(NO SPOILER REVIEW)
Note: As of this review the series has just aired episode 4, so therefore I will just be giving my thoughts and opinions on the anime up to this point 🙂
Firstly, I want to say that this is the first time that I have been drawn to sit down and write a review on an anime I have been watching. I really have loved each new episode that has aired so far. This is due to a numerous amount of reasons that I will try to cover quickly in this review, as I see the great potential that this anime original has to
...
be a masterpiece when it has ran through all 13 of its episodes.
If you haven’t given this anime a try/don’t know much about it or both, I will quickly give a run down of the main plot of the story. The main premise, as stated in the synopsis; ‘is that one day, an A.I named Matsumoto appears before Vivy and explains that he has travelled from 100 years into the future, with the mission to correct history with Vivy and prevent the war between A.I and humanity that is set to take place 100 years later.’ Although the concept of AI’s turning on humans is nothing new and has been done countless times in the past, surprisingly I was never bored but rather enjoying every second of each episode. Maybe this is because Re:Zero light novelist Nagatsuki Tappei is also one of the scriptwriters, along with Umehara Eiji (who also wrote the well liked Pokemon film, The Power of Us). Because of this, it might come to no surprise that I was so engaged in what was happening in the anime after only 5 minutes into the gory opening of the first episode. As early on as that, I was already left wanting to know how humanity, or rather the 2 AI mc’s that the series follows, was going to correct this issue that was pre-destined to happen 100 years from now. I guess you could say I was hooked :D
An interesting factor, is that AI’s in this world only have the capacity to manage one mission each, weather that be as a guard AI or an IT AI they can only be tasked with one job. This is no different from our mc’s Matsumoto and Vivy (also nicknamed Diva). Matsumoto’s sole mission being to stop the war between humans and AI’s after being sent 100 years into the past (mostly by hampering the evolution of AI’s over the next century) and Vivy’s sole mission being to make people happy through her singing. However, what makes this interesting is that all their actions are influenced solely by what mission they have, and although they are both trying to work together to complete each other’s objectives, sometimes their individual missions have the chance to create opportunities in which they counteract one another. In other words, Matsumoto must keep the current timeline as similar to his one as possible so that way he has a clear road map of what is to come and can prepare Diva to fight it. However, where conflict arises is in the fact that Diva wants to use their future knowledge to save as many lives as possible while Matsumoto doesn't want to “save” anyone. He wants those who died in his timeline to die and those who lived to live. This makes Diva and Matsumoto both allies and enemies—united in cause but opposed in means. As funnily enough, the only reason she actually agrees to help Matsumoto stop the robot apocalypse is due to the fact that, in order to make humans happy through singing, those humans have to be alive. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how they go about dealing with that problem in the future, as of episode 4 we have already seen their missions oppose a couple of times.
You will either love the mc’s or hate them. Matsumoto especially will either annoy you instantly or grow on you. Personally, I really like his character. He is full of bad jokes and high speed information dumps, but no one can disagree that he is the perfect companion for Vivy who is calm and collected. No one can also argue that Matsumoto isn’t the driving force behind the story. It’s because of his personality that the story’s pacing is so fast as he doesn’t waste any time on continuously pushing for Vivy to help with his mission and it’s because of this fast pace that the series has me so engaged/interested. Vivy on the other hand, is the complete opposite to Matsumoto, with the only real similarity being that they are both AI’s with a mission each that they both go to extreme lengths to fulfil. Maybe they are so different because Matsumoto is an advanced AI as he comes from the future, while Vivy is the very first AI human-hybrid (although as time progresses, Matsumoto will start to become less and less over powered as technology advances). A common theme for Vivy is her attaching great importance to promises and feelings and also her curiosity about idiomatic terms such as ‘what it means to put your heart into something’. It is interesting to see Vivy try to make sense of what expressions like that mean to her, as we all know that the answers are mostly subjective to the individual and how they personally interpret it. However, as she is an AI she struggles to find her own answers to these questions and often resorts to asking others what they believe it to mean. I can say that I have never been bored when watching these 2 characters and their unique dynamic together so far and I’m excited to see how they further develop as the series progresses.
