# Time of Eve (2008)

> In a near-future Japan where androids are treated as appliances, a high school student uncovers a café that treats humans and robots as equals.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/54358

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 6
- Episode runtime: 15 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, science fiction, drama
- Network: Niconico, Yahoo! Dōga
- Cast: Jun Fukuyama, Kenji Nojima, Yuko Sanpei, Rie Tanaka, Rina Sato, Yukana, Michio Nakao, Miki Ito
- TMDB rating: 7.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1506339/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: contemplative, gentle, wistful, surreal, melancholic

## What critics say

Audiences rate this short anime positively, valuing its thoughtful take on android personhood and its gentle, contemplative mood.

## Synopsis

Time of Eve (2008-2009) is a Japanese animated science fiction series created for Niconico and Yahoo! Dōga, a six-episode short-form anime running about fifteen minutes per episode. Set in a near-future Japan where humanlike androids have become ordinary household tools, the story follows high school student Rikuo Sakisaka (voiced by Jun Fukuyama) and his friend Masakazu Masaki (voiced by Kenji Nojima). Rikuo has been raised to see androids as convenient machines, but when he notices strange data in the behavior records of his family's android Sammy (voiced by Rie Tanaka), he and Masaki trace her movements to a hidden café. There, a house rule insists that humans and robots be treated the same, and the boys begin to question everything they assumed. The engine of the show is simple and quietly powerful: each episode is a small mystery built around an android, a customer, and the social rules that divide them. The tone is gentle and contemplative, with a melancholy undercurrent about empathy, prejudice, and what makes a person a person. Its surreal and slice of life moments give it an intimate feel, while its ideas link it to the thoughtful cyberpunk work of Ghost in the Shell and the android questions of Blade Runner. Fans of quiet, idea-driven anime will find much to reflect on in its brief runtime.

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