Around 1995, Japanese animation (anime) began pouring into North America, Europe and across the globe in video form. Most of these titles were unknown outside of Japan and never covered by animation journals. Whether a title is highly popular or very obscure, a high-quality theatrical feature or a cheap and unimaginative direct-to-video release, they all look the same on a store shelf. Therefore, Animation World Magazine will regularly review several new releases (including re-releases not previously covered) that have merit.

Chobits © Pioneer Entertainment.

Chobits. V.1, Persocom. V.2, The Empty City. V.3, Darkness Descends. V.4, Love Defined. V.5, Disappearance. V.6, My Only Person. V.7, Chat Room.
TV series (26 + 1 episodes), 2002. Director: Morio Asaka. V.1-6, four episodes/100 minutes; v.7, three episodes/75 minutes. Price & format: DVD bilingual $29.98. Distributor: Pioneer Entertainment.

Chobits has been the most popular title in the anime “magical girls” genre, “robotic maid” subgenre since its appearance on Japanese TV slightly over a year ago (26 weekly episodes, April 2 - September 25, 2002, animated by the Madhouse studio). These are usually played for adolescent slapstick comedy. Chobits, based upon the manga by the CLAMP team of four female cartoonists best known for girls’ manga (Cardcaptor Sakura, Magic Knight Rayearth), has enough mildly bawdy humor to rate a 16+ age advisory, but it is a surprisingly tender romance aimed more toward adolescent boys with introverted personalities — especially those obsessed with computers and electronic technology.

Hideki Motosuwa is a 19-year-old from rural Hokkaido who has come to Tokyo to study at a prep school. All the stereotypes about naive farmboys in the big city apply to him. Hideki faces culture shock over how heavily computerized Tokyo is, with everyone relying on Internet communication and e-mails. Chobits’ major sci-fi premise is that personal computers (the Japanese slang is “persocoms”) have not developed as boxes that sit on desks, but as mobile humanoid robots that accompany their users. The most popular models are designed as girls, with the only obvious giveaway being their I/O ports designed as weird but cute rabbity lop-ears.