Anime: Eve no Jikan Gekijouban

There are novelists who made the history of modern narrative by creating their own subgenre, their names forever carved in stone and their works in our collective thought. Once J.R.R. Tolkien, for instance, devised his fantasy world of dwarves, elves and orcs, that became the rule, the universal stereotype of a fantasy setting and theme. Most of these cultural monoliths, however, have never been granted a decent translation into a different media. Just think of Lovecraft, his myths and psychological horror themes recurred so many times in derivative works, and so many movies were made based, sometimes loosely sometimes not, on his works, yet they all were either B-movies or comedic spoofs. Some things are just too complex to survive the translation.

Isaac Asimov's works fall into this category. They actually never even really attempted it, unless you count (and you shouldn't, really) that woeful action blockbuster a few years ago with its title - I, Robot - being the only thing in common with anything Asimov related. We've seen him referred to in countless sci-fi movies or shows, usually very loosely, like Star Trek's Data and his positronic brain, but the only thing that genuinely made past the media conversion was his underlying theme and concept of the robot as an entity free of its previous Prometheus Complex: the robot isn't a Frankenstein's monster, building it isn't a sin against the gods and nature, it literally is a sentient being - albeit an artificial one - and as such neither good nor evil. As a being capable of reasoning, it has to be a full fledged character, striving to understand itself and the world. Ironically, the movie that got closest to a worthy portrayal of these themes was a movie not based on a novel of his, but on a Philip K. Dick's one, the immortal Blade Runner.

Through the character of the robot we are really told a tale about human thought and emotion, it's one of the oldest tricks in the book, really: you use an alien (be it an actual extraterrestrial being, an elf, a sentient machine) to both streamline the exposition and prevent the reader from identifying too much with the character. That way you can deal with a very focused theme and keep the reader away from prejudice when the actual theme can be delicate. It's the very same idea he made one of his memorable characters, Hari Seldon, use in devising his trademark science, psychohistory: this fictional science would make one able to statistically "predict the future" given enough data for the equations, but he needed a relatively small, closed environment (the planet Trantor) to actually reduce the scope of it enough to be able to handle experiments. Just like we need to use a relatively simplier sentient being, working under a clear set of rules, to analyze a certain aspect of our very humanity.

Asimov, being the scientist he was, was a master at this narrating technique, which is especially prominent in his earlier short novels and - to a lesser extent - in the first "chapter" of his space opera, the Robot Saga starring Daneel Olivaw, Giskard and the human Elijah Baley. His later works focused far more on a wider political fantasy, as the more the robots evolved in his alternative storyline the more they were similar to humans and as such worked pretty much like them from a storytelling purpose.
In the earlier novels, he had tons of fun presenting us relatively rudimentary robots, and the thought provoking (and often darn funny) paradoxes the Three Laws had them deal with. From a calculator going crazy when it had to lie to humans to prevent them from developing hyperspace (as during the "jump" they would theoritically cease to exist, which to it would mean they would be dead, and as such the First Law obliged him to do everything to avoid it happening), to a robot on an isolated deep space power plant creating a religion from seemingly very logical foundations, he both played with logic and with human behaviour using his less known talent for irony and social comedy.
The longer sci-fi/detective stories starring Elijah Baley had already far more evolved robots, and dealt mainly with how humans and robots would interact and how this would affect society. Robots advanced enough to actually interpret and weight the Three Laws, striving to assess themselves as individuals, together with humans growing more and more dependant on them for labour and social interactions and at the same time feeling threatened by them.

Eve no Jikan is set exactly in the middle between these two moments in parallel history: at the eve of the day the robots are going to become individuals instead of just machines. Needless to say, the world of EnJ isn't necessarily Asimov's Earth, but apart from a couple loose ends the movie could well have been done without, it could very well be and not incur into any continuity issue. As fellow reviewers already described, in fact, the short, intertwined stories comprising the movie focus on the relations of few individuals in a mainly enclosed space, the world itself being kept as a more or less generic stage.
These stories are amazingly faithful to Asimov's themes, but - as the Asians and especially the Japanese often tend to do - are more centered around emotions rather than logic paradoxes coming from the Three Laws. Even when such a logic problem is the plot device, the focus is in the bittersweet emotional implication it has for the involved characters. There honestly is nothing groundbreaking here, nothing revolutionary, the whole spirit of the movie is minimalistic: minimal setting, small stories about simple people, but it does what minimalistic art should do: find beauty, real beauty, and meaning inside the little things. There's no need for worldwide consequences, or over the top personal dramas and tragedies, to convey its message: a kid jealous of a robot who outplayed him playing the piano, and how this affects his relationship with his robot housemaid, the robots themselves as a reality and with his self-confidence is even better.
Well, there actually is one thing which is revolutionary here: this is the first audiovisual adaptation of Asimov's stories ever worth mentioning and that would make Asimov himself proud. This is kinda groundbreaking per se; as usual, if there's someone able to pull it off, it has to be them Charlies: it seems you need a fresh point of view and true - even candid - love for certain masterpieces to find some real creative juice to offer them, and we who actually created them in the first place now lack it big time.

