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I first saw Chobits very soon after I got into anime and something about it really grabbed me. In retrospect I can kind of see why. That was back when I was a horny teenager who deliberately searched out anime with the tags ‘harem’ and ‘ecchi’. Most of them were utterly terrible dribble, but then came Chobits which managed to blow me away because it actually had depth. In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man etc. But it’s 2013 now, and I’ve changed.
The story, for those uninitiated, is set in a world where everyone owns humanoid computers called persecoms. That is, apart from our shmuck lead Hideki because he’s a poor farmboy who failed to get into college and now has to live on peanuts while taking cram school to retry the entrance exams. On his first day in Tokyo he finds a persecom in the trash who he names Chi. Chi turns out to be a ~magical persecom~ called Chobits. It’s a ~magical persecom~ because it’s capable of ~love~ and shit. It’s rather important here to note that the story isn’t really about Chi falling in love, or debating whether persecoms can fall in love. She’s just programmed that way. It’s a fairly handwavy explanation. The main focus of the story is whether people can fall in love with persecoms. Or to break it down a bit further, is our romantic love for non-humans worth as much as romantic love for actual humans. Or to break it down further again, do you really love your 2D waifu, like really?
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Chi is a perfect moeblob, programmed to be as such. Her cuteness and innocence are really played up, and those are the parts of her personality that draw Hideki towards her. She has no purpose beyond to fall in love and serve that one person. She spends most of the anime waiting at Hideki’s apartment so she can greet him when he comes home, and spends her time when he’s away thinking of what to do when he gets home. Even when Chi gets a job, the only thing she can think to spend the money on is things to buy for Hideki to make him happy. She is the quintessential stay-at-home wife whose job it is to look cute and make the husband feel relaxed when he comes home from a hard days work. Even Hideki responds to Chi’s cuteness by promising he’ll work hard and buy Chi the software she needs. Chi literally cannot learn anything without input from Hideki.
The actual human women in the show have things like aspirations and jobs and real life stuff, which gets in the way of them being the perfect waifu. One of the guys literally forgets his wife even exists because he’s too absorbed with his persecom. I don’t think it’s accidental that all the persecoms are made to look like women. They represent the old view of the ideal wife who stays at home and does anything for their husband, while also maintaining the innocence and cuteness and loyalty that make up the idea of moe. The guy who forgets his wife exists because he’s too absorbed with his persecom has many similarities with the stories of break ups happening because the boyfriend was too absorbed with his Love Plus girlfriend. In Chobits, the people spend their time walking around the streets with their persecoms, rarely interacting with other people. The show really likes to drill that point into your head with the whole “this town is empty, everyone is inside with It” meta-story that it had going on.
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So why would you want to spend time with a real woman with their own lives when you could spend your life with a persecom instead? They are the perfect waifus with all the benefits of real women without any of the drawbacks. The ultimate evolution of this is the Chobits model, who are literally built solely to fall in love with you. The women in the show are rather depressed at their total inability to ever live up to what a persecom can do for the men. Clamp have a running theme of the Powah of Lurve in all their stories, so obviously it comes up in Chobits by saying that yes, your love for this non-human object is just as real as any love. So continue to love your precious 2D moe waifu for your love is as real as anyone’s love. Which is kind of a ballsy statement to make, and I kinda dig it for going that far.
Which is all fascinating and everything, but it’s rather overshadowed by the fact that Chobits is really fucking boring.
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Because Chobits approach to providing a critical eye to this genre is positive rather than destructive criticism in the vein of Madoka or Evangelion, it means you have to sit through scenes of this stuff actually taking place. Chi tries to buy underwear. Chi learns how to cook. Chi tries on different dresses. It’s just as tedious as it sounds. Some of this can be attributed to the anime having a bunch of filler, but the actual manga content isn’t much better. Chi is not a character. She has nothing interesting to say and has no personality beyond acting like a shy toddler. That doesn’t change whether you’re watching her in plot related episodes or not. It’s much the same problem I have with Jun Maeda moeblobs in that their dedication to being brainless and cute means they have no actual depth and are too stupid to say anything of worth. While what Chi is supposed to represent may be fascinating on a deeper level, the show still tries to make her carry entire episodes on the force of her personality which, as I said, is non-existent anyway.
