(L) Eve no Jikan (Time of Eve)

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by SuperKnuckles

By platonic in regards to affection, that basically means going to loving lengths short of anything physical, but in terms of ideal and perhaps even romanticism of being close to someone (or someTHING). Sorta like how one may feel with a pet. But obviously, a humanoid robot has that vaguely sexual aspect as well.

I still think that "platonic" isn't the word to describe e.g. a dog-owner relationship. But the meaning of that particular word aside, these robots are considered things and you're not supposed to have a relationship with a thing in the way you describe it. The sexual aspect is actually the least problem (if you consider them to be things). Look, everybody knows what realdolls are used for. And when somebody finds one in your wardrobe it is certainly highly embarrassing. However, if you tell people that your relationship to that doll is actually purely emotional then you really start creeping them out. I think that is how society sees the dolly-keis and the reason for the "backlash on a more intimate relationships with robots in a platonic manner" as you put it. Anything along the lines "lol, he screws his machine" is a mere afterthought.

Originally Posted by SuperKnuckles

I guess in that sense, people could overreact and treat robots harshly or excessively like we've seen in Eve so far. It makes sense, but that kind of action reeks pretty much of hypocrisy to me.

I thin most people would feel uneasy around human-like slaves. We're just wired that way through our upbringing. And that emotional reaction doesn't change just because you're intellectually 100 percent convinced that they are just machines. You're getting angry at yourself and that anger turns against said machines. Like kicking your computer after the third failed attempt to fix a bug in your code. It's not necessarily hypocrisy.

Originally Posted by SuperKnuckles

As for Chobits, though that show was more about just fooling around with robots and having ecchi fun, I think that show's underlying message isn't so different from Eve's, though this show obviously puts the psychological aspects of robotic laws at the forefront.

Depends on how you interpret the message of EnJ. But Chii being a robot is merely a plot device to explain why she is how she is. She is the slightly (well, strongly) retarded, dependent, submissive girl archetype. She is pretty much the antithesis to Akiko or Nagi.

[MercFH]

Man this anime is SOOO awesome but I hate it at the same time because you have to wait like 2 months for 15 min. but their SOOOOO good.

and it seems like the website implys their "might" be a second season? any news of this.

Im still curious how sammi and whatshisface will turn out. I think in the end he will finally understand her "feelings" and maybe thats what she wanted. I doubt it'll end up romanticly, but hey...it could. maybe Sammi is just "lonely"
and it seems at the end they talked about supression circuit, maybe that prevents them from going out and doing stuff Independently.....so we'll see where that takes us.
I JUST HOPE at the end it doesn't end up like all the robots go back to being without emotion or independence etc.. and just being like House-robots. cause I like the idea of independentness in these robots.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Yeah, thanks for mentioning Pale Cocoon. That was outstanding. It reminds me how good science fiction can be -- and how childish most anime science fiction is. Surely we would love better stuff? Wouldn't we? I guess the fact that this show has such a small following and few have even heard of Pale Cocoon means that we have gotten used to the ordinary schlock. Pale Cocoon definitely gave echoes of Voices of a Distant Star. And was about as good.

I think it's interesting that we see two guys at school having female androids and a girl having a male one. The notion of the akiba-kei (otakus) become the dori-kei, and living their lives in a kind of 3D analog of the 2D world is fairly striking. I'm imagining that the suppression circuit is to suppress human feelings in some way, that they have to put that capacity in there to enable the androids to be as intelligent as humans, but then they have to suppress it for safety's sake.

[Westlo]

Now this is really good stuff, better than anything from the Fall season. Going to watch Pale Cocoon and than rewatch the first two eps of this.

[Proudleaf]

Originally Posted by Westlo

Now this is really good stuff, better than anything from the Fall season. Going to watch Pale Cocoon and than rewatch the first two eps of this.

Agreed, this and Xam'd are much better than the fall season crop (though Casshern Sins looks promising).

Actually, I didn't realize there was a thread for this show, otherwise I would have commented on the series earlier.

Earlier in the thread, someone made a mention to the way the camera angles in the show were really interesting and dynamic. I noticed this too, and I was really impressed; it's not often that I see an anime that really makes use of varying perspectives and angles. There's even a slight hint of the characteristic "Shakey cam"--a nice cinematic effect that one wouldn't expect to find in most anime.

