Thursday, April 1, 2010

Eve no Jikan - anime review

This is anime that I watched in last two or three days. It was streamed on Web, and has 5 short episodes lasting 15 minutes and one longer, 27 minutes. I liked this, because it allowed me to watch it when it wouldn't be able with full, 25-minutes-per-episode, anime. Like before sleep: I usually get sleepy shortly after I got in bed, so there were times when I missed last 5 or 10 minutes of episode because I was napping already.

"Eve no Jikan" describe a time in future (unspecified, but not too far away for our time; let say 10-30 years) when use of androids is becoming common. It deals with topic of how humans thinks of them: older/rational people regard them as another house appliance, while some think of them as regular persons or use them as substitute for living people.

Rikuo is a teen boy who acts awkward to his house-hold android; in first episode, he and his friend Masaki wander (after seeing its name into android's movement log) into a cafe where customers don't make distinction between humans and androids. In fact, we don't know who are which and we learn it in course of series.

This short anime has a lot going on: an organization that fight against seeing androids as humans; a mysterious woman who supports this interaction; unsolved "accidents"... It leaves a lot unexplained, so there is place for prequels/sequels. I actually found out that there is an anime with same setting: "Mizu no Kotoba". And I'm sure that this topic was already addressed in score of other series. There is no action here, just talking and learning new things. Although, it's definetely not boring.

First, I presume, that if you stretch it, this anime teach us how we should act humanly to everybody else, no matter how different from us, because they also have emotions (although, in this case, public is mostly unaware of android's new features). Secondly, it left me wondering how would I act toward a intelligent, speaking android. I would like to think that I would at least be civil (which is much more that some people in series), but is that just a wishful thinking? I'm a SF-optimist (check this) so I hope I will be in opportunity to find it out - even if I have to wait few hundred years for it...

From technical side, everything good: nice design, good colors and SFX. A lot was put in details (I noticed it few times, but I forgot the specifics).

Final verdict: a very nice anime, especially for SF-fans (at least, for those who like some deeper stuff). Even if you don't especially appreciate SF, you will not lose anything if you watch this, and most certainly not time. A recommendation.

I think that my next object of interest will be "Nodame Cantabile - Finale".

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