None of the other characters are engaging either because their dialogue is so stilted and wooden. God bless you Clamp, I love your power of love stories because I am a hopeless romantic at heart. But you guys can’t write dialogue for shit. Their vocabulary is so limited it forces the characters into having limited personalities and limited ways their interactions can play out. Because the show takes forever to get anywhere, the characters have to prop up scenes by themselves and they get very repetitive very quickly. That’s not just the persecoms either. The humans in the show have such bland samey dialogue that I just zoned out over their chit chat for the most part. Hideki is nothing more than a ‘Nice Guy’. His flatmate is nothing more than a ‘Nice Guy’. All the women in the show aren’t much more than ‘Nice Girls’ either. And while I wouldn’t call the show misogynistic because it’s not presenting persecoms as how women should be or anything, watching the persecoms be so blankly subservient and unthinking and lacking in goals of their own make them just as boring to watch as if they were real humans anyway.
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I can see why it was I used to like this anime so much. I too used to think I was a nice guy who liked cute girls because I was a teenager and could actually watch this inane dialogue and find it charming. To provide on top of that a message about the power of love added on top of the base level enjoyment. Now that I find that sort of writing tedious and irritating, I struggle to even sit through Chobits. There is something genuinely fascinating at the core of Chobits, but to make that point you have to sit through a dull magical girlfriend comedy about how you can be the perfect hard working husband for your cute mentally deficient waifu. Even if it is making a point with that set up, it’s still as tedious to watch as a show that’s doing that set up un-ironically.
The Cart Driver 
Now go and rewatch Love Hina.
Oh and if you find a good seinen romance, please post about it. I’m in the mode for romance. (Partly because I spent the last days finally watching the second Spice and Wolf season and watching Nodame Cantabil)
Nooooo you can’t make me!
Seinen romance tends to be stuff like Toradora which I’m really not a fan of, so I’m probably not the best person to ask this. If you like Nodame, try Honey and Clover (early Noitamina josei by same staff). If you like Spice and Wolf, try Crest of the Stars (it’s basically Spice and Wolf IN SPACE). Also maybe Arakawa Under the Bridge?
Maybe it’s the best to let some nostalgic things stay nostalgic. It’s just weird to see a harem series with so much “PERVERT -> beat male lead up” humor in your top 60.^^
Oh Honey and Clover is a good idea, I know the first few episodes and liked them but then kinda forgot about it.
I know the other two. I don’t know about the Crest of the Stars comparison with Spice and Wolf. I adore the Jinto/Lafiel pairing, but they are quite different to Lawrence and Horo. But thinking about it there are similarities between these two animes.
I wouldn’t exactly call it a romance by any stretch of the imagination, but I found the relationship between the two main characters of Pale Cocoon quite interesting. As it’s only 22 minutes long and possibly the best thing Studio Rikka’s ever produced, there’s really no reason not to give it a shot.
Similarly, Mushishi knows how to hit all the right notes with its character dynamics, even if the only constant in a given episode is Ginko. It’s a series that really seems to understand just what I want out of any relationship between two characters and happy, sad, or otherwise it still delivers the goods every time without fail.
Other than that… pickings are pretty slim. Does Kara no Kyoukai count? Maybe Katanagatari?
(I notice a common theme here: none of these are centrally romance series, though romance may be central to their themes. Anime is weird like that.)
I will watch Pale Cocoon thanks. I know many anime series, but barely any shorts or movies. I should probably change that.
Your top choice is going to be Toradora, whether Scamp likes it or not. Honey & Clover 1 is okay. Season 2 is actually a bit better. (Just never think about the time frames for the first season, otherwise character impressions will change)
The best of super recent vintage is Naze no Kanojo X. Some people get hung up on a little droll swapping, yet that’s kind of what kissing is in the first place. If you can get past that, it’s a pretty brilliant romance and quite serious on the subject matter. (Plus great voice work)
If you’re willing to put in a little side reading work, both seasons of Horizon are actually built around romance and relationships. A LOT of them, too. (Which is part of the problem for a number of people)
Eden of the East is a good choice. Hyouka might qualify, though it’s a bit younger in focus. Ano Natsu de Matteru would be a REALLY good choice.
Jesus christ NO!
The second season of H&C is TERRIBLE! It goes to Bunny Drop territory of ‘every young girl secretly wants to fuck their dad’ territory, and that’s even before all the awful melodrama that came before that.
Mysterious Girlfriend X is repetitive, Horizon is the dumbest thing ever, and Eden of the East barely does anything with its romance. I mean, seinen romance may not be my area of expertise, but those are terrible suggestions.
