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Chobits
Chobits (ちょびっツ Chobittsu) is a Japanese manga and anime series created by Clamp. Unlike most Clamp stories, Chobits is a seinen series, specifically of the magical girlfriend variety and is commonly mistaken for shoujo because of its strong romantic themes and flowery antics. 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. The series has spawned a video game as well as various merchandise such as figurines, collectable cards, calendars and artbooks.
Plot
The story centers on the life of Hideki Motosuwa, a repeat student (浪人 Rōnin) attempting to qualify for university by studying at the Seki prep school in Tokyo. Besides a girlfriend, the other thing he dreams of having is a Persocom. A Persocom is an android used as a personal computer; however, they are expensive, and Hideki has no money.
On his way home one evening, he stumbles across a persocom in the form of a beautiful girl with long hair, the colour of ivory lying against a pile of trash bags. He first thinks this to be a murder but, realizing she is a persocom, he carries her home. Upon turning it on, she instantly regards Hideki with adoration. The only word the persocom seems capable of saying is "chi", thus he names her Chi. Hideki assumes that there must be something wrong with her, and so Hideki's neighbor Hiromu Shinbo tries to analyze her with his mobile persocom Sumomo the following morning, and concludes that after Sumomo crashes that she must be custom made. Shinbo introduces him to Minoru Kokobunji, 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 which are 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 intesify 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.
