"Time of Eve" is a special anime. It was originally conceived as a six-part ONA ("original net animation"), released exclusively online in 2008, at a time when independent artists and filmmakers were beginning to take full advantage of a new audience on the Internet. Thanks to a crowdfunded Kickstarter campaign, the series was edited into a feature film and released on home video in North America and abroad, complete with a new English dub. It's a great success story. The director, Yashuhiro Yoshiura, had already gained a reputation with his short film "Pale Cocoon," bundled with his first short "Aquatic Language" on the "Time of Eve" Bluray for easy access. Throw in the film's soundtrack, and the still easily available home video release is a must buy. The director would go on to direct a second feature film called "Patema Inverted," another creative undertaking, although he hasn't been particularly active in the years after. There are two main themes that director Yoshiura seems to rely on: science fiction tales of longing and meloncholy, and an inventive visual style involving first-person perspectives of characters walking through the environment of 2D characters. The latter in particular makes his work unique and worth watching. His stories are also full of fascinating ideas, although they mostly tend to be exactly that: ideas, rather than full stories unto themselves. That does make "Time of Eve" an imperfect project, but still an impressive one for its independent background.The story takes place is the future, where human-like androids become commonplace. Despite their appearance, they are treated purely as applicances, and societal laws keep things that way. Humans are meant to treat androids as property, androids cannot display excessive emotion or desires, and both must display what they are clearly in public. Rikuo thinks nothing of the situation until he notices his home robot, Sammy, has been going somewhere during the day. After following her, he discovers "The Time of Eve," an underground cafe with its own rule: humans and robots cannot discriminate each other. Their status rings are removed, and everyone simply relaxes and enjoys their tea and coffee. At first, Rikuo is taken aback by the idea, but slowly begins to understand the perspective of the different clientele. And there are so many ideas to discuss! Robot technology has gotten advanced enough that without their rings, it's hard to tell who is human and who isn't. But does it matter? Is there any reason that one should be treated differently than the other? Should robots fall in love with each other? Should robots and humans be able to be romantic with each other? Have children? Hold jobs? What about older robots that don't fully look like humans? Rikuo and his friend Masazaku are understandably immature about the idea at first (both are young teenage boys who never considered the ideas before), but find it harder and harder to deny that modern laws outside the cafe seem silly to prevent robots from the same rights as humans. The themes are forever relevant in our real society, and make for a good science-fiction topic. Like how "Ghost in the Shell" asks if robots can have souls, but from a more human perspective. 
Again, this is mostly an exercise in philosophy rather than a concrete story. There are some dramamtic moments the plot leads to, but it doesn't feel certain that the characters are in a different place at the end than they were at the beginning. To its credit, the fact that these were originally separate episodes isn't too noticeable, and I had a fine time watching it as a film. The music and acting is good, but more in a relaxing vibe rather than moving. This is set almost entirely in a cafe, after all. Is it such a bad thing to not have a story in a movie? "Time of Eve" is a lovely and relaxing science fiction piece, well suited for those wanting to get away from violence and guns. It makes you think without stating ideas that are too involving or complex. If nothing else, the home video release is a fantastic collection for animation fans to appreciate, but I do think the main movie deserves a little more credit than that.