Kobato

Kobato.
Kobato. volume 1 Japanese manga cover
こばと。
Genre	Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Comedy
Manga
Written by	CLAMP
Published by	Shogakukan Kadokawa Shoten
Magazine	Monthly Sunday Gene-X (2005) (formerly), Newtype (2006 - present)
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	2005 – ongoing
Volumes	3
Anime
Directed by	Mitsuyuki Masuhara
Studio	Madhouse
Released	October 2009 – present

Kobato. (こばと。) is CLAMP's latest manga series which premiered in Monthly Sunday Gene-X in January 2005. Seven chapters were released under the title of Kobato. ("Temporary"), but the series was put on hiatus in late 2005. It returned to publication in Newtype magazine's November 2006 Japanese edition; the story has subsequently been restarted at an earlier point in the original timeline. The story features a mysterious young girl, Hanato Kobato, who works in a local kindergarten.

The first volume of the manga was released by Kadokawa Shoten on December 26, 2007.

Story

Kobato is sweet and perky girl, but also extremely naive about the world around her. She has a "mission", which is to fill a mysterious bottle of hers with the suffering from people's hearts so her wish to go a certain place that she desires to go can be granted. However, she must not fall in love with a particular boy she works with and whose heart she must heal.

Characters

Kobato Hanato (花戸 小鳩, Hanato Kobato)

A strange and naïve girl with a kind heart, she is very innocent and dedicated. She seeks to fill a mysterious bottle called a "flask" with the suffering in others' hearts so that someday she will be able to go to a certain place.

Her only restriction appears to be that she cannot fall in love with a particular boy she will work for and whose heart she will heal. Kobato has a very cheerful and enthusiastic outlook in life and her wanting to aid others in need is very heartfelt and sincere.

However, she can also be clumsy, rather stupid and rash with her actions and often trips, much to Ioryogi's annoyance. It is important that she does not remove her hat from her head, although the reason for this has yet to be explained.

Ioryogi (いおりょぎ)

Kobato's companion, who usually appears as a stuffed toy dog. It's actually rather foul-mouthed and bad-tempered and the first to scathingly criticize or hit Kobato for her naïveté and stupidity and often calls her "Dobato" (lit. Stupid Dove), though he will acknowledge Kobato's efforts when he feels she deserves it.

His origin is still unknown, but he can produce a blast of power when offended like when he blasted the perverted old man in the first chapter of Kobato, though he often uses it on Kobato whenever she messes up. Ioryogi was originally Tsubaki Nekoi's mascot on Clamp's self caricatures.

Kiyokazu Fujimoto (藤本 清和, Fujimoto Kiyokazu)

A blunt young man working at the same kindergarten as Kobato. Initially, he is rather suspicious of the strange Kobato and does not want Sayaka to be hurt. He generally ignores people he does not like; as a result, Sayaka interprets his tendency to poke fun at Kobato as affection. Kobato notes that he appears to be hiding some emotional pain of his own.

As a child, Fujimoto was an orphan taken in by Sayaka's father and did not get along with his peers. To support the kindergarten, he dropped out of college and work at other part time jobs. He appears to have strong feelings for Sayaka, but also grows attached to Kobato.

Sayaka Okiura (沖浦 清花, Okiura Sayaka)

The teacher of Yomogi Nursery, a local kindergarten where Kobato works. She has known Kiyokazu since he was seven, which is when her family adopted him. Upon meeting her, Kobato wishes to heal Sayaka's emotional pain. Sayaka also appears to be in debt.

Chitose Mihara (三原 千歳, Mihara Chitose)

The kind and generous landlady of Kobato's apartment and Sayaka's old classmate. She is married and has twin daughters, Chise and Chiho. Kiyokazu also lives in Chitose's apartment complex.

Chiho Mihara (三原 千帆, Mihara Chiho) and Chise Mihara (三原 千世, Mihara Chise)

Mihara Chitose's twin daughters, presumably age 11-12. Like their mother, they are crossover characters from Chobits, known in that series as Freya and Chī/Elda. In Kobato, they are normal girls and live with their mother and father.

Okiura (沖浦)

A debt collector who appears at the end of the fifth chapter, a man who has some association with Yakuza. He appears to be responsible for the constant impending closure of Sayaka's kindergarten and is also Sayaka's ex-husband. Despite his cheerful and collected nature, Okiura seems to show genuine concern for Sayaka and continues to warn her to close her school.

Ginsei (銀生)

A mysterious creature who wears an eyepatch who apparently shares some sort of history with Ioryogi and appears to be on poor terms with him. Ginsei implies that Ioryogi's current form is not his true form and also seems to be aware of Kobato's mission. He does not think highly of Kobato or Ioryogi's relationship with Kobato.

