Mr. Takazawa, an elderly invalid who is cared for at his home by Haruko, a young nursing student, is chosen by the Japanese Ministry of Public Welfare to test the Z-001, a computerized hospital bed with robotic features that allegedly displays more efficiency and skills than any human nurse, but Haruko mistrusts a machine unable to consider human feelings.
Writing
Satoshi Kon's screenplay balances slapstick with genuine elder care tragedy.
Direction
Kitakubo orchestrates mechanical bed rampage like kaiju poetry.
Production
1991 OVA budget stretched to apocalyptic proportions.
Director
Hiroyuki Kitakubo
Chisa Yokoyama
Haruko Mitsuhashi (voice)
Chie Sato
Nobuko Ohe (voice)
Koji Tsujitani
Mitsuru Maeda (voice)
Rica Matsumoto
Satō Tomoe (voice)
Ryuji Saikachi
Ache A (voice)
Shinji Ogawa
Suguru Terada (voice)
Shinsuke Chikaishi
Yoshihiko Hasegawa (voice)
Takeshi Aono
Ache C (voice)
Kenichi Ogata
Riot Police Inspector (voice)
Kumiko Takizawa
Newscaster (voice)
Tamio Ohki
Professor Tachibana (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Satoshi Kon's first feature screenplay; he later disowned how little creative control he had, though the geriatric cyberpunk DNA is unmistakably his.
Released during Japan's 1990s elder care crisis, the film's Ministry of Public Welfare satire landed sharper than its mecha action — bureaucrats reportedly hated it.
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