Do Androids need love? Will and James return from the doldrums and kickstart the cyborg season with CLAMP's Chobits. Boy finds a discarded PC in the trash and falls in love with said PC. It's a story for the ages. But who is CLAMP and how did they make this manga?
Chobits vol. 1
By CLAMP
English translation by Shirley Kubo
Plot Summary
Set in a world where Personal Computers are beautiful doll like androids. It's in this world that we are introduced to Hideki Motosuwa, a 19-year-old student, who is doing his best working a job whilst cramming for exams.
Hideki finds what he at first thinks is a beautiful young woman but turns out to be a PC that has been thrown out in the trash. He takes this poor PC home and reboots her but finds that she has no Operating System, and lacks basic skills and talents. Hideki names her Chi, since it's the only word that she can speak. He gets his fellow student and friend, Shimbo to help him understand Chi. Shimbo uses his own PC, the laptop doll Sumomo, who ends up damaging herself by linking to Chi and making a diagnostic exam, Hideki then turns to the prodigious Minoru Kokubungi, who, despite his young age, is an expert on all things PC. Kokubungi, through his knowledge of message boards and forums, reveals that Chi maybe a Chobit, a state-of-the-art android.
Hideki grows fond of Chi and buys a children's book so to treat her, but Hideki is perturbed one night when his good-looking teacher, Takako Shimizu, visits him. She brings food and beer and takes advantage of Hideki's hospitality and kindness. She asks Hideki to go out and buy booze and he obliges, taking Chi with him. On their return home, Chi chooses to stay outside for a moment alone as Hideki goes inside to Shimizu.
Before we continue...
To clear up a discrepancy in the last episode, there were in fact 2 Uzumaki Games made for the Wonder-swan. The first was an interactive novel then a month later they released the curse simulator.
Who is CLAMP?
CLAMP originally started as twelve to ten students who made a fanzine. It was at least six them that would take the professional step of turning an open plan apartment into a studio and become the artists that we know them as of today, an all-girl group of Mangaka, However, since the late 90's the group has dwindled to just four members. With possibly seven members working on their professional debut manga, RG Veda, one member of which left during the production of RG Veda.
Two more members would have left due to the stress and wanting to do their own things. These two members, Akiyama and Leeza left before Chobits was published.
This means that CLAMP has, for the longest of time, consisted of one writer and three artists. The writer and main story teller is Ohkawa. Ohkawa always writes with the end of the plot already decided beforehand. The main artist is Mokona, she is responsible for the panels and composition, Nekoi and Igurashi act as assistants, Nekoi is good at drawing animals and does the toning and Igurashi does the inking. They all participate in character design and depending on the work, the role of art director is chosen by Ohkawa. Since they are a group, they do not hire assistants, because it would be a detriment to their finances and their established work flow. Solo mangaka would obviously hire assistants or "ghost staff" but this not the case with CLAMP.
The idea behind Chobits came from the women having trouble transitioning their work methods to computers. During that time computers seemed alien to them so that became the gateway into a boy's mind when it comes to having inexperience with women. This is a concept used many times, Neil Gaiman explores this theme in his short story, 'How to Talk to Girls at Parties'. As does the Manga Dears by Peach-Pit, which is heavily inspired by Chobits and is about a boy falling in love with an alien, it doesn't have to be an alien as in the case of Chobits. It's an android love interest that CLAMP uses to tell the story, but it could also be done with an Angel or a Mermaid. You can also flip the genders, the movies 'Edward Scissorhands' directed by Tim Burton and 'The Shape of Water' by Guilermo Del Toro are from the point of view from a woman, with the male representing the alien, outsider or the other.
Other References
Hideki's "Precious line" is a nod to Smeagol from 'Lord of the Rings', a popular movie at the time of the manga's release, based on the novels by Tolkien.
Component Video connecting to a TV. Is how Hideki is able to connect Chi to a monitor. They are also known as Y'PbPr or "Yipper" Cables for short. Component video consists of 3 cables, phono like RCA plugs, that are color coded green, red and blue. The colours are only used to identify the video signal that runs from one end to another, they do not refer to sound cables which are color coded white and red for stereo
Nattō is Fermented soy bean (Looks like "baby batter" due to its sticky and slimy texture, hence why Hideki is aroused when he sees Chi eat it and making a mess)
Sources for this information and further material can be found in the following website,
CLAMP Interviews | Chibi Yuuto's CHRoNiCLEs
and this video...
CLAMP TV interview 2005 - YouTube
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