Warning: The following review is about a title rated 16+.
Chobits by CLAMP.
In keeping with the CLAMP theme, I'll be looking at one of their more well-known titles, Chobits. Our main character, Hideki, is a rural guy from Hokkaido who moves to Tokyo for cram school since he didn't get into college. He lives in a futuristic world where computers are shaped like people and called "persocoms". Hideki, barely having enough money for an apartment, has no hopes of getting one of these fabulous computers. Then he finds a very cute female one in the trash, takes it home, and just like that, he's got a persocom named Chi. Chi isn't a normal perscom, though. She has no operating system, no serial number, and no manufacturer. She's also super-powerful, but can't say anything but "chi". It's up to Hideki to teach her.
CLAMP's famous title for the most part lives up to its fame. Only 8 volumes long, it's short, but that's a nice change for CLAMP. It says everything it wants to, and nothing more is really necessary. It's one of CLAMP's best paced works--hinting at the ending before we actually get there, who'd have thunk it? It's still CLAMP, though, so it still holds out as much as it can until the end. It's quite obviously trying to make a statement about love, and I would assume such issues as same-sex marriage/couples. It just swaps gender for persocoms. (we've seen that CLAMP is not averse to shonen-ai with Cardcaptor Sakura) I do like the ending. I'm even okay with the various things that get it that 16+ rating--mostly Hideki's girly magazines, a couple of odd situations Chi gets herself into, and the whole ending. It all helped develop the plot and wasn't just pointless fanservice (though there was a bit of that with Minoru's persocoms) Overall, I really like this title, and would recommend it to any otaku mature enough to not giggle every time Hideki says "porn". ::rolls eyes::
Rating: A-
Good story, well-paced, good artwork
Occasionally unclear artwork (this IS Clamp) and fanservice
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