Time of Eve: The Movie

FINAL REVIEW: http://www.cheshirecatstudios.com/revie ... the-movie/

As naïve as it may sound on my part, at times I honestly believe it’s fate that I’ve ended up as a contributor at this freakish madhouse known as Cheshire Cat Studios. How come, you ask? Simple. It’s ‘cos there’s just so much me and the rest of the, hmph, ‘residents’ have in common. For instance, much like my good friends and fellow contributors LaughingMan and Kenny Farino, I’m not very fond of anime. Actually, let’s not mince words, shall we? I think most of it is crap. Look, nothing personal, ok, anime fans? It’s just not my cup of tea, that’s all. For the most part, that is. Yes, you see, over the years—and partially thanks to our good pal and resident anime expert, ONOE—I’ve been exposed to a number of peculiar titles, some of which, I must confess, I not only thoroughly enjoyed but can also recommend to others as examples of outstanding and superb story-telling, pacing, atmosphere, character development, animation, etc., if need be. Indeed, Hellsing, Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Higurashi no Naku, Death Note, Black Lagoon — these are the aforementioned noteworthy titles that have convinced me that anime, just like any other medium, has its own array of hidden gems which are a) unlike anything you’ve ever seen before, and b) totally worth the time you’ll spend digging through all the generic, lackluster trash that makes up ninety-nine percent of all anime just to discover them. Well, guess what, folks? I’ve just found another one! Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present Time of Eve: The Movie — possibly one of the most intellectual, thought-provoking, yet ultimately heartwarming feature-length films I’ve seen in quite a while.

Alright, alright. Seeing as how all your jaws have just hit the floor after I, Cheshire Cat Studios’ most callous, inexorable cynic, admitted to liking a film which at first glance seems like your average insipid anime junk—complete with the usual excessive amounts of strained high school melodrama and snot bubbles—that I had publicly censured only a few sentences ago, looks like I’ve got some explaining to do. I… I honestly can’t remember how I first learned about Time of Eve: The Movie (you’ll understand why I keep tagging along the film’s subtitle soon enough, I promise), but I do know I’ve wanted to see this movie badly for a long, long time. You see, the film deals with one of my all-time favorite recurring themes in science fiction: human-robot interaction. You know, Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, humans losing touch with their humanity and becoming more and more like machines, while the latter, in their turn, develop emotions and learn how to feel — that kind of stuff. However, unlike most other movies that pretend to explore this interesting, fertile topic, only to use it as an excuse for a huge mind-numbing, special-effects heavy ‘Man Vs. Machine’ battle at the end (yes, I’m looking at you, I, Robot), Time of Eve: The Movie promises to provide a fresh, never before seen take on the subject that’ll force the viewer to rethink the answer to the ultimate, eternal question: “What makes us human?” Well, does it? Yes. Yes, it does — and how!

Having said that, it is important to understand that Time of Eve: The Movie is no Blade Runner or Ghost in the Shell — two renowned, critically acclaimed science fiction films that share a similar motif. It doesn’t have the same grandiose scope; there’s certainly not as much action, if any at all; and what’s even more important, while all the aforesaid profound, thought-provoking themes are undoubtedly present in the movie, they’re never directly pointed out or overtly discussed by the characters like in the case of the previously mentioned two sci-fi classics. On the contrary, it seems like instead of bold-facedly imposing their own values and morality upon the viewer, as is so often the case with this kind of movies, the creators of Time of Eve: The Movie have opted to just tell an engaging, fascinating story and let us, the audience, formulate our own conclusions. Quite an audacious decision worthy of admiration, don’t you think? However, the important question is: “Does it pay off?” Maybe. Then again, maybe not. In any case, I guess you’ll just have to keep on reading the review to find out!
...and you thought your man was a cold-hearted, abusive prick, ladies.

The story of Time of Eve: The Movie is rather simple, actually, yet at the same time, nothing short of brilliant. Rikuo Sakisaka, an ordinary Japanese high school student, has been indifferent to robots for most of his life. To him they’ve never been anything more than mere everyday realities of his time, just another piece of advanced, sophisticated technology created for the sole purpose of making his life easier if you will. One day, however, the lad notices that his family’s household android, Sammy, hasn’t been acting like herself of late; disobeying direct orders and even sneaking out of the house without permission on a daily basis. Bemused (but mostly indignant, though) by this, he checks her activity logs, only to find a cryptic message in place of the usual set of numbers and data. The said message reads: “Are you enjoying the Time of Eve?” Needless to say, this mystery intrigues him. After all, it’s not like Sammy to neglect her duties and do whatever the hell she wants. Hell, it’s not like any robot to behave like that!

