Chobits Volume Seven is rated “OT” for older teens who are 16 and up, and I agree with this rating.

Chobits Volume Seven
Written by: CLAMP
Publisher: Kodansha
English Publisher: Tokyopop
Release Date: August 5, 2003

This volume of Chobits focuses very heavily on backstory, and very little actually happens to advance the plot. However, the information revealed in this volume is so compelling, that you don’t even realize just how little plot advancement is taking place.

Volume Seven opens with Minoru, Hideki’s genius friend, coming to terms with the fact that his Persocom, Yuzuki, can never truly replace his deceased sister. This revelation comes to him after discovering Yuzuki on the ground and not moving after she tried to access the National Data Bank without Minoru’s knowledge. As Minoru goes through Yuzuki’s activity log, he discovers some important information about Hideki’s Persocom, Chi. Minoru shares what he learns with Hideki.

The vast majority of this volume focuses on a conversation between Hideki and his landlady, Ms. Hibiya. Over the course of this section, Hideki learns the truth about Chi, and how Ms. Hibiya fits into everything. He also learns about Freya, another Persocom who looks like Chi and is essentially Chi’s sister. At the end of this volume, Chi finally declares who the “someone just for me” is. However, Chi’s answer doesn’t come as a surprise to the reader if they’ve read the previous volumes of the series.

One scene that I really liked in this volume is a meeting between Ms. Hibiya and the publisher of the A City With No People book series. This scene not only confirms that Ms. Hibiya is indeed the author of the books, but the reader also gets confirmation as to why Ms. Hibiya has been writing the books. This was my first time encountering this scene, because it was left out of the anime series. Personally, I liked this scene, and think it’s a pity that the studio that produced the anime couldn’t find a way to work it into the anime adaptation.

There are some close-up panels of some of the characters that included some of the best art I’ve seen in this series. These would include Ms. Hibiya on page 67, Freya on page 116, and Hideki on page 171. These drawings on these particular panels effectively convey the emotion of the character, and they have a little more in the way of detail in comparison to many of the panels in this volume. These particular panels really jump out at the reader and leave a strong impression.

By the end of this volume, it’s abundantly clear that the story is about to come to an end, regardless of whether you already know that there’s only eight volumes in the series or already know what’s happening because you’ve already seen the anime adaptation.

If you enjoy the Chobits manga, then you’ll find that as you read this volume, you won’t want to put it down until it’s finished.

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