to love something that's not real.
I didn't quite get the point of the ending, there seemed a lot of build-up and drama but then nothing big happened. But even though I've had a lot to complain, I'd be lying if I'd say that I don't like Chobits. The beautiful art, the nice characters and many individual scenes really make up for the so-so plot - and of course, nostalgia. -
This series is adorable. Both the anime and mangas are on the top of my love list. They are pretty much like any other anime ever ( boy finds girl, cares for girl, others wanna kill girl because they don't understand her..) but still! You will love this series, I guarantee it <3
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a doll trying to find what love really is, and recover memories from the past. very cute.
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#fallintomangalove readathon
Prompt: Read a Shae favorite -
19-year-old Hideki is struggling to pass his college entrance exams, and working seven days a week to pay for living expenses. He certainly can't afford a persocom.
“Persocom” requires an explanation. It's a portmanteau of “personal computer,” but, in this series, they’re not boxy appliances, but humanoid robots that look like young girls. The one laptop we see is a young toddler, and there's even a wee, elfin PDA.
Anyway, Hideki lacks a persocom, as well as the means to afford one, so he’s amazed to find Chi tied up with the trash. He takes her back to his apartment and switches her on, only to find that she's very different from any other persocom. She seems much more humanlike, and it begins to look as though he's stumbled upon a true AI. But why was she put out with the trash then? It's an intriguing beginning to what promises to be an interesting series. Recommended! -
Is this manga problematic? Yeah. Do I care? Kinda? Like I grew up with this; while I acknowledge it has problems I can’t help but still love it.
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*Warning Mild Spoilers*
This is a very hard Manga to review. I am torn, on the one hand I loved the concept of Persocon's. They are super cute and to be honest I want my own!
Then there is also "Plum" that is a small persocon, and called a laptop. How awesome do you get!?
Then there is the other side of me that felt a little "dirty" reading this. Why does Chi's on switch have to be down there?! Seriously?? And why does Hideki's friend have to fondle Chi's breast?! Then there is the fact that all the persocon's are scantly dressed and the whole thing is just creepy.
And then Hideki has this big issue affording Underwear, come on dude, it is not that expensive and why are you buying it from a Lingerie shop anyway? Makes no sense.
Will I read on? I have no idea. I am intrigued but also offended, so will see. No idea why I liked it as much as I did tbh. On second thought maybe it was the artwork! It is gorgeous!
Illustrations: 4 stars
Story: 2 stars - Dodgy :P
Overall: 3 stars -
This is a really cute graphic novel that I would recommend for older teens, possible those in college (as there are some scenes and situations in here that I certainly would not permit my 17 year old to see--although, it's most likely what they think about all the time).
The characters, especially Chi and Plum, are just the cutest and their functions are something that any technology nut would love to own, particularly owning Plum (at least I would love to own a mini PDA that looked like a cupie doll). -
This is a sum-up of the series as a whole.
It's instances like this where, as both an anime fan and an analytical observer of pop culture, I feel like I should hand over my feminist card, because a lot of the anime I like - and even love - do have problematic gender portrayals , and these show just how stark the contrast is between male and female stereotypes.
Gender division in anime - especially in shoujo titles - usually comes right down to this:
Male = Strong. Adventurous. Reactive.
Female = Weak. Domestic. Passive.
Men act, Women are.
Anime in general is, let's face it, pretty sexist. Female characters often receive the labels of "Moe", "Yamato Nadeshiko", "Tsundere", "Clingy Jealous Girl", and other such submissive and negative portrayals of women and girls projected by the voyeuristic patriarchal fantasy/fetish. These girls tend to be sexy but innocent, young, inexperienced, capable but not too capable, demure, and in need to be protected by men all the time. Of course male characters in anime get the "Bishonen" and "Idiot/Chaste Hero" labels, but they're perceived as more of an advantage/strength than a weakness.
