Current State of Cybernetics
In this world, cybernetics are just beginning to be more than crude, second rate replacements and edging into the superhuman. A majority of the population has some form of medical cybernetics, whether a pacemaker to an entire artificial intestine. Cybernetic limbs are common, and only among the absolute poorest will you find the blind or deaf. Sensory organs are one of the few applications where cybernetics have matched and in some ways exceeded living body parts (blood pressure, nutrient and hormone regulation are another - cybernetics are banned from athletic competition for this reason).
Full body cybernetics, however, are in a much less advanced stage than in most anime. Medical ethics call for the preservation of as much of the body as possible. Many more people, for instance, have artificial spines and organs than a full body shell. Recently however a few thousand people in Japan have been recieving them, under "Lease for Life" programs, high profile advertising campaigns run by competing premium insurance companies. A heavy public outcry led the Japanese government legislate that these bodies be made available to the entire population through the national healthcare system two years ago.
Even mass produced to a standard size and shape (4'10", for females, 5'6" for males), each "Lease for Life" body costs the government over a million dollars, and every effort is made to find a cheaper resolution first. Still, a Lease for Life cybernetic body is cheaper than a lifetime of care and medicine in a hospital ward, and so once a problem is untreatable by normal cybernetics, full body cyberization is not long to follow. In function and appearance, Lease for Life bodies are a big improvement over any model previously available to most people, but still noticeably inferior to natural bodies, particularly in sensitivity, balance and fine control of the hands. Even an experienced wearer of a Lease for Life body will find themselves performing at a level below that of an athletic human for most tasks.
On the positive sides, Lease for Life models are a miracle of economy in upkeep, running for 48 hours of activity (or 63, including two nights sleep) without recharge before running low on power and activating an alarm to EMS for a pickup. Lease for Life cyborgs have a basic sense of taste and a removable container for up to 2lbs of food, but derive needed nutrients and hormones from daily refills through a plug in their chest. Like their power, their nutrient stores can in a pinch last two days, and an emergency store is kept seperately to keep the cyborg alive for several hours after an automatic signal to EMS. Oxygen supplies are also stored seperately, and should be replaced daily with an additional day's reserve.
The initial Lease for Life cyborgs allow only basic modifications to face or body, and many people do not come out looking much like they went in. A thriving and very expensive secondary market for cosmetic modifications exists, and many a cyborg who can't really afford it has shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars for a new face with a closer appearance to their old ones and better fine control of expression.
While Lease for Life is by far the most common source of Full Body Conversions, much more expensive models do exist for both the rich and the military. Civilian cyborgs are mostly one-time, special designs and most are not substantially superior to the Lease for Life except in appearance. The military does not favor full body cyborg conversions, considering them inferior logistically to power armor and robots, but does do extensive reconstruction on injured members that in many cases is equivalent to a full conversion. Such conversions are usually limited to those individuals whose skills are too valuable to retire. Others get a body similar to the Lease for Life and are given an honorable discharge, usually with accompanying medals. The military is particularly ahead of civilian technology in tactile feedback and control and does not worry as much about the cyborg injuring people as civilian manufacturers, who limit cyborg strength to avoid liability for damage.