I saw the first few episodes of Horizon. It really seemed a bit dumb. I have read some quite positive impressions (but then there are a shit ton of SAO fans, I have read so many references to SAO while keeping up with news about the oculus rift…), however much praise seems to be aimed at it’s back story, which is only important if the main story is good.
Anyway it seemed a bit immature/silly. Is that just because I only saw the first few episodes?. Otherwise I’m sceptical about it’s handling of romance.
Eden of the East is a good anime, but the relationship is basically tacked on.
Mysterious Girlfriend X hmm I know parts of the manga, it was interesting but I haven’t read far enough to know whether it gets repetitive like Scamp says.
Ano Natsu de Matteru is on my “to continue watching” list, but I think I read negative things about the end.
@Scamp That sounds bad about H&C, would you recommend dropping it after the first season?
Oh and one thing about Horizon: It’s fine that some people love gigantic breasts and fill the anime with them, but could they at least draw them in a more normal shape? Breast aren’t some kind of perfectly round balloons.
Well I have seen worse (there is some scifi anime where breast are basically torpedo shaped) but it just looks bad.
I never know what words like seinen mean, but the part of me that appreciated Toradora and Honey & Clover really loved Wandering Son (Hourou Musuko). The romance is just one piece fitting into a wider drama[1], but I found it incredibly moving and tragic and affecting.
[1] Spiritual predecessor Aoi Hana is more directly romantic if that’s really what you want
Seinen means ‘young men’, and is a description of the intended demographic of a work. Similar terms are ‘shounen’ (boys) or ‘shoujo’ (girls).
I rewatched Love Hina recently, and it’s still really fun, and dare I say, pretty good. It has that great mix of nonsensical comedy and drama that works really well, and the characters are actually all developed beyond just the standard harem archetypes.
I remember when “Hobits” was first airing. It was pretty dull even then. But I’d also been victimized by a dubbed version of X/1999, the movie, by that point. I wasn’t terribly trusting of CLAMP’s name as a result.
Though I always felt a bit like Chobits was more CLAMP doing near-term expectation. We know the sexbots are coming and the Japanese will buy them in droves. If you thought the hug-pillow bits were a little creepy, just wait. It’s going to get worse.
Chobits, taken in that light, exists slightly differently. Or maybe it just predicted the whole “I married my dating sim character” stuff by a few years.
Not to mention the really weird moral dilemma of putting a reset button in her fun box. I’m not much of a romanticist but really?…That was the big issue they had as a conclusion after the climax?
Now your next project would be Ichigo 100%. Wohoo.
Nooooooooo besides I only ever read the manga and I don’t pretend it was any good, unlike what I did with Chobits
We still in a long way before Mushishi re-watch right? 😦
If they really announced Mushishi Season 2 officially, what would you do?
Finally, a look back at this show. I tried watching it because you’ve periodically sung its praises, but I barely managed to get halfway before quitting. At its core it seemed like it should be something interesting, but it had too narrow of a focus, deftly avoiding anything that came up that would make it worth watching.
If it’s been over 5 years since I originally saw it like Chobits, then you probably shouldn’t listen to what I have to say.
….which happens to include Code Geass…
Scamp, you know what you must do… It might cause you pain, but in the end to be fair that’s why we’re here after all isn’t it?
Do it, For Justice!
But what if I don’t like it and have to change the name of the blog!?!
Well clearly, as you’ve named your blog after something you really like, it cannot possibly have gone sour can it?
I mean, that’d be a terrible mistake, I’m sure you’ll be all fine, don’t worry man!
Oh, these devil horns… uhhh, don’t mind them, just decorations!
It’s possible that you will like it less, but I would be surprised if you dislike it. It is a quite entertaining anime and for once the main character isn’t the standard bland main character.(But I also haven’t seen it since it first aired…)
How about rewatching some of your top 60 animes to see how your taste has changed. Start with love hina and code geass. 😛
I think Code Geass can stand the test of time. If not, we all might end up reading the ‘Panzer Driver’.
I watched Chobits really recently. I actually quite liked it, and didn’t really find it dull. Maybe if I marathoned it that may have happened, but I liked the “reserved” atmosphere. It wasn’t fantastic, but it was pretty serviceable.
i dont know if this is the same with anyone else but my anime preferences seem to have settled to an equilibrium between ecchi and avant garde. I started out with the harem shows, then the shounen ones (Naruto, Bleach), got bored with that then liked all the really weird shows (Lain, Boogiepop) and then settled into the casual moderate zone called slice of life (I’ve become soft yes).
