I really love watching shows portraying what technology and people’s lifestyles would be like in the future. Mainly those that deliberately think outside of the box, but still puts effort in justifying the concepts that would still make them sit within the boundaries of logic and reason – therefore persuading the viewers that the circumstances in that anime have a slight possibility happening in the real world. Time of Eve, or Eve no Jikan, is one of the best I’ve seen so far.

Plot: “In the future, probably Japan. Robots have long seen practical use, and this is the era just after the common deployment of androids.” quoted the introduction at the beginning of the show. Androids have already been a commodity to the community, where they help the human population with work, household chores, preparing meals, shopping, directing traffic and other trivial work. Since they literally look alike, You can simply distinguish androids from humans by their status ring (or halo) above their heads. Having taken for granted androids his entire life, Rikuo Sakisaka notices his android’s strange actions upon checking its recent movement records. It seems it frequently goes to an unknown area in which he doesn’t command it to and gets the phrase “Are you enjoying the Time of Eve?” along with the records.

He asks his friend and classmate Masakazu Masaki to help him investigate. By following the GPS coordinates, they were able to find a suspicious steel door in an empty alley. When they got in, they discovered a secret cafe which goes by the name Time of Eve. In front of the entrance stands a digital board that states the cafe’s only rule: “In this shop, there is no discrimination between humans and robots. Customers, please cooperate. Obey the rule and have a fun time.”