Tale redefines
‘true love’ in
age of technology

Robots and romance -- two themes that Japanese comics love to talk about. When the two blend, even better. Now just throw in a bit of the requisite conflict and tragedy, fleshed out by the usual cast of supporting characters, and you've got "Chobits" by CLAMP.

Nineteen-year-old Hideki Motosuwa is attending cram school in Tokyo to prepare for college entrance exams. He also works seven days a week for a meager salary to pay his expenses.

The big thing in this semi-futuristic society is persocoms, humanoid computers that do everything a "regular" PC does, such as word processing and surfing the 'Net. They can also walk, talk and have visual capabilities. They are beautiful, intelligent and obedient -- perfect companions.

Hideki finds a persocom thrown out in the trash and brings her home. But when he switches her on, she apparently has no system software and should be the equivalent of an oversized doll, yet she somehow can move on her own.

A more technologically savvy friend says Chi may be a "chobit" -- highly advanced persocoms rumored to be able to act and think on their own.

And so the mystery of Chi begins.

Over the course of "Chobits," we meet people whose lives have been intimately affected by persocoms: the man who fell in love with one and married her, only for it to end in heartbreak. The brilliant boy who programs his with the personality of his dead sister. The sad young woman who constantly asks if persocoms really are better than people.

Meanwhile, apparently equipped with a self-learning program, Chi also develops. She starts going out by herself and even gets a job, eager to help Hideki in any way she can.

"Chobits" is well-paced with its steady revelations about Chi's past. It builds up the suspense almost to the very end, but then fails to live up to all its drama with a confused resolution that makes Chi's origins seem almost mundane.

The story could easily have become a commentary on society and technology, and at first it seems to head in that direction. But then it trips over its feet, trying to soften the stab of the very pointed issues it brings up.

The love angle and the questions of technology that it poses intertwine clumsily, but "Chobits" ultimately is about love overcoming all obstacles, and about breaking barriers -- the barriers between man and machine. The blurring of that line is seen easily in the first few pages; Chi is so lifelike that Hideki is embarrassed to touch her in "inappropriate" places and must constantly remind himself that she's "just a computer."

We see that "real" love isn't about perfection, but rather involves accepting another person for who he or she is, flaws and all.

This is why Hideki's love for Chi, who is more human than other persocoms, is more touching and "real."

Still, Chi is a machine. And as for the thought that machines may eventually become the "perfect human," I hope I'm not alone in finding that more than a little unsettling.