Chobits
Overview
A Boy And His First Computer: Is It Okay For One To Love The Other? Can They? On the next Springer Show!
Storyline & Narrative
17-year-old ronin Motosuwa Hideki comes to the big city for the first time, and is astounded by the integration of persocoms, walking talking computers made to look like beautiful people, into society; and being a dateless teen, wants one of his own(to be fair, he wants one so he can look at dating sites on the net). Out of his price range, he is fortunate enough to find one in a trash dump. Taking her home and activating her, all she can say is the sound ?chii?, and so she is named Chii. What follows is a oft-times funny, sometimes touching tale as he teaches her the ways of the world, he learns of her now-forgotten past, and slowly fall in love with each other.
Characters & Dynamics
Listing all the characters would give away too much of this (I felt) deep storyline, but a quick view of the main players will suffice.
Chii ? The female lead, she?s usually either very quiet and introspective, or VERY happy and energetic. Always wanting to learn more, especially about relationships. Is very attached to Hideki.
Motosuwa Hideki ? Poster boy for ?the nice guy?. Always has good advice for his friends about love, but has ?never been kissed?. Doesn?t know what he?d do without Chii, and doesn?t know what to think of that, either.
Shinbo Hiromu ? Next door neighbour, classmate and best friend. Helps out Hideki with beginner persocom-owning questions. Owns a laptop model, Sumomo.
Sumomo ? Comic relief. Would make the Energizer bunny blow a fuse.
Add to this his cute co-worker, his sexy cram school teacher, and his comely landlady, and you?ve not seen this much blood loss since Ninja Scroll. As the story progresses, other characters surface, adding even more depth to the story, and to the existing characters.
Animation & Visual Direction
Being the first series I saw on DVD, I?m left to compare it to downloaded fansubs, but it is really a nice job. The CGI elements aren?t as integrated as you would think would be possible in this day and age, but never really distracts. The breaks into children?s book stills are nicely-drawn as well, but rarely count as ?animation?.
Voice Acting & Soundtrack
Without understanding a word, the Japanese voice acting does very well. All the emotions come across, and nobody sounds all that wooden. The English dubbing isn?t as much to write home about, including some script slip-ups, like Hideki referring to Chii as Chii before the scene where he names her.