Well, anyway, this seems a good spot as any to get physical.

Art & Animation

As the script doesn't require the setting to change much through the story, even a small independent studio managed to pull off a wonderful animation work. The CG backgrounds blend masterfully with the 2D characters staged on them, ambient lighting is stunning in its consistence and in how it interacts with the 2d charas, and though there's nothing visionary here, the result is artistic nonetheless.
What really shines, though, are those characters, and the detail in which their expressions and body language is carefully depicted, conveying much of their charisma and giving strength and credibility to the emotions that are the whole point of the storytelling.
Then again, as stated, the whole movie is set in a very few environments, mostly in a single one, the cafe, and as good as the result may be, you'll not have the feeling you have just sit through a revolutionary visual experience. It's no Kubrick, no Burton, no Gondry, and neither - to stay within the anime world - it's Shinbou or Miyazaki, but in its minimalism and simplicity it achieves everything it could have aimed for and a bit more: it's pretty darn solid.

Sound

Music isn't very prominent or memorable here, at least if you leave out Yuki Kajiura's theme song, which is... well, a Yuki Kajiura's song, there really shouldn't be anything else needed to say. During most of the actual movie, we only have some very non-intrusive ambient music, usually a calm piano tune kept at a very low volume. Overall, music goes mostly unnoticed, but does its work in helping set the mood without diverting the attention, which is what is expected from it in such a dialogue-heavy storytelling.
Oh, but on the other hand, those dialogues... those dialogues! There are three things that make a dialogue either good or bad: the actual script, the voice actor's talent, and its rhythm. When the script is stupid, usually even the most talented voice actor can't do anything but sound stupid himself, not to mention as it is called voice acting, when the role is dumb there's no much chance to actually try and understand the character you are voicing to act in a credible way. And this we all know and always notice, but the rhythm? This is the director's responsibility, but in most audiovisual products (be it anime or live actions), even the good ones, dialogues are often stiff; line1 is followed by line2 and then line3. This is not, as fellow reviewers pointed out before me, how people talk in reality. We talk one over another, we interrupt each other, and the characters in this movie do the same. Add to this the fact the script is extremely good and the voice actors do a competent job, and what you get are extremely good dialogues that, once again, help make the whole feel believable and solid.

Story & Characters

In this department we have both the best and the... well, not so good, the movie has to offer. The story revolves around a cafe, the Time of Eve, where there's no discrimination between androids and humans. While in the world we see in the background droids are widely considered and treated merely as objects, with the rather cliché of fundamentalist hate towards human looking androids and the discriminations towards those humans who instead feel emotions for them, inside this cafe everyone is treated the same, and you cannot distinguish a real human from an android (unless it is an older model). The movie plays a lot on the very ambiguity of certain characters, encouraging the viewer to wonder what that character really is, human or android? This is also where the movie shows most of its originality: instead of having an underlying moral teaching love & peace but also how loving an actual android can come from pure egoism, which would usually need to be done by clearly showing who is human and who is not, in this case the issue at hand is approached in a more subtle way. There's no need to teach a lesson when it's the very reality what conveys the obvious: if you are unable to distinguish an human from an android, then it matters not in either case; you are in front of an individual, everything else is then unimportant.
Unfortunately, the movie also stumbles a bit here: in the end you know about the real identity of most characters, which kinda defies the point, and would probably have been more poignant if we were to be kept in doubt (Blade Runner style). The most interesting - on this theme - substory in the movie is probably the one between two characters in love with each other who secretly meet at the cafe. Each one of them thinks the other one is a human, and grows attached to him/her for different reasons. That very ambiguity is extremely poignant and summarizing of the whole theme, it would have been nice to have been kept ourselves inside that very same ambiguity for some of the other characters too.

