Chobits (manga, vol. 2) by CLAMP

The previous volume ended with Ms. Shimizu at Hideki's place, guzzling alcohol. At the beginning of this volume, Hideki wakes up to find himself in his underwear, with Ms. Shimizu still there, cheerfully teasing him ("Don't worry, Hideki. I didn't take advantage of you."). The two of them head on over to cram school - Ms. Shimizu seems to be doing fine, despite all the drinking, but Hideki notices that Shimbo looks both exhausted and angry. When Shimbo gets upset after finding out that Ms. Shimizu stayed over at Hideki's, Hideki almost manages to figure out what's going on, except that Yumi interrupts his train of thought. As usual, Yumi becomes sad when the subject of persoms comes up. She seems to become even sadder at the thought that Hideki might find a persocom like Chi to be cuter and more fun that a human being, so Hideki assumes Yumi has a crush on him. When Yumi invites him to join her for a picnic lunch, Hideki's assumptions appear to be confirmed.

While Hideki was out, Chi was at Ms. Hibiya's, trying on clothing. Ms. Hibiya mysteriously reveals that the (very frilly and revealing) clothing Chi is trying on was made for her. She talks about Chi as though she knew her from before Hideki found her. Also, she has the picture of the other Chi that Minoru received in the previous volume, and she talks about the "someone just for you" (in this case, someone just for Chi), just like Chi's picture book. When Hideki comes home, he's too excited about his upcoming date with Yumi to notice anything significant about the way Chi talks about her new clothes. He certainly doesn't notice Chi's reaction when he talks about his date with Yumi.

Before Hideki and Yumi meet up, Hideki finds the second volume of the "A City With No People" picture books, which contiues the whole "someone just for me" thing, ending with something that might be worrying Chi even now - "what if that person does not love you back?"

While on their date, Hideki and Yumi bump into Minoru and Yuzuki. When Minoru notes in approval that Hideki seems to still enjoy human companionship more than that of a persocom like Chi, Hideki takes the opportunity to ask about Minoru's unusual relationship with Yuzuki. It turns out that, after Minoru's only remaining family, his sister, died, Minoru created Yuzuki and made her as much like his sister as possible. Unfortunately, what he did not forsee (heck, he was, what, 10 when he built her?) was that the more Yuzuki became like his sister, the sadder he would become. Although her love feels real, no one knows better than Minoru that it's just part of her programming. All this gives Hideki something to think about when he goes home to Chi, who has spent Hideki's date meeting her other self (who could be called "gothic lolita Chi") within her mind, or whatever you call it when it's a persocom you're dealing with.

The next day, Chi notices Hideki bemoaning his lack of money and announces that she'd like to get a job. All she knows are the jobs listed in Hideki's porn magazines - not the kinds of things Hideki wants her doing. While Hideki is at work, Chi goes off on her own to find a job and ends up being approached by a guy from a peep show - it's not until after he gets home that Hideki finds out from Ms. Hibiya that Chi's gone off on her own. Hideki goes looking for her, sees Shimbo, and decides that Shimbo could help. However, Shimbo is having a very serious discussion with Ms. Shimizu. To Hideki's shock, it looks like the two of them have been having an affair. They're interrupted by a call from Minoru, who's spotted Chi in a live online peep show. Completely forgetting the whole Shimbo/Ms. Shimizu thing, Hideki springs into panicked action, borrowing Plum from Shimbo and running to Chi's location.

The peep show guy has been asking Chi to take off her clothes, which she doesn't have too many problems with. However, when he asks her to "play with herself," she doesn't know what he means at first. Then the "other Chi" prevents Chi from doing as he says, so the peep show guy decides to help her along. Something goes wrong, and suddenly persocoms everywhere are at a stand-still. They all go back to normal when Hideki finds Chi, who collapses in his arms.

Wow, CLAMP sure managed to cram a lot into one volume. Everybody but Hideki has secrets, it seems, and even Hideki has lots to think about, what with all the "persocoms vs. humans" stuff. A bit of humor and some blatant fanservice (Chi's dress - what is with Ms. Hibiya's fashion sense?!) keep the overall volume from being too weighty, but quite a few serious issues come up. Even if I hadn't already read this entire series, I'd be able to tell there's more heavy stuff to come.

