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Chobits (ちょびっツ Chobittsu) is a Japanese manga created by Clamp. It was published by Kodansha in Young Magazine from February 2001 and November 2002 and collected in eight bound volumes. Unlike most stories by Clamp, Chobits is a seinen series commonly mistaken for shōjo because of its strong romantic themes and flowery art style.[citation needed] Chobits was adapted as a 26-episode-long anime television series broadcast on TBS and Animax from April to September 2002. In addition, it has spawned a video game as well as various merchandise such as figurines, collectable cards, calendars, and artbooks. The series tells the story of Hideki Motosuwa, who finds an abandoned persocom, or personal computer with human form, that he names Chi after the only word she initially can speak. As the series progresses, together they explore the mysteries of Chi's origin and questions about the relationships between humans and persocoms. The manga is set in the same universe as Angelic Layer, taking place a few years after the events of that story, and like Angelic Layer, it explores the relationship between humans and electronic devices shaped like humans. Chobits branches off as a crossover to many other stories in different ways, such as Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and xxxHolic.
[edit] Plot[edit] StoryThe story centers on the life of Hideki Motosuwa, a repeat 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 long hair lying against a pile of trash bags, and he carries her home. 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 Chi. Hideki assumes that there must be something wrong with her, and so the following morning Hideki's neighbor Hiromu Shimbo tries to analyze her with his mobile persocom Plum, and after Plum crashes he concludes that she must be custom-made. Shinbo introduces Hideki to Minoru Kokubunji, a twelve year old genius who specializes in the field of custom made persocoms. Minoru's persocoms, including Yuzuki, a fairly exceptional custom made 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 could be a possibility, Minoru is confident that it is only a 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, which 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 stressing pull for the characters in the series. Hideki discovers that his feelings intensify for Chi whether she is a persocom or not, despite other horrible experiences involving persocoms that happened to his friends. 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 towards people 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 not capable 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 humans and their new technological advantage, the persocom, as well as their friends' and their own. [edit] EtymologyIn the series, the derivation of the name "chobits" is given as coming from their father, Ichiro Mihara, who used the word "chobi" to describe anything he thought was "small and hopelessly adorable". Two chobi become "chobits". The word "chobits" is an anagram of "Chitose Hibiya",[1] and is also the password given to Elda, Freya, Plum, and eventually Chi. The spelling of the title uses a mixture of hiragana (ちょびっ Chobi[t]) and katakana (ツ tsu). The mixed letters were chosen because a persocom's password requires a mixture of hiragana, katakana, and/or Latin alphanumeric characters for increased security. Similarly, the password Chobittsu (チょびっつ) for Plum, set by Hideki in episode 19 of the TV series, mixes katakana (チ Ch[i]) and hiragana (ょびっつ [y]obittsu), although in Tokyopop's English translation of the manga, the password is "Chobits" (with a capital "C"). The word persocom (パソコン pasokon) is a Japanese contraction of personal computer (パーソナルコンピュータ pāsonaru konpyūta). In Japan, it is used to refer to personal computers in the same way as the initials PC are in English. In Chobits, it is used with no distinction between modern and humanoid computers. In the final chapter of the manga, Chitose Hibiya explains that persocoms were not named "robots" because Ichiro Mihara did not include Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics in them. [edit] ThemesDespite the comedic and ecchi moments, Chobits itself deals with several dualities concerning subject matter it shows. The most explored issue throughout the series is human-persocom relationships. Although the series stresses the ideas of persocoms being loved, the lesson that the series attempts to pass along (being loved for who you are) can be represented in many different ways. "Watashi" (a first person pronoun in Japanese), a character drawn by Chitose Hibiya in a children's picture book A City with No People, is used in the series to hint at the definition of reciprocated love to Chi, and is used to highlight issues with human-persocom relationships; drawing upon the fact that because persocoms can be programmed to imitate desirable human behavior, humans would opt-out of human relationships, resulting in obvious problems, such as the inability to further produce offspring. The series deals with issues and ideals of virginity, and sexual intercourse in that Chi is effectively incapable of sexual intercourse (in the manga at least, in the anime this is never actually stated), as attempting to do so would "reset" her, so she must therefore only entrust her body to someone who cares for her well-being as opposed to a purely sexual relationship. Freya explicitly tells this to Hideki in the final scene of the manga, that to have Chi, pointing between her legs, means that Chi would lose all her memories. Earlier in the story, Freya makes elliptic statements suggesting that it could be possible to touch Chi there, as seen in Episode 20 of the anime when Chi was abducted. Chi mentioned that her "One and Only" can enter there, pointing Hideki to that location. While Freya does not expressly suggesting that Hideki and Chi can be intimate, she does see to be hinting at the capability of Chi to do so if she so chooses . Hideki continues to loves Chi purely however , thus promoting the ideals of "loving someone for who they are" throughout the story. It is also hinted in the story that Chi's particular placement of her 'On' switch is added after Freya's death, since her father gave her "special abilities". Along with his goal to ensure all persocoms found happiness, the placement of Chi's on switch ensures that her personality will thrive only in a relationship in which she is loved without the pressures of sex. The idea of "love", as a concept is addressed for the denominator of the story, in several installments of A City with No People; this deals with issues particularly relating to searching, and subsequently waiting for someone who is what would be referred to as a "soul mate". This is in parallel to the story of Freya, who fell in love with her father and creator, and ultimately wished death due to heartache. This idea is used as a means of "aiding" Chi in her quest for "a person just for me" or "my one and only." Both Chi and her sister, Freya; Atashi being linked to Chi, and the companion, linked to Freya. [edit] Main charactersMain article: List of Chobits characters
