Kobato



"Please Let Me Heal You!"

One of CLAMP's latest works, Kobato is a story about a young and naive girl, Kobato Hanato, who has a "mission": to fill a mysterious bottle with suffering in other people's hearts. She is accompanied only by a little blue dog toy with a dirty mouth, bad manners and a liking for alcohol, Ioryogi, and with his help she must fill the bottle, even though she herself doesn't really know how. She only has to take care not to fall in love with anyone she heals.

Kobato began serializing in Monthly Sunday Gene-X, but was moved to Monthly Newtype, starting over earlier in the story timeline though it has since forged into new storylines.

An anime was broadcasted in Autumn 2009, and is now available online via the Anime Network.

Tropes:

 * Actor Allusion: In episode 20, Fay jokes about how Ioryogi sounds exactly like Kurogane.
 * Actual Pacifist: Kobato
 * Affably Evil: Okiura
 * Anti-Hero: As it turns out,.
 * Balance Between Good and Evil: In the manga/anime, Heaven, Hell, and the Otherworld follow strict pact of nonaggression, with violators getting turned into stuffed animals.
 * Benevolent Boss: Sayaka
 * Bishonen: Fujimoto, in combo with Stoic Spectacles. It's CLAMP, after all.
 * Book Dumb: Subverted: Despite not being very street-smart (at all), Kobato does seem to understand the basics of how the world works, such as knowing what a prostitute is, but not realizing that's what others thought she was in the first chapter.
 * Cherry Blossoms: One of the prettiest examples is the first episode of the anime.
 * Cheshire Cat Grin: Okiura
 * CLAMP
 * Continuity Cameo: Piffle Pizza
 * Crash Into Hello: Kobato with both Takashi and some unnamed woman.
 * Crossover: Both the anime and the manga cross over with Wish.
 * The anime now crosses over with Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, as of episode 20.
 * And XXX Holic in episode 17.
 * Dojikko: Kobato.
 * Early-Bird Cameo
 * Enjo Kosai: Kobato is believed once to be into this.
 * Everyone Can See It: Sayaka often teases Fujimoto about having some kind of affection for Kobato. Doumoto even said that she seemed to be "very important to him".
 * Expy: Kobato and Fujimoto look disturbingly like older, longer-haired versions of respectively Sakura and Syaoran from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. With major personality changes.
 * Eyepatch of Power: Ginsei
 * Fair Weather Mentor: Ioryogi
 * Fish Out of Water: Kobato
 * Flanderization: In the anime, Kobato is stupid rather than naive and Fujimoto's even more jerkass than in the manga.
 * Fridge Brilliance: At first, you might think that Fay joking about Ioyorgi being Kurogane's Alternate Universe counterpart is just a simple Actor Allusion, until you realize that Ioryogi is a stuffed dog and in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Fay is always constantly referring to Kurogane as a dog!
 * Genki Girl: Kobato is quite enthusiastic and energetic at times.
 * Hellfire: Ioryogi's signature power.
 * I Did What I Had to Do:
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Is there anyone in the manga who doesn't claim this at some point?
 * Idiot Crows: Episode 5 of the anime. Can you guess who's getting called an idiot?
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: ...Episode Title. (anime only)
 * The Ingenue: Kobato's personality really fits into this trope. She should be the poster image for that trope's page.
 * Invisible Backup Band: Kobato uses hers right off the bat in the anime.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Fujimoto, for all his bluster, is honestly concerned about Sayaka, even to the point of juggling multiple jobs for her.
 * Ioryogi as well. He constantly punishes and yells at Kobato, but secretly cares for her very much.
 * Landlady: Chitose
 * Loan Sharks: Okiura, again.
 * Luminescent Blush: Well, seeing how this is CLAMP ...
 * May-December Romance:
 * Meganekko: Sayaka
 * Mentor Mascot: Ioryogi
 * The Messiah: Kobato is one in training.
 * Mission From God
 * Mr. Exposition: Genko.
 * Mysterious Past: Setting the other characters' pasts aside, even Kobato's past and reasons for her "mission" is unknown.
 * Naive Everygirl: Kobato is maybe one of the straightest examples in quite a while.
 * Nice Hat: Kobato is always wearing some hat or another, with hints in that something will happen should she remove it.
 * Only One Name: Ioryogi, Ginsei, Genko and Zuisho.
 * Our Angels Are Different
 * Our Demons Are Different
 * Perpetual Poverty: Kobato has very few belongings.
 * Rage Against the Heavens: In the manga/anime, it's mentioned that Ioryogi's current form is punishment for trying to start a war with Heaven. It's never stated why, but it's implied he did it for love.
 * Rapunzel Hair: Kobato has very long hair that she does in a couple different ways, including twin braids
 * Relationship Voice Actor: Daisuke Namikawa and Tetsu Inada, anyone? Previously the voice actors of the fangirls' beloved Fay and Kurogane, now they come back as Ginsei and Ioryogi! Squee!
 * Reincarnation Romance:
 * Rescue Romance: Fujimoto saves Kobato from a Dirty Old Man the first time they meet, and sure enough...
 * Ret-Gone: This happened to
 * Ridiculously Cute Critter: Ushagi-san
 * Running Gag: Kobato falling down, Lampshaded by Ioryogi ("Her running gag strikes again...")
 * Saving the Orphanage: Well, kindergarten, but same idea.
 * Sealed Evil in A Teddy Bear: The Masters of the Otherworld, most notably Ioryogi.
 * Series Goal
 * Shout-Out
 * Slice of Life: While the series does have a plot, it does tend to be put on the back-burner
 * Smoking Is Cool: Okiura
 * Stoic Spectacles: Fujimoto
 * That Came Out Wrong: When Kobato attempts to heal others by asking them point-blank 'Please let me heal you!'. This either labeled her as a weirdo or, by one man, a prostitute.
 * The Cameo: Misaki, Tamayo and Ringo from Angelic Layer; Toya and Clow Reed from Cardcaptor Sakura; Chitose, Chi (renamed as Chiho), Freya (renamed Chise), Ueda and Yumi from Chobits; Kakei, Kazahaya, and Rikuo from Legal Drug; Primera from Magic Knight Rayearth; Hinata and Shiro from Suki: A Like Story; Usagi-san (as a costume) from Wish; Yuko, Watanuki, Himawari and the Lady Fortune Teller from xxxHOLiC.
 * As expected from CLAMP.
 * Hang on, when'd Watanuki and Himawari cameo?
 * Exam 5, page 2.
 * And Watanuki himself in episode 17 of the anime.
 * Anyone forgetting the Tsubasa gang from episode 20?
 * The Ditz: One word: Kobato.
 * The Rival: Ginsei
 * Time Skip: In the anime.
 * Together Umbrella: Used in episode 3 of the anime.
 * Tsundere: Kobato and Mutsumi are both Type B Tsundere.
 * Fujimoto is a male Type A in the anime.
 * Unlimited Wardrobe
 * Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: Fujimoto, in his spare time, has worked as a Pizza Delivery boy, a mascot for a drug store, a waiter at a udon cart, among others, though he has his reasons... Also Clamp includes his original Jack of all trades, Touya from Card Captor Sakura, who is shown as a coworker of Fujimoto.
 * Work Off the Debt: Subverted: Fujimoto is working not for himself, but instead to alleviate Sayaka's debt.
 * Woobie of the Week: This is more prominent in the anime.
 * Yakuza: Okiura has some connection to them
 * Woobie of the Week: This is more prominent in the anime.
 * Yakuza: Okiura has some connection to them