Adam by Eve review: Netflix’s wild anime import introduces musical artist Eve

“Have you ever fallen asleep in class and woken up with a jolt?”

That’s more or less the most precise way to articulate the vibe Japanese singer and composer Eve (stylized as “E ve”) gives off in his work. The animated music videos of Eve have been about chasing the fleeting sensation of a dream. It feels far too real to be true, but it is tangible enough to remain a fond memory. In his songs — featured in anime like the Jujutsu KaisenThe movie and series Josee the Tiger and Fish — everyone shares that uncanny feeling, where the line between dream and repressed anxieties gets blurry, represented through the clash and hybridization of music and different kinds of animation. Eve’s new audiovisual work Adam and Eve: Live In AnimationThe multimedia project ‘, which is now available on Netflix, is an experiment in multi-media that examines all of his works to date. Though it’s packed with remixes of and callbacks to Eve’s history, it’s a dazzling, surprisingly accessible summation of his visual and sonic styles.

The story’s focal point is one of Eve’s past creations, “Hitotsume” (One-Eye), a supernatural being that appeared in Eve’s manga Kara no Kioku Many of his music videos. Here, One-Eye is a mysterious being that appears in people’s dreams, particularly those of high-schooler Aki (actress/model Hanon), who is searching for her missing friend Taki (singer/model Ano). It doesn’t take long for Adam by Eve to take on the general tone of the singer-composer’s music videos, that of a kind of odd waking dream. This 58-minute music video/concert film/animated dream journal pushes that idea to its logical end point, with Eve’s dreams and visual imaginings intruding into the real world, in the form of animated beasts and disembodied limbs that crawl out of billboards and drift across highways and rooftops.

Given that the work here covers most of Eve’s career, it’s appropriate that he once again calls on a handful of his closest collaborators. Chief among them: screenwriter and editor Nobutaka Yoda, who has directed many of Eve’s music videos, such as “We’re Still Underground” and “Heart Forecast.” Nobutaka’s authorial voice might be the second loudest element in Eve’s career. Eve is also reunited with Nobutaka Yoda in the film. Waboku, who directed the music videos for Eve’s “Okinimesumama” and “Tokyo Ghetto.” Here, he directs the animation for the segment featuring the new song “Taikutsu o Saien Shinaide.”

Studio Khara is best-known for producing the album. Evangelion Rebuild Quadrilogy is a television series that has expressed an interest in the interaction of animation and real life. Adam by EveIt feels as if Eve and Nobutaka are being reintroduced. The former’s psychedelic music video for “We’re Still Underground” supplants fantasy into the everyday, as its main character drifts through a magical land as if nothing had changed from the city he normally resides in. This video expands on the conflict between textures and colors, real and unreal. Adam by EveEven though others take over distinct segments of the business, they are still in charge.

Adam by Eve This anime recalls the experimental and visual beauty of independent animation rather than studios like Khara’s blockbusters. For much of the first half, Nobutaka’s playfulness with editing and the texture of his imagery are upfront, superimposing animation and text over already spliced and split-screened live-action imagery. It’s frequently overwhelming, as though the artist’s imagination is bursting forth from his silhouetted image.

The mix of that playfulness with a very sincere story feels like a perfect embodiment of the relationship between Eve’s intricate, upbeat, uptempo compositions and his more melancholic lyricism. Nobutaka’s use of superimposition also makes for an interesting synchronicity with Eve’s preference to keep his face obscured during performances. So Eve becomes another surface for these animated images to be projected onto, in a curious inversion of the artist’s usual relationship with these drawn characters acting as avatars for him.

While animation can be found throughout the film, it is limited to a small number of animated scenes. This happens as the story progresses towards the possibility of combining both media. The film’s accompanying tracks will have fully animated sequences. Khara animator Hibiki Yoshizaki (Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time) directs the animation for the segment featuring Eve’s new song “Bōto” (“Mob”), a compellingly creepy vision of a world first completely subsumed by One Eye, then undone in an unleashing of repressed frustration in a mix of both 2D and 3D CG animation. Then one of Eve’s best-known songs, “Kaikai Kitan” (the opening theme of Jujutsu Kaisen) becomes the film’s denouement. As handled by visual-effects artist group Khaki and animator Yūichirō Saeki, it explodes outward in multiple media, as a triumph over the conformity and consumptiveness seen in that previous animated segment.

Image by Netflix

For some people, the words “live-action/animation hybrid” might recall Roger Rabbit: Who is the Framer? And its likes. And “adult anime visual album” might similarly conjure up memories of Interstella 55555: 5tory of 5ecret 5tar5ystem, the sci-fi companion to Daft Punk’s album DiscoveryYou can also check out the newer Netflix animated musical manga project Sound and Fury. But Adam by Eve doesn’t have much in common with those works — it takes a less structured approach to its visual storytelling. That first half recalls rulebreaking work by House Nobuhiko Okaashi directed the film’s use of collage and supraimposition. Animated elements are embedded into live action frames to represent the supernatural. Superficially, there’s a little bit of HouseIn the meantime Adam by Eve’s animation transforms the texture of its live-action imagery into something more ethereal.

The project does follow some rules, however — cleverly, the film divides the live-action and animation between songs old and new — so tracks like “Heart Forecast” that already have animated music videos are recontextualised within this story. “Heart Forecast” specifically spells out Aki’s longing for her friend as it plays over scenery of her memories of frivolous pastimes. As a reminder of the song’s changed significance, its music video plays on a screen in the background.

Although the definitions of Adam by EveOn first inspection, the One-Eye remains a little unclear. The One-Eye monster represents conformity, commercialism, and maybe even patriarchy at times. Sometimes, however, the One-Eye seems to be a symbol of more acute concepts like anxiety or romantic longing. There’s a surprising amount to unpack here, and it’s probably easy to miss some symbolism in terms of the frames of reference and the artist’s backgrounds, things that feel like they might be rewarded on a rewatch, given the film’s barrage of imagery. But simply looking at its fluid, fascinating collision of dreams with reality, it’s a satisfyingly bold adult animation project, one interested less in clear narrative, and more in visual expression for its own sake. In any case it all feels very distinctly Eve, like a projection of the singer’s mind directly into our world.

Adam by EveIt is Netflix streaming now.