Blah blah blah, this show is great, keep watching it people (even if you do have to wait 2 months, it's worth it)

[G. Zeus]

Ahh... Eve no Jikan. It has this distinct flavor that I haven't really tasted before. Other stories exploring similar themes tend to inject lots of action or drama (Chobits, Blade Runner, maybe GitS, etc.) Heck, even YKK is usually solemn or melancholy whenever the issue about robot origins and sentience is brought up. Compared to those, EnJ is unusually light and colloquial.

I love how the creators seem to play with everything: music, sound effects, camera shots, character interactions, facial expressions, etc. If they could maintain the same quality for the next episodes, then I wouldn't mind the two month required to brew each serving.

[MercFH]

Yeah the "shaky" camera work, makes it seem so much more real.


and did you notice the characters actually look their age. I wonder how "old" sammy is supposed to look. In her 20's perhaps.

with that ponytail she sure is cute ^_^

oh btw guys i made a ....banner/sig thingy, it's kinda lame and crappy. but it was for my web-blog and yall can feel free to use it wherever u want
(it's crappy cause i SUCK at Photoshop but i figure i'd put it up here neways)

(it reminds me of them just looking back at each other, it's just too screenies blurred together hahaha)

[Proudleaf]

Originally Posted by MercFH

Yeah the "shaky" camera work, makes it seem so much more real.


and did you notice the characters actually look their age. I wonder how "old" sammy is supposed to look. In her 20's perhaps.

with that ponytail she sure is cute ^_^

oh btw guys i made a ....banner/sig thingy, it's kinda lame and crappy. but it was for my web-blog and yall can feel free to use it wherever u want
(it's crappy cause i SUCK at Photoshop but i figure i'd put it up here neways)

(it reminds me of them just looking back at each other, it's just too screenies blurred together hahaha)

It's very cute, nicely done.

[MercFH]

thx, it was thrown together, but heck maybe someone wants to use it ^_^

[Starburst]

Quite enjoying this series. Surprised there aren't more posts about it, it's quite well done I thought. Perhaps a bit under the radar? Or perhaps the time between releases kills it, I know it kills me waiting.

I enjoy the fact that the studio producing this is making an effort for their english audience. Infact, I'm quite happy they even acknowledge us as a market! I do however wish that it wasn't in the form of a streaming website. Or rather, if it is, had the quality fansubs tend to. Crunchyroll is certainly better than youtube, and overall acceptable. I just thought the series looked pretty enough to be higher quality. I also wish crunchyroll didn't have such a bright (white) background.

I would definitely consider purchasing this series, though, as I believe someone previously mentioned, digital copies aren't really my thing. I've purchased music on a website called Zunior.com, they even had it in FLAC. Problem was I'd never made backups and some how lost my originals. Thankfully Zunior was kind about it and allowed me to redownload (most) of the CDs I'd purchased. Something I always wondered if iTunes would allow.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make about digital copies is I lose them. I deal with so much data on my home network that I easily lose things if I'm careless because I'm hurried. I now make backups, but physical media is just so much sweeter than digital. I always feel like I have something to show for it if it's physical, where digital it's just there, on a harddrive, or CD, or DVD, and sure, those are all physical objects, and I could print out a cover and put it in a DVD case. But it never feels the same, it feels like a bootleg no matter how well I do it.

Edit: I just watched Mizu no Kotoba. Quite interesting having seen Eve no Jikan first. It's quite obviously an early version Eve no Jikan. And I now worry if it's spoiled some of Eve no Jikan for me. Regardless though, it was quite good.

[MercFH]

I really do hope they release dvd's of this series, since ill be the first to buy.

but MANNN im waiting for ep 3 it looks to be a good one, they finally get to talk about what happened hopefully

edit btw ep 3 in on crunchyroll.

SO good, i wished for more interaction between sammi.
but oh well another 3-4 months to wait for 15 min

[Fevvers]

Episode 3:

What a fun episode this was, not to mention, pretty telling with Rikuo's (and Masaki as well, I suppose) development. Can't wait to get more out of Sammy herself.

The Pale Cocoon easter egg got a smile out of me. Rikuo's sister has good taste it seems!

[Starburst]

Originally Posted by kafka

Episode 3:

What a fun episode this was, not to mention, pretty telling with Rikuo's (and Masaki as well, I suppose) development. Can't wait to get more out of Sammy herself.