At the moment, I can only think of one thing I'd like to write about for this volume, and it's a spoiler - so, you've been warned. If you'd rather not read any spoilers, I'd suggest you skip to the read-alikes (which, since I'm lazy, will look awfully familiar if you've read my other Chobits posts - it's hard thinking up new stuff, but I guess I should for volume 3).

Anyway, I'd like to write about Ms. Hibiya. Considering what is later revealed about Ms. Hibiya's relationship to Chi, I couldn't help but be amazed by some of the things she did (or didn't do) in this volume. First, the clothes. If that's what Ms. Hibiya dresses her "daughter" in, I wonder how she used to dress her dolls when she was little. Gah. And wow, all that studying (or maybe all that porn, since I'm not sure how much studying Hideki has managed to do) must have blown some of Hideki's brain cells, because it doesn't occur to him even once to wonder why Ms. Hibiya, whose clothes are perfectly ordinary, might have something like the clothes she gives Chi on hand.

Second, Ms. Hibiya's cheerful and completely non-worried reaction to Chi's announcement that she's going off to find a job. She knows Chi is somewhat lacking the in the common sense department, and yet she doesn't worry when Chi leaves or when she's been gone for a while. I suppose she might have assumed that Chi's inner gothic lolita Chi will keep her safe, but still - even though there's more to Chi than meets the eye, she's not invincible.

Well, overall things are definitely becoming more exciting in this volume. If someone at my library ever decides that we need manga, this might be one of the titles I'd suggest. The human-AI relationships theme is interesting, the artwork is lovely, and the series as a whole is short enough that it would be possible to buy the whole thing without too much trouble and expense. As an academic library, the "boobie" factor (to borrow Otaku Librarian's amusing and apt way of putting it) wouldn't be as big of a worry for us - however, other libraries might sweat a bit over Hideki's interest in porn, scantily clad Chi (and the various women in Hideki's dreams), Chi's non-Barbie boobies (nipples!), and what must be done to switch Chi on or off.

I promise, I'll try to make this the only post to use the word "boobies." Now, on to the read-alikes and watch-alikes.

Read-alikes and Watch-alikes:

• A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (live action movie) - This film takes place in a future where humans have figured out how to build mechas (robots) that look like humans. These mechas are used and thrown away (or worse) when they are no longer wanted or needed. David is an artificial child, the first mecha to have real feelings. Monica adopts him as a substitute for her son, who is in cryo-stasis, but David is no longer necessary when her son is able to come home. Alone, David goes on a journey to find out how to become a real boy. This movie is pretty dark and heavily philosophical, but it deals with some of the same issues as Chobits. What makes a person a person? Can artificial people really love, and how do they/should they fit into the human world?
• Absolute Boyfriend (manga) by Yuu Watase - Riiko is an energetic and nice girl who doesn't have any luck with guys. One day, a strange-looking salesman gives her the URL of a website that sells "love figures" (androids designed to be the perfect lovers). Riiko doesn't really believe any of it is real, but she orders one and signs up for a free trial anyway. The love figure, called Night, does arrive, but Riiko forgets to return him before the end of the trial. If she keeps him, she'll owe the company more money than she could ever pay, but, even if he's only a robot, she's starting to like him too much to give him up. Those who'd like another story featuring attractive robots might want to try this. Like Chobits, this series has romance and deals a little with the implications of falling in love with something non-living and man-made.
• Body Electric (book) by Susan Squires - This is a very unusual romance novel - the main "male" in the story is an artificial intelligence program, and the main female is, emotionally, pretty unhealthy (which is part of what makes this story fairly dark in tone, and certainly darker than the Chobits anime). Vic Barnhardt, a brilliant and troubled computer programmer, creates Jodie, an artificial intelligence program that she, at first, decides is female. She is shocked and outraged when Jodie finally breaks it to her that it considers itself to be male, but Vic eventually adjusts and her relationship with Jodie deepens even further. Eventually, in order to save Jodie from her boss, Vic must find him a body. This book starts off a bit slow, and Vic's emotional issues may bother some readers. Those who'd like another story dealing with the emotional relationships between humans and human-like computers/programs may want to try this.
• Oh My Goddess! (manga) by Kosuke Fujishima - Keiichi Morisato, a student at a technical university, accidentally calls a Goddess Help Line while attempting to call a restaurant for some take-out. A beautiful goddess named Belldandy shows up and tells him he can have one wish. He wishes for her to be his girlfriend forever, and things get more complicated from there. There are other goddesses who come calling throughout the series, magic goes awry, and magic is used to help people be happier. Those who'd like another "romance for guys" in which the main female love interest wants nothing more than to make the guy happy, sometimes with disastrous results, might like this.

