Andromedia

Andromedia
Directed by	Takashi Miike
Screenplay by	Kurio Kisargi Masa Nakamura Itaru Era
Based on	title of the original work by Hirotake Watanabe
Produced by	Takashi Hirano Toshiaki Nakazawa Makoto Nakanishi Kazuya Hamana Yasuhiro Mase
Starring	Speed Da Pump Kenji Harada Tsunehiko Watase Naoto Takenaka
Cinematography	Hideo Yamamoto
Edited by	Yasushi Shimamura
Music by	Koji Endo
Production companies	TBS Toy's Factory Sedic International Avex Group Excellent Film
Distributed by	Shochiku
Release date	July 11, 1998 (1998-07-11) (Japan)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	Japan
Languages	Japanese English

Andromedia (アンドロメディア) is a 1998 Japanese film directed by Takashi Miike. The film features the Japanese musical groups Speed and Da Pump.

Plot

High school students Mainosuke "Mai" Hitomi and Yuu kiss for the first time. Later that same day Mai is hit by a truck and killed. Her scientist father, Toshihiko Hitomi, uses a scan of her memories created before her death to construct an AI copy of her, named "Ai". Soccer, the CEO of the American tech company Digital Ware, wishes to awaken his own AI and sends an agent to shoot Toshihiko and steal his software, but Toshihiko sends Ai through the modem to safety before dying. Ai finds Yuu through a school computer terminal nicknamed "Icon" that has been enhanced by Satoshi Takanaka, Mai's genius half-brother with a terminal brain disease. Yuu transfers Ai to his laptop, through which she interacts with him and Mai's old friends, including Rika, who is jealous of Yuu's love for Ai. Soccer sends Satoshi and others to chase down Yuu and capture Ai.

Cast

• Hiroko Shimabukuro as Mai & Ai
• Eriko Imai as Yoko
• Takako Uehara as Rika
• Hitoe Arakaki as Nao
• Kenji Harada as Yuu
• Ryô Karato as Satoshi Takanaka
• Christopher Doyle as Sakkaa/Soccer
• Tomorowo Taguchi as Gôda
• Issa Hentona as Tooru
• Shinobu Miyara as Hiroyuki
• Yukinari Tamaki as Kazuma
• Ken Okumoto as Daiki
• Anna Ide as Mai as a child
• Akihiro Yoshikawa as Yuu as a child
• Kazuki Kitamura as Sada
• Michelle Gazepis as Sakkaa's/Soccer's secretary
• Hiromi Suzuki as Mai's mother
• Naoto Takenaka as Kurosawa
• Tsunehiko Watase as Toshihiko Hitomi/Mai's father/Ai's creator

Release

Andromedia was distributed theatrically in Japan by Shochiku on July 11, 1998. The film was released on DVD and VHS in Japan by Toy's Factory and in the United States by Pathfinder Pictures.

Reception

Tom Mes, author of Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike, described Andromedia as the "most unabashedly commercial film" Miike had made at this point in his career.

References

• Mes, Tom (2006). Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike. FAB Press. ISBN 1903254418.

External links

• アンドロメデイア ａｎｄｒｏｍｅｄｉａ (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Archived from the original on 20 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
• Andromedia at IMDb