| Chi | |
ちぃ (Chii) | |
| Profile | |
|---|---|
| AKA: | Elda |
| Birthday: | April 13th |
| Relations: |
|
| Characteristics | |
| Gender: | Female |
| Height: | 152cm (5'0"ft Approx.) |
| Hair Color: | Platinum Blonde (Anime) Ash Blonde (Manga) |
| Eye Color: | Brown-Turmeric |
| Appearances | |
| First Appearance (Manga): |
Volume 1, Chapter 1 |
| First Appearance (Anime): |
Episode 1: Chi Awakens |
| Last Appearance (Manga): |
Volume 8, Chapter 88 |
| Last Appearance (Anime): |
Episode 27, OVA |
| Voices | |
| Seiyuu: | Rie Tanaka |
| English: | Michelle Ruff |
Chi (ちぃ Chii), previously named Elda (エルダ, Eruda), is the main female protagonist of Chobits. She is a small and lovable Persocom, a human-looking robot, who turns out to be a legendary Chobit, a Persocom believed to be capable of true artificial intelligence and genuine emotions and feelings like a human being. She has an irremovable program that allows her to delete all Persocoms' individual recognition abilities. She currently lives in Tokyo, Japan at the Gabu Jougasaki Apartments with Hideki Motosuwa, Sumomo, and Kotoko, and has a job at the Chiroru Bakery.
Appearance[]
Chi is a life-sized Persocom that stands at 152 cm (approximately 5’0”) tall.
Her weight is unknown; however, when her power is off, it has been observed that she weighs much more than she normally would. Perhaps she has some kind of anti-gravity device.
She has brown/turmeric eyes and long, straight, pale-blonde hair (yellow-blonde in the anime) that reaches the ground. Her hair is usually left free-flowing; besides having portions of her hair pulled forward at the front with white and pink spool-like hair-ties to cinch the upmost hair into bunches. Chi also has pink and white bell-shaped ears, matching her hair-spools.
Chi wears anything she is given; from Hideki's t-shirts and pajamas to Ms. Hibiya's hand-me-downs. She is most often seen wearing dresses, usually with flowing skirts and ruffles.
Personality[]
When Chi was first booted up by Hideki, she had no data; therefore, she had no personality software. However, she did have a learning program, which allowed her to be taught and observe the behaviors of others.
After she awakens, Chi was seen to be a bit absent-minded, including scenarios involving common sense. This flaw didn't stop her from being happy whenever praised. She is also very curious, as is the result of the learning program she has. This can lead to dangerous situations, as this also makes her quite gullible; often following orders or advice from total strangers.
Although she is a Persocom, she likes to have fun; she gets bored when left at home with nothing to do. She is fascinated by books and likes learning, often pulling out Hideki's playboy magazines and mimicking the models. She looks to Hideki for approval, as well as her main source of information.
Chi is very friendly and sociable with the neighbors from the Gabu Jougasaki Apartments building. She is often seen with Sumomo on her shoulder, learning and following her directions.
Story[]
Elda's Creation and Reset[]
Before Hideki found her, "Chi" was originally named Elda. Elda was created a year or two before the events of the Chobits series. Ichiro Mihara and Chitose Hibiya had Elda created to be the companion and sister of their depressed Chobit daughter, Freya.
Elda and Freya loved each other as sisters would, but it was not enough to cure Freya of her depression. The strain from her emotion-program attacked Freya's body; like how a virus would harm a human's body. She became run down to a point in which she could barely move. Elda was with her as she shut down, and listened to Freya's last wish: for Elda to find "the one just for her" and to not have her heart broken like hers was.
Elda took Freya's memories and data and preserved Freya within herself, so she would never truly be lost.
Freya's death soon became too much for Elda, and requested that she be reset, and left alone outside; away from her family so there would be no possibility that her sister's fate could befall her.
As Elda was brought out to the dump, as per her request, Chitose gave her a program that her late husband, Ichiro had made that would delete all persocom's individual recognition abilities if Elda failed to find "the person just for her."