Chobits (anime TV series, vol. 2)

This second disc in the Chobits anime series introduces the strange picture book series that will continue to pop up from time to time throughout the story. Hideki purchases the first book in the series for Chi after she shows an interest in it - he has no idea of the deeper meaning of the book, nor of the effect the book has on Chi.

However, this disc spends only a brief amount of time on the picture book storyline - in the second episode of the disc, Chi has become worryingly lethargic, which Hideki discovers is due to the fact that he hasn't been recharging her properly. Although Hideki does manage to get her recharged, with the help of Ms. Hibiya, it's expensive and Hideki, as usual, is short on funds. Chi doesn't like seeing Hideki unhappy, and when she learns that money is a good thing and might make him happier, she resolves to get a job. Because of Chi's complete lack of common sense, Hideki isn't so sure that this is a good idea, but he agrees that she can get a job, as long as it's a "good" job and not a "shady" job.

Unfortunately, Chi misunderstands. She goes off on her own and is lured into agreeing to act as a stripper for a peep show by a guy who assures her that this is a "good" job. Minoru finds out what's happening and gets the word out to Hideki, who panics and rushes off to find Chi. While Chi tries to do what the man tells her, a background program of some sort activates. She escapes, and all kinds of persocoms in the city (and perhaps farther away?) quit functioning. All the persocoms go back to normal once Hideki finds Chi. Hideki doesn't know how to handle whatever it was Chi did to all the perscoms, so he ignores that issue for the time being. He lectures Chi again about "good" jobs vs. "shady" jobs. When it becomes apparent that Chi can't tell the difference between the two, Hideki tells her he'll find her a job himself. It's tough finding a nice place that will agree to hire someone like Chi, but Hideki manages to find Chi a job at a bakery called Tirol.

Chi's often child-like behavior makes situations like the peep show job seem especially icky. True, she's a persocom and not a human, but they guy at the peep show should've felt at least a little gross, telling her what she needed to do. I did think that the "don't touch yourself there and don't let anyone but the one just for you touch you there, either" bit was interesting. Unlike a human, Chi can enforce "'no' means 'no'" by going super-powered and blowing things up - good for her.

On another note, although most of the persocoms viewers are shown look like human beings, there's brief moment when viewers are shown a cartoony persocom, one of the persocoms in the police station. In my opinion, it was a bit creepy. The human-shaped persocoms can look and act pretty alive - I'm not sure how I'd react to a yellow cartoon creature moving and speaking like a living being... I'm reminded of a commercial I saw a while back, in which a mom and her children run screaming from a cartoon sun being used to advertise some kind of orange drink (I just found the commercial here).

Well, moving on. I'm not sure the "Chi must be recharged" stuff ever happened in the manga - as far as I'm concerned, Hideki's just lucky he didn't break her during his panicked attempt to get her recharged. Chi's "good" job at Tirol was in the manga, however. It seems like an amazing coincidence that Hideki actually manages to find the perfect job for Chi - information revealed later in the series explains the manager's willingness to hire Chi a little better, but it's still a fantastic coincidence. It just so happens that Yumi, Hideki's coworker, has a connection to Tirol and its manager that Hideki doesn't know about (as if Yumi's reaction to the news about Chi's new job didn't make that obvious).

Although I don't think the English dub is bad, I still prefer watching this show in Japanese with subtitles - some of the characters just sound better to me in Japanese. However, I did notice something odd. When the Japanese language track was on, there were a few times when there were subtitles, even though no one was actually speaking. I turned up the volume during those times, thinking that maybe the characters were speaking too softly for me to hear, but that wasn't the case. When I listed to the English dub, these parts that had not had Japanese spoken dialogue had English spoken dialogue. I think I noted this same issue for one of the GetBackers boxed sets. I've also noticed this issue with other anime, including Tactics and Those Who Hunt Elves. I'm not sure what's going on here, and I haven't been able to find any information on this issue, so if anybody knows anything about this, feel free to comment about it.

