Yes, Ema does make more sense when looked at from a Japanese perspective. But I think the proper comparison is not with Chobits but with another CLAMP manga/anime, "Angelic Layer". Ema is about the same size as the robots in Angelic Layer, and even looks extremely similar to them.

For those not familiar with Angelic Layer: It's a game. Competitors (mostly young girls) control female robots which fight head-to-head. The real action with Ema will begin when there are two of them battling for supremacy. Then there will be the Ema "Robot Wars" or "Angelic Layer" tournaments (depending on which analogy becomes popular). Everybody will be working to produce souped-up versions to give them an edge in the arena. I can see this missing its target demographic by a thousand miles, but still being popular beyond the wildest dreams of its developers. A bit like Spore will probably be.

MY QUESTION TO THE JAPANESE CYBORG-MAKERS IS, "EMMA CHIZIT*?"

SHOULD I ASK THAT ALSO TO JANE AUSTEN, AUTHORESS OF "EMMA", COMEDY NOVEL OF LIT?

OR SHOULD I ASK THAT OF ANARCHIST "MOTHER EARTH" THE FIERY EMMA GOLDMAN

AND PERHAPS EMMA WATSON, "HERMIONE GRANGER" OF "HARRY POTTER" FAME, NO FLASH IN THE PAN!!!!!

EVEN OF EMMA LAZARUS "GIVE ME YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR, YOUR HUDDLED MASSES...", TO WIT!!!!!

*-"How Much Is It?"

"I have learned through long, bitter experience that sex is the only thing holding the human race together." -Henry Miller

I think Al got your joke.

The quotes were because Al Bania was quoting a skit from the cartoon Futuerama.

Yo! Relax! My post was meant to be a joke. Sorry, I didn't add the ubiquitous "lol" or emoticon, but I figured Salon readers would pick up on the absurdist humor.

By the way, why do you write everything in "quotes"?

Or did you "really" catch my humor and were being sarcastic?

I've been watching your posts for quite some time - anti-woman diatribes don't touch me much because I don't recognize my feminist and female self in many of them.

But this post, if I may say, reveals something a little more intimate and I respond to that whole-heartedly.

Most people around are truly looking for intimacy in the phsycological sense - we mostly want a life companion. Someone to share our life, our joys, our sorrows.

I truly hope you have found that. Cheers.

I saw the video. Strange, it looked like a miniature robot to me. The fact that it had boobs and hips didn't really change that. I would say this need is more akin to a pet dog/cat.

It is what it is and it gets the job done, and then it goes back in the nightstand.

Change a few words:

"It is what it is and it gets the job done, and then it goes back out into the night."

A one night stand?

Women probably view players and vibrators quite similarly after all.

handing out the sexbots to teen boys.

No! it would be the end of all!

"Ordinarily, Billy would work hard to make money from his paper route. Then he'd use the money to buy dinner for Mavis, thus earning the slim chance to perform the reproductive act. But in a world where teens can date robots, why should he bother? Why should anyone bother?"

"Where are all the football stars? And where are the biochemists? They're trapped! Trapped in a soft, vice-like grip of robot lips. All civilisation was just an effort to impress the opposite sex ... and sometimes, in the case of musical theatre, the same sex."

"Don't Date Robots!"

And my blender smells like sex.

Entertainment is one. That's why Americans have Idogs and not only the kids run to the toy isles anymore...Think of Guitar Hero....look at our obsession of making wishes and dreams easy as turning on a visual, and feeling the satisfaction(if not complete, almost what you want)

loneliness for two. Who doesn't want to come home to gratitude...and kisses...even if they are fake...come on...she is so cute.

Showing off gadgets is three..this is something men and women love to do alike.

we like to show off what we have...."hey check it out...she dances sings and gives you a kiss..."

Is it just me or is there some cosmic irony in all of this?

First there is a commnetary on teen girls making pregnancy pacts. Then you post a commentary on 15" sexbots.

Can't you see it? One issue is the answer to another.

Avoid teenage pregnancies and issuing out contraceptives by handing out the sexbots to teen boys. Since most 15 year old boys are so horny they'll screw anything (I know I was once 15, 21, 30, etc.) they'll be so preoccupied screwing a toy that they'll ignore a real girl their own age. The 'bots can be issued to homeless twenty-somethings as well.

Granted, they will have to make bigger dolls.

"Emulate a real person ? Huh ? Do you believe that or are you talking about a marketing line ? This no more emulates a real person than ....a vibrator does."

Clearly you didn't actually look at the video in question. The doll is shaped like a busty female and does things like shimmying "her" hips, kissing, hugging (and handing out business cards).

Dolls, almost by definition, emulate humans: if a crying, wetting baby doll isn't an emulation of a human baby, what is it? And this is an advanced doll.

This is only about 2 on the creepiness scale... but wait a few years... (shudders)

If it is shaped like a humanoid, sings, dances, and kisses, but it's not trying to emulate a human, then what is it trying to be? Again, what need does this fill?

And, "doubledave", I have found that most men who make comments like yours aren't much better than robots themselves, which is why they can't attract a real woman. So, get yourself one of these little mechanical gals. The rest of us will thank you.

Emulate a real person ? Huh ? Do you believe that or are you talking about a marketing line ? This no more emulates a real person than ....a vibrator does. Most vibrators are shaped like a penus, but that was probably just by chance.