Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast Episode #20 is now online! In this podcast, I re-review the Chobits manga series..
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Yes! Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast is now in the double digits!
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Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast Episode #10
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Also, I have re-reviewed the anime Chobits, increasing it’s score from 93.5% to 95.5%.
Also, my podcast is up on itunes. If you search for anime under podcasts, you should find it as Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast.
Enjoy!
Name: Chobits
Genre:: Comedy, Romance, Science Fiction
Tankoubon: 8
Serialized In: Young Magazine
Released: 2001 - 2002
Story & Art: CLAMP
Published By (Japan): Kodansha
Published By (US): TokyoPop
Story: 9/10 (x 3 = 27 pts)
Art: 10/10 (x 3 = 30 pts)
Gut Score: 10/10 (x 4 = 40 pts)
Total: 97/100 (97%)
Chobits was one of the first manga series that I completed, and I have to say that even to this day it is the best one I have completed. As with most of the manga series I have read, I watched the anime version first and loved it. However, however much I loved the anime, I like the manga even better.
Hideki Motosuwa is a student in a cram school who is living in an apartment in Tokyo after his parents booted him out of his house upon graduating high school. Hideki is trying to get into a college in Tokyo, but was rejected in his first attempt. He amazes over the human-looking computers called Persocoms, but is too poor to buy one himself. However, one day he stumbles over a female one left in the trash and takes it home and names her Chi.
This begins the laughs, drama…and mystery. What is Chi? Who made her? What is her purpose?
It also poses several philosophical questions such as what does it mean to be “alive”? What does it mean to feel emotions? Can a very complex computer program such as those that Chi runs really give her emotions?
The manga doesn’t necessarily tackle these questions head on or in depth, so its not really heavy philosophical reading, but the questions are posed in one way or another.
The manga has complete and satisfying story lines, tying up all it’s lose ends. The art is impressive, even for a CLAMP work, and the story is very thoughtful and thought-provoking. Unlike most other CLAMP works I have read or are reading, this one is geared more for teen or adult males instead of teen or pre-teen females, though Chobits could easily be enjoyed by females as well I think as the social commentary applies to both sexes, even if the protagonist in Chobits is male.
There is some mild female persocom nudity, but nothing that I’d describe as gratuitous, and some harsh language, including the two big words, but again, I wouldn’t describe it as gratuitous. TokyoPop rates Chobits OT (Older Teen Age 18+).
First Read: February - May 2006
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Hell Yes
On August 6, 2005, I popped Volume 1 of DNA2 into my DVD player. That disk was the first one I watched after starting renting from Blockbuster online, and is the first time that I voluntarily chose to watch an anime series while realizing that it was an anime series. It was, by most accounts, the start of my anime viewing.
So, how far have I gotten in 1 year? I’ve rated 17 anime series or movies (of course, this site has only been up for the last 6 of those 12 months). I’ve completed 14 others, and I’m currently watching 9 more.
If my counting is correct, in the past year I have watched 503 anime episodes or movies for a total of something around 200 to 215 hours of shows (or between 8 and 9 days).
I own 9 anime series and part of another as well as 2 movies:
- Ah! My Goddess: The Movie
- Ai Yori Aoshi / Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi
- Angelic Layer
- Cardcaptor Sakura - Clow Book (Season 1)
- Chobits
- DNA2
- Fruits Basket
- Koi Kaze
- The Place Promised in our Early Days
- Please! Twins
- Last Exile
- The World of Narue
There are also several shows on my to-get list:
Not finished, but I know I’ll buy it
Cardcaptor Sakura - Sakura Book
I”s Pure
It’s either still too expensive or I just haven’t gotten around to buying it
Howl’s Moving Castle
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Licenced but not released
Rumbling Hearts (Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien)
Not licenced yet
I”s Pure
Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Back on March 19th, I made a list of anime I had left to review. Lets look at that list:
- Ai Yori Aoshi
- Castle in the Sky
- Chobits
- DearS
- Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventures
- Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien
- Koi Kaze
- Love Hina
- Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind
- Onegai Twins
- Princess Mononoke
- Video Girl Ai
- World of Narue, The
Well…i’ve done well. I’ve reviewed…well…Chobits and Dual! it looks like (though I have reviewed some others that I have watched since then). Here is my now updated list:
Soo…take off the two I did, and add two new anime (Porco Rosso and Evangelion) and two I had forgotten about before (Spirited Away, Akane Maniax) with I”s Pure and the rest of Cardcaptor Sakura coming around the corner (assuming I’m not forgetting anything). And, as I said in a previous post, I own four of these series. Not much of an excuse there to not review them lol.
