Hello everyone,
Here we are for another review (this time a little late as today I started working a little early so I didn't had the time to complete this review) of a manga/anime series named Kobato based on an original work by Clamp.
Let's start with a synopsis :
Kobato is a girl who came to earth to fulfill her wish, which is to go to a certain place. To fulfill that wish, she has to find a bottle and fill it wich scarred hearts. Together with her "teacher", which is a stuffed animal, she search for the scarred hearts. However she may not fall in love with any person whom she cures the heart of...
Well, this story sounds and looks like Tsubasa many times over with same author, same style, and same unrequited love theme, but with a rather more normal plot story. (a lot less supernatural than Tsubasa)
The plot is pretty clichè with the classic hurdles to overcome for our extremely innocent and good-willed Kobato Hanato, while she tries struggling to fulfill her own wish by mending broken hearts and at the same time trying to save the nursery from closing due to debts.
The ending was quite cheesy, but I liked it especially due to the very detailed way they closed all the pending sub-plot and created an harmony around the series. (even thought the manga is still running so likely it will have another different ending)
This series is, anyway, fuwa fuwa and each of the story are simple and cute (a lot similiar to Aria episodic approach to be honest) like I said in the title so may not be a nice pick if you're looking for fast-paced plot or deep drama story.
The recurring characters are few , mainly likable and many have plenty of resemblances with the Tsubasa ones in both style/way of talking and good hearted nature.
There is growth in many of the characters (especially Kobato at the end of the series is pretty different than from the start) during the story as they face the various hurdles the life give them.
My favourites character of this series are the sisters Chiho and Chise Mihara, taken from a cross-over with Chobits, they are normal and cute little girls living in the same apartment complex as Kobato.
I loved they're cuteness in each and every action and their attachment to the little kitten they were searching the owner for in one of the episodes.
The visual quality of this series is top notch (and follow the already easy to remember Clamp style from Tsubasa or xxxHolic) and the animation is mostly consistent through the whole series with little to none problem.
The opening animation is also pretty remarkable with the great focus on the kobato many facial expressions depending on the situations.
The sound quality is also top notch with many famous seiyuu working on this project like Kana Hanazawa in Kobato's role, Megumi Nakajima in Chiho/Chise's role and many others.
Also wonderful is the opening song "Magic Number" sung by Maaya Sakamoto. (I may do another post on it later on like with other opening/endings)
Concluding, this series is one of the best light hearted series of the last years and if you're into touching/cheesy stories with a bit of comedy/drama here and there...this should be your pick.
See you soon,
feal87