Yet even when taking all that into consideration, I love 'Chobits'. I adore it. Partly because of how heart-achingly lovely the story, characters and artwork are, but mostly due to how self-aware it is; more so than some people might give it credit for. Beneath its cutesy, Lolicon-lite surface, there is a thought-provoking intelligence worthy of the science fiction genre. There are subjects which discuss: the differences between man and machine; what it means to be human; and what it means to love another person unconditionally.
I'd go so far as to say 'Chobits' is CLAMP's masterpiece, and is the only story from them that I haven't outgrown from my younger, casual-anime-watcher days. Even though the robots - persocoms as they are called in this series - mostly look like sexy, Moe-type women, a feminist like me finds it difficult to not love it all the same.
I watched the 'Chobits' anime before reading the manga. I had been avoiding the series like the plague because I thought it looked ridiculous in its sexual-objectification of women (to the point where they're literally not human anymore), to cater to heterosexual men's fetishes in our mainstream, pornography-obsessed culture. But I eventually gave in to the pressure brought on by other anime fans, and by the time I'd finished watching 'Chobits', it became one of my favourite anime of all time. In fact it's in my top 5.
'Chobits' contains deep themes revolving around love and human nature, and just how far we may have come in our relationship with machines in our everyday lives, to the point where we might lose the best of what makes us human due to the convenience of technology. The persocoms in 'Chobits' are perfect: they cook, they clean, they help out in shops, they talk and make friends, they do whatever their owner programs them to, and they can perform sexual acts. The majority look like cute girls for a reason. They are like futuristic Stepford wives: they are obedient, they stay looking young and pretty forever, they don't talk back, and are completely non-challenging. Persocoms are not slaves because they are not people; never technically alive nor sentient, so that's one ethnic issue out of the fire!
In the future, as it is portrayed in 'Chobits', humanoid robots (androids) are better than pornography. But will that make them better than real people? What might happen when men and/or women start to prefer robots to other living, breathing, thinking and feeling human beings? Will men end up preferring fake women, since they are more convenient and easier to deal with than complex individuals?
Has technology made our lives better? And at what cost? Can they be a necessity? Something to fill in the empty void of loss and loneliness? In that case, are they still merely a convenience to individual humans with psychologically-stunted growths, unable to move on and interact with people, who are too complicated?
'Chobits' explores these themes within its plot and various subplots in a subtle and intricate fashion.
Talking of the plot, here's a summery:
'Chobits' is about nineteen-year-old Hideki Motosuwa, a farm boy who is moved by his parents into the big city of Tokyo to study and pass his school entrance exams so he can enter college. He is ignorant of the technologically-advanced world around him, and seems to be the only person in the city who doesn't have a persocom: new-age computers with the appearance of an attractive human being. Even with his job he cannot dream of affording one of his own.
But one night Hideki finds an offline persocom among garbage by his rental home. He carries the heavy-skinny girl-bot into his apartment, and literally turns her on via a switch in her vagina (yes, seriously). This persocom can only say "chi", so Hideki calls her that. Chi is a blank slate, devoid of all memory data, but with a learning program. So the sheltered farm boy must teach the humanoid robot about the world like an adult teaching a child.
Along the way, with the help of his techno-savvy friends, he discovers more and more about Chi, and about the legendary persocoms called Chobits. Is Chi a Chobit? What is a Chobit - a robot programmed with emotions and the need for company, like a human? To what purpose exactly? Can Chi really love? And will Hideki fully understand what he has gotten himself into upon taking her in - in a society of computers, and in his heart?
Hideki Motosuwa is one of my favourite anime heroes. He isn't a sword-wielding, muscle-pumping, martial artist shonen warrior. He is ordinary; very flawed but likeable, like a real nineteen-year-old guy. He is into porn and is sexually attracted to at least three women (four if Chi the persocom counts) in the story. Yet he is very kind and compassionate, and knows the difference between real women and the women portrayed in his porn magazines. He treats them as people instead of objects, and even though he'll keep saying to himself that he shouldn't treat Chi as an equal because she is just a computer (who happens to look and act like a girl), he finds he can't help showing her respect. She is too innocent, sweet and kind to him to not treat fairly.
