Title: Chobits
Artist: CLAMP
Writer: CLAMP
Publisher: Tokyopop
Volumes: 8
Ratings:
Story: 10
Art: 10
Characters: 10
Average Rating: 10
Chobits is a story about an ordinary guy from a rural town who moved to the big city to go to cram school (1). One night he finds a persocom (a personal computer that is shaped like a human) in the trash on the street side. This persocom is shaped like a ~16 year old girl. He decides to take her home and activate her. When he does so he finds that she is broken and seems to have no operating system and can only say one thing, chi. Because of this he decides her name should be Chi. As the story unfolds Chi learns more and more from Hideki and his friends and Hideki learns more and more about persocoms.
This story has lots of comedy and a bit of ecchi (2) but is ultimately a philosophical love story. Like many of CLAMPS other works, Chobits asks readers about what qualifies as love and whether there are types of love that are wrong. Can machines fall in love? Can a human really love a machine? Should a human love a machine? These are just some of the questions readers are presented when reading Chobits.
The artwork in Chobits is excellent. The characters all look noticeably different and have clear personalities and styles. The panels are well laid out and allow the story to flow easily when reading. The images inside the panels are clean and are not too busy.
Like all works from CLAMP, the characters in Chobits are both interesting and well thought out. They each have their own answers to the questions that the story asks as well as reasons for coming up with those answers. The reader gets a chance to look into the past of nearly all the secondary characters making them seem more real.
The only real complaint I have with the Chobits series is the final volume. While the story inside is well worth reading, the manga is only about half the size of an average manga volume. This isn't so bad in and of itself but the price to purchase this volume is the same as all the others. I don't think it is right to pay 100% of the normal price for ~50% of a normal manga. However, because the story is so engaging I feel that this is just a minor grievance.
Overall, Chobits is an excellent read. It makes you laugh and it makes you think, two of the most important things people should do. I highly recommend reading this series.
(1): Cram schools in Japan are designed to help you get into a good college (or high school or even middle school). They are similar to summer school in that they tend to be fast paced. Unlike summer school however, they tend to be fairly difficult as they cover all the subjects you are likely to encounter on entrance exams.
(2): Ecchi is a difficult term to define as it is used in many different ways. One of its primary meanings however is "perverted". It is used to refer to something having to do with sex or even things that are just sexy. While there is nothing that would be rated adults only in Chobits, there is occasional nudity, some panty shots and some sexy poses :-)
Monday, February 20, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Restaurant: Anime Ramen and Teriyaki
Ratings at a Glance
(100 points max for each category):
Food: 90
Prices: 80
Atmosphere: 85
People: 100
Overall Rating: 88.75
Location:
Anime Ramen & Teriyaki
4355 Spring Mountain RD #101
Las Vegas, NV 89102
Phone: 702-252-5088
Website: www.animeramenlasvegas.com
Review:
Hello everyone, and welcome to the first restaurant review of Otaku Vegas!
The food here is delicious. There are traditional types of food served at Anime Ramen and Teriyaki but I focused mainly on the ramen. The ramen is served in a giant bowl that should provide enough food for all but the hungriest of customers. All the ramen they serve come with both meat and vegetables and an ample serving of noodles. They also have a large list of items you can add to your ramen for an additional cost, including another serving of noodles if you still have enough of the broth left. My family and I tried the Shoyu ramen and the Miso Ramen. Both came with pork slices that were absolutely delicious and fell apart in our mouths :-) We also tried the Furikake Fries and the Teriyaki sliders both of which were good but not particularly unique.
The prices at Anime Ramen & Teriyaki are more than the food itself should cost. The ramen bowls start at $8 and can be as much as $10. The other entrees have the same price ranges as the ramen and the appetizers range from $3 to $8. The Furikake Fries are the best deal as they come in a rather large basket and taste great. If the entrees cost about $2 less I feel that would be perfectly priced. Despite this, I rated the prices here at 80 due to the fact that you are paying for more than just the food, you are paying for the great atmosphere and awesome waitresses.
Speaking of the atmosphere, Anime Ramen & Teriyaki has it in spades. The dining area has red walls with a wooden bottom half. On the walls are hung large images of many popular anime characters from anime like Naruto, Deathnote, and Dragonball Z. Anime music and Jpop are played in the background just loud enough to be easily heard but not so loud as to drown out your conversation. There are several TV monitors that play subtitled movies and, I assume, anime (while I was there The Last Samurai was playing). The only problem I had was that the seats felt a little strange to me, though I never could figure out why that was.
Last but not least, the waitresses at Anime Ramen & Teriyaki are absolutely great. The waitresses were all dressed in various cosplay outfits and all had hair/wigs that were the same crazy colors you see in anime. Besides looking both cute and beautiful at the same time, the waitresses were also very kind and efficient while delivering food to their customers. My family and I were asked multiple times if everything was ok and our drinks were always kept full. Personally, I feel that quality of the waitresses/waiters in a restaurant and second in importance only to the quality of the food. For this reason, I feel confident that everyone who reads this blog will enjoy their visit to Anime Ramen & Teriyaki. I certainly plan to visit as often as my budget allows :-)
(100 points max for each category):
Food: 90
Prices: 80
Atmosphere: 85
People: 100
Overall Rating: 88.75
Location:
Anime Ramen & Teriyaki
4355 Spring Mountain RD #101
Las Vegas, NV 89102
Phone: 702-252-5088
Website: www.animeramenlasvegas.com
Review:
Hello everyone, and welcome to the first restaurant review of Otaku Vegas!
