Mr. Ueno, retired, lives alone; he talks to Maria, a maid-droid his parents brought from their factory decades ago. Maria became Ueno's companion after his parents' deaths, and now her battery is run down; there are no replacement parts. Meanwhile, Inspector Akagi and her police squad are looking for a serial rapist that may not be human; however, if it's a robot, in harming people it would be disobeying Asimov's rules of robotics. Akagi's inquiry takes her to a droid factory run by Mr. X; he helps by explaining why host-droids, the male equivalent of a maid-droid, don't sell. What will Ueno and Akagi learn about love and the nature of men and women?—<[email protected]>
The film deals with several different stories over a period of time.
The central story is that of a Mr Ueno, and his Maid-Droid, Maria (Akiho Yoshizawa). Now an old man, Ueno still holds onto Maria, even though her batteries have rundown, and she can no longer move or speak. As is one of the original prototype Maid-Droids and over 60 years old, even finding spare parts and batteries is costly because of their scarcity. Ueno cares for Maria as if she were a real person, and we are then taken back through their history together:
Maria was bought by Ueno's parents as a helper to take care of him since they were constantly away on business. Maria is programmed to be a helpful (if sometimes clumsy) maid, looking to always keep her Master happy. She prepares meals for him, and even reads stories to him as well. After his parents die in a car accident, Maria professes that her Master must be sad to be all alone, but he claims that he is not as Maria is there for him.
As he enters puberty, Ueno begins to look at Maria in a different light, and vows to earn enough money to 'upgrade' her for his own desires. However, after going through college and finding a job that pays enough, Ueno and Maria sadly find that due to her being a prototype, the upgrade software cannot be formatted with her original hardware. Feeling sad that she cannot fulfill her Master's desires, Maria suggests that Ueno try to find a human girl. Ueno tries to give her a ring as a gesture that he does care for her but Maria refuses it.
Ueno takes her advice and finds one through a bride service. However, the woman he finds is cold in demeanor, and seems to care more for wealth and vanity. The woman even scoffs at Maria as being just a machine, and upon finding the ring that Ueno was going to give her, despises it for being cheap. Ueno is offended at the woman's actions and words, and demands she leave.
Later that evening, Maria washes Ueno's back. As they talk, she mentions how it must be sad that he let the other woman go, but Ueno says it was for the best, as she was not as caring as Maria is. It is then that Maria explains that she knows how to get around the upgrade problem: if Ueno will take her memory and put it into a Maid-Droid body that can take the upgrade, then that will solve their problems. However, Ueno refuses to do this, still willing to have Maria as a companion as she is even with her flaws. Even so, Maria professes to do whatever she can to please Ueno.
Returning to the present day, Ueno is finally able to find a a battery for Maria's model, even paying upwards of 100,000,000 yen for it. Even though he had to sell everything he owns including his family house to get it, Ueno is happy that Maria will be able to function again, and has it intended for express delivery the next day.
That evening, while washing dishes, a blue light comes to Ueno claiming to be the Blue Fairy. Due to Ueno's kindness to Maria over the years, the light tells him that if he kisses her 3 times and says a certain phrase 3 times, that Maria will become human. Ueno goes to Maria and kisses her 3 times, but is at first at a loss as to what the phrase may be. Thinking hard, he finally tells her 3 times, 'I love you.' As he watches, Maria begins to cry tears of joy, before moving her eyes and soon her body, much to Ueno's amazement and joy.
The next day, the express delivery of Maria's battery arrives, but noone answers the door. On a table, we see the
