Week 11 - Chobits: Fantasy vs Reality

The Anime Machine by Thomas Lamarre, pg 155-241

In the otaku communities, there is a concept/meme called "mai waifu". Originally a catch-phrase spawning from the anime, "Azumanga Daiouh", the phrase is often used to refer to an anime, cartoon, video game, or other non-existent character for which you hold strong feelings (of love) for. Because the character is not real, a physical relationship cannot exist; however, otakus with a waifu-complex accept this but are not deterred by this http://i.imgur.com/FOMsE.jpg . This is a perfect exemplification of "otaku sexuality" - "a world of male masturbatory pleasure, a world of sex without actual women."

Chobits is yet another perfect example demonstrating the concept of sexuality with the absence of sex. Chii is not a real woman but a persocom - a human-made robot controlled by AI and made to serve humans. Despite completely knowing this, Hideki treats her like a real human, eventually (*SPOILER*) falling in love with her and puts his life in danger to protect her. The most interesting part is that while there exists a strong sense of sexuality throughout the entire series, there is never any suggestion of or desire for explicit sex. Hideki dreams and experiences sexual fantasies around Chii (his persocom), Yumi Omura (younger girl with an interest in Hideki), Chitose Hibiya (the landlady of the apartment), and just about every other female cast he encounters. Despite this, he cannot bring himself to carry them out in reality and is plenty happy just being with Chii. In this case, while he has the ability to turn Chii (with no previous memories and capable of learning anything he wants to teach her) into an object of sex, his human nature chooses to treat her as a real human being, looking past the physical barrier. Some may say this would be self-deception, but to Hideki, it is enough to make him happy, enough to satisfy the desires of "otaku sexuality".