Andromedia


Andromedia is a 1998 Japanese film directed by Takashi Miike. featuring the Japanese musical groups Speed and Da Pump.

Plot

High school students Mainosuke "Mai" Hitomi and Yuu kiss for the first time but later that day Mai is hit by a truck and killed. Her scientist father Toshihiko Hitomi constructs an AI copy of her named "Ai" from a scan of her memories created before her death. Soccer, the CEO of the American tech company Digital Ware, wishes to awaken his own AI and sends an agent to shoot Toshihiko and take 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

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.