The main plotline concerns retired Mr Ueno, who since a child has been cared for by his late parents’ robot maid ‘Maria’ – a lifelike humanoid in a maid’s outfit! Over the years, Ueno has developed an unconsummated love for Maria, but although she has not ‘aged’ as such, she is now classed as an obsolete model and Ueno is finding it difficult replacing her fading battery… The secondary plotline involves Detective Yuri Akagi, who is investigating a series of rapes, which she believes may be being committed by a rogue droid.
Acting
Yoshizawa's eerily still performance—robotic or just resigned?
Production
Gloriously cheap android costume that somehow works.
Director
Naoyuki Tomomatsu
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Naoyuki Tomomatsu is a pink film veteran who somehow keeps getting sci-fi budgets; this played midnight slots at genre festivals genuinely confused about what they'd booked.
The film's 65-minute runtime mirrors Maria's dwindling battery—exhaustion as formal constraint, whether intentional or just producers cutting losses.
JP