His relationship with Chi starts off like that of a parent-and-child - or big-bother-and-little-sister - but the romance develops steadily and naturally throughout the manga volumes. Both characters find that they are happy being together, and are sad and worrisome when apart. For the heart is something that cannot be controlled, even in a computer programmed to explore the meaning of love.
A love between a man and a machine has never been so cute, and feel so right, weird as it sounds. If Hideki falls in love with the persocom he found in the trash, he may have to sacrifice his sexual desires and needs (he is a virgin, as many characters in the series keep pointing out) for her well-being and happiness; for she is alive and precious to him. That is the mark of a real hero there, and a real man.
Chi is an adorable creation, there is no denying that. I might even dare anyone to try and hate her. I personally find the act impossible. Sure, she is a cute, demure, obedient male-dependant Moe stereotype found in most anime and manga - similar to a Japanese Snow White, right down to her pale complexion. But who she is and how she interacts with Hideki make her surprisingly complex and interesting to observe, and not just for the maid outfits she'll be wearing. Part of her appeal is her determination to help Hideki pay his bills and make his life easier - to see him smile - which is genuinely sweet. I think you have to see the anime or read the manga to understand how grand this statement is, because I know it sounds like I'm re-enforcing the women-serves-man - or the Manic Pixie Dream Girl - trope. But it is more complicated than that.
Chi is so freaking cute - the artwork more than succeeds in showing off her charm - and there is nothing to hate about her. And it's not like Hideki is the only person she interacts with - she talks to both men and women, who treat her like a machine, or a sex object, or a living person, depending on the characters and circumstances.
Love - maternal, paternal, sisterly, brotherly, romantic, sexual; all forms of human affection are explored in 'Chobits' to wondrous effect. It deconstructs the relationship between man and his needs of convenience in both technology and his sex life; and what might happen if the two things should be interchangeable. It can be a thing of beauty, if the man does not lose sight of what love is, and of his humanity, as a result. But if he does, it can lead to disastrous consequences upon himself and other people in his life.
People do not need obedient, personality-less objects to make their lives richer and meaningful. To love and be loved in return is a blessed gift to be treasured, and if the person loving and needing love happens to not really be human after all, should that make a difference?
The reason why 'Chobits' doesn't get 5 stars from me is due to there still being the aforementioned sexist character archetypes. All the women are beautiful, not just the persocoms: the domestic landlady, the busty high school girl, and the lonely promiscuous schoolteacher; even though those characters have good personalities and contribute much to the series's themes. At least the landlady, Chitose Hibiya, is revealed to be more multi-layered than she first appears.
The relationship between Hideki's school friend Shinbo and said-teacher Takako Shimizu is highly questionable and might turn out to be abusive. It is the man who decides what the woman needs and everything she says and does. Sounds controlling to me. I mean I know Takako is in need of close human companionship after her husband practically abandoned her for a persocom, but she should still be allowed to make her own decisions, and get into a new relationship at her own pace.
And I'm still not quite sure who Zima and Dita are, and of course Zima is more knowledgeable and decisive than the fiery Dita, despite them both being advanced persocom models.
Though I'm too wrapped up in the cuteness, the levelly-paced-storytelling and the deep, psychological themes concerning humanity's relationship with technology to care that much.
A great science fiction and shoujo manga, I highly recommend 'Chobits' to anyone, even feminists. Decide for yourself whether the sexism is only a front, and discover the genre-deconstructing layers - and the heart - underneath the circuitry.
Final Score: 4/5
P.S. I just realised, there is another reason for why I love this series. What separates 'Chobits' from many other science fiction stories about robots nowadays? It doesn't use violence or elimination as a solution to a problem. As little action as there is, genuine love and humanity are present in every volume. A.I. is not so bad in this version of the future that Will Smith has to pop up wielding a gun and smashing robots' faces in. Humans are not so stupid or perverse that they’ve created a horde of monsters, even when they’ve created ones that look like sexualized human beings. -
As with all my manga/comic reviews, this is an overview of all 8 volumes of the series. Due to it being a collective review, it'll have spoilers because I feel it is important to speak about the plot points, characters, and subjects at length.
