A naive young girl and a magical stuffed toy are on a mission to heal wounded hearts in new anime Kobato.
The anime is based on a manga series by Clamp, the famed all-female mangaka (manga writer) group responsible for works such as xxxHolic and Tsubasa Chronicles. Production is by Madhouse Studios, which has worked on previous Clamp stories including Chobits and Tokyo Babylon.
Kobato Hanato is a mysterious girl on an equally mysterious mission: she wants to fill a magical bottle by healing the wounded hearts of people she meets. Each healed heart will magically form a candy-like object and appear in the bottle. Once the bottle is full, she will have a wish granted. But Kobato is a simple-minded girl, and things don't always go smoothly.
Kobato's companion is Ioryogi, a blue toy dog who is tasked with watching over her and teaching her how to act like a normal human. He is very short-tempered, and frequently calls Kobato 'Dobato', which means stupid or foolish in Japanese. Ioryogi often blasts Kobato with his flame breathe whenever she messes up or loses him, which is several times an episode.
Kobato is an easygoing anime with a lot of comedic moments, especially between the main characters. If you'd prefer to read the stories, the first volume of the English translation will be released in May in honour of Clamp's 20th anniversary.