Jiro (Koide Koisuke) is a nerdish working student who meets a mysterious, beautiful young woman (bikini model Haruka Ayase, Ichi) on his birthday in November, 2007. The two spend the evening together and before the night is over, she leaves for the night; leaving Jiro to reminisce about her for an entire year. One year later, Jiro meets his mysterious dream girl once again to find out that she is the "Cyberdyne Model 103" sent back by Jiro himself from the future to avert a tragedy that paralyses him. The two form a strange bond as Jiro slowly begins to develop feelings for his synthetic companion. (Who can blame Jiro since this cyborg is the hottest thing I've ever seen!) She also becomes a minor "secret" celebrity as she uses her tech-enhanced powers to stop certain disasters before they happen. Jiro's happiness may well be short-lived as things begin to unravel that reveal his friend's true purpose.

"Cyborg She" or "Cyborg Girl" is one film that borrows heavily from themes established by "The Terminator" and "The Back to the Future" movies. The results are mixed, and truth be told, its science of time travel may be a little too unexplored. However, director Kwak Jae-Young's style of storytelling is very energetic, witty, charming and unpredictable. The man is in familiar territory as he is the same director who directed the Korean blockbuster hit "My Sassy Girl". The man avoids the usual stereotypical trappings of a romantic comedy and focuses instead on sci-fi elements and time travel mythos. Kwak's inventive touches at humor and superb storytelling techniques are evident in the film as he serves up a satisfyingly fun film.

Now this is a Japanese film so expect a touch of certain thought-provoking themes such as heart and soul. The Cyborg herself is a learning computer and in time, it will develop its human characteristics. Just what makes a human? Is it the way we were born or the way we live and experience life. According to Kwak, our actions and experiences are what makes us human; the question is: Is it because of mere programming or is does a machine develop a soul? Besides this, "Cyborg She" establishes its own science in the laws of time travel. It may become a bit difficult to follow as the story unravels but not to worry, Kwak manages to explain everything and puts it all together in the end. This thematic film successfully sidesteps the clichés of romantic comedies and manages to give the viewer quite a few surprises. Sure, it borrows from movies such as "Ghost In the Shell", "A.I." and "The Terminator" but the storytelling is solid enough that I was quite pleased with its execution.

The visual effects are also quite impressive. I loved the scenes of the earthquake set to destroy Tokyo. You can literally feel the city breaking apart and the scenes were able to express the fear and the loss after such a disaster. The scenes whenever the Cyborg utilizes her superhuman abilities are also top notch. The film has mild displays of violence and blood but none so graphic that may turn off mainstream watchers. The time travel effects resemble those seen in Hollywood movies made of similar nature.

Now, I may be giving the impression that the film has its bleakness to it but it merely serves as a balance to the film's endearing nature. There are quite a lot of scenes that I found genuinely amusing that I almost laughed myself silly. I loved the scenes when she eats, accidentally gets drunk and frightens Jiro's professor. The way Haruka Ayase just exudes that innocence much like a child and warm charisma even though she is playing a cyborg. Oh, she even does the "robot" dance moves when she finds herself in a club with Jiro. Ayase is definitely able to create a likeable, stiff artificial being. The love story between her and Jiro does start off simply enough, in an awkward fashion but their controlled performances give viability to their romance. Koide Koisuke is also charming as the nerdy Jiro, in a manner that is definitely Otaku/anime-like. The film is largely a success because of its performers.

Much as I hate romantic comedies, "Cyborg She" is a wild blend of action, sci-fi fantasy elements and inventive humor that will undoubtedly charm its way to its viewers' heart. The viewer is given time to form an attachment to its attractive leading lady and invest in the romance that develops between the two leads. The loopy time travel thing may be a little hard to follow, but I know enough about the physics of time travel to buy into what the film is trying to say. Some folks may nit-pick its time travel mythos but this is not what the film is all about. It is about experiences that affect the past, present and the future or that the past, the present and the future affect each other. It is a love that transcends time.

Highly Recommended!

A romance-comedy with a sci-fi twist, the film follows a young loner who meets a strange girl one night on his birthday. After some crazy memorable situations, they part ways, but not before she claims to be from the future. Love-struck, the young man thinks nothing of it and spends the rest of the year wondering if he'll ever see her again.

A year passes and it's his birthday again, and the girl returns; or has she? In her place is a cyborg, which has entrusted itself to the man; a sworn protector and crime fighter! Actually, not really, but she does help the guy go through his everyday life. Well, the crime-fighting part isn't all false either. Given that she has incredible speed and strength (being a cyborg), she does find the time to save a kid from getting hit by a bus, a group of students from a hostage situation, and another set of kids from a fire.

It's obvious from "My Sassy Girl" that the writer/director was really into story-telling and sci-fi stuff, and he got to act on that fantasy with "Cyborg Girl", and in a big way. The film is surprisingly big-budgeted for a romance-comedy (you'll know why if you watch it) and offers some pretty decent CGI effects. Much like the previous features, our leads get into some silly, but enjoyable and funny situations, especially when the cyborg does something crazy in public. The story pays homages to the previous flicks, and obviously borrows from "Terminator", even down to the way the girl time-travels.

Funny, heart-warming, and all-around entertaining, the movie is a fun ride from the start and I urge anyone who loves a good romance-comedy (especially if you're a fan of South Korean or Japanese ones) to give this a check; you won't regret it

The story revolves around the life of a college student named Jiro (Koide Keisuke) who is visited by a beautiful cyborg from the future (Ayase Haruka). Jiro lives a very boring life before his encounter with her but quickly turns his life upside down after her arrival. After spending more time with the cyborg though, he gradually falls in love.

Among the many things that surprised me with this movie is that it was directed by one my favorite Asian cinema directors, Kwak Jae Yong. I love almost every movie that he has ever directed/written. These movies include my all time favorites, "My Sassy Girl", "The Classic", "Windstruck", and "My Mighty Princess". As a South Korean director, I'm not sure if this is Kwak Jae Yong's first Japanese film project, since he's been involved in other movies outside of South Korea.

Ayase Haruka's performance was quite good as her portrayal of the Cyborg and her alternate self in the future. Although Koide Keisuke's performance was quite good also, I didn't really like how helpless and weak his character was. Though I did notice that most of Kwak Jae Yong's movies are centered around a "tough" girl. There are little other distractions to take you away from the couple's story, so you quickly get attached to them.

Without revealing too much of the plot, I can say that there are many twists in the story. One of the twists was actually slightly revealed in the very beginning, but you will never get it until you reach the end. It is a romantic-comedy, so there are a lot of funny moments as well as serious and romantic scenes. Some might feel that the beginning is a little slow, but I thought it had a pretty good pace. Nothing made it drag on like other stories that focus on one storyline. The ending does make you think a little bit though, but you'll eventually get it and wonder how they could have written such a clever plot.

"Cyborg She" is the first best film I've watched this year and actually prompted me to search for more information on the actors and actresses involved. I even went ahead and purchased the movie poster for it.

For anybody interested in an unconventional love story, I highly recommend "Cyborg She". It's sweet, funny, and fresh.