From "Elda" to "Chi"[]
As Hideki was walking home one evening, he spotted a Persocom lying in a pile of trash and took her to his apartment with glee (after deducing that she was a Persocom, and not a corpse) that he'd found such a cute Persocom for free.
He soon realizes she is not on; and although he has very little experience with Persocoms, he is aware that they usual have a power switch in or behind their ears. Hideki comes to the conclusion that Elda's is located in a very unorthodox place: her vagina. Realizing this, Hideki overcomes his moral objections and manages to activate her.
After awakening, she has difficulty communicating with him; the only word that she is able to say at the time being "chi". Worried she was broken, Hideki ends up asking his neighbour, Hiromu Shinbo, if he could fix her. As Shinbo connects Chi to the TV, it is discovered that she has no data at all. Confused, Shinbo also hooks Sumomo, his Laptop Persocom, up to Chi in an attempt to run a diagnostic test. Instead, a power-surge causes Sumomo to crash, gaining no new knowledge of Chi's origins. Both Shinbo and Hideki were almost out of ideas; Shinbo wrote down the address to a Persocom expert, Minoru Kokubunji.
Minoru is curious about Chi's past as well, and agrees to scan her with four of his custom-made Persocoms. Each Persocom crashed during the attempt. While this astounds Hideki, it heightens Minoru's curiosity. Another of his Persocoms, Yuzuki, offers to try scanning Chi. Minoru reluctantly agrees. Yuzuki connects herself to Chi, and fails as well. Yuzuki is able to disengage with a minimal loss of data. Amazed by Chi's ability to repel Yuzuki's probe, Minoru begins to suspect that she may be a "Chobit," a legendary Persocom rumoured to possess true sentience. He suggests that he post about her on a Persocom forum he frequents, to see if anybody online may know what make she is.
When Hideki gets home, He gives Elda a new name: Chi, which suits her surprisingly well. Chi is happy to receive her new name.
Later on, Minoru receives a strange image via email, from an untraceable sender; the image depicts a Persocom identical in appearance to Chi, except for the word "-HOBIT" printed on the outer thigh. He suggests that one of her arms is covering the letter "C". Hideki shows the image to Chi, but she claims that this is not the same Persocom as herself. Minoru is later sent a second image from the same anonymous user. This image depicts the same Persocom with two scientists, one of whom is Chitose Hibiya.
Bad Employment, Good Employment[]
Later on in the series, Hideki considers taking on a second job due to his poor financial state. Chi, looking through one of his magazines, sees a job advertisement and shows it to Hideki to suggest she take the job; completely unaware that the advertised position is for a dominatrix. Hideki is both embarrassed and furious, and an upset Chi asks why she cannot have a job. He hastens to reassure her that she can have a job; it's just the type of job that matters. He tells her that when he gets home from work, he'll talk to her about getting a good job. Chi disregards this and leaves the apartment shortly after Hideki, looking for a job.
She is soon approached by a stranger, who asks her where she's going. Upon learning that she is searching for a job, the man invites her to follow him, saying that he has been looking to hire a girl. Chi asks if it is a "good job," and the man answers yes, saying that it has short hours and great pay. The job in question is that of a stripper at a peep show. Minoru and Yuzuki, searching online for any possible information pertaining to Chi's past life, stumble across live video of her at the peep show as she waits for instructions on what to do. Minoru contacts Shinbo through Sumomo, and the two race to Hideki, yelling at him to explain himself. He doesn't know what they're talking about, but once it's been explained, he takes Sumomo and she directs him to the location of the peep show.
The owner of the peep show tries to direct Chi on how to put on a good show for the customers. Chi struggles to take off her bra, so the man tells her to take off her underwear and put her fingers into her private-area. Chi is about to do so when Freya intervenes, telling her to stop. Perplexed and under the assumption that Chi is running some sort of program, the owner takes Chi's hand and attempts to show her how to do it. She resists, destroying the room in the process and escaping outside just as Hideki arrives.
