Divergence Eve (ダイバージェンス・イヴ Daibajensu Ivu) is a thirteen episode Japanese anime series created by Takumi Tsukumo and directed by Hiroshi Negishi, with production by Operation EVE and animation production from RADIX.
The series is a science fiction story set in the far future, incorporating aspects of space opera. The character-driven storyline focuses primarily on the psychology of the main character, her social interactions, her inhuman abilities, and the conspiracy surrounding them. The technology is often secondary to this, but it is not ignored; several aspects, including their means of faster-than-light travel, are explained and loosely based on modern physics.
In North America, the television series was produced by ADV Films, aired from 2 July 2003 to 24 September 2003, ran for 13 episodes, and was released in 3 volumes on VHS and DVD. A budget-priced 3-DVD collection is also available; however, no extras are included in this set.
The series was a hit in Japan, which led to the creation of a sequel, Misaki Chronicles, which also ran for 13 episodes.
In the year 2017, a satellite on Earth detects a gravitational imbalance in the direction of Lyra, initially believed to be a black hole. Its suspicious X-ray emissions are subjected to noise removal algorithms, revealing the voice message recorded aboard a fictional future Voyager spacecraft, still in the solar system. Before the cause can be determined, additional identical signals are detected throughout the year from other distant gravity-based phenomena. This is considered proof of faster-than-light travel, and the wormhole responsible is pinpointed to be in the core of Saturn's moon Titan. By temporarily entering a baby universe still in a state of cosmic inflation, the signal was able to bypass the known laws of physics and travel at infinite speed. The wormholes themselves became known as Inflation Holes.
Human travel follows almost two centuries later in 2197. With a tunnel dug into Titan's depths, and a prototype Inflation Drive on board, two astronauts make the first manned faster-than-light voyage, travelling almost 3 parsecs. Further exploration of Inflation Holes finds a planet 10 parsecs away with a wormhole core similar to Titan's, formerly inhabited by an extinct alien species. The planet is in a bizarre "apple core" shape, with all of the equatorial planetary mass consumed by frequent alien use of Inflation Drive technology. Three giant longitudinal rings surround what is dubbed as the Quantum Core, and ruins exist upon the fragmented Core itself, but electromagnetic radiation inside the Core is severely limited, making exploration slow and difficult.
By 2246, a base has been built on the planet and dubbed Watcher's Nest. A 12-member expedition is in progress when an unscheduled arrival is detected by command, but the expedition is already inside the Core and radio signals cannot reach them to deliver the recall order. The expedition team thereby encounters their first Ghoul and are wiped out. Later encounters also follow. Autopsies in 2252 by a group called Alchemy reveal artificial genetic modifications, and these genes become the main focus of research into the Ghoul. When applied to monkeys, the genes expand the scope of the animal's senses, but scientists cannot determine how or why.
After two decades of research, by 2272, one of the lead scientists, Doctor Kessler, is frustrated with the project's slow progress on animals. Believing the gene sequences to be a message from an advanced alien species, he leads the effort to begin creating genetically modified humans, to witness the effect on humans as the Ghoul intended. In 2275, Alchemy objects to the use of human guinea pigs, and officially shuts the project down — but not before at least one test subject and one of the only successful Human/Ghoul hybrids is removed by persons unknown.
- From
Wikipedia