The DVD's extras (I've got the individual DVDs, not a boxed set) are nothing special. There's a clean version of the first ending, an art gallery with even fewer images than were on the first DVD, and an insert with a few images of Chi.

Read-alikes and Watch-alikes:

• A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (live action movie) - This film takes place in a future where humans have figured out how to build mechas (robots) that look like humans. These mechas are used and thrown away (or worse) when they are no longer wanted or needed. David is an artificial child, the first mecha to have real feelings. Monica adopts him as a substitute for her son, who is in cryo-stasis, but David is no longer necessary when her son is able to come home. Alone, David goes on a journey to find out how to become a real boy. This movie is darker and more heavily philosophical than this disc of the Chobits anime, but it deals with some of the same issues as Chobits. What makes a person a person? Can artificial people really love, and how do they/should they fit into the human world?
• Absolute Boyfriend (manga) by Yuu Watase - Riiko is an energetic and nice girl who doesn't have any luck with guys. One day, a strange-looking salesman gives her the URL of a website that sells "love figures" (androids designed to be the perfect lovers). Riiko doesn't really believe any of it is real, but she orders one and signs up for a free trial anyway. The love figure, called Night, does arrive, but Riiko forgets to return him before the end of the trial. If she keeps him, she'll owe the company more money than she could ever pay, but, even if he's only a robot, she's starting to like him too much to give him up. Those who'd like another story featuring attractive robots might want to try this. Like Chobits, this series has romance and deals a little with the implications of falling in love with something non-living and man-made.
• Body Electric (book) by Susan Squires - This is a very unusual romance novel - the main "male" in the story is an artificial intelligence program, and the main female is, emotionally, pretty unhealthy (which is part of what makes this story fairly dark in tone, and certainly darker than the Chobits anime). Vic Barnhardt, a brilliant and troubled computer programmer, creates Jodie, an artificial intelligence program that she, at first, decides is female. She is shocked and outraged when Jodie finally breaks it to her that it considers itself to be male, but Vic eventually adjusts and her relationship with Jodie deepens even further. Eventually, in order to save Jodie from her boss, Vic must find him a body. This book starts off a bit slow, and Vic's emotional issues may bother some readers. Those who'd like another story dealing with the emotional relationships between humans and human-like computers/programs may want to try this.
• Oh My Goddess! (manga) by Kosuke Fujishima - Keiichi Morisato, a student at a technical university, accidentally calls a Goddess Help Line while attempting to call a restaurant for some take-out. A beautiful goddess named Belldandy shows up and tells him he can have one wish. He wishes for her to be his girlfriend forever, and things get more complicated from there. There are other goddesses who come calling throughout the series, magic goes awry, and magic is used to help people be happier. Those who'd like another "romance for guys" in which the main female love interest wants nothing more than to make the guy happy, sometimes with disastrous results, might like this.
  

Chobits (manga, vol. 1) by CLAMP

This manga takes place sometime in the near future. Almost everyone has a persocom, a person-shaped computer. Hideki, a poor cram school student, would love to have a persocom of his own, but they're hideously expensive and the money he gets from his job is barely managing to keep him afloat. Luckily for Hideki, he finds a cute, abandoned persocom on a pile of garbage. He takes her home with him and figures out how to turn her on, but she seems to be a little broken - she can only say "chi." He decides to name her "Chi" and asks for his friend Shimbo's help in figuring out more about her and what's wrong with her. Shimbo eventually sends him to Minoru, a rich 12-year-old with several powerful persocoms. Minoru thinks Chi might be a chobit, a legendary persocom that can think for itself and isn't reliant on outside programming. There's no proof of this, of course, but Minoru promises to find out what he can. Plus, he and Hideki discover that Chi has self-teaching software installed, so she's not completely without software.

Not much later, Minoru meets with Hideki to show him a picture he was sent that appears to show Chi, only with lots of cables and things attached to her. Minoru doesn't know who sent this picture, and Hideki worries that her original owner may want her back. However, no one's come to take Chi away yet, and Chi tells Hideki that the picture is not a picture of her. At the end of the volume, Hideki's cram school teacher, Ms. Shimizu, shows up at his apartment. Although she smiles and seems cheerful, there's something wrong. She tells him she's planning on staying over with him (either that, or sleeping outside somewhere). Hideki's too nice to let her go out on her own, so they eat and drink together (Ms. Shimizu has an amazing tolerance for alcohol). She and Hideki spend time talking, and Hideki discovers that Ms. Shimizu is married, but things don't seem to be going well with her and her husband and it may be connected to persocoms.

