AnimeVision

15 - Chii Doesn't Do Anything
Shinbo's 'eloped' with Ms Shimizu (well, gone on an extended onsen holiday...) & left Hideki in charge of Sumomo. After having left without saying anything (the first Hideki knows of it is when neither Shinbo or Ms Shimizu turn up for class), Shinbo spends most of the episode on the phone, explaining himself to Hideki.

16 - Chii Provides
Hideki's exam grades are going from bad to worse. Ms Shimizu (speaking by phone from the onsen...) knows the problem - Hideki isn't really stupid, he's just lousy when he's under pressure. With the final mock exams approaching, Hideki takes time off from work in order to study - but his plans go awry when he loses his wallet, leaving himself with no money to live off. And so it's time for Chii to provide...

17 - Chii Helps
It's 'spring cleaning' time at the apartments (even though it's not spring), and Hideki & Chii are roped in to help, with Sumomo provides cheerleading and slavedriving facilities. But there are some hints given that the caretaker isn't all she appears to be - during a quiet chat with Chii, she appears to know about Chii's 'previous' life, and there's an unusually large number of data & power cables running through the building. Could she have had something to do with Chii's creation?

Shimizu-sensei can come & stay with me anytime... :) Anyway, the shift in focus onto Shimizu & Shinbo's relationship provides a welcome break from Hideki's usual antics (they're fun, but not all the time), so I enjoyed this disc a bit more than the previous volumes. As well as the Shinbo story, there are also a few heavy hints dropped in the final episode of the disc about the caretaker's role in all of this - she's obviously aware of Chii's past & seems to have taken on some sort of protector role for her, so I'm curious as to where that aspect of the story will go (didn't see past this point when Chobits was on the fansub circuit, so I genuinely don't know where the story is going from here!).

The underlying theme of persocoms -vs- humans gets a bit of airing here as well, in Shimizu's reasons for running off with Shinbo, but it's not covered too deeply & will probably be revisited later.

This was actually quite a good disc - the Shinbo / Shimizu thing was a bit of a surprise (although in hindsight there were one or two hints dropped), but mainly the focus on some of the secondary characters made it that bit more enjoyable. My doubts about the shows replay value are still there - although from here on in it'll be all new to me, so we'll see if that makes any difference.

Still can't wholeheartedly recommend the show, though - probably a 'rent first' title. Into the 'Your Mileage May Vary' bin with it....