Chobits 1

Created by CLAMP, the Japanese female anime team responsible for several notable series (X, Cardcaptor Sakura, Magic Knight Rayearth), Chobits is a Julie Newmar My Living Doll story aimed at male teens. Here's the setup: when poor farm boy Hideki heads off to the big city for school and work, he finds a perfectly good and very expensive "Persocom" (i.e., personal computers that take the form of female humanoids--with an on/off switch located in the crotch) mysteriously tossed in the trash. Not one to look a gift Persocom in the mouth (and trying to keep his gaze from straying elsewhere), Hideki takes "Chi" back to his apartment, where he flails around in standard sitcom mode--trying to find Chi's on/off switch, teach her to talk, hide her from a neighbor, etc.--before setting off to do a little research. What Hideki discovers--that Chi is not only custom-made, but is also able to learn new information without software--promises to expand the series later, but Chobits 1--featuring the initial four episodes--feels awfully slow and ends on a less-than promising note as Chi is sent shopping for panties. Sporting an absolutely infectious theme song ("Let Me Be With You") that will bounce around inside your cranium for days, the nicely animated Chobits 1, presented in both the original Japanese (with English subtitles) and dubbed, has a suggested rating of "16 up" (due to mild sexual humor), but its somewhat tiredly sexist storyline makes this a very optional purchase. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)