DearS was not a CLAMP production, it was by Peach Pit, and DearS was a seriously disturbed series when you get down to what it was really about.
Yeah, I couldn't get past the first volume of DearS.
It just... didn't sit right with me.
E^d
What exactly is DearS about? I've heard it's a very love-it-or-hate-it series, even more so than the Excel Saga anime. D:
Basically it's about a species that came to earth, naturally bred to be slaves to other races, and they are attempting to acclimate themselves to earth despite natural moral differences between their race and humanity (the DearS, and it stands for something I can't remember what) don't see anything wrong with the way they think, but they know humans react poorly to it, so they normally try to behave more human. Along the way a high school kid finds a rogue DearS who was originally sealed away because something was wrong with her, and she has no knowledge of humanity initially or the DearS attempts to suppress their normal slave mentality, and she bonds with the kid, who was the first person she saw upon awakening.
Now on the surface that sounds weird but not altogether horrible, but when you match some rather poor animation with a cast of awful characters (including the teacher, who has to be the most obnoxious character in anime history and so beyond the pale of reality that it just hurts your head). Oh, of course most of the DearS are female of course, and fan service is this anime's primary specialty.
I watched the whole thing out of morbid fascination, and admit there were some funny parts, if only in a very juvenile fashion, but when you stop and think about the plot - especially with the OP song, which when you see the lyrics you just feel that much more creeped out. Also, the music is very annoying - it just all seems
wrong. A lot of people compare it to Chobits, but other than the fact that the main female lead has a slavish devotion to the main male character, there is nothing else really tying the two together - okay, except maybe for an organization trying to take the main female lead away because there is something about her dangerous to their plans, but yeah, it's just... odd. As you said, love it or hate it, so try it on for size and see if it makes you feel icky for having tried it.