I.K.U.

I.K.U.
"This is not LOVE. This is SEX."
Directed by	Shu Lea Cheang
Produced by	Takashi Asai
Written by	Shu Lea Cheang
Starring	Ayumi Tokito Zachery Nataf Aja Akira the Hustler
Music by	Hoppy Kamiyama The Saboten
Cinematography	Tetsuya Kamoto
Edited by	Kazuhiro Shirao
Distributed by	Uplink Co.
Release date	May 3, 2001 (Japan)
Running time	90 minutes (Premiere) 74 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese / English

I.K.U. (pronounced ai-kei-ju, abbreviated as iku^?) is a 2001 independent film directed by Taiwanese-American experimental filmmaker Shu Lea Cheang. It was marketed as "a Japanese Sci-Fi Porn Feature". The film was partially inspired by Blade Runner (1982). I.K.U.'s premise involves a futuristic corporation sending shapeshifting cyborgs out into New Tokyo to collect "orgasm data" by means of sexual intercourse. The title is a pun on the Japanese word (^?) which, in sexual slang, is used to express an orgasm.

I.K.U. premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. It was the first pornographic film ever screened in the festival.

The film is set in or about the year 2030. The multinational Genom Corporation is developing a product called the "I.K.U. Chip", which is plugged into a portable device allowing consumers to download and experience orgasms from the I.K.U. server without need of physical contact. The corporation sends their cybernetic shapeshifter Reiko, known as an I.K.U. Coder or replicant, to collect orgasm-related information catering to various sexual orientations. To collect the data Reiko transforms into an appearance pleasing to an individual or couple, engages the target(s) in sexual relations and transforms her right hand and forearm into a penis which is inserted into the recipient's vagina or anus during climax.