Geeks in Love: Ichiro Mihara/Chitose Hibiya Manifesto

[von-questenberg.livejournal.com]

Title: Geeks in Love: Ichiro Mihara/Chitose Hibiya Manifesto
Author: von_questenberg
Fandom: Angelic Layer, Chobits, general CLAMP
Pairing: Ichiro Mihara/Chitose Hibiya
Spoilers: All of Chobits, some Angelic Layer, bits of Kobato, xxxHOLiC, and Tsubasa.
Disclaimer: Not mine

There really isn't an overabudance of material for this couple, so I decided to post a pretty short little manifesto during free month rather than claim them. A full claim would be hard to do.

Background

Ichiro and Chitose are a married couple that show up in several of CLAMP’s series. Their story (as individuals and as a couple) is a very big focus in Angelic Layer and its sequel Chobits. They’ve also shown up in a few other series. The main body of this Manifesto will deal with Angelic Layer and Chobits (manga) canon, though I will address other canon as well.

Ichiro Mihara



Ichiro is a quirky scientist who loves computers as his children. He owns and runs the Piffle Princess Corporation, though he prefers to stay out of the limelight. He sometimes insists on being referred as Icchan. He has a younger brother named Ohjirou. His full face, sans whited-out glasses, is rarely shown.

Chitose Hibiya



Chitose is a rather shy, quiet scientist; she also is often shown as the landlady of an apartment building. Sweet and gentle, she definitely is a mother-figure. Not much is known about her life before marrying.

Relationship

Angelic Layer/Chobits

Ichiro and Chitose met through their mutual love for robotics and technology, fell in love and married (though there are no given specifics as to when or how). Building from his success at creating Angelic Layer (a game where small individually-crafted dolls are controlled directly from the mind of the player, the Deus), they created Persocoms- human-like computers. Ichiro insisted on them being referred to as computers so they weren’t subject to the Three Laws of Robotics.

Chitose eventually found out she couldn’t have children. Ichiro then specially crafted the most advanced Persocoms ever created, Freya and Elda, to be daughters to him and Chitose, dubbing them ‘Chobits’ (an anagram of Chitose Hibiya, Chitose’s maiden name). He gives them the ability to fall in love and choose their soulmate, their ‘special one just for me.’

Unfortunately, Freya falls in love with Ichiro. Knowing that he will never love her as she loves him and not wishing to cause her parents and sister pain, Freya hides her feelings for as long as she can. Eventually though, Freya can no longer stand the pain, and she begins to break down. To save her sister, Elda takes her sister’s memories and personality within herself, thereby losing her own. Before all her memory is gone, though, Elda asks to be taken somewhere else and abandoned so that she too doesn’t fall in love with Ichiro when she reawakens.

Soon afterwards, Ichiro dies of unexplained causes. Chitose becomes the landlady of an apartment building, keeping an eye on her last remaining daughter. Elda is found and re-started by a young man named Hideki (who happens to live in Chitose’s apartment building). Hideki renames Elda ‘Chii,’ since Elda can no longer remember her name. Chitose sends messages to her daughter in the form of storybooks, and eventually the past comes out. Chii chooses Hideki as her soulmate, and Hideki in turn chooses her. Chitose (assumedly) lives out the rest of her life, watching her daughter and Hideki build a life together.


Chitose, Chii, and Hideki from Chobits

Kobato (Temporary) and Kobato.

Chitose and her daughters have featured prominently in two other CLAMP series, Kobato (Temporary) and Kobato.. The series are alternate universe versions of each other- Kobato (Temporary) was basically a seven-chapter pilot version of Kobato.. In both series, Kobato Hanato (the main character) lives in Chitose’s apartment building; however, they are clearly in alternate universes from AL/Chobits. This Chitose has two fully human twin daughters named Chiho and Chise (who look exactly like Freya and Elda from Chobits). Ichiro, sadly, has yet to show up in either version. However, I do have hope he will eventually appear in Kobato. (which is only in its fourth chapter so far).


Chitose and the girls in Kobato

Also, Watanuki from CLAMP’s currently running series xxxHOLiC also seems to live in some universe’s version of Chitose’s apartment building. He has mentioned that he was taken in by the landlady and landlord of the apartment building after his parents died, so it is highly likely that he means Chitose and Ichiro (though this hasn’t been confirmed).

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle

Chitose and Ichiro have also appeared in CLAMP’s currently running series Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. TRC is a huge mishmash of alternate universe stories for all of CLAMP’s characters, following Sakura, Syaoran (AU versions of the characters from Cardcaptor Sakura), Fai D. Flourite, and Kurogane (original characters to TRC) as they journey from universe to universe.

Chitose shows up in one world as the co-creator of Outo, a large virtual reality game. Oruha, a character in the game, is played by the unnamed other co-creator of Outo. Since the characters in the game don’t (necessarily) look anything like their players, it’s possible (even likely) that Oruha’s player is, in fact, Ichiro. After all, who else would Chitose create a virtual reality theme park with? ;) And plus, dressing up like that to play in a game is just something Ichiro would do.


Chitose and Oruha in Outo

They also have a small cameo in another world, Piffle, as scientists.



Why and Fandom

Why am I a fan of this pairing? Well, I just plain find them cute together. And as much as I love my bishounen and bishoujo, I also like the idea of two people who aren’t absurdly beautiful finding love together. It’s true love between computer geeks, and what could be better than that?

There’s sadly little canon of them actually together, and not really much fandom for them as a couple; not even a fanlisting (though I’ve thought about applying for it). In all honesty, there’s not a lot of good Chobits or Angelic Layer fanfiction out there, very little Kobato fanfiction period, and TRC fanfiction rarely if ever features these two. This lack is one of the main reasons I decided to write this little manifesto in the first place.

Icchan Go Boom: Ichiro Mihara Fanlisting

High Spirits: Chitose Hibiya Fanlisting

Comments

[capella-aurigae.livejournal.com]

Nice. Though you missed a canon point - "Chobits" don't actually have the ability to act outside of their programming, their programming is just unusually advanced. Freya says so in the last volume of Chobits.

[von-questenberg.livejournal.com]

Ah, I remember now. I'd forgotten that; it's been a while since I read Chobits. I had to look up another couple points for this too, it'd been so long. Changed. :) Thanks.