Kobato (こばと.) is a Japanese manga series by Clamp. It was first published in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Monthly Sunday Gene-X from December 2004 to August 2005, under the title Kobato (kari). It was later serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Newtype magazine from October 2006 to July 2011. Its chapters were collected in six tankōbon volumes. The story features a mysterious young girl, Kobato Hanato, who works in a local kindergarten. In North America, the manga was first published by Newtype USA and later licensed by Yen Press. A 24-episode anime television series adaptation by Madhouse was broadcast from October 2009 to March 2010.

Story

Kobato is a sweet, perky, cute yet naïve girl who has a contract: in order to be allowed to go to a certain place, she must fill a mysterious bottle with people's "healed hearts", but the condition is that she must do so before four seasons end. As Kobato attempts to fulfill her mission, she is accompanied by Ioryogi—a spirit in the form of a dog plushie. Because Ioryogi is the cause of a punishment imposed on him and his friends from the spirit world, he must guide Kobato and ensure that she succeeds in her mission; so that he and his friends might return to their true forms.

Characters

Media

Manga

Authored by Clamp, the manga was first serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Monthly Sunday Gene-X, as Kobato (kari) (こばと (仮)), from December 18, 2004, to August 19, 2005. It was later serialized as Kobato (こばと.) in Kadokawa Shoten's Newtype magazine from October 10, 2006, to July 8, 2011. Kadokawa Shoten collected its chapters in six tankōbon volumes, released from December 26, 2007, to August 24, 2011. In April 2007, Newtype USA announced a special agreement with manga powerhouse Clamp to exclusively serialize Kobato in the pages of the magazine. Kobato began its serial run in the June 2007 issue of Newtype USA, and was to continue its exclusive serialization through the May 2008 issue, comprising 12 installments in total. However Newtype USA ceased publication with the February 2008 issue, having serialised 9 of the 12 installments. In July 2009, Yen Press announced that they had acquired the license to publish Kobato in English in North America during their panel at San Diego Comic-Con. The manga was released in North America in May 2010 in honor of Clamp's 20th anniversary. In Europe, the series was licensed by Pika Édition for France, JPF for Poland and Norma Editorial for Spain.

Anime

A 24-episode anime adaption aired on autumn of 2009, animated by Madhouse and supervised by Clamp's Nanase Ohkawa. xxxHolic writer Michiko Yokote is also supervising the scripts along with Ohkawa. The anime began its broadcast on October 6, 2009. Sentai Filmworks has licensed the series. On October 17, 2012, Crunchyroll announced that the anime would be available on their website through their anime catalog. The opening theme "Magic Number" is performed by Maaya Sakamoto and the ending themes "Jellyfish no Kokuhaku" (episodes 1–19) and "Watashi ni Dekiru Koto" (episodes 20–23) by Megumi Nakajima.

Other

Kobato, along with most of Clamp's other titles, appeared in Clamp's second music video, Clamp in Wonderland 2, which was the first time the characters Kobato and Ioryogi were animated. Two Kobato light novels were published by Kadokawa Shoten. The first one titled The Girls Came From Heaven (空から来た少女) was released on April 15, 2010. The second one, Just a Wish (たったひとつの願い) followed it on July 15, 2010. Two guidebooks from the series have also been released by Kadokawa. The first one, TV Anime Kobato Characters Collection (TVアニメ「こばと. 」CHARACTERS COLLECTION), was released on March 4, 2010. A guidebook of the series, TV Kobato Guidebook Happy Memories (TVアニメ「こばと. 」公式ガイドブック Happy Memories), was released on May 26, 2010.

Reception

Lissa Pattillo of Anime News Network finds that the manga "is a delightfully charismatic read that's full of magic and mirth" and "evokes the charm of Clamp's shoujo series skill and has only just begun unraveling the mysteries of this likeable cast of characters". Theron Martin sees that the anime version "is often quite funny, not always predictable, and provides a solid story hook for future developments". Summer Mullins describes that the "animation is stellar, the backgrounds are beautiful, and the music is gorgeous". Carlo Santos finds that "the series is either a ridiculous amalgam of fairytale dreck or a poignant slice-of-life with fantasy elements".