Chobits is one of my favorite manga series. In fact, I own several figures and keychains and pins and what not of Chii and Yuzuki because I love the aesthetic so much.
There is, however, a LOT to unpack about this series and its major shortcomings. To begin....
I hate Hideki and the creepy vibes that the choices the authors made for this series produce. I hate them with all my heart and soul and they are a horrific mistake in my opinion that lay like a black grime on this tale that had the potential to be so much more amazing.
Oh my god, do I have criticisms. Like, I just want everyone to know that my 4 stars revolves around the lovely art, Chii as a character, and the complex themes presented that exist underneath the muck that's responsible for literally everything wrong with this manga.
If you're unfamiliar with manga, generally it's split by age and gender demographic to target a specific audience and isn't usually intended to appeal outside of one of these major demographics. Shoujo is for young girls, josei is for women, shounen is for young boys, seinen is for men. This means there are certain themes and tropes that appear in nearly all series, depending on which of these four categories they fall in.
Chobits is a seinen despite its feminine, cute aesthetic and THIS, in my opinion, is the exact crux, the zenith, of its flaws, because the majority of the elements that I dislike and find problematic stem from the authors wanting to appeal very hard to this demographic over others.
CLAMP made a story targeted at a reader audience comprised of men who are, at the very least, 18 or older, if not well into their 20s and beyond.
This means that there's a decidedly sexual and fan-service vibe to a lot of what happens, regardless of the context of the story, purely for the sake of engaging older male readers on the assumption that sex sells.
To preface, I'm not against "ecchi" themes at all and do in fact enjoy erotica when it's used to compliment love stories, but the problem with Chobits is that it lets these elements overshadow the story and create situations for the singular purpose of adding in another sexualized scene, often with the side effect of being creepy and problematic.
To be blunt, Chobits tends to appeal to men who prefer child-like women who are naive with a cute face and sexy body (so lolicons and other gross creeps that are attracted to underage girls tend to be drawn to this manga) and it appeals to men who like the idea of sex robots: a hot, responsive female body thatdoes as told, cannot react negatively, exists purely to serve and satisfy a person's desires and who, being a robot, requires little thoughtfulness or effort from their human lover to maintain the illusion of unconditional love and loyalty.
So, uh, *vomits*. That's gross. Very gross.
Which is sad because there's some great things in this series underneath the author's going, "Okay, we want men to buy this so, have Chii be sexy and child-like all at once and put that in as many scenes as possible."
This manga isn't trying to encourage or depict these sorts of things, Hideki himself is only 18 and Chii is modeled after like a 16-18 year old girl herself, so there's not an odd age-gap thing with them, but because it has that sort of scenario, those sorts of vibes, and is meant to appeal to older men, it attracts those sorts of people all the same, much like how any media will attract some pervert to it even if there's nothing sexual about it (like basically all children's TV shows or media; I've seen things while googling Neopets characters that will haunt me until death).
Chii is a robot who we learn isn't merely a persacom (a computer built to resemble a human), but an extremely technologically complex one capable of things that no other persacom can do: a type that' dubbed a "chobit." The main focus of the story is on her and her journey through life after she's found in the trash by a college student named Hideki (the technical main character, despite how little he's showcased in art) and turned on (by means of a switch located between her legs) to reveal she has no prior memory or software. She's a blank slate to the world, which means she has a naive, innocent, child-like way of being and she relies heavily on Hideki, the boy who found her (we'll get to this trashcan of a man later) as well as the friends she makes along the way and the guiding forces that aid her quietly from the sidelines in this new beginning to finding happiness and acceptance.