Also every show that I used to like seemed a lot less interesting on rewatch with all the show’s flaws laid bare.
It pains me now that I don’t seem to enjoy that many anime shows anymore.
My taste had started to shift back towards simpler, less pretentious anime, but I’ve found myself drifting back towards the more experimental DEEP stuff recently.
Admittedly the last 2 anime I really loved were EVOL and Jojo’s, so maybe not
I hate the word pretentious. Most people don’t seem to know the difference between pretentious writing and “smart” writing. In fact, pretentiousness and DEEPness seem to have a square and rectangle relationship.
Not sure if you read my own recent post regarding this, but I’ve been asking people what their favorite romance anime is and I’m saddened by the lack of “real-world romance that aren’t attached to a gimmick” that people give me. It’s kind of sad when the most popular choices are Spice and Wolf or Crest of the Stars, which do have good couples, but the fact that we have to go to medieval times or space to find good romances shows how bad the real-world seinen romance genre is. Well, people list Toradora too, but I file that under the same category as True Tears and Kids on the Slope (would have been perfect if it’s second half didn’t shoot itself in the foot). I also looked at my own favorite anime and of the stuff that I consider good “real-world” romances (Maison Ikkoku, School Rumble, Hyouka, Nodame Cantabile), only one of them is an actual romance anime (Ikkoku).
Anyways, from the examples people gave me when it comes to searching for a decent seinen romance that don’t lean on a gimmick, you might like these: ef-a tale of memories, Touch, Maison Ikkoku, Kare Kano
I’d recommend ef first as the other two are pretty long (although Ikkoku is my favorite and I love it to bits) and Kare Kano has some problems that I’m sure you heard of (spoiler: it’s a Gainax anime). Personally didn’t like ef when I first saw it b/c I found the characters over obsessive lunatics, but so many people (including the VN adaptation haters) have been singing praises about it and it’s been years since I last saw it, so I do intend to go back to it one day. I’ve also heard praise for NANA, but I don’t know enough about that one. There’s also Kimagure Orange Road, but good luck making it past the seizure-inducing opening, let alone all the stupidity the main gets himself into lol.
Movie-wise, I’d recommend you watch Whisper of the Heart. It’s definitely a favorite of many for a reason. Osamu Dezaki’s KEY movies are decent as well (in that the girls do have personalities in them and the stories are more focused and less melodrama-y due to the 90 minute time limit), but I don’t know if I’d consider them romances, plus you might not like the ugly art and the fact that the male leads lose personality in exchange for the girls gaining them. But at least in the Air movie, they don’t turn the main into a crow heehee.
NANA the anime will probably let you down – after zigzagging around for too long it ends abruptly and you know it’s not the real end. It’s also not so much about romance itself but rather about living life after you fall in love, but that’s what makes it stand out. It’s a problem though that an ending does not exist, even the manga is still ongoing. Therefore it’s better to watch or read Paradise Kiss to become acquainted with the author and her style.
Also, personally, I loved Chobits when I got to it. But to be fair, I think most of my enjoyment came from the English dub (Crispin Freeman and Michelle Ruff are just awesome), the same way most of my enjoyment of Kanon 2006 came from its English dub (Chris Patton is hilarious and I dig Brittany Karbowski’s uguu voice).
It’s also funny that your experience with Chobits mirrors my experience with Clannad. After suffering through those awful Da Capo series, I needed a show where the male lead had an actual personality, drama and personality-less moeblobs be damned.
I dropped Chobits fast and hard when it was first released. You just reminded my why.
This is the post I expected when I read your original post on Chobits.
But yeah, I think plotless harem/wish-fulfillment series do hit new anime viewers pretty hard, and it’s only after being spoiled by stuff by Bacanno! that fans start criticizing it for lack of plot.
Bacanno! is awesome. It and Drrr!! both. I honestly wish there were more shows out there that enticed me to think more and search for Chekhov’s Guns, and other random plot related devices.
