science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
comedy-drama
Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
film directed by
Kwak Jae-yong
Kwak Jae-yong (born 22 May 1959) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. He studied physics at Kyung Hee University. He achieved success with his debut film ''Watercolor Painting in a Rainy Day'' in 1989, but the failure of his next t ...
, starring
Haruka Ayase
better known by the stage name , is a Japanese actress who started her career as a model in the year 2000. She has since become a leading actress in television and film.
Career
2000–2004: Early career
Ayase was invited by a friend to parti ...
and
Keisuke Koide
is a Japanese actor who starred in Kwak Jae-yong's film '' Cyborg She'' and in ''Koizora''.
Career
In 2017, Koide admitted to drinking alcohol and having sex with a 17-year-old girl after allegations were published in ''Friday''. He was suspend ...
.
Although the characters are different and the stories unrelated, ''Cyborg She'' is unofficially but lovingly seen by genre fans as being the third installment in a trilogy of "strange girl" films written and directed by Kwak,
the previous films being ''
My Sassy Girl
''My Sassy Girl'' () is a 2001 South Korean romantic comedy film directed by Kwak Jae-yong, starring Jun Ji-hyun and Cha Tae-hyun. The film is based on a true story told in a series of blog posts written by Kim Ho-sik, who later adapted them into ...
Keisuke Koide
is a Japanese actor who starred in Kwak Jae-yong's film '' Cyborg She'' and in ''Koizora''.
Career
In 2017, Koide admitted to drinking alcohol and having sex with a 17-year-old girl after allegations were published in ''Friday''. He was suspend ...
) is spending his 20th birthday alone.
As he buys a birthday present for himself in a shopping mall, he gets the attention of a 'cute girl' (
Haruka Ayase
better known by the stage name , is a Japanese actress who started her career as a model in the year 2000. She has since become a leading actress in television and film.
Career
2000–2004: Early career
Ayase was invited by a friend to parti ...
) and she surprisingly smiles at him.
Afterwards, she successfully steals a pair of clothes, which Jiro notices, but he ignores it as she walks away in front of him, and he is distracted by her beauty.
The mystery girl, who seems to be interested in him, follows him to a restaurant, where he eats spaghetti on the advice of his grandmother.
She suddenly appears and sits with him, stating that it's her birthday too.
The two of them then exchange birthday presents.
The girl, who seems unused to everything, behaves very boldly and suddenly rushes with Jiro out of the restaurant without paying the bill, provoking the manager to chase the two through the streets of the city.
As he spends time with the girl, Jiro finds himself charmed by her.
But, after a few hours, the girl insists she has to leave and goes with a tearful goodbye.
The story then jumps to one year later, as Jiro again celebrates his birthday alone in the same restaurant.
All of a sudden, the same girl appears and joins him.
While he rejoices in her presence, the restaurant is suddenly attacked by a gunman, but she saves him and the other guests by throwing the gunman out the window.
Despite her cute outward appearance, she is incredibly strong and behaves erratically.
Later, in Jiro's home, she reveals her true identity by showing him a 3D projection of a video in which
an elderly Jiro from the future explains how he created her as a
cyborg
A cyborg (, a portmanteau of ''cybernetics, cybernetic'' and ''organism'') is a being with both Organic matter, organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.
Timelines
While revealed dramatically in different manners throughout the film, the narrative includes three distinct timelines that intertwine to form the full story.
Timeline 1
On his 20th birthday (22 November 2007), Jiro is visited by a mysterious girl who charms him but leaves suddenly after telling him that the man living in Jiro's house jilted her. Jiro buys a lottery ticket shortly before his 21st birthday (22 November 2008). On that day, he is tragically shot and wounded by a crazed gunman at the Italian restaurant.
Although paralyzed for the rest of his life,
he is able to fulfill his childhood promise to his (grand)mother and become a scientist,
using his lottery winnings to create a cyborg in the perfect image of the girl who charmed him on his 20th birthday. From his high-tech wheelchair complete with robotic arms, he records a message to his younger self,
embeds the message in the cyborg, and
sends her back to 22 November 2008 to meet himself on his 21st birthday and prevent the shooting.
