Chobits Anime/Manga Comparison

Hi guys! Well, I've read through the entire manga, and watched the whole anime, so now it's time to see how both versions of Chobits. During this comparison, I'll attempt to point how how these two are the same, as well as their differences. Note, this is not a review of both mediums, but at the end I'll give my verdict to which is better. Also keep in mind that this comparison has a lot of spoilers, so if you've never watched the anime or read the manga, then turn away right now. So without further delay, here's my first anime/manga comparison. Hope you'll like it!

To start off, here's a section from my Chobits review from this Tuesday:

"Originally a manga created by CLAMP that was released from February 21, 2001 to November 29, 2002, the anime version was directed by Morio Asaka & released by Madhouse from April 2, 2002 to September 24, 2002, then acquired by the now defunct Geneon studio from 2003 to 2007 and later released by Funimation just last year, Chobits is the story of Hideki Motosuwa, a farm boy from Hokkaido trying to get into a Tokyo college. He doesn't get in, so he goes into a cram school instead. During this time, he comes across persocoms, which are computers that look exactly like people (except for their access ports where their ears should be). These machines can do anything a normal computer can do, and more. Due to his situation, Hideki cannot afford one, so he despairs about not being able to buy one. Then one night, he passes a pile of trash on his way home to his apartment, when he spots what he falsely thinks is a dead body. After some clarification, he realizes that it's a female persocom wrapped up in cloth. He decided to take it home, and turn it on to see if it works (to reveal how he turns it on would run some of the humor). He turns it on, and the persocom comes to life. However, the newly activated persocom isn't acting normal, as the only thing she says at first is "Chi". Hideki attempts to work things out, as this new persocom is now an important part of his life."

That is the story of Chobits, and that is one of the first things the anime & manga have in common. Both have essentially the same story: boy finds persocom, boy turns on persocom, persocom falls for boy, friends around him notice, secrets about the persocom arise, and other things that are typical of a love comedy/drama hybrid. Despite the similarity, there are some big differences in how the story plays out, but that's for later.

The next thing that the anime & manga have in common is the characters. Regardless of the medium, the cast of characters are exactly the same, right down to their personalities. The only things that are different between the two is the secondary characters that are in the anime & manga, and what some of the main characters do or say. The different secondary characters are not to fret over, but what the main characters do or say may cause a stickler or two to pitch a fit.

This leads to the third thing that the anime & manga have in common, and that's the vibe. Despite the differences, there's a feeling of love between Hideki & Chi, as well as the other characters that eventually fall in love. You can also feel happiness, tragedy, remorse, and a host of other emotions within the anime and the manga.

Now that the things in common are out of the way, let's get into what makes the Chobits anime & manga different from one another. There's a bunch of things to cover, so let's get to it!

The first thing that make the anime & manga different is who is emphasized more. In the manga, Hideki takes center stage the majority of the time, while Chi is given a lot of screen time in the anime. On top of that, there are many episodes, or moments in episodes, where Chi is providing moments of fanservice or doing cute things. In this regard, fans of the anime like the second half of the show, where the moral and philosophical explorations of the relationships between humans and artificial intelligences are explained. In the manga, things are explained throughout the whole story.

The next difference between the Chobits anime & manga is the tone. The manga is a balance between sweet and serious, while the anime (despite the darker moments) doesn't seem quite as tragic, and tends to emanate more pleasant emotions than the manga. I'm going to give Madhouse the benefit of the doubt in this case, as perhaps they wanted to put a positive spin on things, but fans of the manga may or may not like this difference.

Which leads into the third difference of the Chobits anime & manga. Within the anime, there are certain things that don't happen in the Manga. These include:

* A trip to Minoru's (one of the main characters) beach house.
* The circulation of an online urban legend regarding Hideki's apartment being haunted.
* He and Chi helping Ms. Hibiya (another main character) clean the apartment complex
* Chi needing to be charged and Chi cooking for Hideki.

Strangely, the issue of underwear pops up in the anime & manga. In the manga, it is devoted to just two pages, while in the anime it takes up an entire episode. This really shouldn't be a problem with fans, as I thought that Hideki trying to buy underwear, and Chi's actions throughout the episode, was hilarious.

This leads into the last difference, well, differences, between the Chobits anime & manga. There are many story points within the manga that don't show up in the anime, while the story points that do show up have been altered in some way. The complete changes are:

* In the manga, Hideki is already in Tokyo and employed when he introduces himself. In the anime, he is shown moving to Tokyo and meeting Chitose Hibiya, and he doesn't have a job.
* In the anime, Shinbo Hiromu (Hideki's friend, and one of the main characters) lives in the same apartment complex as Hideki, while in the manga he doesn't.
* In the manga, Hideki learns Ms. Shimizu (Hideki's school teacher, and another main character) and Shinbo are having an affair when he searches for Chi, who went to look for a job and wound up at Club Peep. In the anime, he finds out at a much later point.
* In the anime, Yumi Oumura (a possible love interest & main character) is the daughter of manager Nekoi (a side character) at Club Pleasure, while in the manga she isn't.
* In the manga, Chi gets an outfit from her past life from Chitose Hibiya the night after Takako Shimizu stays at Hideki's apartment. In the anime, Chi gets the outfit after she and Hideki help her with cleaning the apartment building.
* In the anime, Chitose Hibiya's late husband Ichiro is not named, nor is his affiliation with the creation of Angelic Layer (Angelic Layer also happens to be a manga/anime that took place before the events of Chobits, and was also done by CLAMP) talked about. In the manga, he is mentioned exclusively by name, as well as his work on Angelic Layer.
* Freya "dies" in the anime and manga under the same circumstances (her CPU becoming overstressed by too much "pain"), but for different reasons. In the manga, she tells Ichiro Mihara (Ms. Hibiya's husband) about her feelings for him, and feels pain and joy at the same time which was too much of an emotional burden on her "heart". Within the anime, she mentions that she couldn't admit that she loved her "father", and suffered from the pain of using all her willpower to keep her feelings a secret.
* The endings of the anime & manga differ in several ways. The differences including not alluding to Hideki never having Chi because of her switch location (right were the Vagina is on a normal girl), and Freya taking over Chi's body, and asking her mother Chitose to shut her down in the process, all the while saying the Chobits series is a failure, and the activation of the program regardless, although the effect on the persocoms is different between the anime & manga.

Now that we know what makes the anime & manga of Chobits the same as well as different, which is the superior product? For me at least, I enjoyed the both of them. The anime tended to be a bit more silly, and I tend to enjoy silly shows, while the manga manages to strike a good balance between silly and serious.

I hope you enjoyed my first ever anime/manga comparison. Until next time, stay Otaku!