After Hideki and Chi return home, he reassures her that she didn't do anything wrong, and that if she truly desired to have a job, he would help her find a good one. He is eventually able to do this, convincing Hiroyasu Ueda to employ her at his bakery during his anniversary sale. Ueda is very impressed with her effort, stating that she made no mistakes and worked diligently all day. He asks her if she would like to work there full time, and a delighted Chi asks Hideki for his permission when she arrives home from work.
Kidnapping[]
On one occasion, Hideki is unable to walk Chi to her job at the bakery, so she is forced to make the trip alone. While standing outside a bookstore examining the latest copy of "A City with No People", she is kidnapped by Yoshiyuki Kojima, who recognized her as being the strange Persocom Minoru had posted about on the forum.
Under the assumption that she must be an especially powerful persocom to have captured the interest of Minoru, he comes to believe that she might be a Chobit. Kojima connects her to all of his custom-made persocoms (with the sole exception being Kotoko, his Laptop Persocom), and initiates a program he had created specifically for Chi. The program was designed to break through her extremely powerful firewalls.
After Hideki is told by Ueda that Chi hasn't shown up for work, he begins to suspect that she may have been kidnapped. He contacts Minoru and begins to search the streets for her. At the same time, Minoru is systematically searching through the IP addresses of every member of the persocom forum to try and determine who had sent the strange images before. He is then sent another image, this time of a street map. He contacts Hideki, who is searching for Chi with Shinbo and Sumomo. They run through all of the IP addresses registered on the forum and narrow down the possible locations of the kidnapper to a nearby area in Tokyo. Minoru checks to see who the IP address is registered to and realizes that it is Kojima, who goes by the alias "Dragonfly". He tracks Sumomo and superimposes her location onto his map. When they arrive on the street, they are able to determine which house Chi must be in.
Kojima is amazed that Chi has been able to block his program after an hour of continuous running, but he is confident that it will not take much longer to break through her defences. He hugs her in delight at how powerful she is, then begins to grope at her. Freya intervenes again, binding Kojima with all of the wires connected to Chi, and then releasing a powerful concussive blast. At this moment, Hideki and Shinbo appear and Freya vanishes, causing Chi to collapse. She recovers and briefly reunites with Hideki before losing consciousness. Shinbo then forces Kojima to transfer Kotoko's registration over to Hideki in order to prevent him from deleting her memories; a record of his attempted kidnapping. The next day, Hideki and Chi then leave to find Ueda and let him know that Chi is safe.
The "Person Just for Me"[]
An government organization known only as "The Syndicate" is aware of Chi and her special programming. Under the impression that something terrible will happen if her program executes successfully, they send two persocoms, Zima and Dita, to destroy her. They both had been created from the same system architecture as Chi, and are immune to her ability to freeze other persocoms. However, Zima wants Chi to succeed in her task, and purposefully misinforms Dita of Chi's whereabouts. Chi's program is almost completed when Zima unwillingly gives away her position to Dita, who goes to destroy her.
Hideki arrives at his apartment and once inside Chi tells him of her love; asking if it is requited. Hideki responds in the affirmative, and they embrace briefly before Chi's program executes. Chi floats up to the roof of the apartment and begins to run her program, freezing every persocom with the exceptions of Zima and Dita. Dita attempts to hack into Chi, who repels her easily. Dita then connects to her directly and begins to shut Chi down. Hideki makes his way on to the roof to save Chi, but he is restrained by Zima. Dita explains to him that for the good of all persocoms, Chi must be destroyed. After hearing Hideki's pleas, Zima releases him and grabs Dita, disconnecting her from Chi. With the connection broken, Chi is able to complete her program but chooses not to. She retreats inside herself, and Freya takes control as Ms. Hibiya arrives on the rooftop.
