With Magic Knight Rayearth set to return as a new anime adaptation more than 30 years after its debut — featuring main cast members Ayane Sakura, Rumi Okubo, and Rie Takahashi, and premiering on October 7 — now is a perfect moment to revisit the broader catalog of legendary creative collective CLAMP.
What Is Chobits?
Chobits (ちょびっツ) ran in Weekly Young Magazine from September 2000 to October 2002. Set in a near-future world where humanoid computers called Persocoms have become commonplace, the story follows Hideki Motosuwa, a ronin student who discovers an abandoned Persocom shaped like a young woman in a pile of trash near his apartment. The Persocom can only say the word “Chi” and appears to have no memories at all. Hideki names her “Chi” and the two begin living together, as she slowly learns about the world around her.
The manga’s appeal lies in its layered characters: Hideki’s genuine, good-natured personality; Chi’s endearing journey of discovery; and the gradually unfolding mystery of her true identity.
Reading Chobits Again in the AI Era
When Chobits first came out, readers likely enjoyed it as an exciting glimpse of a futuristic world. But returning to it now, as AI becomes a genuine part of daily life — used for work, conversation, and even emotional support — the manga raises questions about human relationships with a new and striking urgency.
People are already turning to AI for advice, companionship, and stress relief. For now, it mostly feels convenient or fun. But what happens if AI one day takes on a physical, human-like form? Chobits suggests the answer is complicated.
A World of Winners and Losers
The manga makes clear that the spread of Persocoms does not bring happiness to everyone. One of the most affecting examples is Takako Shimizu, a cram-school teacher whose husband becomes so obsessed with his Persocom that their marriage falls apart. Her lines —
“The fact that he put the chain on the door means he’s already forgotten I’d be coming home… Once I realized it didn’t matter whether I was there or not, I just stopped caring about everything.”
— capture the quiet devastation of being forgotten by someone who was supposed to love you.
It is a fantasy manga, yes — but it is hard to say with any confidence that a future like this is entirely impossible.
Memory, Feeling, and What AI Cannot Replace
At the same time, Chobits is a story about the irreplaceable value of shared memories and emotional bonds — ones that do not have to exist only between two human beings. Even the feelings stirred by an anime or a video game can become a genuine part of who we are.
In an era when AI may eventually be able to write articles more technically proficient than any human, what remains meaningful is the human feeling behind the words. The fear, the warmth, and the sense of connection that Chobits provokes come from real lived experience — and that is something AI cannot yet fully replicate.
Did CLAMP See It Coming?
It is remarkable that CLAMP began telling this story in the year 2000, when AI was still a distant concept for most people. Yet the questions the manga raises — about the boundary between human and machine, the relationships that might form across that boundary, and the social consequences that could follow — are exactly the questions we are grappling with today.
For anyone who has not yet read Chobits, the AI age may be the ideal time to pick it up. A note of caution: as a manga serialized in a young men’s magazine, it does contain some mature content, so reader discretion is advised.
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