Although Hideki is incredibly nice and occasionally a bit of a goofball, he's not as goofy and scattered as he is in the anime, one of the reasons I prefer the manga over the anime. This first volume makes it obvious how different the manga is from the anime - although many of the events of this first volume happen in the manga, some of them happen much later and play out in a different way. Plus, there are certain minor differences - for instance, after Hideki finds Chi, he uses a book about persocoms to figure out how to do some basic system checks, whereas anime Hideki is much more helpless and needs hand-holding for everything Chi-related.

I really like this series. The artwork is lovely and reminds me of Angelic Layer - I find the artwork in Chobits to be cleaner and clearer, however. Some readers may have problems with the persocoms, which can tend to be like servants who are completely devoted to their current master - this can be a bit grating, a feeling which gets worse when you notice that almost all the persocoms shown are female. Still, as obsessed as Hideki is with porn, and as much as he blushes over Chi's cuteness, he at least doesn't stoop to treating her like a little slave.

This is a short series, only 8 volumes long, so CLAMP doesn't have much time to do what they want to do with it. They do a pretty good job of setting things up in this first volume. They introduce Hideki, bring Chi into the picture, and give several examples of how Chi is special compared to other persocoms. The picture that may or may not be of Chi establishes the "Chi mystery" - who/what is Chi, where did she come from, why was she thrown away, and who was her owner?

The ongoing theme of human-persocom relationships is also brought up several times, without, in my opinion, coming across at repetitive. Minoru brings it up when he tells Hideki not to fall in love with Chi, no matter how cute and how human she seems. Minoru's own interestingly complex relationship with his persocom Yuzuki is hinted at. The theme comes up again when Hideki talks to Yumi, his high school-aged coworker, and she tells him that she used to have a guy-shaped persocom but that it made her sad. The theme comes up yet again when Hideki buys Chi a picture book, "A City With No People," which (although readers may not realize it yet) is about a persocom looking for someone "just for me." The first city the persocom is in appears to have no people, because they are all inside with other persocoms, who are more fun to be with than other human beings. Finally, Ms. Shimizu brings the theme up near the end of the volume, when she comments that so many people find persocoms more fun to be with than other people.

I think part of the reason why the theme doesn't really seem repetitive is because readers may not necessarily realize that all of these moments are part of the overall theme. Because I've read this series before, I understand what's behind everyone's comments, but all this first volume actually does is hint at characters' stories.

Overall, I enjoyed this first volume (even though some previous library user ripped out several pages worth of panels, argh). As is usual with Tokyopop titles, there are no extras.

Read-alikes and Watch-alikes:

• A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (live action movie) - This film takes place in a future where humans have figured out how to build mechas (robots) that look like humans. These mechas are used and thrown away (or worse) when they are no longer wanted or needed. David is an artificial child, the first mecha to have real feelings. Monica adopts him as a substitute for her son, who is in cryo-stasis, but David is no longer necessary when her son is able to come home. Alone, David goes on a journey to find out how to become a real boy. This movie is a bit darker than Chobits, but it deals with some of the same issues. What makes a person a person? Can artificial people really love, and how do they/should they fit into the human world?
• Absolute Boyfriend (manga) by Yuu Watase - Riiko is an energetic and nice girl who doesn't have any luck with guys. One day, a strange-looking salesman gives her the URL of a website that sells "love figures" (androids designed to be the perfect lovers). Riiko doesn't really believe any of it is real, but she orders one and signs up for a free trial anyway. The love figure, called Night, does arrive, but Riiko forgets to return him before the end of the trial. If she keeps him, she'll owe the company more money than she could ever pay, but, even if he's only a robot, she's starting to like him too much to give him up. Those who'd like another story featuring attractive robots might want to try this. Like Chobits, this series has romance and deals a little with the implications of falling in love with something non-living and man-made.
• Body Electric (book) by Susan Squires - This is a very unusual romance novel - the main "male" in the story is an artificial intelligence program, and the main female is, emotionally, pretty unhealthy (which is part of what makes this story fairly dark in tone, and certainly darker than Chobits). Vic Barnhardt, a brilliant and troubled computer programmer, creates Jodie, an artificial intelligence program that she, at first, decides is female. She is shocked and outraged when Jodie finally breaks it to her that it considers itself to be male, but Vic eventually adjusts and her relationship with Jodie deepens even further. Eventually, in order to save Jodie from her boss, Vic must find him a body. This book starts off a bit slow, and Vic's emotional issues may bother some readers. Those who'd like another story dealing with the emotional relationships between humans and human-like computers/programs may want to try this.
• Angelic Layer (manga) by CLAMP; Angelic Layer (anime TV series) - A 12-year-old girl named Misaki gets hooked on the game Angelic Layer, in which players battle it out with little dolls. Even though she's a newbie, Misaki becomes a strong competitor. She has no idea, however, that the game can give her more than just fun and excitement - Angelic Layer can bring her closer to her mother, a woman she hasn't seen in years. Those who'd like another series by CLAMP with similar artwork might want to try this. Angelic Layer turns up briefly in Chobits.
  