[edit] Development
[edit] AdaptationThere were several changes made to the story when it was adapted as an anime series. The more important ones include:
[edit] Media[edit] MangaMain article: List of Chobits chapters The original Chobits manga was written by Clamp, a collective of four Japanese manga artists. It was serialized in Japan by Kodansha in Young Magazine from February 2001 until November 2002. The 88 chapters were collected in eight bound volumes. The manga is published in English in North America by Tokyopop.[3] Tokyopop's translation is imported to Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment.[4] Tokyopop lost its license for the series, as rival publisher Dark Horse Manga announced at San Diego Comic-Con International that it would be publishing new omnibus editions of the series in celebration of CLAMP's 20th anniversary.[5] The first of the volumes is scheduled to be published January 27, 2010 and appears to be 4 of the original volumes in 1.[6] It is published in Hong Kong in Traditional Chinese by Jonesky, in Singapore in Simplified Chinese by Chuang Yi, in South Korea by Daiwon C.I., in France by Pika Édition, in Spain by Norma Editorial, in Mexico by Grupo Editorial Vid, in Italy by Star Comics (which serialized it in Express), in Germany by Egmont Manga & Anime (which serialized it in Manga Power), in Poland by Japonica Polonica Fantastica, in Brazil by JBC, and in Sweden by Carlsen Verlag.[7] An art-book based on the series, Your Eyes Only, was published by Kodansha; it is licensed in North America by Tokyopop. In addition, A City with No People, the fictional picture book written in the series by Chitose Hibiya, was released in Japan as a picture book;[8] this version was also released as an audiobook format with text read by Rie Tanaka, the voice actor for Chi.[citation needed] Clamp often reuses (or parallels) various characters among their manga. Chobits is their first seinen series, aimed at young men.[9] [edit] AnimeMain article: List of Chobits episodes Chobits was adapted as an anime television series by Madhouse. The series was directed by Morio Asaka with music by K-Taro Takanami and character designs by Hisashi Abe. The opening theme is "Let Me Be With You" by Round Table featuring Nino. The ending themes are "Raison d'être" (Reason to Be) by Rie Tanaka (episodes 1–13), "Ningyo-hime" (Doll Princess) by Rie Tanaka (episodes 14–25), and "Katakoto no Koi" (Awkward Love) by Rie Tanaka and Tomokazu Sugita (episodes 26).[10] The series was broadcast in 26 episodes from 2 April 2002 to 24 September 2002 across Japan, East Asia, and Southeast Asia by the anime satellite television network, Animax and the terrestrial Tokyo Broadcasting System network.[10] It was later released on 8 DVDs.[11] The original episodes 9 and 18 are "recap" episodes, summarizing previous events. These episodes were re-numbered for the DVD release as episodes 8.5 and 16.5, respectively, and removed from their original sequence by being published together on the final DVD. As a result, the series is 24 episodes long on DVD. In addition, there are two DVD-only OVAs: a 27th episode recapping the series (numbered episode 24.5)[12] and a 6-minute special, "Chobits: Plum and Kotoko Deliver".[13] The ending theme of the latter is "Book End Bossa" by Round Table featuring Nino. The series was broadcast in Korea by AniOne TV, in France by Europe 2 TV, in Spain by both Animax España and Buzz Channel, in Portugal on Animax Portugal, and in Poland by Hyper. It is licensed in North America by Geneon,[10] which has released the series in 7 DVDs.[14] This release is redistributed in the United Kingdom by MVM Films[15], and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment.[16] It is also licensed in Taiwan by Proware Multimedia, in France and the Netherlands by Kaze Animation, in Germany by ADV Films, and in Russia by MC Entertainment.[10] [edit] SoundtracksTwo soundtracks from the anime were released by Pioneer. Chobits Original Soundtrack 001 was released 1 July 2003 and Chobits Original Soundtrack 002 was released 7 October 2003. Three singles were released, the opening theme "Let Me Be with You" by Round Table featuring Nino, and two ending themes by Rie Tanaka, "Raison d'être" and "Ningyo Hime". In addition, a character song album, Chobits Character Song Collection, was released on 17 February 2004. One piece of music in the anime was previously used in the anime adaptation of X, another work by Clamp. Nicknamed "Dark Chi's Theme",[citation needed] it does not appear on any Chobits soundtrack. [edit] Drama CDsChobits was adapted as a series of four drama CDs, each called a Chapter. [edit] GamesIn 2002 Marvelous Entertainment released in Japan only a Chobits game for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance called Chobits: Atashi Dake no Hito. The game was available bundled with a clear blue Game Boy Advance with a decal of Chi above the A+B buttons and a Chobits logo above the D-pad.[17] In 2003 Broccoli released a Playstation 2 game titled Chobits: Chii Dake no Hito. Like the Gameboy Advance game, this too was released only in Japan. Another PC-version game was also released in 2002, using Macromedia and Quicktime as the background support. This game is called Communication Game, in which the player can "talk" with Chi and teach her to speak. It also contained some small games inside such as a keyboard typing game. [edit] ReceptionReviewers consistently praised the production quality of the anime series, citing good sound and animation quality and detailed backgrounds. The adaptation was criticized for shifting the focus from Hideki to Chi, in particular for having episodes devoted to Chi "doing cute things" and providing fanservice.[18] Critics generally agreed, however, that the second half of the series was stronger than the first, as the story explored the moral and philosophical explorations of the relationships between humans and artificial intelligences, and whether the latter have free will.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Categories: Manga series | Anime series | 2002 television series debuts | 2002 television series endings | ADV Films | Anime of 2002 | Clamp (manga artists) | Chobits | Drama anime and manga | Ecchi anime and manga | Geneon | Madhouse | Anime distributed by Madman Entertainment | Manga distributed by Madman Entertainment | Manga of 2001 | Romantic comedy anime and manga | Science fiction anime and manga | Seinen | Tokyopop titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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