Anime Hajime Review: Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song-

Original Run: April 3, 2021 - June 19, 2021
Number of Episodes: 13
Genre: Action, Drama, Music, Science Fiction

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song-. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

Without warning, the world’s AI bots declare war on humanity, and thousands lose their lives within minutes. In a last-ditch attempt to avert this tragedy, scientists send a hyper-advanced AI, Matsumoto (voiced by Jun Fukuyama), 100 years back in time.

Matsumoto’s mission, the Singularity Project, involves meeting up with the one person – or, rather – the one machine that can save everyone, the first totally humanoid songstress android Vivy (voiced by Atsumi Tanezaki).

Vivy only knows what she has been programmed to do: Make people happy with her singing. Therefore, the arrival of the mysterious (and pushy) Matsumoto is nothing more than an unwelcome complication.

However, when Matsumoto’s knowledge of upcoming events proves accurate, Vivy decides to aid the time-traveling robot. Thus, the two begin a century-long journey of heartbreak and self-discovery.

Series Positives

Oh wow, Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song- (Vivy) was quite good. And by “quite good,” what I mean is, “This series was utterly fantastic.” Disregarding all the sequels, follow-ups, and continuations from the spring 2021 anime season, this is definitely one show you don’t want to pass up.

To start, let’s clear up a possible misconception. Speaking for myself, I allowed the term “music anime” to define my expectations of this series. Don’t let that happen.

Although music was a crucial element in this show, there was much more to this narrative than “the power of song.” In actuality, the titular Vivy did very little singing, assuming you don’t count the opening song. What performances she gave were merely the cherries on top of a much larger, more fascinating story.

Also, for clarity, I intend to use female and human pronouns when referring to Vivy.

While sitting through Vivy, I lost count of how many times I thought to myself:

• “This is dark.”
• “This is tense.”
• “My God, this show is freaking great.”

What impressed me most about this series was the possibility of (in a narrative sense) failure; nothing was a surety. It was nearly impossible to guess where actions, events, and developments were heading. Regardless of what happened, it would transform the story into something far grander than what it started as.

Vivy is the perfect anime to marathon because there was no downtime; this show was always moving forward.

But while constant progression is nice, it is meaningless if there is no accompanying substance. Never fear; Vivy had substance in spades.

No single emotion dominated Vivy and Matsumoto’s missions. Tragedy often went hand-in-hand with heartwarming. Equally, triumph shared the screen with sadness, grief, and loss.

Bitter damned-if-I-do-damned-if-I-don’t choices were rampant in this show. Except, the idea of saving everyone was the only thing never on the table.

Early in this series, Matsumoto made it clear that the Singularity Project’s mission was an act of absolute desperation. Messing with history’s timeline was inherently dangerous, hence, only the most necessary tweaks were permissible. That notion, on the surface, sounds reasonable and easy to adhere to. However, in practice, it also meant watching on helplessly as suffering transpired right before the characters’ (Vivy’s) eyes, despite having the foreknowledge of it.

In total, there were five missions in Vivy:

1. Saving a soon-to-be influential politician.
2. Preventing the fall of the spaceship Sunset.
3. Decommissioning the Metal Float AI factory.
4. Averting the first AI suicide.
5. The actual Singularity Project.

For each of them, it would be difficult to discuss what transpired in length. All five were well-told stories in their own right, and it would be a disservice to you if this review wandered into spoiler territory. But needless to say, this series will have you firmly in its grasp from beginning to end.

What’s even better, the story, which was more than sufficient on its own, was not the only thing engaging about Vivy. This series had a toolbox of:

• Excellent animation
• A killer soundtrack
• Exciting action
• Well written and well-delivered dialogue

And second only to the narrative, this show had two phenomenal main characters, Vivy and Matsumoto. This pair helped make this series shine brighter than bright. Their growth from episode one to episode thirteen was amazing to see.

As Vivy progressed, the two leads became indisputable partners. Rather than the show simply saying they spent a century working together, you really did feel as though they had been through it all. Our main girl Vivy was especially awe-inspiring to watch; her final “concert” at the end struck so many cords on so many levels.

Vivy, the character, became someone far bigger than when she started. She was the catalyst that allowed this series to be one of the best what-it-means-to-be-human stories I have seen in a long time.

After each mission, Vivy took another step further away from being a machine with a program. Although she was always an AI, her more human traits, particularly near the end of the series, weren’t out of place. It got to the point where if she shed actual tears, it wouldn’t have been too farfetched.

To make a long story short, Vivy was incredible; it is easily one of the most surprisingly pleasing, if not one of the top, anime to come out of the spring 2021 season.

This series had a story to tell, and it knew how to tell it. How else do we get something like this?

If Vivy isn’t on your radar, I suggest correcting that as soon as possible. And if you’re like me, this show will blow you away by how entertaining, gripping, exciting, and wonderful it truly is.

Series Negatives

This section will be brief, but there was something about Vivy I feel the show didn’t handle well.

This story wasn’t what I would call straightforward. However, it also wasn’t something we can consider challenging either. Still, I don’t recommend having it on as background noise; you’ll need to be paying attention to it.

Since Vivy’s narrative took place over 100 years, there were gaps of inactivity, and human characters we met at the start of the century weren’t around for its end. Not only that, aside from the AI, everyone aged. As a result, it was a task and a half to keep track of reoccurring faces other than Vivy or Matsumoto.

Again, I can think of plenty of shows that asked their audiences to keep track of far more than this one did. Nevertheless, over the course of this series, there was a ton of information, and most of it tended to come at you all at once. Consequently, it was easy to get lost amongst the nitty-gritty details.

Names, relationships, ancestry, those kinds of things. Sometimes it was hard to know what or who would lead to where. A quick, seemingly throw-away line in one episode might actually have great consequences later on.

To jump off from something I said earlier in the review, Vivy is a good series to marathon. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to wait an entire week for a new episode.

Final Thoughts

I think you know how this review will end.

This series rocked. In terms of story, characters, animation, action, and music, this did it all. I can easily see this show being a contender for many awards during the 4^th Annual Anime Hajime Highlights.

Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song- has earned a strong recommendation.

But these were just my thoughts. What are yours? Have you seen this series? How would you advise Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song-? Leave a comment down below because I would love to hear what you have to say.

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For Anime Hajime, I’m Odyssey, and I’ll see you next time.