Timeline 2
On his 21st birthday (22 November 2008), Jiro is suddenly visited by the same girl from one year earlier, who now rescues him from the shooting and proves to be a cyborg. Jiro spends some amount of time with the cyborg (probably many weeks), falls in love with her, but sends her away in a drunken rage, only to be rescued again by her in the Tokyo earthquake where she perishes.
Jiro takes possession of the cyborg torso and spends the rest of his life reconstructing her and builds several exact copies. The cyborg is finally able to "feel his heart" and Jiro (this time in a normal wheelchair) dies happy.
Decades later, the cyborg girl ends up in a museum where a human girl who looks just like her learns their story (via Jiro's writings also acquired by the museum). A few years later, the human girl's rich father helps her purchase the cyborg in an auction. Using that future's technology, she downloads the cyborg's memories into her own brain.
She falls in love with the memories of Jiro and obtains special permission to use a time machine to visit the past for a few hours. She travels back in time to Jiro's 20th birthday (22 November 2007) when she charms him but tearfully must leave him due to the limitations of that time trip.
Timeline 3
After returning to her own time in the future, the human girl again uses the time machine, this time returning to the exact point in time when Jiro finds the cyborg torso in the ruins of Tokyo. She announces that she has decided to live the rest of her life in young Jiro's timeline.
We have no idea whether Jiro goes on to become a scientist in this timeline, but it is safe to assume that he does not build girl cyborgs because he already has love in his life, resulting in a completely different life for the couple.
Cast
*
Haruka Ayase
better known by the stage name , is a Japanese actress who started her career as a model in the year 2000. She has since become a leading actress in television and film.
Career
2000–2004: Early career
Ayase was invited by a friend to parti ...
as the girl, the cyborg, and the future girl
*
Keisuke Koide
is a Japanese actor who starred in Kwak Jae-yong's film '' Cyborg She'' and in ''Koizora''.
Career
In 2017, Koide admitted to drinking alcohol and having sex with a 17-year-old girl after allegations were published in ''Friday''. He was suspend ...
as Jiro Kitamura
*
Kenta Kiritani
is a Japanese actor and singer.
Filmography
Film
Television
Dubbing
*'' The Legend of Tarzan'', Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgård
Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård (; born 25 August 1976) is a Swedish actor. A son of actor Stellan Skarsgår ...
as Kenta Sato, Jiro's classmate
*
Naoto Takenaka
is a Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and director from Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, affiliated with From First Production. He is married to idol singer and actress Midori Kinouchi. He is also known as the voice of Samuel L. ...
as the college professor
*
Kazuko Yoshiyuki
(born 9 August 1935) is a Japanese actress, voice actress and essayist.
Biography Early life
Kazuko was born in Tokyo as a first daughter of Eisuke Yoshiyuki, a writer, and Aguri. She has an older brother, Junnosuke Yoshiyuki, a novelist, an ...
as Jiro's mother
*
Hiromasa Taguchi
Hiromasa (written: 博正, 宏昌, 弘昌, 弘将, 浩正, 大将 or 太将) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
*, Japanese footballer
*, Japanese swimmer
*, Japanese composer and music producer
*, Japanese f ...
as the unnamed shooter
*
Fumiyo Kohinata
is a Japanese actor.
Filmography
Film
* '' Begging for Love'' (1998)
* '' Give It All'' (1998)
* '' Ring 2'' (1999) - Dr. Kawajiri
* '' Audition'' (1999) - Television producer
* '' Minna no Ie'' (2001)
* '' Turn'' (2001)
* '' Dark Water'' (200 ...
A manga adaptation by Akihiro Nakamura was released on 17 October 2008 (). Based on the film, it was published in Kodansha's ''
Young Magazine
is a Japanese weekly anthology magazine published in Tokyo each Monday by Kodansha. The magazine started on June 16, 1980, and is targeted at the adult male () demographic. It was published bimonthly (under the title ), on the second and fourth ...