Some things feel like inevitability due to hindsight. The human fascination with the unknown tends to spark real-world exploration, which is why the science-fiction adventure tale Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne (published 1870), were it written today, might not be considered sci-fi by today’s standards as the submarine in which the tale takes place is very much possible. All science in that tech, no fiction. Stories like Verne’s require recontextualization via new standards, but it’s not likely that Verne himself is going to make himself available to chat about what he thinks of his story in light of such incredible technological advancements. Instead, we need to look to storytellers of today to examine their works in light of new developments like artificial intelligence (A.I.), such as writer/director Yasuhiro Yoshiura and his 2009 webtoon series Time of EVE, combined in 2010 for the theatrical release Time of EVE: The Movie. Some 15 years later, an anniversary edition of Time of EVE is coming available through mediaOCD’s AnimEigo division in both a standard and extremely limited edition that includes the full feature, the individual episodes, two shorts from Yoshiura, and much more.
At an undisclosed time in the future, the use of androids and robots as household devices is commonplace, though not widely-accepted by all of society. Those who have them tend to treat them like objects, tools, while those who distrust them utilize fear-mongering to encourage potential users to keep their distance. Somewhere in the middle resides high schooler Rikuo (voiced by Jun Fukuyama) who is reticent to admit how he views the household android in his home (voiced by Rie Tanaka), but is prompted to explore these feelings when he decides to visit a place on its travelogue that wasn’t part of a directive: a café called Time of EVE run by the enigmatic Nagi (voiced by Rina Sato). Bringing his classmate Masaki (voiced by Kenji Nojima) with him, Nagi repeatedly comes to the café to better understand its patrons, not realizing how the experience may reshape their futures in the process.
With this being a 15th anniversary edition, let’s dive into the two options to purchase, what’s included and what’s not, before exploring the film.
First, there are two versions AnimEigo is offering: the standard complete collection and the deluxe Kickstarter edition. The review copy provided by MVD Entertainment Group is the standard complete collection (referred to as “standard edition” from here onward), so what follows is fully confirmed as part of the release.
The standard edition includes the film in subtitled and dubbed editions (across roughly 10 languages), the original web series edition (optional as play all or individual sections); two short films — Aquatic Language and Pale Cocoon — in original Japanese and English dubbed (though Pale Cocoon includes French and German dubs, along with an interview with Yoshiura) and trailers for both; five archived interviews with the main four voice actors and Yoshiura; a brand-new retrospective 16-minute interview between Yoshiura and Matt Schley in September 2024; and a great deal of various archived materials (behind the scenes content, opening day event content, trailers, audio commentary, and a sign gallery). If you’ve been a fan of Time of EVE since its 2009 online release, the standard edition should feel deeply satisfying with everything that it entails from the option to watch the episodes in their original singular format, one after the other, or all as one; the two other works by Yoshiura that continue his philosophical storytelling style; and the deep-dives into the making of the film. The really interesting portion is the new interview with Schley as the unseen interviewer asks Yoshiura about the legacy of the film, the filmmaker’s view on A.I. as it exists today, and how he approaches filmmaking and storytelling now compared to when he first released Time of EVE. Given the complex feelings surrounding A.I. right now as a waste of natural resources, a reductive tool for artistic creation (steals from existing works by artists rather than creating unique works), and a tool for corporate financial achievement rather than actually solving real problems, hearing Yoshiura contextualize his thoughts on technology and the café space of the story is particularly fascinating.
From the official mediaOCD page, the deluxe edition also includes specialty packaging, the soundtrack on CD, a book, the archived interviews, two shorts, and various language options; however, it does not include the individual web episodes or the new interview.
TIME OF EVE deluxe edition. Photo courtesy of mediaOCD.
As a feature film, Time of EVE is, at times, captivating in the complex ideas it presents while also being frustratingly incomplete. This world is a detailed fiction built upon a foundation where stories like Blade Runner (1982) exist, as does author Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics (first put into the public square by Asimov in his 1942 short story “Runaround”), implying that EVE takes place in a future of now. Considering the anti-android organization known as the Ethics Committee (think of them as the robotic moral majority with the appropriate hypocrisy thrown in) uses marketing strategies that imply a danger between something as straight-forward as robot-picked fruit and hand-picked fruit, this world could easily be super-imposed on our own. This is all to say that Yoshiura’s EVE isn’t a Frankenstein-esque story in which we’re watching the birth of life, an aspect he references through various brief flashbacks or character commentary, and more a tale of life after androids are largely incorporated into humanity. This allows Yoshiura to explore something else entirely about the relationship between humanity and machine: whether or not machine’s possess humanity and what does it mean to question it.
