Check out my updated review! http://thevagrantrises.blogspot.com/2016/02/updated-review-11-cyborg-girl-aka.html
Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: At the end of his life, a man sends his cyborg companion back in time to his younger self in the hope he will teach her how to be more human.
Review: Okay, now, at first, with a title like that we both know this sounds like this will be a porno or something, right?! Wait, you weren't thinking that?! Oh well. Let me clarify that the genre for this film is a romantic-sci-fi-comedy-action-drama (in that order). Yeah, wrap your mind around that one. The story is kind of complicated but to simplify things: the main character, Jiro, played by Keisuke Keide, meets a girl he immediately fell in love with. After waiting to meet her the following year, since they share the same birthday, he is shot by a gunman which leads to him creating a cyborg version of the girl as his companion. He's able to do this since he conveniently won the lottery and can dedicate the next 65 years to making her. Since he's too old and crippled to help her learn to be human, he sends her back in time to his past self to be that Jiro's companion and to change the past. We then follow their little adventures and the romance between the two as the cyborg and Jiro bond. Remember how in the reviews for "The Incite Mill" and "Ichi" I kept mentioning the incredibly beautiful and deliciously, voluptuous Haruka Ayase? Well, she's back and we finally get a good look at those curves! But more than that, she does a fantastic job here and brings a lot of heart to the character of the cyborg. Actually, it's really annoying they did not give the cyborg a name, so, for practical reasons, I will refer to the cyborg as "Haruka" from here on out. Ms. Ayase is so cute and likable I couldn't help but also fall in love with her by the end of the film! Even though she is supposed to be an emotionless cyborg, you can't help but see her personality slowly forming. And that smile she gives is priceless. At the same time, she provides a lot of the comedy and does that quite well. Many of her antics are truly funny, and I found myself laughing aloud many times. I honestly could not give her enough praise since she does such a wonderful job while looking so devastatingly beautiful in the process! At the other end of the spectrum is Mr. Koide, who also does a great job with Jiro, bringing out the chemistry between the couple (lucky bastard!). I mean, Ms. Ayase is amazing, but this was never going to work if someone wasn't able to match her equally and Mr. Koide does this excellently. Jiro can be annoying quite often because he's too emotional, but at the same time when you understand all that he seeks to accomplish, you realize he really cares about people even though he has no real friends or family. It's never really explained why he seems so lonely and has only acquaintances for peers, but we do learn a bit about the fate of his family and how saddened he is by their loss. In many ways, Jiro is endearing due to his compassion, and since he is always respectful of Haruka even though she technically has to do everything he asks; although don't think he doesn't try to cop a feel here and there! But of course, there has to be some lame drama to bring them apart for awhile since Jiro grows tired that Haruka is not becoming more human. We later learn Haruka was feeling things, but holding back for whatever reasons. Unfortunately, Haruka ends up being destroyed during a giant earthquake (this was an eerie premonition of reality) as she attempts to save Jiro. Don't fret however, because the future Haruka that the cyborg was based on eventually makes her way back and everything works out happily ever after. I know it won't make a lot of sense since the ending is really confusing given the unusual way time works in this film. If you want my analysis, just skip to the bottom, and I'll do my best to interpret it! The confusion regarding the ending is one of the few things I don't like. The only other things that hurt the film are some jokes that fall flat, some cheap effects, and the "love" between Jiro and Haruka could be interpreted as not real depending on how you want to perceive their relationship. None of these things really hurt the film in my eyes, but I keep them in consideration. The movie is surprisingly 2 hours, but you never even feel it which is a great credit to the writing and pacing. I personally felt the love story was good and appeared genuine enough without being overly dramatic. The characters were strong and made me want to see their journey continue although I am still a bit jealous of Jiro! The music was good, the acting and chemistry works believably, the action and comedy are balanced well along with the other genres, there was a bit of originality in the presentation, and, of course, Ms. Ayase is the single best thing about this film! I know I mostly review horror movies, but if you are looking for a break or a date movie, I highly recommend this one. Or if you just want to drool over Ms. Ayase for 120 minutes, that works too!
Notable Moment: When the cyborg is first trying to act more human by mimicking what she sees. There's specifically a part where she sees some dumb girl jumping all over her boyfriend and the cyborg tries to do the same. It's so subtle but so funny.
Final Rating: 7.5/10
Ms. Ayase looking as beautiful as ever!
My rant on explaining the ending and the timeline of events:
Let me try to explain it the best I can in a way that I understand their flow of events plus some speculation of how all of this could come into existence. Since the film shows us that time can be altered we can infer (and the film supports this) that different time lines are being created. So to speak, each change creates a new series of events that don't necessarily reflect the future we're being told about. For example, the future where Jiro was shot in the back is now altered. Likewise, since time is altered the same scenes can layer on top of each other from the different versions of time. Anyway, there must have first been some future where Jiro attracted the time traveling Haruka. Since we know Jiro had money and tried to live a life of good deeds, perhaps his actions made Haruka want to see the real man himself. This would have led to the first series of events whereby she sees Jiro, goes home, but Jiro waits for her the following year only to be shot. So that Jiro creates a cyborg based off the girl of his dreams but she just doesn't have the personality of the same girl so he's still unhappy. So he sends the cyborg back in time hoping young Jiro will make her more human while also programming her to fix all the bad things that made Jiro feel sad and powerless. Since Haruka is altering time left and right, this leads to the main story we see unfold in the film. By the end, we see another alternate future where Jiro finally recreates Haruka toward his death. The future Haruka sees her cyborg version, downloads her memories and falls in love with Jiro. That's why things are different at the end because now future Haruka truly knows Jiro unlike the first time. Now she is so in love she is willing to stay with him for good which is yet another alternate future which the film ends on. So we are talking at least 5 alternate universes with the possibility for many more leading into the film's opening. Hopefully you can make sense of that because in my head it does!
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