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Eve no Jikan - 02: Nagi, Robot or Human?

Posted by blissmo 12 October 2008 7 Comments

A fruit will always stay a fruit.

Do you remember the last time you had a dish that was so good you could barely describe the taste? Well, Eve no Jikan is just that: indescribable. I think I might just begin with how brilliantly woven the second episode is when it comes to letting the audience feel. And it’s not just any feeling, like infatuation or self-pity, but it’s almost as if this entire series plans on taking us to a whole new level of emotion. Unlike your average sci-fic anime where robots are defined as either good or bad, Eve no Jikan shares a story of artificial life trying to be—well—human.

Although some may argue that the quick camera movements were displeasing, I thoroughly enjoyed the episode as a whole, especially since we delved into another and much deeper side to Sammy. In response to Martin’s question of whether or not Nagi is human given her motherly role in the film, I get the impression she’s a robot. For me, this series radiates a sweet yet melancholy vibe; after all, can man-made creations really be perceived as life? This is the question Eve no Jikan continuously poses (or so far in the two episodes we’ve seen), therefore it will only be more “befitting” if Nagi was an android all along. Martin wouldn’t be the only one to shed a tear if that was the case.

Furthermore, I really enjoyed the light humour towards the middle with Chie pretending to be a cat and then stealing Rikuo’s glasses, and Sammy’s smile at the end of the episode when Rikuo compliment her coffee. If androids are slowly becoming more and more human, the plot will probably involve robots being opposed of by a secret organisation, or androids being accepted in society as humans. Right now, there’s no definitive answer of where this series is headed, but I’m still loving it nevertheless and cannot wait for the next episode!

7 Comments »

kanzeon said:

This is definitely a good series. The 2-month wait was worth it.

# 12 October 2008 at 1:53 am

Martin said:

*sigh* it took me days to get my thoughts on this into a coherent post so yeah, it’s hard to put something of such quality into words. I agree with kanzeon though - two months seems like a long time but there’s so much to think about and looking at how much attention to detail goes into the art and dialogue, I’m not surprised it’s taking this long!

Is Nagi an android? I’m still not sure. Sasa put a good argument forward that suggests she isn’t but I can still remember the similar character in Aquatic Language, which gave a real twist towards the end. An alternative theory (which relies on making assumptions about stuff we don’t know yet) is that the Time of Eve and its proprietor are some form of experiment into human/android relations or simply observing androids outside of their working lives, which might need an android on hand around the clock to observe them. Alternatively, Nagi doesn’t necessarily need to be an android to be working on a research project like that…that’s still a bit of a hazy idea though, since it only occured to me after reading your post!

The ep #3 preview seems to be taking the story into a more romantic direction, which I guess is building on the idea of friendship and understanding (or lack of) that was addressed in this one. Roll on December! ^_^

# 12 October 2008 at 3:38 am

bakaneko said:

So, this is basically the brighter version of Casshern Sins, where robots are forced to come to terms with the meaning of humanity from a much darker perspective—mortality.

# 12 October 2008 at 10:15 am