Reviews Anime / Chobits

A Guilty Pleasure I don't feel guilty about

Plot: Guy finds girl...Only, she's a naked robot persocom who has no memories (sorta literally), and slowly starts learning things; Which persocoms aren't supposed to be capable of. Mysterious Past ensues. Add in What Measure Is A Humanoid and What Is This Thing You Call Love, and you've got yourself a plot.

There are two reasons I liked it:

One: It's actually funny (though occasionally in a juvenile way). While the jokes will be familiar ground to any anime fan, a lot of the earlier gags are coupled with Fan Service. Add in Accidental Pervert and it's genuinely entertaining. Even the later ones that aren't coupled with fan service are still funny.

Two: It's dramatic side is above-average, especially for its genre. While the dramatic parts are not perfect, they are at least capable of being taken seriously, something I can hardly say for most "dramatic" anime. It also had a poignant message; one of love in the face of obstacles, or how love truly is blind, or... something to that effect. It's an Anvilicious message filled with Fridge Logic and lots of navel contemplation, but interesting, even gripping despite its flaws.

Rarely does Cerebus Syndrome endear me to a work, but this is one of the few manga which I can safely say is made better by the drama and thought-provocation. Its attempt to add some degree of depth to the Magical Girlfriend genre, unsuccessful or not, makes it noticeably more enjoyable than the many others which go by the numbers.

Whether you enjoy the genre or hate it, I can safely recommend this work, not because it's perfect; it is quite far from it; but because it does enough things well anyway, and does them in an entertaining way.  ^*

If we were giving grades, I'd give Chobits an A for effort. Maybe a B- if it didn't sound worse. Just remember Bellisarios Maxim and the MST 3 K Mantra and I guarantee you'll enjoy it.