Did Clamp draw Chobits?
3630500#7
"Chobits" began as a manga written and illustrated by Clamp, a collective of four Japanese manga artists. It appeared as a serial in "Weekly Young Magazine" from the 43rd issue for 2000 to the 48th issue for 2002. Kodansha compiled the eighty-eight chapters into eight bound volumes and published them from February 14, 2001, to November 29, 2002.
In 2002, Tokyopop licensed "Chobits" for an English-language translation in North America and marketed it as part of its new unflipped manga line, which reads from right-to-left. Previously, translated manga was typically flipped from its original reading order to a left-to-right one to better suit Western readers. Tokyopop published the series from April 23, 2002, to October 7, 2003, and its translation was distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. Tokyopop's license concluded in 2009. At San Diego Comic-Con International 2009, Dark Horse Manga announced an omnibus edition of the series in celebration of Clamp's 20th anniversary. In 2010, it published the two volumes on March 24, and September 29, respectively.
"Chobits" is also published in Hong Kong in Traditional Chinese by Jonesky, in Singapore in Simplified Chinese by Chuang Yi, in South Korea by Daiwon C.I., in France by Pika Édition, in Spain by Norma Editorial, in Mexico by Grupo Editorial Vid, in Italy by Star Comics (which serialized it in "Express"), in Germany by Egmont Manga & Anime (which serialized it in "Manga Power"), in Poland by Japonica Polonica Fantastica, in Brazil by JBC, and in Sweden by Carlsen Verlag.
Chobits
3630500#0
"Chobits" was adapted as a 26-episode-long anime television series broadcast on TBS and Animax from April to September 2002. In addition, it has spawned two video games as well as various merchandise such as figurines, collectable cards, calendars, and artbooks.
Chobits
221199#8
In 2001, "Young Magazine" began serializing Clamp's "Chobits" which completed its run in 2002. Although their previous works are targeted at a female audience, "Chobits" marked the first time Clamp wrote for an older teen male audience. Clamp began writing the two works that tell separate parts of the same overarching plot, "xxxHolic" serialized in "Young Magazine" beginning in 2003 followed by "" serialized in the "Weekly Shōnen Magazine" beginning in the same year. "Tsubasa" marked the first time Clamp had ever tried writing for a younger male audience, although their first work published in the Shōnen genre was "Angelic Layer"
Clamp (manga artists)
14305658#1
In an interview when describing Chi's character, Clamp member Satsuki Igarashi stated "Lately we've been saying that the easiest to understand is Chii from 'Chobits.' Errors occur with computers. Things like 'Although it's fine to speak the instructions' and 'Please fix this problem here' might be spoken in a cute voice." In addition, an explanation for "Chobits"s plot was given by Igarashi who stated: "Back then, when our computer had problems all we would get were these inscrutable error messages. However, we had no idea what was wrong because it wouldn't tell us any more". Clamp also describes "Chobits" as a variation of the "boy living with mysterious girl" genre. Chi's design as a personal computer resulted from Ohkawa's wish to increase the sense of "emotional discomfort" around becoming emotionally involved with something considered to be merely a lifeless machine.
Chi (Chobits)
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Although Ping seems to have similarities to Chi from Clamp's "Chobits", Fred has stated that "[He] did Ping before [he] ever saw "Chobits"." Instead, Ping is based more upon the general robot girl that appears in anime.
List of Megatokyo characters
14305658#2
The name "Chobi", came from the name of a cat at the place of Nekoi's former employment, which the group made into "Chobits", as the characters Elda and Freya were twins. In the series, Clamp had Chi's creator, Ichiro Mihara (a character from their shared universe work "Angelic Layer"), use the word "Chobi" to describe anything he thought was "small and hopelessly adorable"; two Chobi (the sisters Elda and Freya) become "Chobits".
Chi (Chobits)
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The eighty-eight chapters of the science-fiction manga series "Chobits" are written and illustrated by Clamp. "Chobits" appeared as a serial in the Japanese manga magazine "Young Magazine" from the 43rd issue for 2000 to the 48th issue for 2002. Kodansha collected the chapters in eight bound volumes from February 14, 2001 to November 29, 2002. The series centers on Hideki Motosuwa, who finds an abandoned persocom—a personal computer in human form—which he names "Chi" after the only word that she initially can speak. As he forms a relationship with Chi, he gradually learns about her mysterious past and the relationships between humans and persocoms.
List of Chobits chapters
14305658#0
In two interviews describing the series Chi's creators, Clamp, said it would be much easier if computers could speak to you when they had errors. Chi is voiced by Rie Tanaka in the anime and Georgette Rose in its English counterpart. The manga and anime follow Hideki's find of Chi and their relationship, but differ in the storyline. Chi's critical reception has been mostly positive, with reviewers calling her "cute". In addition to Chobits, she is also a crossover character in the series "" and is referenced in other works.
Chi (Chobits)
410476#1
"Angelic Layer" takes place in the same universe as Clamp's later work "Chobits", which similarly deals with the relationship between humans, human-created devices, toys, and godlike power. Several characters also appear in Clamp's "" including most of the main characters, as well as the angel Blanche.
Angelic Layer
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Also common is the idea of soulmates, or couples tied together by fate. Syaoran and Sakura (featured in both "Cardcaptor Sakura" and "") are among Clamp's signature couples that best fits this representation. As also seen in "Magic Knight Rayearth", three girls are bound together by fate to save Cephiro. Fate is also the reason the three girls consider each other "sisters"; another idea that elaborates people being tied together (family cannot be chosen). Clamp also explores the idea of chaste or pure love (as in the manga "Chobits"). Clamp's disregard for sex or gender (or at times biological age) in these couples has led them to write same-sex couples into many of their manga in contrast to many other manga artists (for example, Tōya and Yukito in "Card Captor Sakura"). A number of such couples have been shown together across parallel dimensions in the Clamp multiverse. Although Clamp often writes romantic works, Ohkawa has mentioned that she feels that it is more putting one's life on the line than love that causes women to grow or change. Clamp never features love as a central theme; Ohkawa stated in an interview with Takeshi Oshiguchi in 1997 for "Animerica" that she is not "good at love stories" since her "idea of a relationship is different from that of a lot of other people".
Clamp (manga artists)
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"xxxHolic" was conceived when the group Clamp wanted to link the supernatural and fantasy series they made with a realistic one. This idea was further worked with the creation of the character of Yūko Ichihara who would bridge the stories from "xxxHolic" and "Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle". Clamp proposed the idea of writing "xxxHolic" to "Young Magazine" after "Chobits". In the end they decided to publish both "xxxHolic" and "Tsubasa" in weekly magazines to make serialization easier. The manga's title was originally going to be "addicted" but it was changed for the less ambiguous "holic." Like Clamp's previous work "Tokyo Babylon", "xxxHolic" focuses on social pathologies but with a more esoteric tone.
The "xxx" before the holic is the Japanese way of saying of "fill in the blank." Therefore, the title itself gives a hint about what the series are about. It is talking about the people with the problems such as an alcoholic, or a workaholic. Being a fantastical series, these "---holics " can have very different pathologies.
XxxHolic