Kobato, Dobato, Kobato, Dobato.

Two episode impression

I’ve never liked anything CLAMP, and it doesn’t look like Kobato is going to change that opinion.

So basically it’s about a naively annoying girl that has to heal the wounded hearts of others, so that her wish to go to an as-yet-unspecified place can be granted. You know what that means! Formulaic episodic setup where she helps a different person in each episode, ultimately leading up to healing the heart of the CLAMP “bad boy” with a dark past! Along the way she’ll learn things about the world, meet new people and change their lives. Yeah… That sounds about right. It would be more enjoyable if the titular Kobato wasn’t so annoying though.

I gave Kobato a chance, I really did. It’s not a bad show by any stretch, but it’s just not for me. It’s got above average production values all-around, and the voice acting is pretty good with an all-star supporting cast… Though most of the supporting cast have yet to make their appearance. The characters are all right and do what they’re supposed to do, but this all comes back to Kobato, and I frankly can’t stand the way she’s written. Kobato’s not as annoying as Fruits Baskets’ Tohru Honda (who is on a tier of her own), but she comes pretty damn close. Some people like those kinds of characters. I don’t, and seeing that Kobato is the focal point of this show and my apparent disdain for her, this is a resounding drop for me.

Don’t let my disdain for Kobato and all things CLAMP turn you away though. For some reason I’ve always been biased against their works, so my opinion of Kobato isn’t very fair. If it interests you, and if you liked prior CLAMP titles, it wouldn’t hurt to check this out. It’ll probably be an average-ish show in the long run.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 18th, 2009 at 11:27 am and is filed under Anime, First Impressions.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.