Hiroyasu Ueda (植田 弘康, Ueda Hiroyasu)

A kindhearted baker and owner of the Chiroru Bakery. He gives Kobato a job at Christmas and gives Sayaka free chocolate on Valentine's Day when he notices how fixated she seems on the box of chocolate she is holding. He makes several short appearances in the Newtype installment of the manga. He and his assistant, Yumi Omura (大村 裕美, Ōmura Yumi), are both crossover characters from Chobits.

Media

Manga

On April 4, 2007 Newtype USA announced a special agreement with manga powerhouse CLAMP to exclusively serialize Kobato, in the pages of the magazine.

Kobato began its serial run in the June 2007 issue of Newtype USA, and was to continue its exclusive serialization through the May 2008 issue, comprising 12 installments in total. However Newtype USA ceased publication with the February 2008 issue, having serialised 9 of the 12 installments.

Anime

An anime adaption is planned for autumn of 2009, animated by MadHouse and supervised by CLAMP's Nanase Ohkawa.

Hiromi Katō, the character designer of Kobato.'s Anime said that "Kobato. itself is kind of different from past CLAMP works, specially the way the eyes are drawn, we are trying to make it as close as we can to the original. The costumes will change in each episode." She is drawing Ioryogi the most stuffed animal-like as possible, and actually wants a big sized version of it. And says that since the majority of the characters are wearing very frilly clothes it may be difficult to animate them. It's going to be really hard when Kobato, Chitose and her two children (Chise and Chiho) appear together in scene. They made Fujimoto's shoulder width wider than before back in the first arrangements because he was turning way too shōnen-ish. They are taking care when drawing Sayaka. Since she also has a feeling of unhappiness around her. The cast is not decided yet.

CLAMP in Wonderland

Kobato., along with most of CLAMP's other titles, appeared in CLAMP's second music video, CLAMP in Wonderland 2, which was the first time the characters Kobato and Ioryogi were animated.

Crossovers

Kobato. accepts the theory from Tsubasa that everyone has his/her different self but same spirit in every dimension. Some crossover characters of stories which didn't happened in modern Japan, the background of Kobato., show new identities in this story. On the other hand, the crossover stories happened in Japan are actually related to this story Kobato.

• Chitose Hibiya of Chobits and Tsubasa appears as Chitose Mihara, Kobato's landlady, while Chī/Elda and Freya of Chobits also appear as Chitose's daughters, named Chiho and Chise respectively. It can also be implied, since Chiho and Chise mention their father in a conversation with Kobato, Chitose's husband is Ichiro "Icchan" Mihara from Angelic Layer, who was married to her prior to the events of Chobits. However, this fact is not confirmed and Chitose Mihara's husband has yet to appear.
• Mihara is also the family name from characters of Clamp's other works such as Ichiro Mihara and his stepbrother Ōjiro from Angelic Layer as well as Chiharu Mihara from Cardcaptor Sakura. However, the relation between Chiharu and the Mihara family hasn't been revealed.
• The apartment complex owned by Chitose Mihara and her family appears in other works by Clamp other than Kobato and Chobits; it can been seen in Chobits (different one in imaginary Japan), xxxHolic (not confirmed the same one in Japan) ,Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (different one in Hanshin).
• Ueda Hiroyasu, also of Chobits, appears in Exam 3, still as the owner of the Chiroru bakery. He makes another appearance in Exam 5, this time with his assistant, Ōmura Yumi, and again in Exam 7 to give Kobato an umbrella.
• The fortune-teller from volume 2 of xxxHolic (A kind elderly woman who is an acquaintance of Yūko Ichihara's) appears in Exam 4 and plays New Year's games with Kobato. Her fortune-telling pendulum and sand-dish appear as well.
• Asahi Hinata and Asō Shirō, the two main characters of Suki Dakara Suki, appear in Exam 7.
• Suzuhara Misaki, Kizaki Tamayo and Seto Ringo from Angelic Layer and Primera from Magic Knight Rayearth make cameo appearances in exam 9.
• Kakei, Kudō Kazahaya and Himura Rikuō from Legal Drug make cameo appearances as background characters. The Green Drugstore where they work also appears in Drop 5.
• Tōya Kinomoto, Sakura's brother from Cardcaptor Sakura, makes a cameo appearance in Drop 5. He is seen in a bunny costume, working as a mascot with Fujimoto at the Green Drugstore that is seen in Legal Drug. The bunny costume resembles Ushagi-san, a messenger from heaven in Wish.
• Toshihiko, one of the children at the kindergarten, has crossed over several times in Tsubasa.
• Kohaku, a character from "Wish" is shown and discussed by Ioryogi and Genko in Drop 13.

External links

• Kobato ({{{type}}}) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Kobato ({{{type}}}) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia