Chobits is set in a sort of parallel universe , where the only significant difference seems to be that personal computers are anthropomorphised and can take the shape of animals or more commonly humans. These are called 'persocoms'. Hideki would like one, but is far too poor. A naive farm boy from the country, he has just moved to Tokyo to attend prep school in hope of getting into college the next year. Soon after arriving he stumbles across what appears to be a broken, abandoned persocom lying in a pile of trash. When he activates her all she can say is her name, 'Chii', but it soon becomes clear that Chii might be one of a new breed of persocom - almost an urban legend: one which can run without an operating system; one which perhaps has a soul.