Premise Chobits' premise was instantly compelling to me, a sci-fi rom-com series that delves into human and robot relationships?...Sign me up!
The series explores not only the development of the two main character's relationship, but a variety of others as the story evolves. They showcase the tragedy, joy, and humor that can come from these connections, questioning the morality of them and if healthy relationships with machines are even possible. It does this with what I found to be incredibly engaging storytelling, and an art style that can be both breathtakingly gorgeous and adorably silly. Oh and yes, there's a healthy amount of fanservice.
Humor The biggest thing that kept me reading, at least in the beginning, was the humor. Most of this humor comes from Chii's misunderstandings about social norms and Hideki's flustered reactions to said misunderstandings. It's a wonderful blend of silly romantic tension that had me giggling like crazy. The manga gets more high stakes as it progresses, and I found myself more and more engaged with the mysteries of the story as it did, but it still keeps a healthy amount of jokes and levity throughout. I've included one of my favorite bits in the manga here, as I think it's a great example of the sort of thing to expect:
Art I mentioned the art in this review already, and for good reason. It does not disappoint! The style oscillates between a simplified blocky cute look and a more intricate elegant one. The manga utilizes these styles fantastically, highlighting comedy with exaggerated goofy expressions and dedicating full pages of gorgeous elaborate line-work when the moment calls. I found Hideki's excited/flustered expressions especially well done, his reactions were so endearing.
Regardless of the direction the art is taking one thing I found very compelling about it was the way it conveys movement. The artists were not afraid to break the bounds of the panels to guide the reader's eye in an incredibly engaging way. Chii's long flowing hair does an especially good job of this, making for some gorgeous compositions.
Oh and by the way, if you can get your hands on the anniversary editions of the series like I did I'd highly encourage you to, as they include a lot of colored illustrations and pages that look absolutely stunning.
Themes As I mentioned in the Premise section, the manga primarily explores the relationships between humans and robots (persocoms), and all the complexities therein. There are two relationships in particular that I found contrasted very well with each other. It's BIG spoilers for who they are though so only read this bit if you're finished with the series. :P
Spoiler, click to viewclick to hideYumi-Chan tries to fill Hiroyasu's previous wife's shoes, who was a persocom who scarified herself for him. This leads Yumi-Chan to feel insecure about herself, seeing persocoms as perfect and impossible to compete with. Meanwhile, Minoru's sister has passed away, so he builds a persocom named Yuzuki with the express purpose of replacing her. Naturally this leads Yuzuki to feel inferior, as it is impossible for one person to replace another, it doesn't matter if they're man or machine. The way the manga shows both humans and persocoms as jealous of the other supports the themes of the series very well. The concept that there are things persocoms can do that humans can't and vice versa is mentioned repeatedly through the manga, and I found the message that this should be not only accepted, but embraced as something positive to be very compelling.
While the cute comedy and fanservice moments are a big draw, the manga isn't afraid to delve further into more serious questions about this hypothetical future with robots. Big questions like can persocoms feel emotion, and furthermore if their emotions being real matters. It explores this through experiences characters have with their persocoms, struggling with these questions themselves, leading the reader to speculate and question right along with them. In spite of the dilemmas these questions pose, there is a romantic hope that remains throughout the story. You can't help but hope for happiness right along with the characters.
The manga won't be for everyone, but if you are intrigued by what I've spoke about through this review so far I'd highly encourage you to give the manga a try, as I found Chobits to be an absolute joy and you just might too. :)
Conclusion I LOVE THIS SERIES! ITS SO CUTE! YOU SHOULD READ IT! AHHHH!
