Perhaps you’ve heard of the Chobits hype? Perhaps you’re just a fan of Clamp’s work? ( Shamanic Princess, X, etc.) Perhaps you just think the chick on the cover is hot? Either way, nearly everyone will find some reason to want to watch this series!!! Chobits is a 24 episode series that will sound like your typical boy and robot anime. Horny, failure of a student boy moves into his own apartment from the country to Tokyo. Boy finds a girl robot. Boy gets a lot of nosebleeds. ::shrugs:: not much else to say right?
Wrong. Not only is Chi, the possible legendary Chobit just amazing in beauty, there are a ton of others of the like in the anime as well! From Sumomo, the tiny persocom with a gigantic personality that can make you wake up at 7am to do morning exercises, to the large breasted Yumi who seems to really enjoy Hideki’s, the main characters, company, there is certainly no end to panty shots and cuteness. (Hey, I like cuteness, okay?) Okay okay, so there IS more than just cute characters to Chobits…*sigh*
This comedic series does take a more confusing and complexly serious turn as Chi begins to get herself into more and more trouble, from nearly wiping every persocoms hard drives out, to being kidnapped. What are the legendary Chobits? Could Chi really be what the Chobits stand for? Why does Miss Hibiya always have the perfect sized clothes for Chi? Why does Yumi become quiet when talking about Persocoms? Why can’t they have Chi always in her work outfit? (She’s so cute!) And why does the ‘on’ switch have to be THERE?!?!?!
Want me to be a bit more specific? After failing his college entrance exam, our main character, Hideki Motosuwa, ‘trucks’ on down to Tokyo where he find and settle down in a cheap apartment who happens to be ran by a modestly, girl- next-door-hot landlord/manager (Miss Hibiya) and his seems-too-technologically-savvy-and-smart-to-have-failed-his-college-entrance-exam-as-well neighbor, Shinbo Hiromu. After getting some groceries one night, he stumbles across two things that this entrance exam loser thought he could only dream about…a hot girl, and a highly sought after persocom! (You know…one of those robots who look really kawaii [at least for shounen, as cliché as that sounds….but not like super deformed kawaii in shoujo] that seem to do whatever the finder wants them to do? Hmmm…*sigh*) Too bad that they’re both one entity…
Packaging:
This (sorry, Fushigi Yuugi…) is now the most beautiful set I own. I bought the R1 releases as they came out, and enjoyed every cover art that each case came with.
The outside case is very attractive, but has NOTHING compared to the inside! The case is your standard gatefold box with frosted plastic sheath that comes over it. The case is done mainly in whites and pinks, with Chi on the front in a white outfit, her blond hair flowing around her, and the Chobits emblem at the top left, with “The Chobits Collection” written across the bottom. The spine has the FX emblem at the top, with an artwork of Chi sitting on top of a telephone pole. ‘Chobits’ emblem is in the middle, and an artwork of Chi and Hideki at the bottom. The back is done completely in english, with some artwork of Chi and also of Sumomo, as well as an English summary, followed by four screen shots.
When you open the set, you are faced with two of the most gorgeous pieces of Chi artwork that I have ever laid eyes on. ::lingers for a moment, staring at the art:: To the left is an ‘angelic’ Chi, in a white and light green dress laying on the ground with her hands over her heart; Blue wings have been drawn on the ground around her in chalk. Her eyes are wide, and she contains a look of innocence. To the right, however, is a similar picture of a goth-like Chi, done in black and reds, with black wings drawn in chalk under/behind her on the ground she lays on. She has a more seductive look on her face. Both are certainly a sight of sore eyes. (Anyone ever viewed any of the “Naughty” and “Nice” dvds? Heh heh…) When you open the set completely up, the first flap has Chi in a cute pink outfit and black fishnet type stockings as she leans forward on an iron fence, her finger up towards her mouth as if she is saying “Shhhh”. All three discs have different art works of Chi, with the same art work behind it on the case. The discs are fully covered in the art work, with the Chobits emblem being all Shiny (ouuuuu, shiiiiiiny) and a shiny rim going around the DVD.
Video:
Was best you can get when cramming nine eps on one disc. Very nice and clean, minimal pixellation problems, no distortion bars that caught my eye. Colours are very bright and clear. Seems to be a direct rip, like all the pioneer trailers in the extras menu didn’t give it away…
Audio:
You are supposed to be able to choose from watching this anime with English/No subs, English/English Subs, or Japanese/English Subs. I am a big fan of English with English subs (best of both worlds, I think) and the audio was superb. Great timing, on the dubs, crystal clear on the sound. I could not have asked for more! The Seiyuu is also very well done on this title, one of the best I’ve heard. Each voice is distinct, and I can easily tell them apart even though I can’t decipher most of the words coming out of their mouth. (I got ‘gomen/gomen nasai’ down, though!) There isn’t a single negative thing I can put down about it.
Subtitles:
Couldn’t get them….I could click and try to choose them (see above for given options) but no subs appeared when I would click English Audio/English Subs, OR Japanese Audio/English Subs, on all three discs, while on my computer. (Hence why none of my screen captions for this title has subs in them. I use a Sony DVD Rom DDU1621 Model) However when on my Panasonic DVD Player, I could view it Japanese with english subtitles. (but not English with English subs) Subs were yellow, crisp, at the bottom of the screen. The followed with the voices well and were pretty dang good, which is what one would expect from FX. Don’t freak out on me, but the English dub was really good anyhow, IMO, for this particular title.
Chapter Breaks:
Are as following:
Opening
Part A (after opening credits)
Part B (mid episode)
Ending (ending credits)
Preview (to next episode)
Occasionally/Usually the Part B chapter break would be a few seconds off. ::shrugs::
Content:
Disc 1 contains episodes 1-9, and the Extras on disc 1 contained trailers for Armitage, Dual Matrix; I, My, Me! Strawberry-Eggs; Ai Yori Aoshi; Sugar, A Little Snow Fairy; X ; and Mahoromatic ;
Disc 2 contains episodes 10-18, and the Extras contained trailers for Sakura Wars, the Movie; L/R; and the very beginning of Mao-Chan.
Disc 3 contains episodes 19-24, PLUS the three “in between” episodes of 9.5, 18.5 and 24.5, for a total of 27 episodes. The Extras contained trailers for Heat Guy J, and I, My, Me! Strawberry-Eggs.
Conclusion:
Although the beginning is kindof slow, and Hideki is so technologically challenged that even *I* knew more about the computers than he did, AND Chi really doesn’t seem to say too much throughout the series (Other than “Chi?” and “Hideki?” *sigh* she’s so cute!), Chobits is still a wonderful series to those who enjoy the Genre. Some of the episodes, like episode 4 with Chi’s panty adventure, or the episode where they jump into an Ever Quest-type game, had me laugh nearly to tears.
While funny but still serious at times, Chobits is one of those anime where, on your day off, you’ll pop it in your dvd player and just relax all day watching it. Owning both the complete R1 and the HK set, (and setting the money difference factor aside) this is one of the few sets where I would still opt to own the HK set rather than the R1, as it is the most gorgeous set I have ever laid eyes on. Big thumbs up to FX, as they certainly disserve it. I highly recommend this anime for those who like the genre, as this comedy-turned-romantic, with a pinch of fan service, rubbed me the ‘right’ way. This will be filed under my “Good” anime section. Ja Ne!
