List of Chobits characters

This is a list of characters from the manga and anime series Chobits by Clamp.

Main characters

Hideki Motosuwa

is a 19-year-old (18 in the anime) repeat student (ronin) attempting to get into a university by studying at Seki cram school, which his parents have sent him to. They have also severed his allowance, which means he has to work at Yorokonde (My Pleasure), an izakaya, to make ends meet. One night, while walking home from a convenience store, he finds a persocom lying in the trash outside his apartment building. He takes her home, and after much searching, switches her on and finds that the only word she can utter is "Chi". Because of this, he gives her the name "Chi" and takes her into his care, doing his best to protect and teach her.

Living in the country his entire life, Hideki has trouble adjusting to his new life in Tokyo. Due to this, he is prone to outbursts of confusion and frustration. Also, because of the time spent by himself on his family's farm (which in the anime is revealed to be in Hokkaidō), Hideki has a habit of thinking out loud and talking to himself which is a not infrequent source of comedy. He has an active libido, possessing many pornographic magazines which he refers to as "okazu" ("side dish"). (In the English manga translation, Chi refers to one of the magazines as a "tasty side dish"; in the anime's American translation, Chi refers to these magazines as "Hideki's yummies"). When he moves to Tokyo, Hideki desires a persocom so that he can finally surf the internet for pornography and he is not the only character who thinks this way. In fact Shinbo himself proudly admits that Plum is also equipped to perform these tasks when he first meets Hideki.

Despite his shortcomings and occasional moments of awkwardness with the bustling environment of Tokyo, Hideki is a genuinely kind and honest person, whose habit of thinking of others' well-being before his own can cause many problems. When a friend is in trouble, especially Chi, he is always there to help. Although many characters in the series often tease him for being a "nice guy", mostly by saying that is why he is a virgin, they turn to him for advice with their problems, knowing he will always hear them out and do his best to assist them.

In an extra 27th episode included on the Chobits anime DVD, it is shown that Hideki is finally admitted to college after studying for a year at the prep school.

Chi

is a "chobit," a technologically advanced persocom rumored to possess true sapience, unlike other persocoms. She is found by Hideki one night in the trash, as he makes his way home from work. Her on-off switch is located in an unusual location. CLAMP has stated that this was done to create a major plot point. Upon Hideki finding the switch and turning her on, she is only able to say the word "chi," remembers nothing of her past life, and is unable to perform even simple tasks. Because of this, Hideki names her Chi and undertakes teaching her how to function. Because her system cannot be scanned by other persocoms, Minoru Kokubunji suggests she may be one of the legendary Chobits. Through the course of the series, Chi learns basic skills and eventually takes a job to help support Hideki.

As Chi and Hideki learn more about her, Chi begins to have visions of another persocom who is identical to herself. Hideki eventually learns that this is Freya, her twin, and that Chi was originally called Elda; after Freya fell in love and broke her heart, her memories were downloaded into Chi, before her system stopped. While Ms. Hibiya was telling Hideki about Chi's earlier life Freya was telling a simpler, less detailed, version of the same story to Chi.

During the series, Chi reads a series of children's picture books, A City with No People, about a character searching for the "person just for me," which were written pseudonymously by Chitose Hibiya as a way of reconnecting Chi to her past self as Elda, and to guide Chi's search for love. At the end of the series, Hideki finally admits that he loves Chi, and is her special person.

Major supporting characters

Chitose Hibiya

is the landlady at the apartment where Hideki is staying. In the manga, she was previously an employee of Piffle Princess Enterprises and participated in the development of Angels and later, persocoms. She was married to the president of the company, the late Ichiro Mihara (a character from CLAMP's shared universe work Angelic Layer), who used the data gathered from the Angelic Layer research to create the Chobits to be Chitose's children, because she was unable to have children of her own. She also authors the A City with No People series of books to help Chi find the person just for her.

Hiromu Shinbo

is Hideki's best friend and is also studying at Seki cram school. In the anime, Shinbo lives in the same apartment complex as Hideki and is his next-door neighbor. Shinbo is usually the first person Hideki turns to for help with persocoms. Shortly after beginning school he finds his teacher Takako Shimizu in a park late at night because she had been unwittingly locked out of her house by her husband, who was too busy with his persocom. He later falls in love and becomes her husband.