Review of Time of Eve

Story - 7/10 When it comes to the story in Time of Eve, I felt like it was a pretty original take on an existing formula. That formula being the common "androids are people too" trope that has been present in many sci-fi productions. However, the way the show approaches this concept, having it set in a cafe that doesn't discriminate between humans and robots, works really well. It frames the characters and their interactions in every episode in much of the same way something like the classic sitcom Cheers does. That might be a bit of an odd comparison, though, as Time of Eve is morefocused on drama instead of comedy. The drama is done well, however there is a much larger dramatic story that starts to come into the spotlight in the back half of the series that doesn't have a proper resolution or conclusion. We see much of the world outside the cafe but that is another point where the series doesn't explore it's setting as much as it could. However, with only an hour and 45 minutes, I can understand why. Still, I think perhaps the story may have been better served if they didn't include any hints at a larger picture whatsoever, focusing solely on the cafe and it's characters.

Characters - 7/10
(Visual Design - 7/10
Uniqueness - 7/10
Memorable - 5/10)

The characters are all well crafted, despite feeling somewhat plain. Their visual designs vary enough for each of them to feel different, and they all have a unique personality that make them interesting to watch on screen, but they also feel like the kind of characters I won't remember in a year from now. They feel almost like they're just one step above the cookie-cutter characters that are present in many other anime. They're done well, but they also didn't blow me away.

Art - 8/10
(Style - 9/10
Animation - 8/10)

The art is very crisp and nice, with really nice colors, lighting, as well as a decent amount of cg mixed in that feels like it fits well with the 2D art. However, it's also got a certain lifelessness to it. It's hard to explain, but the art and animation feels very manufactured, without much passion put into it. It all looks fine on a technical level, but part of me thinks that there could have been more warmth and spirit put into it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that despite it looking nice it feels somewhat emotionless, which is a bit ironic considering the nature of the story.

Sound - 6/10
(Voice Acting - 7/10
Effects & mix - 4/10
Music - 6/10)

I watched the Japanese dub with English subtitles, and the voice acting felt natural and I didn't notice any poorly read lines, but nothing really blew me away, either. All of the characters sounded good, and their voice actors definitely breathed life into them. However, there were a few emotional scenes as well, and while they were done nice enough, those scenes didn't tug on my heartstrings or surprise me in any way, and I feel like this is where the voice actors' performances suffer.
The sound effects and the overall mix seems pretty amatuerish in spots, with loud noises jutting out of nowhere and feeling completely detached from the scene, breaking some of the immersion. In other spots it seems fine, but also doesn't really do anything special, making me overall somewhat unimpressed with the sound mix, even though it's not offensively bad.
The music is fairly nice for the most part. The theme that plays for the first scene in the cafe in any episode is nice, and also fairly iconic... even memorable. However, the rest of the music is somewhat bland and forgettable, despite being well made and fitting into scenes nicely. There are also a few moments where the music is overbearing and seems kind of noticeably amatuerish, and it took me out of the scene a few times, but these moments are few and far between. The music is mostly average with a few amateurish points... but that Time of Eve cafe intro theme sticks out in my mind well enough to make the music at least somewhat worthwhile.

Enjoyment - 9
Overall - 8

Time of Eve is a show that, despite it's few flaws, comes off as a very nicely done production and ends up being really enjoyable. I'd recommend it to fans of the genre who are looking for a new twist on an old formula, just so long as you don't mind a few small quirks in the production that keep it from being great.