Hacker Cinema
Roujin Z
老人Z
1991 · Film · 80 min
Directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo
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.
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3 comments on Hacker News
Have you heard of Akira, that anime from 1988? It's by Katsuhro Otomo. I'm a fan of his work. If you are too, then these two are worth seeing if you haven't already...
Otomo's 1991 Roujin-Z was made available for viewing on YouTube this past year. It's 1h20m. Link: https://youtu.be/itg4zKaUMgY
There's also Otomo's 1995 Memories. It's great. I haven't found a good version of it on YouTube, but a quality stream of it is available on Amazon Prime.
Otomo also worked on Metropolis (2001) and Steamboy (2004). They're both great.
Katsuhiro Otomo[1] explored the idea of robots providing elder care in the 1991 animated movie Roujin Z[2].
(for a short overview of the movie and the issues it explores, I recommend this[3] essay by Pause and Select)
[1] most well-known for writing the manga "Akira"
[2] https://myanimelist.net/anime/2000/Roujin_Z
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufiv4U_Lczg
Especially a future filled with robots caring for old people. As I understand it, Japan's declining birth rate has been part of the zeitgeist for a while now. I recall there was an feature-length anime film in the early 90s -- "Roujin Z" -- about an experimental robotic hospital bed that is developed because there aren't enough nurses.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roujin_Z