Year: 2009 / 2010
What is it about: A girl spirit trying to fulfill her wish by collecting literally jar of hearts.
My review: I'd say Clamp really loves the characters they designed and tries to put them in all of their anime. Kobato turns out to be one-third Chobits and another one-third Tsubasa Chronicle. In fact, it will come to a certain point where you don't know what exactly are you watching, until Kobato's perkiness reminds you that it's Kobato you are watching.
Usually these kind of anime will have episodes with its own storyline. I expected each episode will tell of the same thing as to how Kobato heals all the wounded heart in a particular situation, and there are no suspense at the ending that makes you want to watch the next episode. However, I was wrong in this. The story centers on one major plot instead of mini subplots. Though many characters are involved in this 25-episode series, the anime doesn't fail to make each character reappear throughout the anime and this is really commendable. For example, you would have thought that this particular character will only appear in episode 1, but he or she did make a comeback in later episodes.
The storyline is indeed a very beautiful and meaningful one, so much it is truly a formidable tearjerker. It begins with a happy kind of storyline which I really thought it will stay that way throughout the anime, but then it slowly gets more and more emotional. This is really a perfect blend of comedy and drama. However, it's not a melodramatic love story which might be a good thing, but there are some elements of love displayed especially near the end. Otherwise, it focuses more on Kobato's relationship with pre-school kids and other people around her. It's also more of a story about sacrifice rather than the typical romance.
Now let me briefly describe Kobato herself. Kobato is one of those perfect girls who only exists in anime. She is incredibly modest. She only has a handbag with her when she came to Earth (Maybe it's just her being an airhead), and lives in a park until her employer decides to rent for her an apartment. She volunteers as a helper in a food stall as an apology for her clumsy accident, and later volunteers in a nursery. She is also incredibly humble. This can be noticed in her speeches. She uses the most polite version of the Japanese language when having a conversation with just about anyone. That's really not an easy thing to do. Kobato is also very kind and gentle and always selflessly puts others before her. She sincerely helps those in need although that is actually her contract in order to fulfill her wish. Sometimes she risks not accomplishing her mission in the process of helping others. She also treats everybody in a friendly way whether they are good or bad. Although she is very friendly albeit very clumsy, she is also protective of those important to her especially members of the nursery where she is employed. Anyway, I think Wikipedia has a better description of her.
One thing that really pisses me off is that the main guy character is completely oblivious to Kobato's affection towards him and keeps bullying Kobato throughout the series. Also, he just won't stop sulking, and has been doing that for most of his life. I'll accept it if he sulks a little and then comforted by Kobato, but he did that throughout the entire series. He treats everyone like the whole world owed him a living, just because he has an unpleasant past. He insisted to be left alone all the time but Kobato, being an idiot who is just too kind, persistently helps him, worries about him and keeps him company. Instead of being thankful, Fujimoto only bullies her more and more only to realize Kobato's significance to him when he is about to lose her. Still, he eventually gets the girl. Damn, I hate that guy! Kobato would have been a much better anime had they reinvent Fujimoto's character.
All that aside, this is indeed a very interesting anime to watch. Definitely one of my favorites However, this anime doesn't really fair much in terms of realism. There are some point in this anime that, in my opinion, won't happen in the real world. And also, Kobato is just too clumsy to have no one realize she's not human or at least is no longer human. Another problem with this anime is that all the character will wear the same outfit almost throughout the entire series. Even Kobato only changes her attire like once every season (as in spring, summer, autumn and winter). Well, this is an anime after all, and it really is not a big deal so I won't complain much. The outfits looked good anyway. In the end, just watching Kobato herself gave me a sense of warmth, and I managed to finish the entire anime in 2 days.
My rating (out of 10): 9
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