EVE no Jikan: 04 – The Right to Know

Another outstanding episode that’s really worth the wait . Eve no Jikan is just plain GENIUS.

Conversations in this series is done in a very interesting way. We all know that the forte of this show is their unique way on using the camera, as if they’re hand-held, or you’re peeking through a character’s eyes. Anyway, I want to see more of Rikuo and Sammy, they look cute together, and I don’t care if Rikuo’s getting Dori-kei XD.

A new character, Kayo, who seems to be interested in Rikuo’s friend Masaki enters the scene. We can’t say anything more from her though, except that she looks really interested in Masaki. Probably in the next episode we’ll get to see more of her since she was seen staring at him while he’s in the corridor on the last part of the episode.

Masaki and Rikuo encounter a nameless robot in the cafe. Being already an old model manufactured eight years ago, the Rikuo and Masaki can’t help but to slightly disobey the rule of the cafe that implements balance amongst humans and robots. They can’t stop laughing on how the robot acts, since it’s old and shaky already. Nagi, the cafe owner, teaches them again that everything’s balanced inside the cafe, humans or androids.

I really love how this episode adds a partial slapstick comedy. Everything works out really perfectly and it gave me a few giggles. I guess the use of the camera helps as well. Even though it can get quite err… nauseous for others, I find it really creative. Plus added with Rikuo and Masaki’s priceless expression of shock and panic, this episode is a total fun-filled one.

The robot is totally funny. Their conversations are really repetitive and how he says his name is a total ouch on the ears (really). When he also plans to drink the coffee, Rikuo and Masaki’s at total panic because they’re scared that he might explode, but it ended up the the robot has some kind of water dispenser.

Well, the coffee might not make it explode but old robot is still old, and it malfunctions a LOT.

Added with a psychopathic kid who broke Nameless’ foot, everyone’s at total panic now that the robot might be destroyed in a second.

Another thing that EVE no Jikan delivered is the robot’s “eyesight”. We get to see how Nameless sees as well. Not only that, because as a robot, he has his features like flashback replays, and data scanning.

Nameless has been too overloaded, and he simply explodes and die. It’s a really heart-striking scene, even for a death of a trashy robot. When he almost recovers the data of his real name, as well as the face of the kid that took care of him, that happened where he already died.

From a very funny upper half of the episode, the mood suddenly shifted to melancholic when Nameless died, and Nagi comes to hold him tight. Nuuu~!!!

Masaki seems to act really weird when he saw Nagi clinging in to the robot.

Since Masaki’s another mysterious character as well in this series in terms of background, he might have a background in relation to robots. We know that he doesn’t have an android at home, but he might have a reason for that. He did have some character development when he acted as if the robot’s demise is nothing.

And last but not the least when it regards to the mystery in this show is Nagi herself. There are countless questions that really needs to be answered. Her idea of the cafe, her care for the robots, and most of all, if she’s a real human or an android as well.

This has got to be one of the most outstanding episode I’ve watched so far this year, regarding it’s only a 15 minute-ONA. It turns from hilarious to mysterious to bittersweet melancholy. While we are all laughing at the absurdity and humor of this episode, the final part of it changes it all away. We get to know that the nameless robot was abandoned, and all memory stored in him was deleted. I know you may all say that “It’s just a crappy robot anyway” but to me, this episode signifies what society is already. The robot represents the disabled or weak people, while the two protagonists represents us, normal ones. We may be laughing or get disgusted by poor people we find on the street, without knowing their stories, or how they have gotten through their lives.

I seriously can wait for the next episode. I don’t know when the next one will air but I don’t care waiting for a long time since this show has quality, genuity  and excellent story-telling.

Next page are the screencaps~

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