Don't let the summary fool you.
Summary:
- Some are alienated by Vivy's description.
- The story is simple but relatable, in a way.
- It was made by seasoned professionals and executed beautifully, so it deserves your attention.
You may think that a show that follows the story of an AI singer, but also promises some fighting and impending apocalypse, will mostly focus on the singing part, becoming another idol anime. Wrong! Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song is nothing like that. It's a perfect blend of mystery and pure entertainment, filled with beautifully done action scenes and wonderful singing.
Coter version of Terminator
The concept of the story is pretty simple, and in the modern times it hits a bit too close to home: humanity invented AIs for every possible task, and Vivy's role is to bring happiness to humans through her singing. But as the sci-fi writers warned us, AIs have to be feared, and Vivy is contacted by Matsumoto, another AI that sits in her core, but gives her a task from the future: to prevent a war that will start between humans and AIs in a hundred years. The time traveling plot is nothing new, but Vivy does it in a very smart way: it just doesn't talk much about it, thus avoiding a lot of possible plot holes. Ultimately we follow the main character who is now in the past in relation to the character who aids them.
Sure, in a way the plot resembles Terminator. But the series' main selling point is the handling of AIs, particularly Vivy. Humans gave every single one of them a single task, and Vivy is adamant at making humans happy — but she has to challenge herself as the story progresses, she has to evolve, to add layer upon layer of feelings, doubts, and even passions on top of what she was in the beginning of the story. This show tries to explain whether AI is capable of developing something akin to a soul under certain circumstances.
The team elevates the simple premise
It's an original story, created by the duo of Eiji Umehara and Tappei Nagatsuki, who previously worked on Re:Zero, so they're familiar with the time traveling concept and handling the darker topics. But they also keep the suspense and the story flowing, although sometimes the pacing feels a bit weird.
The anime was created by Studio Wit, and it looks phenomenal. The animation is gorgeous, beautifully fluid and crisp in the right proportion, and mixes 2D and 3D parts almost seamlessly. The characters and backgrounds are intricately detailed and make you wonder just how long it took to create that and how much did it cost. And don't forget the general cyberpunk vibe that the show oozes.
Beautiful animation helps elevate the simple plot and deal with the pacing, as does the soundtrack: it's an idol show, after all, it has to have great music. The story follows its own rules that may contradict the ones that we're used to, and that's fine: it doesn't make it less stunning visually and entertaining in general.
While being an idol show, it's not just an idol show at all.