A Dash of Theme with a Sprinkle of Motif (Time of Eve)

The Three Laws of Robotics

1. A robot may not injure a human being the diet pills or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Asimov explored these laws in the twentieth century. He pointed out their flaws and the resulting behavior from misinterpretations by robots. Asimov took the logical route, he created calculated thrillers where the puzzle usually involved the hero’s manipulation of these laws to solve the problems. I’m a big cipro without prescription fan of Bailey and Daneel as much as the next Asimov fan, but when watching Time of Eve I was reminded of what Asimov sometimes lacked. Time of Eve approaches the emotional side of the equation and questions the relationships we have with the newest model androids. What Asimov lacked in character depth and differentiation Time of Eve provides in spades. What we see of ourselves we might not like, but unlike a lost game of cards Time of Eve provides us with a hopeful outlook that things are changing for the better (but could also get so much worse).

The name of the cafe Time of Eve addresses one of the main themes of the show. Before the “Time of Eve” the first man, Adam, was alone. Thus he asked God for a companion and God made him Eve from one of Adam’s ribs. I just remembered a really good joke.

Tangent: God went down to Eden to see how Adam was getting on.

“What do you think of life Adam”said God.
“Well”said Adam”It’s quite hard work and a little boring and,well,just a little lonely too”.
“Don’t worry”declared God”I’ve been working on a solution to all these problems. I’m going to create a Woman. She’ll wash and cook for you and she’ll have sex with you whenever you want. In fact she’ll do everything you can imagine”.

“That sounds great” said Adam”but how much will this Woman cost me?”

“I was thinking an arm and a leg” answered God

“That sounds a bit steep what can I get for a rib”
(Har Har)

Back on topic: Basically by naming the cafe Time of Eve the creators are making a statement that Adam is no longer alone. In this case we’re taking Adam to be Man while the Eves are the robots. Nora is trying to create that companionship. The real tragedy is how similar the two stories are. As many of you know woman went on to be 2nd class citizens for the next few thousand years. Starting with the folly of Eve women were often treated like objects. Androids are treated like objects. They’re personal property. Nora’s point, however, is the equal treatment of robots. We should treat them as equals instead of property.

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The result of course is open to interpretation. The six episode journey explores the cafe’s customers with careful speculation focused on the humanity of the characters. From the very first episode we’re introduced to Akiko who the boys assume is human only to be surprised later. This isn’t uncommon as just about everyone at the cafe surprises them in one way or another. To illustrate the point I will be trying to make let’s take a look at Chie-chan. Her constant assertions of her feline genes are humorous to the viewer and something all of us immediately recognize as a childish game she is playing. However, when we look at the cafe goers with Chie-chan’s habits in mind we find that they aren’t much different. Rikuo is a boy who has developing feelings for his houseroid Sammy, it isn’t anything full blown, but he’s more afraid of peoples impressions of him. The scene in the rain where he takes the umbrella (leaving Sammy to get soaked) is him trying to avoid getting the reputation of being an Android-holic (someone who likes their robot a little to much). He pretends to be normal due to the intense pressure put on him by society. Masaki his friend plays a similar game. He makes fun of Rikuo for showing “android-holic” like tendencies, but ultimately he also dearly loved Tex, who took care of him from long before. On the robot side we have Sammy who pretends to be the perfect houseroid at home, but clearly demonstrates feelings and opinions she does not share. Chie-chan’s foster parent pretends to be human and the two robot lovers both think the other is human. Clearly the case of misinterpretations abound, but why go to all the trouble? To answer this question you first have to ask why mixing up humans and robots (without rings) is significant. That’s easy, because it means that robots are able to mimic us (or are so like us) so well that we can no longer distinguish between the two without the help of an external marker. This is the equivalent of slavery in my opinion. During the colonial period Americans enslaved Africans and differentiated between the two by the color of the skin. African’s were often thought as dumber, or just inferior to Caucasians because they were left uneducated. We know that to be preposterous nowadays but the myth was propagated for a long time based on stereotypes. The slave owners wanted to keep this myth alive so they could write off slaves as less than human and therefore not pay them. Part of me wonders if words like android order discount tabs holic and organizations like the ethics committee exist in our new world to enforce the same thing. They’re afraid that an unpaid part of the work force will become paid. On the other hand in accordance with our themes by removing the rings you have a hard time telling the difference. In many ways the robots display morality and consideration that make us humans look petty and evil.

As I’ve said many of the characters fear robots. I’ll expand by pointing out the specific kinds of fears. Misaki’s father fears that Tex is replacing him as a parent. In the scene where he tells Misaki that “you can talk to your father about anything” he clearly is trying to connect with his son. When they introduced android-holics they also mentioned that these kids weren’t making any connections with real people. This is actually a more basic fear of being replaced. The girl who likes Misaki asks a leading question about whether or not Misaki is into those kinds of things (the other boys were talking about good looking houseroids). Misaki of course answers no which makes her very happy. Basically when houseroids are better than humans she fears that no boy will be interested in her (or more importantly that Misaki will not be interested in her) and she very well may be right. Misaki’s father fears that if Tex takes over as Misaki’s parent there will no longer be a need for him, that Misaki will stop trying to connect with him. He also very well may be right because in many ways Tex is a much better parent. She cares about the well fare of the child above all else, and understands a fundamental part of human nature. Thus the oppression of robots is once again a result buy ampicilin of fear of the robots.

I promised myself that I wouldn’t ooze praise all over the fun shots and cuts. I really want too but I feel like there have been a bit to many of those posts later. Thus this is me getting to talk about a few of the things happening in Time of Eve. It’s been awhile since I’ve really got to look into the depths of a world. Still the fast, jarring, hilarious cuts of episode four are fantastic. The subtle displays of emotions, the great dialogue. I could go on and on. I’m really saving myself from writing a 5,000 word post about every single line of dialogue in Time of Eve.

* Nora was the girl at the end of episode six in the picture of the little girl who was injured by the ethics committee.

* Nora is confirmed to be human by this even though she is often displayed as being unsure of how to interact with Rikuo and Misaki.

* There has been talk of another season. It might even be confirmed, but I’m not sure.

So on that note I’m going to post a Yin picture, because come next week I’m not so sure I’ll be able to post them comfortably anymore. This could be a really big problem for me. Everyone better be crossing their fingers for Yin!