Ranked #95

Eve no Jikan (Movie)

Eve no Jikan is a story about the lives of the customers who visit a café where you are not allowed to disciminate against robots/androids to the point that when your in this café you have no idea who is human and who is an android. The film asks many questions concerning whether androids really should be treated as mere things or as people, and you get to meet people who are extremists for both sides of the point.

The setting is stated as 'probably Japan' and is set sometime in the near future, i like how they took a few current inventions that you see today such as cameras and keyboards and beefed them up a little without going overboard Star Trek style.

The art for the show is very good, each character is drawn and designed nicely, they do use quite a bit of CG but they use it well and i does not stand out and adds to the feel of the story, i really enjoyed the movement of the camera, at points it spins on the spot and we get to see the cafe in its 360 glory, there is the occasional zoom to the other side of the room seemlessly and we are even treated to a hand held feel when it show the view point from the eyes of a character.

Voice actors did their job spledidly, though it is not surprising as they are 'big name' actors, the music was really nice, theres some decent piano tunes and the rest really highlighted the atmosphere and fitted the sci-fi setting, the ending tune played with the credits is the best part and is some beautifully.

The characters play a huge role for this series, the cafe has patrons of all types, the two main guys are similar to each other but are different enough at the same time and have to deal with their own issues throughout, there is also an enegetic girl, a nice waitress who treats everybody equal, a couple of love birds, a mysterious guy guy who references Blade Runner and an old man with a young child who thinks she's a cat, they all play a part and have a small amount of drama and issues to understand and deal with.

The genres given for this movie are sci-fi and slice-a-life and Eve no Jikan gives off a great feel of atmosphere of both the genres and the movie is something that can be easily enjoyed with its calmness. As a whole there are a few points that make you wish it was a full fledged television series, just to answer a few questions that were left and to see deeper into these characters lives, that is how good this is that it makes you wish i wouldn't end. read more

In a future where every family is in possession of androids, for which all basic human chores and tasks are delegated to, how does the relationship between humans and their robotic creations pan out when androids seemingly have artificial intelligence?

This isn't a new topic in the science fiction genre by any stretch of the imagination, but as a film Time of Eve manages to be a huge breath of fresh air with both its approach and execution to the topic.

The setting of the film mostly takes place at a cafe, called Time of Eve, where inside the cafe there is a rule that there will be no discrimination between humans and androids. Because of this rule, the androids which enter the cafe do their best to be like human beings, blending in with all the customers. Normally androids are not allowed to act like humans in the outside world, but the rules of the cafe dictate that they must.

It is through this setup that we explore the story of two friends Rikuo and Masakazu, and how they manage to deal with the unsettling notion of androids acting independently of humans and pretending to be humans in a way that makes it impossible to distinguish them as androids. Throughout the story we are constantly shown how androids are put into a demeaning, subservient role for the humans and it really raises some interesting questions to its audience. Can human beings learn to accept artificial intelligence as equals to themselves? As beings worthy of the respect we can give other human beings? Or are they merely to be reduced to mere slaves? I give Time of Eve considerable praise for its spectacular job at expressing these themes and managing to make its audience actually think while watching.

While of course the film raises interesting philosophical questions, it also is merely a great drama. Too many scifi works get caught up in trying to show off lots of action rather than just explore interesting aspects of its setting. Time of Eve keeps its focus very simple, a slice of life story about humans and androids in the future, and it is incredibly successful at it. The character interactions and the emotional highs of the film all strike the right notes at the proper times. Everything just feels very genuine and fulfilling. It manages to pass through moments of sadness, laughter, dark moments, light moments, and offer an overall very satisfying experience. In particular, the final moments of the film are very touching.

On top of all this is a generally pleasing to the eyes art work and animation. The camera work is absolutely spectacular. There are several shots in the movie that convey so much emotion without even a single word. Even the completely mechanical looking androids shined in moments through mere clever camera focuses. It's hard to not be impressed by the director's techniques throughout the film.

If there is any reason why I didn't give this movie a perfect score, it is because there are many questions it leaves unanswered, though this may be on purpose. While the film is great as a standalone, the plot going on the side of all these things was too interesting to just not explore it (Though there are several indications out there that there will one day be a sequel). If some more closure is ever given to this film in the future, I'd have no qualms calling it a master piece.



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