I love this movie so much

Truly Dreadful Film

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

I watched this anime back in 2003... I loved it... then, ten years have passed. And by some happy coincidence, i obtained the Blu-Ray for it. I 'm watching it right this days...and I must say that is a very simple touching story. Can be fun, extremely fun...the first half of the story is a naive good guy (Hideki) dealing with his new lifestyle (a very hard way o life for anybody, you must admire him to resist that much) and struggling to make his new acquired persocom, Chii, to understand and learn form the world. Try to put yourself in his situation: is like a new single-dad... he has been put in a very stressful situation... and the show turns it into a comedy situation... it's simply precious. We meet the rest of the characters: the smart neighbor, Shimbo and his little energetic "desu" persocom, Sumomo; The childish teacher, Shimizu, the rich introvert kid, Minoru and her persocom, Yuzuki, Yumi, the sweet co-ed of Hideki in the bar he works; Ueda, the manager from Chiroru and Chii's boss at work, and Chitose, the kind-hearted manager. They are such a colorful and positive cast that makes the series so light to follow.As the series progressed, we catch some hints that there is something dark, sad in the air, we are not sure what it is, but we feel it. Then the second half is spiral of revelations that can be extremely emotional. ALL of the characters start to show their hidden secrets, one by one they shock us to the point of taking a moment to understand "what the f**k just happen".To really understand their feelings, the story has its sub-context: technology alienating people. How technology advances, making our life easy, but at the same time, people are drifting apart? Why people close themselves, relying just in the new advance gadget? This show doesn't provide an answer, it just gets a resolution from a good story, and that 's part of its charm: you have to get the answers yourself. While in other shows, this means "the director didn't want to provide an answer" in this "the answer is extremely personal, the story ends, everything is solved, but the context don't" that's quite nice.Sadly, the quality of this anime has decreased by his original run, but that's no obstacle to enjoy it. As another great anime, Serial Experiments Lain, it can be watched, and the story became so timeless, that you will enjoy it any year of your life.

Ah, the trials & tribulations of a boy and his... personal computer?"Chobits" is an unusual Anime' (Japanese animation) series that I took a wild gamble with earlier this year, having never seen or heard of it before, but nonetheless liked the concept because I found it very interesting. "Chobits" is a romantic sci-fi/comedy series from the all-woman Manga-writing team CLAMP, who also did another Anime' series I've always liked: "X." Basically in "Chobits," you'll find yourself wondering if it's possible or not to have a meaningful relationship with your personal computer.In its storyline, "Chobits" seems to borrow heavily from cyberpunk, the computer-tech and hacker subcultures, and the cult-classic science fiction film "Blade Runner" (1982). Set more or less in the present (the early 21st century, most likely between 2001-2002 when the Manga was still being serialized in Japan), the protagonist of the series is a socially clumsy/technologically inept 18-year-old country bumpkin named Hideki Motosuwa, who has just moved from his family's farm to the big city of Tokyo. He moves into a cramped little apartment in order to attend a cram school so that he can hopefully get into a good university. To help make ends meet, he gets a job at a local restaurant simply called My Pleasure.So far, "Chobits" sounds a lot like any run-of-the-mill, fish-out-of-water comedy you've come across (whether it be in Japan or the United States), but I've only described what happens in the first 10 minutes of the first episode! On his way home from work one night, Hideki stumbles across a discarded "Persocom" in the trash, the human-looking androids made to resemble attractive young girls/women. Persocoms are so-called because the name itself is an abbreviation of the words "personal computer." Persocoms seems to have all but completely replaced desktop and laptop PCs in this revisionist universe of our early-21st-century existence, since they can do a lot of the things that normal computers and telephones can do: they can surf and download stuff off the Internet, answer the phone and record messages, play video games, perform simple household chores and in poor virginal Hideki's case, look for porn on the 'Net. (So yeah, they're basically an iPhone, PC, and telephone/cell phone all rolled up in one!)Hideki thus names his new Persocom "Chi," after the only word she knows how to say. He discovers, with help from his new neighbor/classmate/best friend Shinbo Hiromu (who also has his own cute little "mobile" Persocom named Sumomo) and wealthy 12-year-old computer genius Minoru Kokubunji, that Chi has absolutely no data and only one program installed on her CPU. Kokubunji suspects that Chi is actually a "chobit," referring to an urban legend that states that certain Persocoms were programmed with free will and the ability to feel a full set of human emotions. Hilarity ensues pretty much as Hideki tries to teach Chi common sense, manners and how to properly act in the larger Japanese society, but he soon comes to realize that she is harboring a dark secret somewhere in the depths of her (supposedly) blank CPU - a secret that could prove dangerous if it's truly possible for a Persocom to ever truly find happiness by coming to love a human being."Chobits" is a nice romantic comedy series with a neat sci-fi twist that asks us an important fundamental question: Is it ever really possible for a person to love his computer? I guess it's time to justify my earlier "Blade Runner" reference when I mention that the Persocoms in the series are perhaps an upgrade from "Blade Runner's" replicants. The Persocoms here in "Chobits" are able to respond to, and emulate, human emotions, which replicants lacked and were forbidden from achieving in "Blade Runner" while also being used off-world as slave labor; so, you could call "Chobits" an anti-"Blade Runner." And I also suggest that it's a little unnerving that countries in Asia (namely China, Japan, and South Korea) are constructing extremely life-like robots that are capable of expressing, and responding to, the emotions of their human creators. (It sounds kind of scary, doesn't it? And "Blade Runner" seems even more prescient now that you think about it.)For the first half of this 24-episode Anime' series, it's pretty funny and sweet with the interactions between Hideki, who despite his social and technological ineptitude, is a really nice guy who actually cares about other people and helping them out (he's another one of the many great shy-guys common in Anime'), and Chi. Chi is basically like a child who has to be taught proper manners and the such. But things start to take a dark turn in the second half, as the dark secrets surrounding Chi's past start to arise and the implications it has for her burgeoning love for Hideki, as well as all other Persocoms in Tokyo. It all begins with the arrival of some very well-thought-out cyberpunk elements in the story."Chobits" is a great Anime' series that will definitely put a big happy smile on your face. Despite some of the darker elements in the second half of the series, be rest assured that things end on a good note. ("Chobits" also has one of the most beautiful and cheery soundtracks ever composed for an Anime' series, with songs by Japanese music acts Round Table and Rie Tanaka.)You really won't be disappointed at all with "Chobits."10/10

