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{ Cyborg Girl (Boku no kanojo wa saibogu) / 僕の彼女はサイボーグ }

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Language: Japanese Director: Jae-young Kwak Running time: 120 min Release year: 2008
Cast: Haruka Ayase, Keisuke Koide, Risa Ai, Yoshikazu Ebisu, Kenichi Endo, Masato Ibu, Kenta Kiritani, Fumiyo Kohinata

Movie Plot:
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Movie Review:

“Cyborg She” aka “Cyborg Girl” makes a fitting final installment in Jae-young Kwak’s “Sassy Girl” trilogy. Although the films don’t share a common story line (sans the last portion of “Windstruck” connecting with “My Sassy”) there are common elements found in each of these films. There’s the basic “Romantic-Comedy” factor between a passive guy and tom boy’ish girl as the basic framework for each of the three films. Then a random mixture of drama, tragedy, and interweaving of different time settings all come into play.

While Kwak’s “My Sasy Girl” was a slam-dunk hit throughout Asia, “Windstruck” met a far more mixed reaction. “Windstruck” pretty much bombed at the korean box-office while doing extremely well in Japan. Thus, Kwak’s third installment is made in Japan with an entire Japanese cast and the Japanese funding needed to produce such an ambitious film. Kwak’s “Cyborg Girl” shares more with “Windstruck” than “My Sassy Girl” in style and theme, making it a fitting final piece of his “Sassy Girl” trilogy.

The story in “Cyborg Girl” works well, especially in the first third and final third portions. In the beginning we’re treated to Haruka Ayase’s cyborg girl meeting the otaku’ish Jiro (played by Keisuke Koide). This set-up allows for a lot of cute moments between the girl robot without feelings and the boy that has feelings for the girl robot. The middle portion of the film unfortunately falls into a rut. Several episodic moments felt entirely unnecessary or even straight up boring. The trip back to Jiro’s hometown nearly put me to sleep and the hostage situation felt like it was thrown in just to satisfy a final running time quota. Fortunately the final third of the film picks up the slack noticeably and installs genuinely touching moments between the cyborg girl and Jiro. Of course this being a Jae-yonug Kwak film expect some surprising twists towards the end of the film.

Fans of “My Sassy Girl” and “Windstruck” should really check out “Cyborg She,” they will likely love the movie. Personally, I thought “My Sassy Girl” was cute, but overhyped and “Windstruck” was just plain bad (except the first 5 minutes of the film ). Nevertheless, I found myself enjoying “Cyborg Girl”. Kwak had no problems transporting his story into a Japanese setting. Main performers Haruka Ayase and Keisuke Koide felt generic at times, but they were able to bring enough life into their characters to make it less of an issue. All in all, “Cyborg Girl” is a feel good movie that can make more sentimental folks all teary eyed.
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