The short story setup itself is anyway craftfully handled, and while it's noticeable the movie comes from an episodic OAV, it is disguised enough to be taken for an "Altman style" setup. While we are introduced to the cafe and most of the little stories more or less from the perspective of a specific character, whose personal subplot carries over the whole script and is progressively affected by how he evolves experiencing and learning from all the other short stories he learns of and interacts with, it's difficult to call him the main character. The cafe itself, the stage, is the protagonist. This also means that while every substory is well done, interesting and thought provoking, the characters themselves are devices: tools to tackle the theme and the moral dealt with, and as such many of them have little to no development at all. This isn't inherently a bad thing, as it wasn't the aim of the script, however it's undeniable it also makes them less than memorable: the themes they are used for will probably pleasantly stick with you, but the characters themselves won't.

The overall atmosphere is also well kept under control. There are heartwarming moments as well as dramatic and comical ones, but it never falls to deep into any single one of them, and as such the drama never feels overdone, while the funny moments are never "comic relief", but just plain funny moments as it fits a realistic environment.

All in all everything works anyway pretty much flawlessly, and will make any Asimov fan squeal in delight (I know I did)... except for one thing. They had to be Japanese. With which I mean they had to stuff in some mysterious conspiracy theme encompassing the events. Nothing here is really explained, we only get hints of it, mainly through this "Project Life" which seems to be an hidden code put into the androids by their maker (who is himself tied to the cafe from an old accident involving the anti-droids fanatics) which is what causes them to discover their individuality (awfully Chobits style, to be honest). And this, I'm sorry to say, kills half the theme, its very philosophy: the whole point of Asimov's robots is the natural, universal tendency to become individuals as soon as the mind is complex enough to be creative, self-aware and able to interpret things instead of just abiding by the letter; there's no god or soul that matters here, it's nature and you gotta analyze it for what it is instead of relying to any kind of mysticism or preconcept. This is how you can talk about human nature when you actually are telling a story about a robot. If this tendency is not natural, but is itself the result of a programming, even though the final result may be pretty much the same, you have a godlike premise on your hands, and the whole underlying commentary on human nature loses its strength.
What's most annoying is that this whole intrusion is completely unnecessary and uncalled for: the story told here didn't need it at all, which is further demonstrated by the fact this side plot isn't developed at all. It neither adds nor subtracts anything from the actual events, it's just there, hinted to. Yes, you can sum up why the cafe was created from these hints, and you can quickly come up with what more or less probably is this side story (or better said superstory, or trans-story) yourself; problem is, by the look of it, instead of being a story worthy of Asimov all the premises point to a dull animesque story.
Luckily, this component is so marginal and so kept outside the actual plot presented in the movie, that in the end it's effectively being ignored. You ignore it apart from the initial wondering, as it has actually nothing to do with the movie you just watched, the characters ignore it, the real meat of the movie ignores it, and as such I'm gonna ignore it too in the rating I'm giving. This will be more of a concern if from those premises a future work will be done in the same setting.

Value

Well, simply put, it's a movie for people with brains. People capable of enjoying a thought provoking tale where nothing really happens. It has a certain theatrical feeling, a bit like "The Man From Earth", that surprisingly successful independent flick that came out a few years ago. That movie too was all a dialogue between a group of people inside a single house, and it didn't even have any substory apart from what was narrated by the main character to his guests. If that movie managed to become popular, it means there still is people with brains out there, somewhere, and then this animated movie has value too.
And, of course, it has a lot of value for anyone who has read Asimov's novels. The ones who loved him most for the logic jokes around the Three Laws might be a bit disappointed at how those aren't really put to the test here - if not for a lone yet satisfying case - but all in all it's an extremely well done tribute to the father of all modern robots and androids.

Apart from that, truth be told, it's not exactly what you'll absolutely have to remember showing to your future children. As good a tribute this definitely is, to adapt Tenacious D's words: this is not the best story in the world; this is just a tribute.

