Summary – An ordinary moment in the postcyberpunk world changes when Rikuo is performing maintenance on his android, Sammy. Among the diagnosis numerical data he discovers a strange line of message. He wants to ask about it but he drops the question. He observes the behavior of the androids at school and then he and his friend, Masaki, to a tea/cafe place that Sammy goes to. They encounter the eccentric owner, Chie; an outgoing girl Chie, and Rikuo starts to wonder about the relationship between android and human…
Thoughts – So, Tanaka Rie plays an android again in this one and this time, the same issue gets presented as in many science fictions – can androids be human-like? Are they allowed to be human-like? Is acting like human violates the 3 basic rules for robots (as stated by Issac Issmov)? What’s the relationship between people and robots/androids supposed to be?
Eve is the mother of all humans. Akiko, the girl Rikuo and Masaki encounters in the cafe is a girl. I wonder if there are any connections? In any case, In this world, where people seem to be observed under a satellite surveillance (as shown in the beginning), replicants I mean boomers I mean androids runs around as tools for people, and they’re treated as such by most people. But one can clearly see that they’re trying to be more like a family member and show more care while not exposing their emotional abilities. the only person who has a clue about that is Chie, the owner of the Eve no Jikan cafe. In the cafe, one cannot tell apart androids and humans, because the androids there don’t have a status halo above their heads.
A blade runner-esque emotional test is given to someone in the cafe, but that person ends up responding in a sweet sort of way, talking about understanding each other (humans and androids) as a family. This world is definitely postcyberpunk, where technology is helpful and even tries to be a part of the humanity. Whether that’s actually a good thing is remain to be seem.
The all star-seiyuu cast this show has amazes me and this show being only 15 minutes certainly makes it easier to digest. More issues to follow under this rather warm atmosphere, I’m sure. The music change can be abrupt sometimes. Unless it goes the route of shocking anime, I doubt this will be anything but a fuzzy and warm intellectual exercise.
Argh, you beat me to posting about this by a matter of seconds! 😛 In all seriousness though, this is a great post. I loved this episode – there is a very strong Blade Runner feel to it, albeit in a lighter and more everyday kind of way, but the possibilities for ethical and social questioning are exciting.
The artwork is better than Pale Cocoon’s was (which was quite melancholic and gritty, it has to be said) but the quirkiness reminds me of the director’s first effort, Aquatic Language.
I can’t wait to see how this one turns out…looks like there’s something really worth watching this season after all.
Yep, this is probably going to turn out to be the surprisingly clever and thoughtful show of the season (without going through the intellectual depth of Kaiba).