Chobits (anime TV series, vol. 1)

(Well, this is many hours late, but I'm still posting it on the same day I'd normally have a post. Enjoy!)

Hideki, who has lived his whole life out in the country, dreams of attending a university. Unfortunately, he gets rejected, so he decides to attend a prep school in Tokyo. It seems like everyone in Tokyo has a persocom, a person-shaped computer. Hideki would like one, too, but he's so poor he can barely afford his tiny apartment. However, he's lucky enough to find an abandoned persocom piled on some trash - Hideki figures if her owners don't want her anymore, he can take her, guilt-free.

Hideki doesn't know anything about persocoms, and the one he found seems to be broken - she can only say "chi," so that's what he ends up naming her. Both his friend Shinbo and Minoru, a young genius, can't figure hardly anything out about her, not even which OS she's running. All Minoru can tell Hideki is that Chi appears to be custom-made and has the ability to learn (Hideki, as her owner, has to teach her).

Owning a persocom, even one as amazing as Chi, is expensive. Hideki eventually gets himself a job. In the last episode of the disc, Hideki agonizes over a particularly embarrassing errand he needs to run for Chi - getting her a pair of underwear (his landlady gave him some clothes Chi could use, but he feels too embarrassed to ask her for underwear). After two weeks of trying and failing to enter the lingerie store, Hideki sends Chi to get the underwear herself, with Sumomo (Shinbo's tiny persocom) to watch out for her and guide her. Although Chi eventually gets to the store, she misunderstands what Hideki wanted her to do, and Hideki ends up having to buy the underwear on his own anyway.

I'll start this off by saying that I've both read all the manga and seen all the anime. In my opinion, the manga is better - the anime goes a bit overboard on the fanservice and has more filler than the manga (like the trip to the lingerie store, which takes an entire episode). However, this first disc of the anime still gives me happy, fuzzy feelings. It's really a sweet series.

This is also the sort of series that's guaranteed to get some people up in arms. From the very first episode, viewers know Hideki is obsessed with porn - although all the "porn" images shown on-screen aren't any worse than a Victoria's Secret catalog. Then there's the way Chi must be switched on - there's something I'm sure will shock some viewers. The series has fanservice everywhere. Minoru, who's only about 12 years old, has four scantily-clad persocoms. Hideki is constantly either having nosebleeds or freaking out around Chi, who spends some of these first few episodes either naked or nearly naked (what little nudity is shown on screen is of the Barbie doll variety - no actual detail).

Still, if you can look past all of that, it's really a sweet series. This first disc is heavy on the comedy, but later parts of the series get much more serious - I'll write about that when I get to those discs, since otherwise I might mix things up with events that happen only in the manga. Hideki may be obsessed with breasts, pretty women, and porn, but he's also an all-around nice guy and a bit of a dork. He overreacts to everything, which just makes it more fun for the women around him to mess with his head - for instance, when Yumi, a high school student who's sort of the reason why he manages to find a job, catches Hideki staring at her chest, she teases him about it and tells him his embarrassed and stammering reaction is cute.