The Pale Cocoon easter egg got a smile out of me. Rikuo's sister has good taste it seems!

Nice easter egg, I too smiled.

I find myself more interested in Sammy's story than before. Not that I wasn't interested then, but now it's growing interest.

I also feel like I've seen more then 3 episodes, it's kind of strange. The time between episodes seems to give me way too much time to think and imagine things I guess.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I've always loved the idea that androids are human. I mean, men used to think that women didn't count as people, and people of whatever race or nation used to think that those of others weren't quite human. But the very old-fashioned idea of a body full of wires and hydraulics is a downer for me. Something more organic would seem more plausible.

Ep3 takes us a step further. People on all sides seem to be developing. Pretty wonderful what he can do with 15 minutes. Three 15-minute episodes have given us more than half a dozen 30-minute episodes of most shows. A lot of feeling and even plot is inferred. Good point about the fact that this show is doing it without action drama, although I do think there is quiet drama going on here.

On balance, I think people are right that this is better than any fall show. But that doesn't mean those are chopped liver. It's a very good season, in my opinion: Kannagi, Kurozuka (up to ep8, anyway) and ef melodies are all inventive and excellent. Xamdo and Vampire Knight Guilty are doing what they do quite well. Toradora has some real humanity. Skip Beat is finally starting to match the manga. Mouryou no Hako has some depth. Everyone has their own preferences, but there are decent shows in many genres.

[G. Zeus]

Originally Posted by kafka

What a fun episode this was, not to mention, pretty telling with Rikuo's (and Masaki as well, I suppose) development. Can't wait to get more out of Sammy herself.

At this rate though, I wouldn't be surprised if Sammy turns out to be more aggressive than Rikuo in a relationship.

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

But the very old-fashioned idea of a body full of wires and hydraulics is a downer for me. Something more organic would seem more plausible.

I don't mind. If anything, I think organic parts would make the decision too easy for Rikuo. I believe that the emphasis here is the similarities between human and android behavior rather than their components. i.e., if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, but you know it isn't really one, would you still treat it as a duck?

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

Very interesting episode. Some nice character development with Rikou and Masakai, loved how the stories got crossed. Definately need more Sammy, my memory is vague but she is wearing the hair band because Rikous said he prefered her hair when it was down yeah?

Next episode looks like it will be a riot.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by G. Zeus

...If anything, I think organic parts would make the decision too easy for Rikuo. I believe that the emphasis here is the similarities between human and android behavior rather than their components. i.e., if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, but you know it isn't really one, would you still treat it as a duck?

Good point. Has a dramatic purpose. I still find it odd, but at least now I can see a meaning in doing it that way.

[Daniel E.]

Woot, just started to watch this and I am already quite hooked!

Amazing how I missed this show for so long!

[neshru]

Interesting series this Eve no Jikan, but there are things about it that bug me. We've seen that the androids in the cafe behave like humans, but they are nothing more than mindless bots when they are working for their masters. Why can't they behave like humans even when they are working for their masters? Interacting with them would be that much easier and better. Maybe the answer is just that people like them as mindless bots, but at this point I wonder: if that's all people want, why going as far as making them able to think, move and behave like humans (they can even blush!)? It surely would be a hell of a lot cheaper to build the mindless bots that people are fine with.

[TinyRedLeaf]

^ Those are valid criticisms, but personally, I think we're not meant to analyse those technicalities too closely. The main point of the show is to explore the theme of discrimination, particularly the increasing moral difficulty in distinguishing between humans and human-like robots.

Truth be told, I highly doubt we'd ever be able to produce such hi-fidelity artificial humans, short of melding machines with real human tissue. One can easily imagine the huge ethical minefields that would prevent such technology from being used in mass production.

Part of that instinctive revulsion against "playing God" is reflected in the ethics that govern this version of future Japan. The robots are programmed to behave like robots to prevent the line between humans and androids from blurring.

Ironically, the androids are programmed to be devoted to their masters, and as we see in the third episode of Eve no Jikan, that dedication can manifest in completely unexpected ways.

I liked the tongue-in-cheek, ecchi moments in the latest episode, but I still prefer the previous episode more. I managed to guess the third episode's ending halfway through, so I can't say I was terribly impressed. Still, Eve no Jikan remains one of the better series to turn up this year.