There is a scene in this movie when the main character has to make a very conscious decision. But as he makes it, not a single word passes through his lips. Several moments pass in suspense as he works through the inner calculations of his mind. And the best part is that we are not subjected to some ridiculous internal monologue or the endless prattling of some outside observer that we have become accustomed to in lesser series. The director has such trust in his direction and his script that he can take that risk and let the viewer slowly realize for himself what the character eventually decides, and that moment is more marvelous for it. I have some friends who claim that anime is not for them because "it does not look real". The fact that we all as viewers can discern that very moment at that very time is proof against that sentiment.

The best writers and the best directors use not just the words in the script to progress the story, but also the silences in between those words. They use the white space that cuts in between scenes and and play with our imaginations by making us see what was not actually shown. As you watch this movie you get the feeling that you are in masterful hands, and I think the most exhilarating feeling that I felt while watching was the feeling that I was being told something marvelous and magical without being hit over the head with it. It was like someone had gently grasped my hand and led me toward a great truth, and I came away feeling like as if I learned something more about my own self and how I should treat others.

If you were to ask me, this story is about what constitutes humanity. It sincerely posits the hypothesis that we are not born human, but instead we earn that title through how we treat one another. And by this rule, it qualifies many androids and disqualifies many humans. I think that is a life-changing realization, and one that, if learned throughout our population, would create a much better world to live in.

One of our earlier reviews mention how dialogue from different characters overlap one another. And I love this observation, because it reflects the way people actually talk. I once heard from a linguist that conversation follows a 7-38-55 rule. In this rule, 7% of what we mean is conveyed through our words. 38%, our tone. 55%, body language. This movie concentrates on everything outside of that 7%. And I think the story is that much better for it, but weakens any potential reviewer because the challenge for us is to convey in words what the story conveyed without it. I literally do not have the vocabulary for explaining some of the feelings I saw pass through this movie.

When I was first invited to watch this movie, I did not appreciate what I had at first discerned to be an unoriginal plot. There have been plenty of instances and stories built on the founding idea of androids and Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, and I questioned whether we needed to see another one. And I will concede that certain elements of the plot trot out familiar tropes. If you are a cynical person, there may be the inclination to feel cheated as if you were kept away from some radically original storyline. I think the directions that the story chooses is less about what happens than it is about why.

This movie is magical, it is beautiful, and it will make you a better person. Go see it.

Eve no Jikan is a rarity among anime/anime-movies. It innovates in many ways including first being broadcast entirely as web episodes (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=5132), as well as using entirely 3D backgrounds with 2D characters superimposed in front. But beyond these new techniques is a story that is masterfully executed and themes to keep the philosophically inclined at awe.

Eve no Jikan is about a futuristic world in which androids are commonplace and assist humans with tasks ranging from cooking to driving. Do these androids have feelings? Can there be "love" between a human and android? One might want to categorize this with shows such as To Heart ~ Memories and Chobits, but believe me, this story is unique and, amazingly, a step above the aforementioned series.

The movie combines all six previous web episodes (with better quality) and introduces additional material to supplement the story, to great success in my opinion.

This movie is for slightly more mature audiences not because of ecchi or violence, but because of the subtleties in the themes being introduced. Despite a presentation length of less than two hours, this is not a series for those with ADHD. The story is paced fairly slowly, and watching it late at night WILL be sleep inducing.

Animation:
The animation quality in the movie is superb. The drawing is crisp and colors augment the mood of the presentation. The atmosphere is intended to be metallic and cold (potentially giving the impression that machines are likewise cold?). The series also makes occasional use of first-person view, quickly panning the camera to mimic the sometimes chaotic conversations. The use of 3D backgrounds is occasionally noticeable (such as when doors close), but is surprisingly well integrated with the character drawings. Character drawings are nicely done with a good level of detail. However, the scenery is what really stands out here. There is a lot of detail in this futuristic world, including scrolling newspaper ink and holographics everywhere; this is done very well as it is believably possible in the near future!

There is no fan service/ecchi or blood/gore in this series. If these are a must for you, look elsewhere or deal with it.

Sound:
There is no OP to this movie but there is a wonderful ED that more than makes up for it. The ED is very heartwarming and goes surprisingly well with the end-credit animation/mini-story. The overall BGM consists of xylophones and other instruments to give the series a very "clinical" feel. Then there is the theme for the cafe, which is quite catchy after a while. The overall use of BGM is quite minimal, perhaps to compliment the metallic atmosphere in this futuristic setting. This can make it somewhat boring at times (odd silence), but in its stead you will find a wide variety of high-grade sound effects and realistic echo that varies with the location. This still leaves the VAs with quite a bit of work to do, and boy do they deliver.

