Kobato
Encyclopedia : K : KO : KOB : Kobato
is CLAMP's latest manga series which premiered in Monthly Sunday Gene-X in January 2005. Seven chapters have been released, but the series has been put on hiatus since late 2005. It is set to return to publication in Newtype magazine's November 2006 edition. The story features a mysterious young girl, Hanato Kobato, who works in a local kindergarten.
Story
Kobato is sweet and perky, but also extremely naïve about the world around her. Her "mission" is to fill a mysterious bottle of hers with the suffering from people's hearts. Among the hearts she heals, there will be a boy she will work for and bring happiness to, but she is forbidden to fall in love with him.
Characters
Names in traditional order (surname first, given name second)
- Hanato Kobato: A strange and naïve girl with a kind heart, she is very innocent and dedicated. She seeks to fill a mysterious bottle with the suffering in other's hearts. 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.
- Ioryogi: Kobato's companion, who usually appears as a stuffed toy dog. It's actually rather foul-mouthed and the first to scathingly criticize Kobato for her naïveté. Ioryogi was originally Tsubaki Nekoi's mascot on Clamp's self caricatures.
- 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.
- 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. Kobato notes that he appears to be hiding some emotional pain of his own. He appears to have jobs other than the one he has at the kindergarten.
- 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 appears to be in debt.
- The Debt Collector: A man who appears at the end of the fifth chapter. He is on given name basis with Sayaka and reveals over the phone in chapter four he can no longer hold off the payment of the kindergarten any longer. Little else is known about him though he appears to be Sayaka's brother.
Crossovers
Chitose Hibiya of Chobits and Tsubasa appears as Chitose Mihara, Kobato's landlady, while Chii/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 the events of Chobits. However, this fact is not confirmed and Chitose Mihara's husband has yet to appear. CLAMP has a fondness for crossing over their works and it is not surprising Chitose appears with her two daughters.
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.