Sunday, August 16, 2009

Eve no Jikan


As of the time I wrote the review of this series, there is only one episode that has not been released yet which mean I have watched the other 5 episodes. The reason I did not wait for the series to complete is simply because I am too damn impressed by it. It wouldn't matter anyway. A gem is a gem after all.

Eve no Jikan is an ONA produced by Studio Rikka and directed by Yasuhiro Yoshiura, who by the way, owned the studio. Naturally, with a guy of his talent, Eve no Jikan does not disappoint. If you don't know how talented he is, he has been compared to Makoto Shinkai, who was responsible for Voices of the Distant Star, 5 Centimeters Per Second and The Place Promised in Our Early Days. That itself speaks volume of his talent and explained why do I have such a high regard for Eve no Jikan.

Eve no Jikan tells the story of a (not so distant) future where humans are living with android. It is a name of a cafe where you can't discriminate androids and treat them as equal. Not that you can tell who is an android and who isn't since they didn't where their 'halo' inside the cafe. Two teenage boys, Rikuo and Masaki often visited the cafe and most of the stories evolved around these two boys.

The story progresses nicely and actually makes you think of what would you do if you are living in that future, which lets be honest, is totally plausible given the technology growth and change. Even though it is a science fiction, it is not overly futuristic. There are some hilarious moments. I remember in episode 4 where this robot walks into the cafe and start behaving so ridiculously retarded. It was fucking hilarious. It also touches some of the more serious issue. I shuddered at the thought of androids getting their independece. For a 15 minutes per episode, the story runs pretty deep.

I have no complains for the sound effects. It was perfectly composed to complement the anime. The voice actors does a good job at it too. Everyone is in character and no one sounds obnoxious.

Even no Jikan has a certain charming originality to it and has diplay quality that is rather rare in anime nowadays. The digital painting fascinates me and I like how they utilized the camera-like imitation to make the story feel more real.

Eve no Jikan is like a breath of fresh air. I wish it happens more often than once in every two months.



Graphics 9/10
Sound 9/10
Storyline 9/10
Characters 9/10
Enjoyment 9/10
Overall 9/10

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I agree. This is an outstanding show. Check out his earlier anime, Pale Cocoon, which is also excellent and deep. Real science fiction.