by Samantha Hii, staff writer, Inside AX- Anime Expo

Kobato collection 1 was released by Sentai Filmworks August 9, 2011. This particular collection contains two DVDs with English subtitles and Japanese audio only.  Special features include your typical offering of special features such as a clean opening animation and clean closing Animation. Kobato features character designs by CLAMP (Code Geass) who originally released the manga of Kobato in 2005.  The animation was produced by Madhouse (Black Lagoon, Claymore). With these two powerhouses together, you can be assured that the production quality of Kobato will be top-notch.

At first glance Kobato seems like a series I would never pick up, however the story and Kobato’s characters have their charms that definitely pull you in.  The first few episodes, like in many series, start off rather slow and are quite repetitive. The characters whose hearts that Kobato heals aren’t particularly memorable, and I found myself almost wanting to quit (but alas, I had to push through!)   It wasn’t until the second half where the story really picks up and makes up for the weak first half, like another certain CLAMP series.  Character development greatly improved between Kobato and the other main characters.  Despite the initial appearance of Kobato as an incredibly naive air-head, she turns into a genuinely lovable character (though Ioryogi still is number one for me). Unfortunately, the story only picks up at about episode eight, so I only had four episodes before the end of the collection. While that didn’t leave me with much to digest, I do feel like I want to watch the rest of the series.  I am hoping to have more back-story for Kobato appear in the later episodes (one can hope) but only time will tell.

While the plot in itself is simple, I think that the series will probably pan out rather well and have decent pacing despite the hiccups of the first few episodes. The setting is rather plain for some, but it really does a good job of representing life as it is and not being too overly dramatic.  In addition, many of you may notice a few cameos if you’re a fan of CLAMP’s previous works, so seeing artists include stuff like that is a small bonus for fans.  One particular part of the series that I have enjoyed the most so far is during one of the few first episodes (how ironic considering I didn’t really like them) when Kobato is singing. The voice actress, music and animation meshed together really well to portray a heartwarming scene. Hopefully, there are more scenes like that to come.

Overall if you are a fan of CLAMP’s shoujo anime, then you’ll probably like Kobato. Although slow to warm up, the last half of the series gets better if you stick through the first few episodes.  While there are some fantasy elements,  it is kept to a relatively minimal level. Enjoys of slice-of-life animation will definitely enjoy Kobato.

Pros:

• Strong second half
• Kobato’s snging
• Character development

Cons:

• Weak first half with easily forgettable episodes
• Paltry offering of special features
• English subtitles and Japanese audio only

Tags: CLAMP, Kobato, review, Sentai Filmworks