We are given some rather philosophical themes about the nature of humans, robots, emotions, and relationships. Chii's desire is to find a sense of belonging and understanding as she interacts with the world and with Hideki. She wishes to understand herself, understand Hideki, understand people, and Hideki, as the human and proxy through which the reader experiences the story, is faced with the same quandaries as the reader: his relationship with Chii, people's relationships with machines and other humans, what emotions truly are and whether it's possible for a robot to be an autonomous, thinking, feeling thing or if people are merely fooled by a human face and seduced by the ease of being able to program away human flaw.
The journey these two embark on together, seeking understanding, is superb.
This is what truly makes Chobits worthwhile in my opinion and, as an adult, I find it a huge mistake for CLAMP to have opted to make this an ecchi seinen trying to cash in on male adult readers interested in having sex with cute robots over a philosophical shoujo or josei whose readers would have related to Chii's journey of growth and acceptance, as well as her search for love and belonging amidst a cutely drawn style in a universe with wonderful world-building, and been interested in the complex arguments around the difficulties of relationships with other humans, what it means to have emotions and love, and the unique questions presented by having technology that is human-like and seemingly perfect, but lacking in so much of what makes humans human, as well as the unique problem of Chii, who is unlike other persacoms, but who cannot be considered quite human herself either, despite her advancements.
When the story isn't trying to say something and have purpose, it's actually focused way more on Hideki than Chii, which I don't like. He's framed as the main character and most of the story revolves around things from his perspective.
I hate Hideki with my entire soul. He's completely worthless and completely unworthy of Chii, who is just trying her best to understand the world and find a sense of belonging and happiness within it. Don't talk to me or my beautiful daughter, Chii, ever again, you worthless scrub pervert :)
If you read any seinen, you'll definitely see this archetype and dynamic a lot: the plain, generic loser who thinks about sex a lot (yet is so overwhelmed by it that he can barely look at a lingerie store without panicking and struggles to touch women despite how often he objectifies and sexualizes them), can't get a girlfriend, tends to have poor luck, isn't super handsome or socially graceful, but is generally a nice, polite person, and who, because they are plain and nice, suddenly end up surrounded by beautiful, wonderful women.
In other words, a type of plain character with a basic life that anyone can see themselves inserted into to reap the benefits of this character's sudden life changes regarding women and excitement. The idea of this character is to appeal largely to those meek nerd types who feel cast out by society and they tend to be surrounded by female characters who are purposefully crafted to be these highly naive, sweet, attractive women who fulfill the lead's every desire and ask little in return.
To me, this sort of thing screams "I may be a loser, but I'm still entitled to beautiful women and sex with them because I act nice" and is sort of a response to male characters who are attractive and successful and get girls despite being "jerks." Like, the other side of the misogyny coin.
Hideki is, at best, a plain bumpkin who sucks at school and has 0 idea how to interact with people, and at worst is a pathetic, worthless, uninteresting loser who is so overwhelmed by his perverted thoughts and lust coupled with his overwhelming awkwardness that he can't even act on the desire to be intimate with a girl, often screaming or panicking or running away before things progress.
While Chii isn't framed as the sweet house-wife type to compliment his plain loser nature (which is common, like in the manga
Oh My Goddess!, Volume 1) she is a sweet and naive girl who ultimately is put into a position where she's not allowed to see Hideki in the same light as other girls. His behaviors and awkwardness are all equally foreign to Chii, who often blankly watches his reactions and even tries to mimic them. She depends on his guidance and experience to exist--he teaches her, charges her battery, keeps her in his house, and is her closest relationship with whom she spends the most time--so Chii's purposefully placed in a situation that better enables someone "as cute as Chii" to like and later love Hideki, who, outside of generally being nice and polite and not actively malicious, doesn't have a whole lot to offer and often proves that he has serious issues, namely that he seems to have a porn addiction, wants to have sex with every woman he meets, and really can't get his mind out of the gutter.
The dynamic he has with Chii is an issue I have. If Hideki's role is like that of a teacher or guardian and Chii is framed as this innocent, child-like figure, then that has some seriously creepy vibes because Hideki could groom Chii like a pedophile does his victims--he has that sort of influence and power over Chii.
