Chobits, Vol. 1

Hideki, a poor 19-year-old student in a near-future city, struggles to afford the humanoid computers called persocoms that many people rely on. On his way home, he finds a discarded persocom in the trash and takes her home, hoping to finally have one of his own.

When he powers her on, the girl can only say “Chi,” and she behaves unlike ordinary machines. Hideki names her Chi and starts trying to figure out what she is, why she was thrown away, and why her systems seem to react strangely to other computers.

As Chi begins learning about the world, Hideki is pulled into a mix of comedy, mystery, awkward encounters, and growing emotional attachment. The volume sets up the larger questions around AI, human relationships, and whether a machine can become more than a tool.