Ela: Cyborg

"Jiro Kitamura" (Keisuke Koide) is a lonely young man who has nobody to celebrate his birthday with him. That night while buying a present for himself he sees a beautiful young woman (played by Haruka Ayase) in the process of shoplifting some clothes in the department store and he watches with fascination as she leaves in a totally nonchalant manner. Their eyes meet and she smiles at him. Not long afterward he goes to a restaurant to celebrate his birthday and while he is eating she comes in and sits down next to him. What then transpires is a whirlwind evening that he remembers until his next birthday a year later. Now, rather than reveal what happens next and risk spoiling the movie for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a cute little "rom-com" sci-fi which one might enjoy watching with somebody special. Having said that I should probably also mention that this movie was filmed in Japanese and used English subtitles. Additionally, there were a couple of scenes which were a little slow and drawn out. Even so, I thought that both Keisuke Koide and Haruka Ayase played their parts real well and for what it's worth I rate this movie as slightly above average.

I watched this movie a week ago. I found the movie easy to follow and refreshingly clean and heartfelt. It shows that you don't need to have sex to be intimate and romantic. In fact it adds to the feeling. Unlike Hollywood movies that the beautiful girl has to undress and have a sex scene here we have a truly beautiful actress in an amazing romantic film and I don't remember a single kiss. Profound human emotions does not need physical expression. This has been lost in Hollywood moves for decades. In response to a reviewer who said the move is not good enough because she did not undress and not enough action. Please go back to your dumbed down Hollywood films made for lower IQ audience. This is a true romance not in the league of Ready for love but fun and enjoyable.

This movie was actually somewhat of a surprise. I had bought it from Amazon without actually knowing what it was all about. It had gotten fairly good reviews on Amazon, plus it was an Asian movie, so I decided to give it a go.

And now having seen it, I must say that "Cyborg She" was actually a really nice movie. It is a very interesting romantic movie of sorts, because it is not your average romance movie. You have Jiro who falls in love with a cyborg that he himself built in the future and sent back to himself in the past. Confusing? Well, a bit odd, but it made for a really nice story actually. And it worked out quite well. I especially liked the way the movie ended, because it rounded up so many questions that you were stuck with in the first part of the movie.

The cast in "Cyborg She" was actually quite good. Haruka Ayase (playing the cyborg) and Keisuke Koide (playing Jiro) had really good chemistry on the screen. And I must admit that I was really taken in by Haruka Ayase's performance as the cyborg, and they had really managed to present her in a way that made her look sort of artificial.

Not sure if this was based on an anime or manga, or not, but it sure had the feel like you were watching a live-action manga movie. Thumbs up on that.

"Cyborg She" is one of the more interesting Asian movies I have seen in awhile, because it is somewhat beyond the stereotypical stuff that you see in Asian movies. This oddly romantic story will capture your heart and take you along on a very well-told journey. The movie offers everything from love and laughs to thrills and action.

If you are a fan of Asian cinema, then you definitely should check out "Cyborg She".

Sometimes the greatest love stories aren't the ones that end happily ever after, but the realization that it's all a matter of the quality moments spent between the lovers. You can call me a sentimental sap, but Cyborg She does meet every single one of my expectation of what makes a palatable romantic movie, never mind sometimes dwelling on the clichéd moments, especially when the leads share great chemistry, and this being a science-fiction piece to boot too! Jiro Kitamura (Keisuke Koide) is a loner who celebrates his birthday with nobody except himself, going to the mall and picking out his own gift, before ending up at the same old restaurant for a plate of spaghetti. It's a routine year after year, but in 2007, he chanced upon a girl (Haruka Ayase) whom he witnessed to have shoplifted from the departmental store, and from then they spend the most amazing evening together. Yes, it's reminiscence of Serendipity, done in the style of Kwak Jae-young, whom we know better as the writer-director of the Korean hit My Sassy Girl.

Fast forward to a year later, Jiro meets the girl again, but this time discovers she's a cyborg sent from the future. I guess to most guys, this seemed like a dream come true when a girl, no matter if she's a fully functional cyborg, happened to just drop into your lap again. It's R2D2 with boobs, sent to him in Terminator fashion (Sorry, with clothes on too), which means of course that she has a higher calling and purpose to be with him, for reasons best I not reveal here, but for you to find out for yourself.

Being an advance being, in between getting to learn how to be a human, protecting Jiro from harm and being romanced, she's also like a superhero, and Cyborg She never looked a minute out of place if positioned side by side with this year's Hollywood superhero blockbusters. Boasting excellent special effects, I thought this movie gave another Japanese Film (don't click on this link if you choose not to know) a run for its money with its rendition of the event being a more realistic one.

It has plenty of charming moments within that makes it a perfect date movie, and the great chemistry between the leads is what made this work. Keisuke Koide looked like the helpless puppy that he is, flitting from moment to moment trying to figure out what his cyborg's true calling is, while succumbing unsuccessfully to temptation of trying to get fresh with her. Haruka Ayase on the other hand had her work cut out for her in being an emotionless robot programmed to smile, and had moments which mirrored Uma Thurman from My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Together they share some light hearted moments in a fine balance with the dramatic ones. And as we all know, we usually appreciate things a lot more the minute we lost them, and for a romantic movie, this usually is the case to reinforce certain emotions the characters have for each other.

Running slightly more than 2 hours, it never for a minute felt longer than its welcome on screen, though I had to admit that amongst its multiple endings, I thought that it could have ended at any point, and still would have made it a bittersweet movie to have experienced. I've no qualms about the ending it decided upon too, but meanwhile for those whose hearts would feel heavy at the slightest touch of sentimentalism, you'd better pack your tissues with you.

I'll admit it, this is a movie which I enjoyed thoroughly, even though as you know with any movie dealing with time travel, that'll be that bit of a paradox involved, and here it came in large doses. I'll advise you to accept the timeline presented for what it is, because that's the only way, linearly, in order to enjoy any movie that has this element. Highly recommended stuff since it's been some time I saw a romantic movie (and a science fiction one!) that just worked. I'll stick my neck out to say it'll likely be featured in my top 10 list of films for this year and I'll put money aside for the DVD as well.

For those who want to watch it on the big screen, well it's been playing at the cinemas for some time now, so you'd better quickly make some time for it.

Cyborg She is a J-movie directed by Jae-young Kwak. Not knowing much about it beforehand, I was not surprised to find that it contains a blend of romantic comedy and sci-fi with a twizzle or two at the end! To anyone new to his films I would recommend seeking out My Sassy Girl.

The film portrays the relationship between a young gormless man and a hot young cyborg. Whilst watching it I was occasionally reminded of several other films.

Pros - A pleasant way to spend 2 hours

Cons - Nothing new

Overall - Compared with Kwak's high standards this is Average