*THIS REVIEW CONTAINS ENDING SPOILERS*
QUICK AND TO THE POINT: This is a Japanese drama called ‘Absolute Boyfriend’ based on the Manga of the same name. A young woman inadvertently purchases a robotic lover thinking she is signing up for a dating agency.
THE WHOLE STORY: The story begins with Riiko (played by Saki Aibu) having lunch with her male co-worker. It’s obvious she likes him, but she’s having some difficulty letting him know. Fast forward to later in the episode; Riiko feeling sorry for herself sitting in a bar, a man hands her his business card and mentions something about helping her find love. Riiko ends up visiting the company listed on the card thinking it’s a dating service when in actuality they are a corporation that builds “lover robots”. Their intentions are to create a world full of happy females satisfied by their “ideal boyfriend” ie. the lover robots. So after filling out some ridiculously long questionnaire, Riiko leaves and doesn’t give the whole thing a second thought.
A gigantic package arrives at Riiko’s apartment a few days later. It looks like a huge futurisitc coffin, and to some extent it is. Contained within the metallic box is Night (played by Hayami Mokomichi); the result of the questionnaire Riiko completed at the lover robot lab. Over the course of the series, many problems arise. For one, the true nature of Night must be kept a secret, so Riiko is constantly in fear of someone discovering that her new friend is actually a robot. And I’m actually using the term ‘friend’ loosely. Riiko treats night pretty poorly throughout the series, she’s constantly annoyed or angered by him. In an attempt to be her “ideal boyfriend”, Night actually makes himself a nuisance.
Riiko becomes even more annoyed with Night when he seems to constantly foil any plans she might have to pursue her growing crush on her boss. Night considers Riiko his girlfriend and becomes understandably jealous and hurt when Riiko does not return his feelings, but he continues to soldier on in hopes of capturing Riiko’s affections. When it becomes apparent that Riiko’s boss, Soshi (played by Mizushima Hiro) is also interested in Riiko, a complicated love triangle forms. Oddly enough, Riiko has begun to enjoy Night’s company and by the end of the series she has actually fallen in love with him. What complicates matters is she has also fallen in love with Soshi.
In the end Riiko chooses to be with Night. In a surprising twist, Night ends up malfunctioning and completely ceases to operate, in a sense he has “died”. Before his death he leaves a video message on his memory chip for Riiko, telling her how much he cares for her and also urging her to go and be happy with Soshi. Night also leaves a letter for Soshi which basically asks him to take care of Riiko because he will no longer be around. The last episode ends with Riiko and Soshi heading out to Paris. Riiko seems to be enjoying her bittersweet happiness, having lost one love but gaining another.
WHAT I THOUGHT: I’m sorry, but I found Riiko to be incredibly annoying. And although Night was “just an appliance”, I felt she treated him incredibly bad. It was almost sad to watch his unwavering devotion to her while she tried to pursue romance elsewhere. When Riiko finally realizes that Night’s love goes past his programming, I actually was pretty happy. Finally, I thought. The last day they spent together was picture perfect romance. For once, they were both happy and content. For some reason, I didn’t feel incredibly sad that Riiko chose Night over Soshi. Not that I had anything against Soshi, but I felt after all Night had been through with Riiko, he deserved to finally have her love.
So when Night “died”, I was so sad! I mean after all he did to finally win Riiko’s affections, he ends up dead. And the audience is aware from the beginning of his downfall what is going to happen. That entire happy day they spent together was sort of ruined knowing that at the end Night was going to die. And it was even more sad because Night knew he was dying and Riiko didn’t, but he was still so incredibly happy. Riiko finally loved him back, so his life ended with his dream fulfilled.
So in the end although Soshi wasn’t Riiko’s first choice, at least they loved eachother and could be together. So hooray for semi-happy endings. I give this series an A-.