In terms of the writing, I love how the series has political themes, namely the ‘AI naming law’ as the catalyst for the war in the in the future and how it also explores terrorism. The anime does a great job at depicting terrorism/terrorist groups that oppose AI’s and exploring the ethical concerns/questions that may arise if we were to live side by side with them. The dark themes are also very interesting, especially the fact of although Matsumoto knowing future tragedys that are set to happen, only being limited to save those if it aligns with his mission of stopping the war in 100 years or if it doesn’t change the course of history too much, like I mentioned previously. This show has been very exciting and interesting but also managing to switch and be dark and depressing to hit you with that sense of realism and remind you that the situation they are facing is no joke. It flowed almost perfectly and I think it has been really well written up to this point. I’m excited to see how the series further develops and how our mc’s overcome the future challenges they may face.
Not only does it have a very exciting, jam-packed and fast paced story, visually it is also stunning. The anime offers beautiful hand drawn stills, gorgeous imagery and very attractive backdrops. And wow don’t even get me started on the close up shots of Vivy’s face, especially the attention to detail on the eyes! Honestly, most of the imagery in this anime is breath taking. The viewer can tell that a lot of love went into even the smallest of details and it has stayed consist throughout the last 4 eps. The character designs are top quality as well and I liked how they all looked. To go with this great art, the animation that is accompanying it is smooth, clean and well done. This is especially evident in the intense action scenes that left me with chills and really stood out for me. However, maybe this is to be expected as Wit Studio is the one animating it and they are widely known for there beautiful animation. (If you somehow don’t know who Wit Studio are, they animated Vinland Saga and Attack on Titan up to Attack on Titan FS which MAPPA then took over.) I think I have made it clear how much I really appreciate the art/animation this anime has to offer. At any rate, it is safe to say that visually this anime is top quality and a treat to watch.
The sound tracks especially were amazing and I found myself drawn to listening with headphones to get the full experience. They always fit the scene in which they were played and served their purpose of what mood/emotion they were trying to set. This could be because the composer Satoru Kosaki (Monogatari, Beastars) has created such a beautiful score. Even Kairi Yagi, who provides the opening theme ‘Sing my Pleasure,’ excels in her role as Vivy, managing to sound both warm but also robotic in equal measure. It would be easy for her character to give the impression of being lifeless and empty, but there’s something about her character that makes me want her to thrive. It’s not just the opening song too, but also the ending theme for ep3/ep4 made me feel all kinds of emotions I haven’t felt in a long time when watching an anime, it was that touching and beautifully sung. All in all, the soundtracks sound amazing, and is one of the main reasons I was so immersed when watching this show. It is important to mention how well all the voice actors perform as well, with each voice actor fitting the appearance/personality of the character they are voicing. Generally, they all sound great and you can tell a lot of effort was put in to making the characters sound perfect. The sound effects were also clean, namely in the action scenes and there’s not much else I can say about the sound of this anime except it was all great. I really don’t think they could of done a much better job in any of the above departments.
Over all, this anime is just amazing. The only reason I am giving it a 9/10 so far is because I feel like it is too much to give an anime a 10/10 this early. However, that doesn’t mean that “Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song” isn’t on its way to being a masterpiece and I can’t wait to see how this show further develops and exceed my already high expectations. This series truly has it all, and excels in all departments weather that be story, animation and art or sound. So, if you like a fast-paced and great Sci-Fi anime that you can get much enjoyment out of from watching, give it a try! Because at the end of the day, that’s all that really matters right? Give Vivy the chance it deserves and you may end up loving it as much as I have 🙂
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Apr 17, 2021
Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song
(Anime)
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(NO SPOILER REVIEW)
Note: As of this review the series has just aired episode 4, so therefore I will just be giving my thoughts and opinions on the anime up to this point 🙂 Firstly, I want to say that this is the first time that I have been drawn to sit down and write a review on an anime I have been watching. I really have loved each new episode that has aired so far. This is due to a numerous amount of reasons that I will try to cover quickly in this review, as I see the great potential that this anime original has to ... |