Despite her being drawn to at least resemble an older teen/young woman (developed breasts and hips) she's often made to be quite child-like, so Hideki constantly getting an erection and nosebleed from watching her innocently do things in her ignorance, like let a towel slip or get frosting all over herself or look at a lingerie catalogue, is decidedly really off putting.
I can say that Hideki doesn't immediately see Chii as a romantic partner and outside of getting a nosebleed when she does something he thinks of as sexy, he tends to treat her like a child and doesn't try to get physical with her, but even though he's not doing something like fondling her breasts or making her perform oral sex, the fact that he's treating Chii like a child to teach one moment then getting hard because he can feel her breasts when she hugs him in joy the next just registers as gross and says something about Hideki, especially since Chii's behaviors are not sexually motivated on her part. Hideki is supposed to be like 18 years old and is enrolled in a college prep course to prepare him for entrance exams, but even though he's not a 35 year old office worker being weird, the fact that Chii is this naive, child-like being constantly in the presence of a hormonal man who gets sexually excited by everything she does just has bad vibes.
Now, Chii does get more experienced and worldly as the series progresses and she becomes less naive and childlike.
For example, after she is lured into a peep show and is nearly touched between the legs by the man who lured her in, Chii is told by Freya (who exists within her programming to act as a guide) not to let anyone touch her if she doesn't want them to and that Chii has every right to protect her body and that she alone decides who gets to touch her, which encourages Chii to take control of her body and better protect herself.
She also comes to get a better understanding her herself, people, emotions, relationships, etc. which gives her greater autonomy in the world and allows her the be capable of making choices, rather than being led around by others.
I personally wish that Chii had been made more mature from the start; not that she ever behaves like a brat, but there's always an innate child-like nature to her. I don't know if that's just a result of her generally sweet and innocent way of being and part of how she interacts with the deeper philosophy of things from this innocent, questing standpoint, but Chii being a sexualized female robot with child-like qualities just sounds like it was made to appeal to men who want sexually available women they exert a great degree of control over and who provide them unconditional love and loyalty in exchange for behavior that can be described as nice and non-aggressive, even if it's not exactly respectful or without strings.
I suppose the one small grace of Hideki is that, in the end, when he's is faced with the choice of "If you decide to be with Chii and love her, you cannot have sex with her. Doing so will flip her switch and erase her memory and she will be little more than an empty sex doll." he ultimately decides that Chii herself is more valuable than his desire to physically be with her.
Though, I suppose you can argue that even if he can't penetrate her between the legs there are other means of them having sex and that him deciding to be with her isn't necessarily simply because he loves her for what she is but because he realizes he can get off with her in other ways.
But I just want to BELIEVE at least one decent thing about Hideki so that Chii can have her happy ending with "the one for me and only me" and I try to believe that things will be okay and they'll figure them out.
With that, I will say that I'd steer clear if sexualizing naive, child-like women gives you bad vibes or is potentially triggering, but if you can get passed these things and look to the story for its more intelligent and philosophical themes and Chii's journey, I do recommend reading it!
This is an example of how trying to appeal to a demographic can really tarnish a wonderful idea and how sex doesn't make everything better; it's a spice to accent something with in certain instances, not something to toss into anything in excess with reckless abandon just to try to capitalize on the old adage that sex sells. I can't say if CLAMP themselves made this call because they realized there were weirdos eyeing their other words like Cardcaptor Sakura and Tsubasa or if they felt forced to do it by their publisher or if they felt it was the trendy thing to do in the early 2000s, but I will go down saying that I believe it was a HORRIFIC error on their part to make this a fan-service filled seinen full of so much sexualized material. -
Well! Tried very hard to struggle through the first volume because I have six retired library copies that have been laying around my house… picked it up and put it back down and put it back down again over and over…
I can’t do it. The core premise and its handling of the subject matter is disturbing to me. Put this in Chi’s perspective and this reads like a horror story. She gets thrown in the trash, stripped of her data/identity/ability to communicate, and “”””rescued”””” by a teenager who repeatedly states he wants to use her for porn.