I had heard of this series long before I got a chance to see it and when Funimation put the opening four episodes on their YouTube channel I decided to check it out. Even though I prefer my anime subtitled and this was the dubbed version I was quickly hooked and was left wanting more. Some time later the series was finally re-released here on DVD so I could watch the whole thing. The rest of the series was just as good as the opening episodes although the tone does shift somewhat midway through; the earlier episodes are light hearted and while never explicit often feature situations that suggest that that Hideki; the main character, is a bit of a pervert! Later on things get much darker when the 'person' he cares for disappears.To summarise the plot; Chobits is set in a world where instead of using personal computers people use Persicoms; robots that fulfil the roles of computers but look almost human. Hideki moves to the city so that he can cram for his university entrance exam; he dreams of owning his own persicom but knows he will never be able to afford one. He is lucky though and one day finds one lying amongst some garbage. He takes it home hoping to get it working but it doesn't have an operating system installed. He manages to turn it on but all she can say is 'Chi'; and thus she is named. In the opening episodes he struggles to get her working, study for cram school and earn a living. As the story progresses it becomes apparent that Chi isn't like other persicoms; she may be a 'Chobits', this is a persicom capable of genuine emotion… if so other people may want to get their hands on her.This was a really fun series with plenty of laughs as well as one or two genuinely tear-jerking moments. While I watched the whole series in Japanese with English subtitles I saw enough of the English dub to say that is sounded pretty good; so dub-fans shouldn't be disappointed. The animation was decent although I'm not sure why Hikeki's eyes were drawn in a different way to all the other characters. The main characters were fairly likable; I especially liked Sumomo; the small 'genki girl' persicom belonging to Hideki's housemate… she may be tiny but she has plenty of energy!

When I first heard about this anime on the internet, it was created by CLAMP(the animators of CardCaptors,Magic Knight Rayeareth,Tokyo Babylon, etc). My cousin and her friend were really into it. I wanted to get into it too,and I did. I wasn't long till I got the first volume for Christmas, and I bought the rest of the series on my own. This series is just like Hand Maid May, the Persocoms are just like the Cyber dolls from Hand Maid May, and I believe they have different. capabilities as the Cyber dolls from Hand Maid May. Another thing I would say about this show that it is very funny. I know that the character Hideki is very strange and he does want to get into College, but he had to study and quit talking to himself or he would get thrown into a Mental Hospital aka the nut house. Another thing I like about this show is the beginning theme song, "Let Me Be With You" it's very touching and very sweet. I also think that Michelle Ruff, and Crispin Freeman make a good team playing the roles of Hideki and Chi/Black Chi. So in closing to that series, add it to your collection. You will see what I mean.