Kobato. is a manga series by Clamp which premiered in Monthly Sunday Gene-X in January 2005. Seven chapters were released under the title of Kobato. , but the series was put on hiatus in late 2005. It returned to publication in Newtype magazine's November 2007 Japanese edition; the story has subsequently been restarted at an earlier point in the original timeline. The story features a mysterious young girl, Kobato Hanato, who works in a local kindergarten. The first volume of the manga was released by Kadokawa Shoten on December 26, 2007, and they have subsequently released the entire series in English.
Story
Kobato is a sweet, perky, cute yet naïve girl who has a contract: to go to a certain place, she must fill a mysterious bottle with people's "healed hearts" to do so. However, the restriction is that she must finish before the 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 responsible for a punishment that has been applied to him and his friends from the spiritual world, he must guide Kobato and ensure that she succeeds her mission, so that he and his friends might return to their true forms.
Authored by Clamp, the Kobato. manga was first serialized in the Shogakukan's Monthly Sunday Gene-X magazine. In 2006 The series' was then moved to the Newtype by the company Kadokawa Shoten. The manga ended serialization in the August 2011 issue from Newtype published in July 2011. Kadokawa released the first tankōbon volumes from the series on December 26, 2007. On April 4, 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. On July 24, 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 International. 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. Hiromi Katō, the character designer of Kobato., said that "Kobato. itself is kind of different from past CLAMP works, especially the way the eyes are drawn, we are trying to make it as close as we can to the original. The costumes will change in each episode." The opening theme Magic Number is performed by Maaya Sakamoto and the ending themes Jellyfish no Kokuhaku and Watashi ni Dekiru Koto by Megumi Nakajima.
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.
Others
Two Kobato.light novels were published by Kadokawa Shoten. The first one titled The Girls Came From Heaven was released on April 15, 2010. The second one, Just a Wish 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, was released on March 4, 2010. A guidebook of the series, TV Kobato. Guidebook 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".