I wanted to enjoy this and I feel like it’s not impossible for me as an adult woman to find some fun in a fanservicey shonen romance (Midori Days is unironically a big favorite of mine) but man was this just not handled in a way I found appealing. “Creepy” is the overall sensation I got where I think that the manga was definitely trying to go for “cute/funny.”
I’m somewhat interested in the mystery of what’s going on but not enough to keep subjecting myself to more born sexy yesterday shenanigans.
Too bad! Augh! -
takie 3.5/5? Chii jest przeslodka i podoba mi się kreska (w końcu to Clamp), ale sporo questionable wątków
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Chi is so cute
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Quiero ver como evoluciona y como sale de las situaciones insólitas o inverosimiles que se le plantean
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This review will be for Chapters 1 - 12 in the
Chobits: Omnibus, Vol. 1 omnibus edition.
Original Review - March 4th, 2013 (Rating: 4):
Well that escalated.. I mean ended quickly, and abruptly. Unexpected cliffhanger aside, Chobits is strangely captivating.
The main character, Hideki, is comically (and on occasion, annoyingly) immature, but endearing. Then there is "the star of the show", Chi, who, as everyone says at least once upon meeting her, is incredibly cute. While the immediate attraction to the story is hard to place, I think the strength of this graphic novel and quite possibly the series, is the reader's curiosity about Chi.
Additional Thoughts - May 31st, 2015 (Rating 3.5):
While I still agree, for the most part, with my original feelings, my enthusiasm for this particular volume has dropped a bit. It seems I may have initially reviewed this section through rose colored glasses.
Along with the above description, Hideki is painfully naive and ridiculously anxious. He overreacts to everything, yet when his instincts tell him to question something, he doesn't really follow through.
I still find his treatment of Chi to be endearing, however, and am still interested in learning about Chi. -
Gosh... I remember reading this years ago and really enjoying it, but re-reading it now it just felt... creepy. The whole manga seems to be aimed at Otakus, with possibly the most fan-service I've ever encountered. Not only that, but the object of desire is often Chi, robot with a child-like/tween personality and appearence. So for Chi to be switched/turned on by her private parts just feels so.. wrong. Hideki is meant to be this comedic 'nice-guy' who's just such an average guy with all his porn and indecent thoughts, but he's really a perverted man interested in younger girls (not just Chi, but his co-worker too), who only seems to view women as sexual objects and is just really chauvinistic - he want Chi just to look cute and make him meals.
I'm going to give this another go in the next volume, but so far this manga just creeps me out. -
Chobits is not one of CLAMP's stronger works, but it's an enjoyable read. The manga obviously lacks some of the adorableness of hearing Chii (to be fair, the adorableness of hearing her is offset by just how much more disturbing the blank-eyed blank-slate girl effect is when it's in motion, but watching her march and sing the "pan-tsu!" song is endearing), but I think the manga's plotting is stronger. It's a balancing act.
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This must be the straight boy version of shojo, and I'm not loving it. I always find the robot girl theme revolting and this is no exception. There is something very disturbing about it. on the positive side, the art was pretty.
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This was so stinking cute, I almost couldn’t stand it!! Seems like a good beginning to the series and I can’t wait to start the next one to see what adorable things Chi will say or do!!!
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This Manga was really good, I didn't expect to like it as much as I did and I am looking forward to reading volume 2. The storyline was really good.
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I read this for a reading challenge category: book I loved as a child. I remember loving it and reading the whole series. What I hadn't remembered was how sexual this one is. I think a lot of that might have just gone over my head as a kid, but reading it now I was a little shocked.
In a world where personal computers are made to look like people and walk around with you, a young man finds one of these computers thrown away in the trash. When he starts her up, however, he discovers that there is something very mysterious about her. Mischief follows. -
Chobits is to its core a romantic comedy like so many others. It is about a rather typical teen male lead and his life with a girl that suddenly had to stay at his apartment. If you have seen or read enough harems and ecchi comedies you can see the cheese of the premise present from the very first episode. A guy with zero talent and zero experience with women all of a sudden gets swarmed by pretty gals who for one or another emotional reason need him.