Determined to get to the bottom of this conundrum, Rikuo, along with his best friend, Masakazu Masaki, tracks down Sammy's footsteps which, strangely enough, lead him to the threshold of an unusual café called, shockingly, “The Time of Eve.” Now, what sets this place apart from other similar joints is its main rule that the barista, Nagi, informs the Hardy Boys of as soon as they set foot into the café. “No discrimination against humans and robots,” she says. At first Rikuo and Masaki think this is some kind of bad joke; after all, they haven’t seen a single robot since the two entered the place, so she can’t be serious, can she? However, after seeing the android who had entered the café only seconds before them sitting at a table opposite of theirs, casually drinking coffee and having a chit-chat with another customer, the two’s sphincters clench so hard that if you were to insert a pencil in there, it’d shatter into pieces from the high pressure. Oh, but it gets worse! You see, not only does the android in question behave like a normal human being, but he also has his holographic halo (i.e., the only possible way to visually distinguish man from machine, for the uninitiated) turned off. And in case you haven’t guessed it, that’s kind of big taboo for them. Not only that, but if this bloke, whom the pair would’ve never even suspected had they not seen his ‘true form’ beforehand, turned out to be an android, what’s to say the rest of the café’s clients aren’t machines pretending to be humans as well?

It’s hard to tell whether it was morbid curiosity or just paralyzing fear, but for some reason Rikuo and Masaki didn’t storm out of the place screaming about the impending invasion of machines like a bunch of deranged lunatics the moment they had realized the truth. On the contrary, not only did the two of them decide to stay, but they’ve also taken upon themselves to attend “The Time of Eve” every day until the two wannabe sleuths get a clear idea of what’s really going on in this accursed place. And this is when the film gets real good, my darlings. 'Cos for the next hour or so we, the audience, will become witness to genuine character growth on Rikuo and Masaki's side, as the two get to know all the regulars a little better, learn about their pasts, views on close human-robot relationships, and, eventually, realize that, you know, perhaps humans and androids aren't all that different after all. Sure, at the end of the day it's just the two of them for now, while the rest of the world remains as cold and indifferent towards Sammy and her kind. But hey, where there's one there are bound to be more, right? All that is needed is time. And that's the general idea of Time of Eve: The Movie — that perhaps, one day, we, humans, will finally get rid of all of our prejudices and leave in peace with other species, be they either organic or mechanical. A little cheesy and, perhaps, even naïve, yes. Still, one can hope...
Could you honestly tell that more than half of these people are not human?

Whelp, since everyone seems to have long since stopped giving a toss about the "No Posting Till Done" rule, I figured I might as well share bits and pieces of the review I've been working on but couldn't finish due to lack of free time for the last month or so. What has been posted is the part of the review I've fully thought through and am a hundred percent confident in, while the rest (e.g., criticism of visuals, audio, music, etc.) is still on sticky notes, waiting for me to turn it into a coherent, intelligible read.

Oh well. Have at what's available, you savage beasts.

Pretty much

I'll give this a read when I'm in the safety and comfort of my home. God knows the last thing I want is to be looking at anything remotely anime related at work. LOL

Understandable. Though, like I've said, Time of Eve isn't your average insipid anime junk, despite what the art style might've insinuated. You see, what made this movie really stand out for me was the scene when...


Yeah, it did come pretty much out of nowhere, but hey, if anime had more unexpected moments like that, I would've been the biggest weaboo on Earth!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAH. THAT is exactly why we should still be doing DVR!

So unexpected scenes of gay sex in anime would make you a weeaboo?

.... ummmm...... Not gonna go there....


We DID go there. Episode 1 of DVR, remember? Exact same joke.
http://www.cheshirecatstudios.com/Dante ... sode-1.php
In fact, I remember DVR being entirely based on I think it was the Devil May Cry 3 review thread where things... got out of hand...

*Sigh* When I said "unexpected," I was both referring to the image under the spoiler and seemingly continuing my serious train of though on how this movie is different from the rest, 'cos if I were to end my message there, the trap would've been even more obvious than it already was. C'mon, dude. The least you could've done was call me an asshole for spoiling your appetite or something; now you've just sucked out all the fun.


Pretty much. Only a) the "action" took place in the shower, and b) Rau wasn't even trying to conceal the fact he's showing perverted DeviantArt (yup, where do you think I found that image? ) porn.

Keep at it CineMax, things are getting uncomfortably quiet around here lately with the lack of updates and all.

Yes-sir! Next I'm planning to drop a few lines about the characters, 'cos while the story itself is, like I've said, nothing short of brilliant in its simplicity, in my opinion it's the characters that really make Time of Eve such an inspiring, cheerful experience. I'm not going to go all "wiki mode" and post pictures along with a short bio and the name of the voice actors portraying them like I did in my Spartacus review, though, if you don't mind.

That's fine, less chance of getting the voice actors wrong.