Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song is a 2021 anime concerning AIs in the next century. Its also features themes of time travel towards the end. This anime is a bit uneven and bland at times, but it does have the premise, the overall execution, and the raw emotional aspect working in its favour. The plot, unfortunately, is lacking at times, but is still probably the strongest and most ambitious script, and therefore anime, of this season.
Probably the best way to sum up the premise is that it takes a lot from The Terminator (thankfully, Cameron's version, so the first 2 films) and some elements from, I dare say, Steins;Gate, though both influences only really come to the surface at the end. These two are very good reference points. The Terminator and its second sequel are generally seen in a very positive light, with James Cameron being seen as an excellent director at the time. Don't think I need to pipe up for Steins;Gate in an anime review. This does however mean that the premise, like with the concurrent 86 (2021), is somewhat unoriginal in and of itself, so it has to compensate for that with a good plot. Unlike 86 however, cliches in Vivy are much less obvious and rare thankfully. The story follows an artificial intelligence, Diva, as she tries to avert a cataclysmic event, in which AI turn on humans, a hundred years from the start of the anime. Throughout her century-long journey, she changes set historical narratives at different points in time as to avert a certain outcome and therefore changing the future. Along the way, she meets various other people and AI and how they act, which vividly changes Diva.
The first arc was an introductory one. It introduces Diva and Nialand, which is where she sings, as well as Navi, her "partner" in her task of singing to make everyone happy. Matsumoto the AI comes along and convinces her to save the life of an unimportant congressman. Afterwards she is shown the Arayashiki tower, which is a rather obvious reference to the Tower of Babel; humans united and tried to challenge God by reaching him in the sky with the tower, so he made them speak different languages and scattered them. The next arc is much more serious, which is the crash of the Sunrise station. I personally thought that that was the best arc in this anime. It conveyed a lot of emotion and was a very good tale of self-sacrifice. The Metal Float arc is slightly less emotional for the viewer, but has a profound effect on Diva as she has to deal with failing her programming as well as her alter ego that emerges. In the next arc, we are introduced to Ophelia. Ophelia is a reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ophelia in particular has a story that is more reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet as opposed to Hamlet. Then there is Episode 10, a sort of a missing link type of episode that introduces us to Dr. Matsumoto. After this, the plot starts to unravel a little bit and comes close to losing some of its overall integrity in terms of plot. The final 3 episodes are fairly powerful, though there are some convenient plot instruments used, like Vivy suddenly being given the decision of whether to let humanity live or die. These are not plot holes, more like plot crutches, but they do not ruin the plot that much even if you note them. Overall, the plot is a bit uneven, but it does pull its emotional weight and ultimately succeeds in developing Vivy and explaining why her character is the way it is at the end. The epilogue only consists of a credits scene and a small scene after. From it, the only assumption that can be made is that Diva lives and that AI are not demonised fully, despite the cataclysm. This is probably because only the Archive was blamed for all of this.
The first couple of episodes reminded me of The Planetarian. Diva was, for a time, also an AI with only a limited function whose job essentially was singing, as opposed to Hoshino Yumemi's job as a planetarium guide. In other stories there is a hint of loneliness experienced by the characters mentioned. Parallels can also be drawn with Violet Evergarden. Violet acted in a similar way to a robot and like Diva tried to explore concepts like emotion that were never given to her.
Because of the plot, the person who receives character development the most is Diva/Vivy obviously. Her character remains uneven, being very robotic at the start then becoming more emotionally aware. Then she makes a massive leap and becomes a very energetic character, even motivating her alter ego to live. With her alter ego, who is almost like a clean slate, she needed to find what motivated Diva, and the events leading up to the end are a decent attempt to convince one of Vivy finding what Diva had lost.
The OP changes about 1/4 of the way from a light hearted song and opening to a much more dramatic one. This newer opening is actually pretty good. The OP is a good song in itself and the opening is clean, powerful, and stylish. The ending is much more serene and light-saturated, with an equally serene ED consisting of just light piano playing.
The animation is superb overall. As always, Wit Studio makes very detailed animation, that is also very clean. They have these moments in the series when they show faces of AI in a very artistic way that differs from their normal animation, which really brings them to life. This is probably a distinguishing mark of this anime in terms of animation.
Vivy is a very good anime, probably the strongest one this season. It is a rather easy to follow story that encompasses a lot of concepts and has excellent plot. That said, its relative simplicity also means that it at times is obvious exactly where it is "simple", and therefore lacking in something. The plot contains very obvious places where it is welded to make it work, for one. But if you are looking for a convincing "tale through time" type of story, then this is a worthy candidate. I would binge watch it on a clear head to follow and appreciate it properly, though. Take a seat and a nice meal, and enjoy it.
