"My mission is to make everyone content by reviewing"--Pipe
Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song, Vivy for short, is a spectacular series. It combines action, smooth animation sequencing, solid character development, a fantastic soundtrack, and a story that could have more holes than Gruyère cheese, but who cares. I don't mind if it's rife with time travel misconceptions and clichés; it is still delightful and quite surprising. I love this series. However, if we overthink the plot, we will lose all the enjoyment of this series, the beauty behind the story, and all the mysteries surrounding Vivy. For example, few spectators might find it ridiculous for an AI to take responsibility for saving the world from nowhere or the thought of time travel in this series. If you don't like these ideas, you will hate this series.
At first, what gets my attention is Vivy, an AI that has a single goal, making everyone happy with her singing. A similar plan to mine with this review. However, her mission changes after several events that happened over a timeline of 100 years. First, a malign AI codenamed "Matsumoto," I call him malign because he is an interloper, and the archive (Arayashiki) couldn't remove him from Vivy's core. Matsumoto requests Vivy's help, and he gives a new objective to prevent the war between humans and AIs in 100 years. He creates "The Singularity Project" to change AI's important events that lead to the war.
The world setting is easy to understand. Humans developed AIs for almost every task and became highly dependent on them. However, Vivy's premise is truthfully a bit more complex to digest. One of the most challenging concepts to accept in the story is the AI time travel interpretation. I don't want to enter into the metaphysical and metaphorical time travel description of how Matsumoto traveled 100 years back. Still, the authors are clever in avoiding this discussion because it could bring misconceptions. The authors skip all the paradoxes that a lousy explanation could create.
Furthermore, they averted the comparisons with similar plots such as Steins: Gate or even Re: Zero. Ultimately, it's a series that uses the past to point toward the future, as the opening quote, from H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine," suggests: "We all have our time machines, don't we? Those that take us back are memories, and those that carry us forward are dreams." Matsumoto's information is the memories, and Vivy's mission is the dream that evolves during the long journey. In conclusion, we can end all the time travel discussions with a single line "they conceived the time travel."
Nevertheless, the series is no perfect. The negative factor for some fans is the pacing. Sometimes you will feel that some parts are missing and needs an explanation; I believe the issue appears for lack of time, but overall, the series is terrific, with some minor problems.
On the other hand, the most fantastic part of the plot falls on Vivy. That's what gets me hooked on watching the series. If we pay closer attention, the authors didn't need a set of rules similar to Asimov's laws. Instead, they only give every AI a single mission, and, in the case of Vivy, they create a character who tries to follow that single mission. In exchange, Vivy changes and struggles to understand and complete the Singularity Project from the perspective of her mission.
Moreover, Vivy is more profound than just great animation and drawing. It is a show that takes us into Vivy's journey about herself. Vivy assimilates little by little reason, feelings, passion, and maybe heart. I am curious apropos of how Vivy will handle all the contrasting information that could interfere with her mission. Can an AI evolve and change during this journey, and how will she decide differently from the typical machine learning concept but following a synthetic life envisage. Can an AI develop something similar to a spirit or soul?
Although the rest of the characters are pretty interesting, such as Vivy's sisters, the time skip may not let us explore their whole personality, which is a problem. Also, it is common in the sci-fi time travel plot that someone goes to the past and forces a change for the future. So happens here with the AI Matsumoto. This cube traveled back in time, and Vivy considered it a virus initially. However, equal to Vivy, this compelling character is the main factor influencing Vivy's decisions and helps her to grow. It has a weird personality, never stops talking, and occasionally could be annoying, but it is the perfect partner that appears in the precise moment.
Another essential concept for the series is Arayashiki, aka Archive. There is not too much to say, and several viewers won't consider it a character. However, in Mahayana Buddhism, Arayashiki is the eighth foundational level of consciousness. It stores patterns from other forms of awareness and retains developments and thoughts to use in other lives. In the plot, Arayashiki stores and interprets all the data from the AIs then decide based on that information. It is an exciting fact that grabs my attention because it justifies the whole of Vivy's evolution story.
From technical aspects, I don't have anything to complain about the production. The art is fantastic and well structured. It has a broad combination of diverse palettes, and the choreography and camera angles are precise and affect the story. The sound is marvelous and has one of the most pretty scores from the year. Furthermore, the songs are lovely, in particular Harmony of One's Heart. Regarding the VO, there are some significant problems because Vivy's voice isn't the same when she sings, and for a trained ear, it is a letdown.
Finally, Vivy's is a series that has several good things and few bad things. It is an action-packed thriller that most of the viewers will enjoy. I love the show; I consider it one of the best from this year and possibly one of the best original series from the last years. I am sad because this series is not getting the recognition it deserves but is causing a great impression in Japan. It is a must to watch.
PS: I am confident that I will fail my mission. But, fear not, I will not promote the hate for the humans between my fellow AI sisters.