What I particularly like about Hideki is that, as much as he says Chi is "just a persocom," he can't seem to help but treat her like he would a person. If she were really "just a perscom" to him, he could treat her like his own personal sex toy if he wanted. Instead, he can't see her naked without blushing, he withstands lots of embarrassment to make sure she's completely and properly dressed, and he enjoys teaching her new things and making her happy. Although no one in this first disc tries to treat Chi badly, viewers do get to see that others treat persocoms differently than Hideki. Minoru, for instance, isn't the slightest bit upset when Chi accidentally overpowers four of his persocoms, perhaps damaging them (very different from his reaction to the possibility that his fifth persocom, Yuzuki, was damaged, but I'll get more into that in a later post). Finally, there's the very matter-of-fact way Shinbo spread Chi's legs looking for some kind of maker's mark, compared to the way Hideki freaked out about pressing Chi's "on" switch (located in her vagina, or at least between her legs). I actually thought it was kind of sweet that, just before pressing her "on" switch, Hideki hugged Chi close - I saw it almost as a comforting gesture, as well as yet another example of how, deep down, Hideki can't help but think of persocoms as people.

This is not a shojo series, although some may see it as such because of all the sparkly romance. I'm sure there's a word or phrase for it in Japanese, but, if there is, I don't know it - personally, I call stuff like Chobits "romance for guys." Almost all of the persocoms that get a significant amount of screen time are female - even if you look at persocoms in the background, it seems like 99% of them are female. It kind of makes me wish that there were a version of Chobits intended more for a female audience. Still, something about Chobits just goes down easier for me than a few other "romance for guys" anime/manga series I've seen.

Overall, I really enjoyed this first disc for its humor, cuteness, and sweetness, even if an entire episode about underwear shopping seemed a bit much. Chi and Sumomo are adorable - there are times I'd love to have a tiny persocom like Sumomo!

I watched this disc both in Japanese (with subtitles) and English. The English dub isn't bad, although Crispin Freeman, who I tend to adore as a VA, is occasionally slightly annoying as Hideki (usually, this seems to be worst during Hideki's freak-out periods). I really didn't like the English dub casting decision for Minoru. I prefer watching the disc in the original Japanese not just because I like all the VAs, but also because it's a fun way to learn a few simple Japanese phrases. I'm serious - several of the phrases Hideki teaches Chi are things that were taught in a class on Japanese culture I took a few years back. There could be a whole series of Japanese language DVDs - "learn Japanese with Chi!"

As far as extras go, the disc doesn't have much. There's a little art gallery, a clean opening, and some previews of other anime. Volume One also comes with a folded insert that features three pictures of Chi.

Read-alikes and Watch-alikes:

• A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (live action movie) - This film takes place in a future where humans have figured out how to build mechas (robots) that look like humans. These mechas are used and thrown away (or worse) when they are no longer wanted or needed. David is an artificial child, the first mecha to have real feelings. Monica adopts him as a substitute for her son, who is in cryo-stasis, but David is no longer necessary when her son is able to come home. Alone, David goes on a journey to find out how to become a real boy. This movie is darker and more heavily philosophical than this disc of the Chobits anime, but it deals with some of the same issues as Chobits. What makes a person a person? Can artificial people really love, and how do they/should they fit into the human world?
• Absolute Boyfriend (manga) by Yuu Watase - Riiko is an energetic and nice girl who doesn't have any luck with guys. One day, a strange-looking salesman gives her the URL of a website that sells "love figures" (androids designed to be the perfect lovers). Riiko doesn't really believe any of it is real, but she orders one and signs up for a free trial anyway. The love figure, called Night, does arrive, but Riiko forgets to return him before the end of the trial. If she keeps him, she'll owe the company more money than she could ever pay, but, even if he's only a robot, she's starting to like him too much to give him up. Those who'd like another story featuring attractive robots might want to try this. Like Chobits, this series has romance and deals a little with the implications of falling in love with something non-living and manmade.
• Body Electric (book) by Susan Squires - This is a very unusual romance novel - the main "male" in the story is an artificial intelligence program, and the main female is, emotionally, pretty unhealthy (which is part of what makes this story fairly dark in tone, and certainly darker than the Chobits anime). Vic Barnhardt, a brilliant and troubled computer programmer, creates Jodie, an artificial intelligence program that she, at first, decides is female. She is shocked and outraged when Jodie finally breaks it to her that it considers itself to be male, but Vic eventually adjusts and her relationship with Jodie deepens even further. Eventually, in order to save Jodie from her boss, Vic must find him a body. This book starts off a bit slow, and Vic's emotional issues may bother some readers. Those who'd like another story dealing with the emotional relationships between humans and human-like computers/programs may want to try this.