UPDATE: I decided to add a page listing Anime and Manga to be rated.
Name: Chobits
Genre:: Comedy, Romance, Science Fiction
Episodes: 28 (24 regular tv episodes, 3 recap episodes, 1 special)
Released: TV: April 2, 2002 - September 24, 2002
Based On: Chobits manga by CLAMP
Director: Morio Asaka
Produced By: TBS, Pioneer
US Distribution By: Pioneer/Geneon
Hideki Motosuwa: Tomokazu Sugita
Chi: Rie Tanaka
Hiromu Shinbo: Tomokazu Seki
Minoru Kokobunji: Houko Kuwashima
Chitose Hibiya: Kikuko Inoue
Yumi Ohmura: Megumi Toyoguchi
Takako Shimizu: Ryoka Yuzuki
Sumomo: Motoko Kumai
Yuzuki: Fumiko Orikasa
Kotoko: Yukana Nogami
Hiroyuki Ueda: Yuji Ueda
Hideki Motosuwa: Crispin Freeman
Chi: Michelle Ruff
Hiromu Shinbo: Tony Oliver
Minoru Kokobunji: Mona Marshall
Chitose Hibiya: Ellen Wilkinson
Yumi Ohmura: Julie Maddalena
Takako Shimizu: Wendee Lee
Sumomo: Sandy Fox
Yuzuki: Karen Strassman
Kotoko: Kay Jensen
Hiroyuki Ueda: David Lucas
Animation: 10/10 (x 4 = 40 pts)
Story: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Music: 10/10 (x 4 = 40 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 8/10 (x 2 = 16 pts)
English Dubs: 9/10 (x 1 = 9 pts)
Gut Score: 10/10 (x 5 = 50 pts)
Total: 191/200 (95.5%)
Chobits is a story about Hideki Motosuwa - a guy who failed his first attempt at getting into college and has thus moved to Tokyo to enter prep school. Once he moves there, he is introduced the persocoms - computers which look like humans. Hideki wants one (despite his lack of computer knowledge) but is depressed over their high costs. However, one day he finds a cute female Persocom in the trash and salvages it. This persocom, which Hideki names Chi, doesn’t seem to have memories of anything, however, and so Hideki must teach Chi just about everything, even the most basic of things.
This is one of those stories, other than being entertaining otherwise, is also a make-you-think story. Over the course of the story, some questions are posed, either directly or indirectly, such as What exactly are emotions?, What are memories?, and What makes a person a person?
As Chi grows and learns more things, the more complex her and Hideki’s relationship becomes. However, behind Chi’s seemingly innocent manner may lie a more sinister purpose. Chi’s uniqueness is apparent right away, but just how deep this uniqueness goes becomes more and more apparently throughout the series.
The supporting cast also illistrate several examples of how people may react in a society with human shaped - and human behaving - computers, from a characters who fell in love with persocoms, to characters who have inferiority complexes over them due to their view that persocoms are the ideal woman.
Chobits spans several genres, from sci-fi to romance to comedy to philosphical and hits them all perfectly, having enough of each to make the story intriging, but not so much of any that it alienates fans who may not be fans of one of those particular genres.