Freya explains how she came to inhabit Chi's body; revealing that Chi and herself merely switched places inside the body, Freya explains to Hideki the truth about Chobits, that the only thing that makes them different from all other persocoms is that their programming is more advanced. The reality being that humans simply wished and placed their own dreams upon them. Hideki is confronted with the truth that the Chobits do not have true sentience just like every other persocom, that they simply act within their programmed parameters. In addition, Freya reiterates to Hideki he cannot even have sexual relations with Chii as it would reset her. Hideki acknowledges what Freya is saying, but his unconditional love for Chii is all that matters to him. Hideki loves Chii for who she is, it does not matter to him if Chii does not have true emotions, and he does not care if he can't have sexual relations with her either.
Chii regains control of her body and never fully activates her special program, as she found the person just for her. Chii and Hideki embrace as their love has been actualized.
Limitations[]
Despite her nature as a highly advanced Persocom, there are still some things that Chi cannot do. These range from simple setbacks, such as communication issues, to far more serious ones, like the inability to produce offspring or have sexual intercourse. This is because the location of her power switch is in her vagina. Because of this, even if Chi is in love with Hideki, she cannot have a sexual relationship with him, since that will cause her to be reset, reformat, and lose all of her current memories with him. However, Hideki says that this will not stop him from loving Chi.
However, as this is in the manga version, it is uncertain how much of this actually translates to the anime version.
In the anime series, it is possible that this may not be the case. In Episode 7, during Chi's time at a peep show, it is stated by Freya that, "Regardless of what happens, until someone who truly loves you appears, never let anyone touch you here." It is notable that this warning is also said in the manga. This warning is repeated in Episode 22, when Yoshiyuki (also known as "Dragonfly") tries to take advantage of Chi. Just as before he could, a defensive mechanism is activated, subduing Yoshiyuki. Chi then states that, "since he isn't the one for her, he isn't allowed to come inside." Finally, when Hideki arrives on the scene, Chi goes on to explain, "Only the one for (her) is ever allowed to come inside," and shows him what she means by using his hand.
Relationships[]
Hideki[]
Chi and Hideki.
Chi's relationship with Hideki Motosuwa starts off similar to that of a "duckling following its mother". Throughout the series, both characters slowly develop feelings for each other, taking their relationship from simple to romantic. After the events of the series' end, Chi and Hideki are seen together as a couple, as Hideki is "the one just for her".
Chitose Hibiya[]
Chitose teaching Chi and Sumomo how to cook.
When Chi was originally known as "Elda", Chitose was considered to be her "mother". Having created Elda and Freya out of the desire to have children, as she was unable to have them naturally. When Elda is reset and wakes up as Chi, Chitose keeps both their pasts a secret. Remaining as the landlady until the end of the series, until it is revealed that she and her late husband had created her and Freya.
Freya[]
Freya consoling Chi.
Her depressed, elder twin sister enjoyed Chi's company. The creation of a sister was not enough, however, and Freya continued to decline in health. On her deathbed, Freya warns her of the implications of emotion. Elda then proceeds to download and store Freya's data within herself in order to preserve her. After Elda is reset, Freya acts as a guide and alarm system for Chi, appearing mainly in times of danger and deep thought. Freya is able to switch with Chi and take control of the Chobit's body from time to time.
Sumomo and Kotoko[]
Sumomo riding along in Chi's shirt.
Although both are not full-sized Persocoms, Chi is often seen with Kotoko and/or Sumomo on her shoulders. When left alone, Sumomo and Kotoko tend to guide Chi and teach her in place of a trustworthy human.
Hiroyasu Ueda[]
Chi's boss, Hiroyasu, treats her as an employee while reserving his feelings, often having painful memories of his wife (who was a Persocom) when having her around. Chi's employment at the baker also causes a rift for a short time in Yumi Omura and Hiroyasu's relationship. It is later mended when he explains his recent past and Chi's employment.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Chi shares the same Japanese and English VA with her sister.