The food here is delicious. There are traditional types of food served at Anime Ramen and Teriyaki but I focused mainly on the ramen. The ramen is served in a giant bowl that should provide enough food for all but the hungriest of customers. All the ramen they serve come with both meat and vegetables and an ample serving of noodles. They also have a large list of items you can add to your ramen for an additional cost, including another serving of noodles if you still have enough of the broth left. My family and I tried the Shoyu ramen and the Miso Ramen. Both came with pork slices that were absolutely delicious and fell apart in our mouths :-) We also tried the Furikake Fries and the Teriyaki sliders both of which were good but not particularly unique.The prices at Anime Ramen & Teriyaki are more than the food itself should cost. The ramen bowls start at $8 and can be as much as $10. The other entrees have the same price ranges as the ramen and the appetizers range from $3 to $8. The Furikake Fries are the best deal as they come in a rather large basket and taste great. If the entrees cost about $2 less I feel that would be perfectly priced. Despite this, I rated the prices here at 80 due to the fact that you are paying for more than just the food, you are paying for the great atmosphere and awesome waitresses.
Speaking of the atmosphere, Anime Ramen & Teriyaki has it in spades. The dining area has red walls with a wooden bottom half. On the walls are hung large images of many popular anime characters from anime like Naruto, Deathnote, and Dragonball Z. Anime music and Jpop are played in the background just loud enough to be easily heard but not so loud as to drown out your conversation. There are several TV monitors that play subtitled movies and, I assume, anime (while I was there The Last Samurai was playing). The only problem I had was that the seats felt a little strange to me, though I never could figure out why that was.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Introductions Are In Order
Hello everyone and welcome to Otaku Vegas! This is the very first post of this blog and I think it is the perfect time to introduce myself and let you all know what you can expect to see here.
First, a little bit about me. My name is Phillip Ash and I have lived in the Las Vegas and Henderson area for a little over 14 years now. I have been a fan of anime for as long as I can remember. The first anime series I actively watched was Sailor Moon. I then moved on to Dragonball Z. When that ended I wanted more and turned to the internet to tell me where to find more. Since then I have done my best to keep up with anime, both dubbed and subtitled.
I discovered manga about a decade ago. I have always been an avid reader of books but aside from my very first comic/manga experience with Wendi Pini's Elfquest I felt that "comics" just were not interesting enough. Then I saw a manga in the bookstore with the same name as the anime I was watching (which was Chobits if you were curious). I bought the first two volumes of the series and have been hooked ever since.
Through my love of anime and manga I have gained a great deal of interest in the country responsible for their creation. So much of the Japanese culture included in anime and manga was new to me. I wanted to learn more about this new culture and experience as much of it as I could.
That is where this blog comes in. Las Vegas and Henderson are both large cities with diverse groups of people. In these cities you can find places that let you experience many different cultures, including that of Japan. The problem I have found is that it can be difficult to find these places if you don't know where to look. I hope this blog will be able to help people experience as many things from the culture that brought us anime and manga as possible. In this blog I will review all the places I have visited that relate to anime, manga, or Japanese culture. This includes bookstores with manga, Japanese markets, and restaurants that serve the food found in the series I have read and watched. I will also occasionally review manga and anime that I have read or watched. Most of these reviews will be positive ones, as I am not likely to feel motivated to write about any manga or anime that I did not enjoy :-)
I also hope that this website will help me get in touch with others that share my interests and know of places that I have missed. If you know of any places in Las Vegas or Henderson that relate in some way to anime, manga, or Japanese culture that I have not yet reviewed please feel free to post a comment to the most recent post in this blog and I will give it a try and review it as soon as I can. I look forward to trying out new places :-)
Thank you for reading this far and hope that you will visit this blog again. I will do my best to make this blog an informative and fun place to visit!
First, a little bit about me. My name is Phillip Ash and I have lived in the Las Vegas and Henderson area for a little over 14 years now. I have been a fan of anime for as long as I can remember. The first anime series I actively watched was Sailor Moon. I then moved on to Dragonball Z. When that ended I wanted more and turned to the internet to tell me where to find more. Since then I have done my best to keep up with anime, both dubbed and subtitled.
I discovered manga about a decade ago. I have always been an avid reader of books but aside from my very first comic/manga experience with Wendi Pini's Elfquest I felt that "comics" just were not interesting enough. Then I saw a manga in the bookstore with the same name as the anime I was watching (which was Chobits if you were curious). I bought the first two volumes of the series and have been hooked ever since.
Through my love of anime and manga I have gained a great deal of interest in the country responsible for their creation. So much of the Japanese culture included in anime and manga was new to me. I wanted to learn more about this new culture and experience as much of it as I could.
That is where this blog comes in. Las Vegas and Henderson are both large cities with diverse groups of people. In these cities you can find places that let you experience many different cultures, including that of Japan. The problem I have found is that it can be difficult to find these places if you don't know where to look. I hope this blog will be able to help people experience as many things from the culture that brought us anime and manga as possible. In this blog I will review all the places I have visited that relate to anime, manga, or Japanese culture. This includes bookstores with manga, Japanese markets, and restaurants that serve the food found in the series I have read and watched. I will also occasionally review manga and anime that I have read or watched. Most of these reviews will be positive ones, as I am not likely to feel motivated to write about any manga or anime that I did not enjoy :-)
I also hope that this website will help me get in touch with others that share my interests and know of places that I have missed. If you know of any places in Las Vegas or Henderson that relate in some way to anime, manga, or Japanese culture that I have not yet reviewed please feel free to post a comment to the most recent post in this blog and I will give it a try and review it as soon as I can. I look forward to trying out new places :-)
Thank you for reading this far and hope that you will visit this blog again. I will do my best to make this blog an informative and fun place to visit!
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