Kobato.

Template:Series Kobato. (こばと。) is a manga that is currently being released by CLAMP. Chapters are released monthly and there is currently four volumes.

Plot

Kobato is a sweet and perky girl, but also extremely naive about the world around her. She has a "mission" to fill her mysterious bottle with people's hearts she heals so her wish to go a certain place can be granted. However, the restriction is that she is not allowed to fall in love with any person whose heart she heals.

Characters

• Kobato Hanato: A strange and naïve girl with a kind heart, never wanting to see someone suffer or get hurt. She is very innocent and dedicated. Despite her role as the titular character, she is a bit of an enigma within the series, as her origins have yet to be explained. She seeks to heal the heartaches of others, resulting in the filling up of a mysterious bottle called a "flask" with the suffering of those people's hearts so that someday she will be able to go to a certain place that she really wants to go. It has been implied that she came from another dimension.:Her only restriction appears to be that she cannot fall in love with anyone she heals the heart of. Curiously she also seems to not be allowed to take off her hat in public either, though this has yet to be addressed further. Kobato has a very cheerful and enthusiastic outlook in life and her wanting to aid others in need is very heartfelt and sincere. However, she can also be clumsy, rather clueless, and rash with her actions, and often trips over her own feet, much to Ioryogi's annoyance. Currently she works at the Yomogi Nursery run by Sayaka, alongside Fujimoto, where she got a job as an assistant not long after starting her task. Recently, Kobato seems to have developed some sort of feelings for Fujimoto, but she has not realized that the feeling is 'love', and therefore is confused by it.

• Ioryogi: Kobato's companion, who appears as a stuffed toy dog that she carries around. He's actually very foul-mouthed, short-tempered, and cruel, his features twisting horrifically when aggravated or enraged. He tends to scathingly criticize or hit Kobato for her naïveté and stupidity and often calls her "Dobato" (lit. Stupid Dove), Despite the lack of respect he shows Kobato, he will always acknowledge her efforts when he feels she deserves it, and seems to be set on helping Kobato achieve her goal. He is harsh to her and scolds her constantly but is seen to really care for her and comforts her in his own way when she is down, such as patting her head to encourage her.:His origin is still unknown, but he can produce a powerful fiery blast from his mouth when offended, like when he protected Kobato from the perverted old man in an early chapter of Kobato, though he also often uses it on Kobato whenever she messes up. It has been heavily implied that his stuffed animal appearance is not his true form. Ioryogi's true form has yet to be revealed but several 'shadows' of his original form have been seen. One being that of a sinister, large, wolf like creature with horns, which manifested during one of Ioryogi's sparring matches with Ginsei. Another form appears to be a man with spiky hair and a long, battered looking cape or coat, manifesting when he watched over a sleeping Kobato. It is implied that Ioryogi's current form is a 'punishment' from causing some sort of serious trouble back in 'Heaven'. Ioryogi was originally Tsubaki Nekoi's mascot on Clamp's self caricatures.

• Kiyokazu Fujimoto: A blunt, sarcastic young man working at the same kindergarten as Kobato. He is also Kobato's neighbor, living in the same complex under the ownership of Chitose. He has known Sayaka for many years and appears to have strong feelings for her, showing much concern over and being fiercely defensive of her. Upon first meeting Kobato, he is rather suspicious of the unusual girl, as he does not want Sayaka to be hurt by another person. He often pokes fun at and teases Kobato, which is unusual as he generally ignores people he does not like; as a result, Sayaka interprets his actions toward the girl as affection. Regardless of his initial distrust of Kobato, he has shown signs of warming up to her and now seems to care about her well being, demonstrated when once she pretended to have a cold to cover up for Ioryogi, and Fujimoto in response discreetly passed on a bag of cough drops to her. Kobato notes that he appears to be hiding some emotional pain of his own.:As a child, Fujimoto was an orphan taken in by Sayaka's father and did not get along with his peers. He had been studying to become a lawyer, but dropped out of college when it became apparent Sayaka's need for help had become increasingly desperate. He works at various part-time jobs throughout the day in order to help support the kindergarten, as he is attached to Sayaka and feels indebted to her family for taking care of him in his youth.

• Sayaka Okiura: The teacher and principal of Yomogi Nursery, a local kindergarten where Kobato works. She has known Kiyokazu since he was seven, which is when her family adopted him. She also went to the same high school as Chitose. She is a kind and trusting person, willing to let Kobato assist her at the school even with Fujimoto's obvious mistrust of her. Upon meeting Sayaka, Kobato wishes to heal the apparent emotional pain in her heart. Sayaka is in debt due to an event in the past involving her father; in spite of this she continues to try her best at keeping the school going. Sayaka was once married to Okiura, the debt collector who frequently pesters her to close down the school. Despite having already divorced him, she has yet to change back her last name for unknown reasons.

• Chitose Mihara: The kind and generous landlady of Kobato's apartment and Sayaka's old classmate. She is married and has twin daughters, Chise and Chiho. Fujimoto also lives in Chitose's apartment complex. She is a cross-over character from Chobits.

• Chiho Mihara and Chise Mihara:Mihara Chitose's twin daughters, presumably age 11-12. Like their mother, they are crossover characters from Chobits, known in that series as Freya and Chī/Elda. In Kobato, they are normal girls and live with their mother and father. Like many children in the series, they are apparently very fond of Kobato.