Chobits also crosses over with the anime series Angelic Layer, though you may need a sharp eye to see where they cross.
The animation is excellent in the series, being sharp and smooth. There is some minor CG additions, but they all fit in smoothly. The music is also excellent, with various types of musical scores that hit all of the genre-specific moments right on. The Dub is pretty good as well. Coherence is good, though there are a few filler episodes as well.
First Watched: October, 2005
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Yes
I went back and looked at when the anime that I have purchased, or in the process of buying, were first released in the US to see if they were relatively spread out or bunched together.
Well, it appears they are bunched together. The anime I purchased, at least in their original releases, totaled 45 DVDs, here is the list:
Ai Yori Aoshi (8)
Angelic Layer (7) [I bought the 5-disc re-release]
Chobits (6) [I bought the 8-disc thinpack release]
DNA2 (5)
Fruits Basket (4)
Koi Kaze (3)
Last Exile (7)
Please Twins (4)
World of Narue (1 - they dont sell the 4 DVDs individually)
= 45 discs
So, how many of those were released, by year?
2002 - 1
2003 - 21
2004 - 17
2005 - 6
Also, as many as 4 series were being released at the same time, with Fruits Basket, DNA2, Ai Yori Aoshi, and Chobits all being released at the same time between March 2003 and May 2003; as well as on October 14, 2003, when 2 series ended and one series began, thus having DNA2, Ai Yori Aoshi, Chobits, and Angelic Layer briefly being released at the same time.
The biggest individual day? October 14, 2003, which saw the release of DNA2 #5 (and the box set), Ai Yori Aoshi #5 (also ending the release of the first season), and Angelic Layer #1.
The only other month which saw 3 releases was November 2003, with Chobits #5 (11th), Last Exile #1 (18th), and Angelic Layer #2 (25th).
I suppose the most “modern” anime I’ve been watching are Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, which is scheduled to begin it’s US release in October 2006, and I”s Pure, which isn’t even licensed yet.
Since I really don’t have very much to talk about dealing with anime today, I’d just like to say that, after my initial experience buying anime from ebay, which was excellent, recently it seems to have gotten worse. I don’t know if the mail is slow or what, but I’ve purchased 3 anime things off of ebay, all shipping either Monday or Tuesday. I (finally) got the first one today (via media mail, which I guess the other ones may be being sent too).
This one is the Fruits Basket set, being the 5th complete anime series I have in hand (DNA2, Chobits, Angelic Layer, Onegai Twins - in that order). The next shipment includes the Murata boxset of Last Exile, which are in thinpack packages, and the World of Narue collection. The final shipment has volumes 2 and 3 of Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi.
I blew my chance to buy the Ai Yori Aoshi first season set. There were two items on ebay, one with a starting bid of $15 and one with a starting bid of $30. The two other times I’ve seen them on ebay, they went for something like $70, so I put an opening bid on the $15 one for $50 thinking “no way either will go for less than that.”
Well, at first I thought I was going to get a break. Going into the last day, the one I was bidding on was at $26 and the $30 had one bid. The $30 (which ended first) ended up going for that, so I was like “yeah!” Nope. Bidding on mine started going up dramatically. I was sitting there like “why didn’t you bid on the other one like that?”
Mine ended up going for like, $64, which was a little more than I was in the mood to pay, considering the same thing sold for less than half that just a couple hours earlier. So i learned my lesson: even if I think something will go for a lot, unless its the only thing there, don’t bid a lot on the first bid (and even if it is alone, there is a chance a new one may pop up). Unfortunately I haven’t seen the set (other thank cheap HK knockoffs) on there since.
One item I just bought yesterday was Koi Kaze volume 1. Again, it is rare to see the whole set on there, but one will occasionally see someone selling a particular volume for cheap, and I got this one for $7.99 including shipping, which, considering my thought was about $10 to $12 per DVD in that set, isn’t a bad deal.
