Time of Eve

Eve no Jikan on Crunchyroll

Nick — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:02:42 -0500

I was just thinking of Eve no Jikan (Time of Eve) when I saw this announcement on Anime News Network:

Crunchyroll to Premiere Time of Eve in English/French

posted on 2008-09-23 15:48 EDT

1st 2 acts of Yasuhiro Yoshiura's sci-fi anime to debut online on October 2

The Crunchyroll video-sharing website and the media production company Directions, Inc. have announced that Crunchyroll will premiere Yasuhiro Yoshiura's Time of Eve (Eve no Jikan) anime series in English and French in North America and Europe on October 2. Yoshiura and Studio Rikka — the creators of the Mizu no Kotoba and Pale Cocoon anime — developed this "non-hard science-fiction" story about everyday life in a future Japan populated by robots and life-like androids.

The first two acts of the series will be available on October 2 at 1:00 a.m. PT through advertising-supported streaming and through a download-to-own (DTO) option without digital rights management (DRM). Crunchyroll also plans to host a live question-and-answer session with Yoshiura this November.

The first act of Time of Eve had already been streamed for free in Japanese in August, but not the second act. (In the linked page, select "Movie" from the top menu and then select "Act 01: Akiko.")

Image © Yasuhiro Yoshiura/Directions, Inc.

I'd still rather download and watch the series on my TV setup, but this is a good way to give exposure (and a handy1 link to interested viewers) to Yasuhiro Yoshiura's latest work.

UPDATE 09-24-2008: Author highlighted one part of this deal that I had glossed over earlier, from the claim in the article about Crunchyroll offering “a download-to-own (DTO) option without digital rights management (DRM).” If this is truly the case, and I can just stream the downloaded file through TVersity to my living room setup, I'll probably just purchase the episodes off of Crunchyroll as they come out. I'll try it out with the first episode, since it's only 2 dollars per episode (Not sure what the badge bonus is about, but I don't need ipod or PSP versions either).

UPDATE 09-24-2008 Part 2: Boo! The stream requires an account to view it. It's harder to float the link out to people (most of who won't have a Crunchyroll account) to get people to check it out this way, even if registering on the site is free.

UPDATE 09-30-2008: Yay! I just checked, and it looks like you can watch this streamed now without having to be logged in.

1. Legal, in other words

Time of Eve screenshot

Nick — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:37:46 -0500

Androids and Witches

Nick — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:27:14 -0500

A couple of things to note.

Eve no Jikan

Being that I have enjoyed Yasuhiro Yoshiura's previous work that I imported it from Japan, you would think that I would be paying better attention to his newest work when it is finally available for me to watch it. Fortunately, Martin was on the ball and wrote up his impressions of the first 15 minute episode.

How did I take the first episode of the ONA Eve no Jikan (Time of Eve)? Well, it really shouldn't be a surprise that I thought it was an enjoyable short episode that hints of greater things to come. It definitely has its links from Yoshiura's earlier short, Mizu no Kotoba (Aquatic Language), including the reference of the Three Laws of Robotics from Isaac Asimov's Robot Series books1

I'm definitely going to try to keep a better eye out for new episodes as they are released.

Tweeny Witches

I had ordered the first three volumes of this series with a silly name (titled Mahou Shoujo Tai Arusu in Japan) for a couple of reasons: I'm a fan of Studio 4°C, the animation production company behind the series, and I found it to be a damn good anime. I am currently rewatching the series for the fourth time now, though this time with the English dub, which I find to be fairly well done for the series. I can't wait to get the fourth DVD when it comes out as it is an OVA that contains episodes that I haven't seen yet.

Eugene Woodbury has a pretty nice discussion about the storyline and proclaimed that "Tweeny Witches is the un-Harry Potter, getting right everything it gets wrong." I do see his point, though I think he's being a bit harsh on Harry Potter. I do agree that the moral complexities and plot twists in Tweeny Witches are much better and more believable than those in the Harry Potter books.

And finally, I'll have to do a recommendation of Tweeny Witches to Fledge. Despite the unusual animation style2 and the Tim Burton-esce storyline and world, I think it might be pretty close to his own tastes.

1. I had recently read I, Robot, with no small thanks to Mizu no Kotoba's mention of the Three Laws of Robotics. I don't know if actually reading the books will bring more insight into the Eve no Jikan series, but it sure wouldn't hurt.
2. with "distinctly substandard" character animation, according to some. I like the character animations myself; my beef with the technicalities of the series is with direction: I think there's way too much off-screen dialog and action, and the series often skip forward without any transition. These issues are discussed in Anime News Network's review of the first DVD.

Pale Birthday

Nick — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:05:37 -0500

Wabi Sabi's post on the trailer of Yasuhiro Yoshiura's Time of Eve reminded me to search for a DVD of Yoshiura's earlier works. And found it I did on CDJapan. The R2 DVD does come with English subtitles (and Aquatic Language on the DVD comes with English dubbing) and I have a region-free DVD player, so no worries there.

So for a birthday present to myself (getting to the ancient age of 29 this Sunday), I decided to order the R2 DVD. Besides, I've liked Pale Cocoon enough that I feel I should at least own a real copy of it.

Martin has said everything I probably would have said about Pale Cocoon, so go there to read about it.

Here's the trailer of Yoshiura's new film, Eve no Jikan (Time of Eve; I've also seen it titled Are you enjoying the time of EVE?):

I do agree with Wabi Sabi; the visuals and atmosphere in this trailer energize the Makoto Shinkai fanboy in me. I do hope the film delivers on that, too. I see info that it's been released, but I haven't been able to score a copy of it anywhere.

And here's the English dub version for Aquatic Language.

UPDATE: Got an email from CDJapan that my order shipped yesterday, June 8, 2008 (On a Sunday?), and my previous order took 10 days from when they emailed me the shipment notice to when it arrived at my house. I'll probably will be getting Pale Cocoon next week, though the email claimed 4-12 days delivery.