• Kazuto Okiura: A debt collector who appears at the end of the fifth chapter, a man who has some association with Yakuza. He is noted in the series for smiling a lot and smoking. Okiura appears to be responsible for the constant impending closure of Sayaka's kindergarten and is also Sayaka's ex-husband. He seems to enjoy pestering and aggravating Fujimoto, the latter whom despises him for hurting Sayaka in the past. He seems to have developed an interest in Kobato following his first meeting with her. Despite his cheerful and collected nature, he has shown hints of a slightly more sinister side, possibly due to his Yakuza background. Okiura seems to show what may or may not be some genuine concern for Sayaka, despite his continuous threats to close down the school. His first name has yet to be made known in the manga and was revealed in an article pertaining to the Kobato anime.

• Ginsei : A mysterious creature who wears an eyepatch whom shares a history with Ioryogi, though he now appears to be on poor terms with him, and often challenges him to fights. Ginsei also has frequently stated that Ioryogi's current form is not his true form and also seems to be aware of Kobato's mission. He does not think highly of Kobato or Ioryogi's relationship with Kobato. It is implied that he wants Ioryogi to return to 'Heaven' for unknown reasons, as it was Ioryogi who took Ginsei in and trained him. In fact, it has been mentioned that Ioryogi was the one wo gave Ginsei his name. Ginsei's appearance, like Ioryogi's, is implied to not be his actual form as when he stands atop a building overlooking Ioryogi and Kobato's apartment, his shadow is that of a young man with short hair.

• Hiroyasu Ueda: A kindhearted baker and owner of the Chiroru Bakery. He gives Kobato a job at Christmas and gives Sayaka free chocolate on Valentine's Day when he notices how fixated she seems on the box of chocolate she is holding. He makes several short appearances in the Newtype installment of the manga. He and his assistant, Yumi Omura are both crossover characters from Chobits.

Crossovers

Kobato accepts the theory from Tsubasa that everyone has his/her different self but with the same spirit in every dimension. Some crossover characters of stories which didn't happened in modern Japan, the background of Kobato, show new identities in this story. On the other hand, the crossover stories happened in Japan are actually related to the story of Kobato.

• Chitose Hibiya of Chobits and Tsubasa appears as Chitose Mihara, Kobato's landlady, while Chī/Elda and Freya of Chobits also appear as Chitose's daughters, named Chiho and Chise respectively. It can also be implied, since Chiho and Chise mention their father in a conversation with Kobato, Chitose's husband is Ichiro "Icchan" Mihara from Angelic Layer, who was married to her prior to the events of Chobits. However, this fact is not confirmed and Chitose Mihara's husband has yet to appear.

• Mihara is also the family name from characters of Clamp's other works such as Ichiro Mihara and his stepbrother Ōjiro from Angelic Layer as well as Chiharu Mihara from Cardcaptor Sakura. However, the relation between Chiharu and the Mihara family hasn't been revealed.

• The apartment complex owned by Chitose Mihara and her family appears in other works by Clamp other than Kobato and Chobits; it can been seen in Chobits (different one in imaginary Japan), xxxHolic (not confirmed the same one in Japan) ,Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (different one in Hanshin).

• Ueda Hiroyasu, also of Chobits, appears in Exam 3, still as the owner of the Chiroru bakery. He makes another appearance in Exam 5, this time with his assistant, Ōmura Yumi, and again in Exam 7 to give Kobato an umbrella.

• The fortune-teller from volume 2 of xxxHolic (A kind elderly woman who is an acquaintance of Yūko Ichihara's) appears in Exam 4 and plays New Year's games with Kobato. Her fortune-telling pendulum and sand-dish appear as well. She appears in the 1st episode of the anime with her grandchild.

• Asahi Hinata and Asō Shirō, the two main characters of Suki Dakara Suki, appear in Exam 7.

• Suzuhara Misaki, Kizaki Tamayo and Seto Ringo from Angelic Layer and Primera from Magic Knight Rayearth make cameo appearances in exam 9.

• Kakei, Kudō Kazahaya and Himura Rikuō from Legal Drug make cameo appearances as background characters. The Green Drugstore where they work also appears in Drop 5.

• Tōya Kinomoto, Sakura's brother from Cardcaptor Sakura, makes a cameo appearance in Drop 5. He is seen in a bunny costume, working as a mascot with Fujimoto at the Green Drugstore that is seen in Legal Drug. The bunny costume resembles Ushagi-san, a messenger from heaven in Wish.

• Toshihiko, one of the children at the kindergarten, has crossed over several times in Tsubasa.

• Kohaku, an Angel, the main character from "Wish" is shown and discussed by Ioryogi and Genko in Drop 13. And was also mentioned in Episode 1 of the anime when Kobato was singing. Kohaku and Shuichiro also appears in the 3rd and 4th episode of the anime.

• On Chapter 15 while Ginsei is explaining about the worlds, a picture of Yūko and Clow are shown.

• In Chapter 16.5 Kohaku from Wish makes an appearance at Genko's shop.

Publication

Kobato was original published in 'Monthly Sunday Gene-X' in 2005 and was put on hiatus that same year. In 2006 Kobato returned in the magazine 'Newtype' where it appears monthly.

In English, Kobato appeared in 'NewtypeUSA' but as of February 2008, the magazine ceased to exist and it is currently unknown when/if the series will be continued to be released.