Brief Description: release date: 2003
Suggested Age: 16+
Brief Description: The series centers on the life of Hideki Motosuwa, a held-back student attempting to qualify for university by studying at Seki prep school in Tokyo. Besides a girlfriend, he dreams of having a persocom : 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, not noticing that a disk fell on the ground. Upon turning her on, she instantly regards Hideki with adoration. The only word the persocom seems capable of saying is "chi" , thus he names her that.
Distributor: FUNimation, streaming on FUNimation’s website, Hulu.com, and youtube.com
No. of episodes: 26 (if you count the exclusive DVD-only episodes, which I was unable to watch)
Age Rating: 16+
My Rating: 8/10
Summary: Hideki Motosuwa is a prep school student who wants tow things: a girlfriend and/or a “persocom”, an android that acts as a personal computer. On his way home one evening, he stumbles across a female persocom thrown in the trash. He takes it home and inadvertently turns it on. She’s had her memory wiped and can only say “chi”, which Hideki calls her. And thus our story begins.
Review: When I started this show, I almost thought I wasn’t going to like it. Hideki is quite perverted and he got on my nerves quickly. So what changed my mind? Chi. Chi is such an adorable character, I fell in love with her. I loved her cherubic face, her super-long blonde hair, and her child-like personality. I laughed at how she constantly mimicked Hideki in attempts to understand him. And I laughed at Hideki’s attempts to educate her. It was just so much fun to watch the two of them interact.
The art style for this story is quite soft, especially for a sci-fi story. I’m used to a grittier approach, but I liked this style, as for the most part, this is a much more light-hearted story than say Ghost in the Shell. It really fit the story well.
Another thing I like is that the show explores one of my favorite themes: if we create artificial humans like Chi, can they still be human? Can Chi learn to love, even though she cannot even procreate? And how does this affect her as a person?
Music/Score: Chobits’ opening, “Let Me Be With You” is a very funny song and fits the show. The three ending themes also reflect the mood as well, with the first having a cheerful approach and the second having a more somber feel.
Sub/Dub: Either version works, but I like the dub best. Crispin Freeman and Michelle Ruff really show their ranges as Hideki and Chi, especially since they usually play more serious characters. [for instance, Freeman's role as Alex Rowe (Last Exile) or Michelle Ruff's most recent role as Rukia (Bleach)]. Sandy Fox really steals the show as the precocious persocom Sumomo.
Violence: (1/10): mild slapstick
Language: (5/10): A few curse words and some slightly sexually suggestive wordplay here and there.
Nudity: (3/10): When Hideki first turns Chi on, she’s covered bandages and they fall off, slowly revealing her naked body. Hideki also has some porno mags.
Sexuality: (4/10)
Religion: (0/10)
Drugs/Tobacco: (0/10)
Related Media: This is based on the Chobits manga created by CLAMP. It supposedly ties in to their Angelic Layer anime and manga. Having seen both Angelic Layer and Chobits, I really don’t see the connection.
The following users rated this title without reviewing it: uc pseudonym.