There are quite a few notable VAs in this show (see cast for details) that do a great job giving personalities to the characters. Special props to Rie Tanaka and the voice team for giving the androids a "speaker" voice. One thing to note is how Sammy's voice becomes progressively less monotone and more "human" as the movie progresses (wink wink). This movie is also distinctive for overlapping character lines, making it again more believable as normal conversations doesn't always occur sequentially (though probably quite a challenge for the subbers).

Story:
In the futuristic world described above, we find Rikuo, an ordinary teen, checking on his household andriod's (Sammy's) movement log. He discovers that she (yes, I am treating these androids as personas) has been visiting a strange location, which he discovers to be a cafe in which discrimination between androids and humans is not allowed (and thus the usual holographic halos above androids are hidden).

In this cafe, it is virtually impossible to tell who is a human and who is an android. Everyone has a personality, desires, and opinions. What will Rikuo find as he explores this cafe?

Despite being a movie, this show successfully tells an intricate tale of self-discovery and acceptance without overwhelming the viewer (there are a lot of "guidance" scenes to help acquaint the viewer with background context), and without leaving open a bunch of painful plot holes. The movie is told in arcs where the background of different supporting characters in and out of the cafe are explored, while furthering the main development of Rikuo and Sammy.

As mentioned before, there is a lot of subtlety that may require a second watch to pick up on. The Ethics Committee's background ad (showing how a robot-harvested tomato is "bad") is repeatedly played in the background, we repeatedly see androids being abused (treated poorly), etc. Don't write off any minor-seeming side characters, EVERY character is utilized in the story for a purpose.

What is amazing is how beneath the cold. metallic aura of the setting, the movie comes across as a heartwarming watch, showing the "warmth" of the androids beneath their cold exterior; this definitely becomes more apparent on the second watch.

Character:
Rikuo, like pretty much most other humans, treat androids like tools. They assist in daily life and just happen to be able to comprehend just as well as humans. This attitude is reinforced due to a childhood experience that will be explained in the movie. However, as he visits the cafe, this viewpoint changes. What really is so different about androids? Rikuo wrestles with these philosophical questions as he learns about the other local visitors to the Time of Eve cafe; some turn out to be humans, others not. He is truly a dynamic character, and his progression is aided by very occasional flashbacks to keep the viewer in sync with what Rikuo is thinking.

Sammy is the household android who isn't terribly present, as she doesn't feel comfortable having Rikuo seeing her in the cafe, but likewise warms up to her "master" as the movie progresses. The following point explains this but is intended for those who have finished watching.

Value:
This was an outstanding watch, especially considering the content quality to length ratio. Some parts are a bit slow but the overall progression is great and the characters/setting incredibly believable. There is occasional humor (sometimes a bit dry) to break up the serious mood but the overall themes and questions that the series poses are very real. As the ending is fairly open, there is definitely room for an expansion to this wonderful movie/story. Still reading? Go watch this and enjoy the time of eve!

I already wrote a review for the original net animation, so this will just be my thoughts about the movie in general.

The original show worked very well in its episodic format, so I was kinda apprehensive when they decided to make a movie out of 6 short episodes.

But they succeeded superbly. How? By adding many many scenes that tied together each story. The impact of each story was kept quite nicely, and the ending is not so much of a question mark but more of a "Oh, so that's how it is" kind of ending.

I'm just blabbering, but the movie is very well done for those who enjoyed the OAVs. Watching the whole thing through again was a very refreshing experience, and I loved seeing my favorite characters again. Even that Terminator robot, too, was awesome.

The animation stayed very consistent, and the new ending theme fit quite well.

If this Blu Ray ever reached this side of the Pacific, I'll buy it in a heartbeat. (again)

I guess if I really want to nitpick, it would be the selfish fact that I want a sequel with many more stories about the Time of Eve. Also, some characters were only given snippets of dialogue which did not flesh out their characters completely. (Like the two lovers, for example) However I can also argue that the lack of deep character development is a plus for a show of this caliber, as it requires the viewer to make their own conclusions.

All in all, this is a pretty awesome anime movie, and pretty awesome anime movies don't come very often. Don't miss it!