Using the aforementioned Blade Runner as a reference point, the way the café functions is to ensure that all who shop there are not allowed to engage in any discrimination between either human or robot and any visiting robots must turn off the ring that floats above their head, meaning that any guest is a robot or a human but no one can ever really know for sure. Act 4, titled “NAMELESS,” involves a malfunctioning early model robot who comes to the café and tells everyone its an eight-year-old child; to argue with it would be to break the rules of the café. Is the scene emotional because the robot is desperately battling the damage to its memory that prevents it from remembering its name or the face of the child it cared for or because Rikuo and Masaki (still coming to terms with robots possessing autonomy beyond their programming) must obey the rules of the café in order to be allowed to continue as customers but also to ensure the robot doesn’t violently burst by breaking its reality. On the one hand, of course one doesn’t want to be hurt by a steel and chrome machine struggling to control itself as its functions wind down; but, on the other, there’s something altogether human, akin to someone suffering from mental degradation, about the way that the unnamed machine (voiced by Unsho Ishizuka) struggles adamantly against the violent erasure of who it was and those it cared for. The propaganda we’re shown from the Ethics Committee and that are regurgitated by Rikuo and Masaki, especially in the early parts of the film, imply that androids and robots can never be human, but Yoshiura depicts a world in which following the three laws and following one’s programming toward emotion and connection is permissible through the willful contextualization of the rules. In the same way my eldest child might tell me that he “cleaned up all the water” when I asked him to clean up a mess in the bathroom, he’s telling me that he did clean up, but perhaps not all of it. His answer is correct, even if it’s not right in comparison to the requested action that was asked. If children can be understood to read through the rules, why not robotics? This is what makes Yoshiura’s EVE so intriguing as a whole work.
Where it frustrates, however, is in the fact that it starts with a mystery that we’re never given the answer to. Someone is sending out information or updates to the robotic community and it seems to be traced back to a Dr. Shiotsuki, but we don’t fully understand who this person is, who Shiotsuki is, or the connection between them and the Ethics Committee. Similarly, the Ethics Committee is set up as a large big bad (and they are), but their involvement in the big climax of the film is much smaller than one might think, it opting to focus on Masaki’s arc and his own complicated relationship with robotics than the bigger conspiracy of removing robotics altogether from society. We do at least get the contextual information that explains that Shiotsuki somehow is connected to the code that’s being sent out, but it’s never explicitly stated how or the intent. Instead, only by doing research on the 15-year-old story was I able to fill in a few of the gaps regarding Nagi, Shiotsuki, and other elements of the narrative.
Less of a frustration but good to know all the same, if you make it to the end of the central story of EVE, make sure to stay through the credits as a still-photo backstory is provided for Nagi, followed by a briefly animated sequence that seems to imply an incoming continuation. This is likely more to suggest that, like life, things continue past the end of one story, but it could also be interpreted as more from Yoshiura to come. As of now, there don’t appear to be reports of a new story coming.
As someone who loves The Matrix (1999), delving into the philosophical nature of the intersection of humanity and technology is an exciting prospect. That Yoshiura’s Time of EVE is primarily a character-driven tale, lacking action sequences in the traditional view, focusing on interaction and conversation to cultivate drama impresses for how well it holds one’s attention. It doesn’t necessarily inspire any new arguments or ideas as any other techno-tale from the last 25+ years, but the way it uses the ideas within it does at least inspire conversation to continue. In terms of this new physical release, between the quality on-disc presentation and all the materials included, if you’re a fan of Yoshiura’s work, you’re not going to be disappointed by the pick-up. Ultimately, when it comes to an anniversary release, especially one that’s quite niche in tone and material, what matters is whether or not its fans will be happy to finally add it to their collection. This feels like an easy “yes.”
Time of EVE Special Features:
- Feature film version (dubbed and subtitled)
- Original 6-episode internet series (subtitled)
- Short Films “Pale Cocoon” and “Aquatic Language”
- Vintage interviews with voice actors Jun Fukuyama, Kenji Nojima, Rie Tanaka, Rina Sato
- Vintage interview with Writer/Director Yasuhiro Yoshiura
- *NEW* Retrospective interview with Writer/Director Yasuhiro Yoshiura (16:15)
- Behind-The-Scenes Featurette
- Opening day footage
- Audo Commentary
- Sign Gallery
- Trailers
Available on Blu-ray December 10th, 2024.
For more information, head to the official mediaOCD Time of EVE webpage.
To purchase, head to the official MVD Entertainment Group Time of EVE webpage.
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Categories: Films To Watch, Home Release, Recommendation
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