The story centers on the life of Hideki Motosuwa, a repeat student (浪人, Rōnin?) attempting to qualify for university by studying at the Seki prep school in Tokyo. Besides a girlfriend, the other thing he dreams of having is a Persocom. A Persocom is an android used as a personal computer; however, they are expensive, and Hideki has no money.
On his way home one evening, he stumbles across an android in the form of a beautiful girl with long blonde hair lying
against a pile of trash bags. He first thinks this to be a murder but, realizing she is an android, he carries her home. Upon
turning it on, she instantly regards Hideki with adoration. The only word she seems capable of saying is "chi", and thus he
names her Chi. Although Chi does not appear to have any programs installed in her, Hideki's friend's friend Kokubunji Minoru surmises that
she must have some sort of learning program installed, judging from her behavior.
A major part of the plot involves Hideki attempting to teach Chi words, concepts, and appropriate behaviours, in between
his crammed schedule of school and work. At the same time, Chi seems to be developing feelings for Hideki, at an emotional
depth, which she is not supposed to possess, and Hideki struggles with his feelings for her. Minoru assumes that she is one
of the legendary "chobits" hence the name of the series. The series explores the nature of androids, human interactions with
them, and the nature of love. All sorts of characters are introduced; some of them love androids, some consider them only
as tools.
In the later part of the story, the characters start to explore Chi's mysterious past. Chi discovers a series of picture
books of mysterious origin, that seem to awaken something deep inside of her. The book inspires her to find the "person just
for me", a euphemism used in the series to refer to one's true love. Chi is also a very special android, and towards the end
of the story, together with Hideki, discovers her true identity, as well as what lies within her.
Despite the comedic and ecchi moments, Chobits itself deals with several dualities concerning subject matter it shows. The most explored issue throughout
the series is humans-android relationships (cf A.I.) . "Watashi", or "Atashi" (Japanese for I or me), a character drawn by the character "Hibiya", is a comic book used in the
series to hint at the definition of reciprocated love to Chi, and is used to highlight issues with human-persocom relationships;
drawing upon the fact that because persocoms can be programmed to imitate desirable human behavior, humans would opt-out of
human relationships, resulting in obvious problems, such as the inability to further produce offspring.