But a few tips about the story are in need. It’s the near future, technology has reached a point where personal computers now look and act like people and many real humans turn to them in order to find happiness. Some are just assistants on various jobs, others are bought friends or pets, or even lovers. And in all this chaos our hero finds one such robot thrown in the garbage and decides to keep it for himself. Which of course ends up being a beautiful girl that knows nothing and learns like a child even the most basic things. Soon many others who are involved with this new breed of machines interact with him and a lot of things are revealed or proven not what they seem.
The premise of the show could very easily turn to some hentai, as it involves robots built to resemble beautiful people and who are programmed to obey their masters down to the last detail. And yes, there is a lot of focus given to the aspect of these robots being used as substitutes for romance, friendship or even sex partners. So yeah, in theory this is the stuff from which a mountain of ecchi and hentai recycle their ideas form through the decades.
Yet it is not really an average ecchi comedy and by no means a hentai, despite bordering it subtly at times. It also is in fact full of social criticism and metal awareness that actually leave some food to the mind amongst all the cheese of the erotic humor. Very few such shows bother to add something other than an excuse of a story and random situations where people bump on each other naked.
Although it never gets too deep or philosophical, it still has the guts to criticize the very tropes its genres are supposed to deify in order to appeal to the target audience. And by the end of the day that is what makes this anime to deserve a spot on the tops of romantic comedies. It aims to make you laugh with sex jokes on one hand and make you think if all this utopia of dreamy artificial people is that good to begin with. So it shows things from both sides of the spectrum, making propaganda and anti-propaganda at the same time. It is post-modern yet anti-post modern as well.
Most of course hardly notice such overtones and focus mainly on the cast or the quality of the humor. Which again I must say have far more interest than most casts in such shows. The social and mental overtones gave room for immersion to each ones mentality, allowing character coloring and development to come along. They even offered catharsis and a satisfying closure instead of just leaving it stale and open to a sequel; the bulk of what romantic comedies turn to almost every time. No sir, here we have a complete story with developed characters. By the end of the show you really feel sympathy for most of the characters, as each one has his or her own set of worries. None feels out of place as every issue involves the humanoid machines. There is uniformity and not random ideas thrown blindly here and there.
I must point out that this series is by no means Ghost in the Shell. Most episodes work fine as stand alones and their storylines are in fact quite common in ecchi comedies. It’s just that since the lead robot girl is steadily learning, you feel there is actual progress amongst all the cheese. Plus, the secondary cast also reacts differently based on previous events and thus you never get a filler episode in the strict sense of the word.
As much as I liked the characters and the story premise, I still don’t give a very high mark on the actual storyline. To the most part it builds a mystery and a global conspiracy that makes you feel the end of the world is near, yet by the end of the series nothing really terrifying even happens to the world. So all the mystery is basically a fake lure to keep you worried about the end of the show. It otherwise resolves matters in quite the anti-climactic way, but not necessary a sloppy one. It is good but not serious or rewarding enough to deserve more.
The artwork is very appealing to the eye, without needing to be extra detailed or filled with computer generated filters. The environments feel almost minimalistic and in comical moments the characters and the backgrounds simplify extremely. Yet, this does not ruin the overall feeling as the jokes still get through. The character figures, although rather simplistic in body and facial structure still maintain an air of cuteness and beauty, boosted further by the rather extravagant uniforms they usually wear. Plus, those touches with the fairy tale book and its weird symbolisms gave an artchy feeling that makes you think it’s a work of non-ecchi erotic art.
Overall, this is one of those rare cases where I fully enjoyed a romantic / ecchi comedy. It was not just random jokes, it had a story, it had development, it had an ending, it had some food for the mind. And above all, nothing felt completely retarded, like out of this world reactions to a situation or ass-pulled plot twists. Reread value is high, and so is enjoyment.
