Eve no Jikan

Alternate Titles: Time of Eve

Original Japanese Release Date: July 31st, 2008

Episode Length/Run-time: 6 Episodes (15 minutes each)

Summary:

Sometime in the future technology has advanced to the point that androids have become a part of everyday life.  Looking nearly identical to humans they are only distinguishable due to the halo like symbol that hovers above their heads.  Maybe the robots are a little too much like humans as many of them are finding their way to an underground coffee house known as “Eve” because in this coffee house androids and humans are to be treated equally, a treatment they don’t normally receive elsewhere.

Review:

This is a great show that brings up some interesting philosophical points that are granted a bit overused.  Perhaps nothing in anime is as overdone as androids wanting to have human emotions or wanting to be human.  That is pretty much the backdrop for this 6 episode ONA.

One day Rikuo discovers that his family’s android has been acting weird and has been going off and doing things on her own. He follows her to a cafe called “Eve”.  Which is an illegal underground organization that is based on the principals of fair treatment for androids and humans.  For you see, while all androids normally must wear/display a halo type image above their head (see image above), this images disappear while in the cafe.

This is the most interesting thing about the show and while the show is great in its presentation, both in plotline, and visuals, it never really moves past this to delve further in the philosophical aspects that the show brings up.  When Rikuo first gets to the cafe its interesting watching him try to figure out which patrons of the cafe are human or not.  The interactions he has with the people in the cafe really serves as the backbone for the series as each episode is based around one single character from the cafe and Rikuo’s interaction with them.

Because the unique setting, the show shows you a bit of the mind of Rikuo as he grapples with his beliefs about Androids.  The world seems to be made up of people who are either against androids or believe in androids rights and as a person originally in that prior grouping, Rikuo finds himself questioning these beliefs as he interacts with the cafe patrons one by one despite not knowing exactly “what” they are.

This is a short show that is one of the better anime of the last few years.  I’d highly recommend giving it a try.  It only takes 90 minutes to watch the entire thing and at the end, you likely won’t be disappointed.

[starrater]