Time of Eve

Eve no Jikan is a 6 part slice of life sci-fi ONA series by Yasuhiro Yoshiura.  The series was released between 2008 and 2009.  In 2010 it was complied into a single movie.

    In the near future androids have advanced to the point of being human like companions.  They are beholden to Asimov’s classic Three Laws of Robotics which strictly determine an artificial beings inability to harm a human.  Rikuo is a high school student living a listless life.  When reviewing the data log of his house android, Sammy, he discovers an oddity in the code.  The next day in class he convinces his friend Masaki to help him track down the location in which the oddity occurred.  What they find is a hidden café called Time of Eve.  The house rule at the café is that humans and androids must not discriminate with each other while there.  Under normal circumstances all androids have a LCD halo above their heads displaying data…as a way to help differentiate the advanced models from humans.  Rikuo and Masaki quickly realize that an android, in order to obey the café’s rule if it was there, would have to disable the ring.  The bewildered students must come to terms with the idea that androids are trying to intermingle with humans in a way that resembles human emotions.  On the other side to is the idea that humans would seek out similar interactions with androids.  This at a time when public outcry for androids is rising as a political action group is feverishly trying to roll back the use of androids in many aspects of society, saying it is a danger to humanity.

    This was a very well done, if short, story.  The animation was pretty top notch and the story is interesting, if mostly enclosed in the small world of the café.  There are very few characters but their interactions are in-depth and propel the growth of Rikuo’s character.  They also expand the viewers understanding of the world within the series.  This is a fun look at what our future probably holds for us.  It is also a warning for that future and our current issues of hatred towards others.  In current and past context it’s hard for me not to look at this story as a critique on how non-Japanese residents in Japan are treated.  You can easily substitute the feelings of hatred and disgust towards the androids with those same types of feelings directed at people of Korean or Chinese or Chilean.  There are groups of individuals in Japan, some of which are becoming very prominent currently, who are of the opinion that everyone who is not Japanese should leave the country.  Some of the blatant and widespread racism these fringe groups spout is pretty shocking to someone from America where this type of hatred isn’t as visible…well probably just ignored.  Either way this was a stark criticism on hatred and distrust of those different from our selves.  On top of that there is a less prominent critique on slavery and servitude in the series too, but the prime focus of the show was the racism thing.

    I enjoyed it for taking a mundane look at the near future.  You could imagine this being the story of ordinary people from the world of Ghost in the Shell.  It’s easy to forget while watching a sci-fi action series that 99.99999% of the people that would exist in that world live mundane lives.  This story tells about what some of those 99.9999% are up to and it’s fun to see that.  As I said before, the artwork is well done, similar in character design to what Makato Shinkai does.  The series also reminded me a bit of Dennou Coil and Code-E with its look at near-future tech and how it appears in everyday life.  There is no action in this series but there is an underbelly plot of intrigue and corruption similar to something you would find in an action series.  There is plenty of room to expand upon this world and these characters; hell there was a bit of a set up for a continuation that may include more danger type drama.  But something tells me this is all that will ever exist of this story and I think that’s the best way to leave it.  At the end though it stated to get a little sappy which they quickly erased with some well placed humor.  Who is an android and who is not?

    If you enjoyed Denno Coil and Code-E you would enjoy this series as well.  It is well worth the time, which is a little over an hour.  There are also a few robot nerd shout outs in the series, like the Asimov reference.  The ONA set is available for streaming on Crunchyroll.  The availability of the movie version is dubious…but apparently an English dub was made.