General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Time of Eve (イヴの時間)

Time of Eve (イヴの時間, Eve no Jikan) is a Japanese science fiction anime about androids and human society, created, written, and directed by Yasuhiro Yoshiura. It began as a six-episode original net animation (ONA) web-released from August 2008 to September 2009, and was re-edited with new scenes into a 106-minute theatrical film released on March 6, 2010.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Format	Six-episode ONA web series (August 2008 to September 2009), later re-edited into a theatrical film¹^•³
Director	Yasuhiro Yoshiura (original story, screenplay, storyboard, CG, sound direction)¹
Studios	Animation by Studio Rikka; produced by DIRECTIONS; film distributed by Asmik Ace¹
Premise	In a future Japan where androids are treated as household appliances, high schooler Rikuo follows his household android Sammy's logs to a cafe whose rule is that no distinction is made between humans and androids¹
Web viewership	Over 3 million cumulative views across the six web episodes⁴
Theatrical film	Released March 6, 2010; 106 minutes; theme song "I have a dream" by Kalafina²^•¹
Awards	Excellence Award, OVA category, at the 9th Tokyo Anime Award; jury-recommended work at the 14th Japan Media Arts Festival⁴

Spoilers

Premise and story

The series opens with a recurring framing line: "In the future, probably Japan. Robots have long been put into practical use, and practical use of androids has just begun."⁵ In this setting, treating androids as household appliances is social common sense, and the high school student Rikuo has used his family's female-form android, Sammy, as a convenient tool without ever regarding her as a person.¹

One day Rikuo notices a suspicious string in Sammy's action log, evidence of behavior he never commanded. Following the log with his friend Masaki, he arrives at a cafe called Time of Eve, whose posted rule is that no distinction is made between humans and androids inside.¹ The cafe's patrons, and Nagi, who runs the shop, gradually change how Rikuo and Masaki think about robots.¹ The film version frames the same story around the question of whether androids have hearts, using the cafe's episodes of its patrons to explore prejudice and the nature of feeling.⁶

The setting builds social detail around the premise: some people who treat androids as equals are labeled with the derogatory term "Dori-kei" (android-holics), and the world includes an ethics committee warning against dependence on androids and a problem of discarded obsolete robots.⁷^•⁶

Cast and characters

The principal cast listed on the official site:¹

Rikuo: Jun Fukuyama
Masaki: Kenji Nojima
Sammy: Rie Tanaka
Nagi: Rina Sato
Akiko: Yukana
Koji: Michio Nakao
Rina: Miki Ito
Chie: Miyuki Sawashiro
Shimei: Motoyuki Kawahara... (清川元夢, listed as Shimei)
Setoro: Tomokazu Sugita
Dr. Ashimori: Yuriko Yamaguchi
Naoko: Mizuki Mizutani... (水谷優子, listed as Naoko)

Production and release

The web series was distributed free of charge from August 2008 on Yahoo! Video (now GyaO!) and the official site, with episodes released at roughly two-month intervals until all six were online by 2009.⁴^•¹ Word spread online and total views exceeded 3 million, an unusual result for a web-original anime at the time.⁴ The project also expanded into a novelization, a comic adaptation, and merchandise including the coffee and coffee cups that appear in the story.⁴

Yoshiura was already known for independent short films: while still a university student he won the Tom Sato Prize at the Japan Digital Animation Festival 2001 and the Yuichi Ito Prize in the "Digital Stadium" program, and his short Pale Cocoon preceded this work.⁸^•⁹ Time of Eve was his first series work.¹ Character design and animation direction were by Ryosuke Chayaka (茶山隆介), music by Toru Okada, and producer was Tsutomu Nagae of DIRECTIONS.¹

The theatrical version opened March 6, 2010 at Ikebukuro Theater Dia and Theater Shinjuku in limited one-week morning and late shows, with a Theater Umeda run in Osaka over the spring holiday.²^•⁸ It re-edited the six episodes with newly added scenes.¹ On the iTunes Store movie chart it reached third place in downloads, behind Toy Story 3 and Inception.⁴

In 2013, responding to requests from overseas fans, the production ran a crowdfunding campaign for an English Blu-ray and raised more than ten times its goal.¹ The film was later licensed in North America by AnimEigo.⁷

Reception

The series won the Excellence Award in the OVA category at the 9th Tokyo Anime Award and was named a jury-recommended work in the animation division of the 14th Japan Media Arts Festival.⁴ Critics have described it as a character-driven work that relies on conversation rather than action sequences, and reviewers have praised its CG integration, unusual camera angles, and restrained voice acting.¹⁰^•⁵^•⁷ Common criticisms concern the short runtime: the ONA ends on an open note, and reviewers note that its central relationship makes limited progress within the film's length.⁵^•⁷ Yoshiura has said a second season would definitely be produced, though none has appeared in the sources' record.¹¹

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026