Back on Chobits though, I remember watching it way back when. Then I got around to buying the manga, and realized that the anime was filled with stupid, pointless shit. My introduction to filler episodes was here, and holy crap I’ve hated them since. I also think it’d be hard going back and rewatching the show as you said, after being spoiled by awesomeness. So I’ll just reminisce about it…
Narita’s stuff tend to be the perfect example of how character driven story should be. His characters maybe one-dimensional but they are very distinct each other, and have their own share of bizzareness. These things are what make characters interaction in both Durarara!! and Baccano! really interesting to follow. You don’t expect what would happen next, you expect how they interact when meet each other again. If anybody said that character driven story is shit and referred it to moeblobs, I would point to stuffs that Narita write.
I never watched Chobits, only read manga. And your entry made me realize, that I probably won’t ever get back to it, because I’m too old and experienced, even when I’m childish as fuck.
I blame Chobits for my inability to believe in robots with feelings. They are just programmed that way, they do not love on their own! On that note, what a sick fuck was that Icchan that he let his own “daughter” fall in love with him and didn’t prevent it in any way while programming her.
I really liked Angelic Layer (anime, manga was the worst thing by Clamp I’ve ever read), so Chobits also destroyed a few things for me, one of them being Icchan.
It also seems that Chobits has the same thing I recently hated in Sakurasou – a retarded girl shown as the most desirable of them all. Oh look, she’s autistic, she doesn’t know what panties are for, how cute, how fuckable. I know that it is a cartoon, but it still disgusts me.
doncha know, mental disabilities are the new hot thing in moe~!
Taken care by perfect waifu who don’t object to anything or taking care waifu that have mental dissabilites. I don’t know which one is worse.
Confucius say; “Less blood to brain, is more blood to mammaries and uterus.”
Sumomo and her morning exercises were the most fun parts of the show to watch. 🙂
If you’re looking for a good comedy/action/romance series, I highly recommend Chrono Crusade. Or if you’re going for rom com, I’d suggest Inu x Boku ss (not the manga, which gets hella depressing).
For a short and sweet romantic anime movie, I loved Hotarubi no Mori e. 🙂
chobits is probably the only thing by clamp that i wouldn’t touch with a 10 ft pole.
Yeah, the manga’s much better. And by much better I mean not too bad. It is a bit hammy in places and “dat Clamp ending”, but at least it seemed to focus on substance first, pantsu second.
I remember watching the anime when I was younger and thinking “this is really boring” and my opinion hasn’t sweetened with time. But then, I also kinda liked Hand Maid May, so what do I know?
I skipped a bunch of the filler episodes anyway, so it didn’t have a huge effect on my enjoyment or lack thereof
Chobits was the first CLAMP title that I couldn’t finish. It also helped me realize what I had really loved about CLAMP was the gorgeous art in their early works, like Magic Knight Rayearth, X/1999 or RG Veda, not their storytelling ability. All that gorgeous silky hair and all the flower petals blinded me!
the thing is, same as you scamp, I watched love hina and chobits back when I have not been able to watch too many series with the same themes. As you may already know, when you watch something for the first time it seems to be mind blowing and fresh, and then over the years you get to watch better or worse series you start to get bored.
chobits might have presented a new concept to you once, but watching all other series with the same themes, you’ll eventually get bored.
hmm, that i think might be the reason i didn’t last when i tried to watch the firsst episode of da capo, and i only lasted up to 3 episodes of h20 footprints in the sand. I’m struggling to even finish a single episode of ichigo 100% right now lol.
anyway, i tried watching vandread season 1 and 2 the other week and i didn’t hate it, even when i’ve seen countless harem shows before rewatching it again. might’ve been nostalgia.
The reasons I liked Chobits are the reasons I still like Chobits…
Oooh Oooh, Yeah! Oooh Oooh, Yeah!
Let me be with you!
…blah blah blah…
DAKISHIMETAI NO NIIIIIIIII!!!!!!
I liked the manga a lot more.
I know Scamp doesn’t like reading manga as much as anime but I wonder what he would think of popular seinen romance manga. For example, Molester Man was recently very popular and for a good reason. Its a funny, almost realistic, and well paced romance that based on a 2ch thread much like Train Man. Try it out, http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=88632
The other seinen romance manga I would recommend is Sekitou Elergy, which has ugly art but it reflects the tone of the story which is a relationship between two very unremarkable people working in dead end jobs.
http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=14291
The progression into anime is really something. After Love Hina I went on a crazy Harem/Ecchi binge til nothing was a surprise anymore.
For a deeper exploration of human robot relations, see Time of Eve.