Hello again from J-List. With Tokyo and Osaka entering new lockdowns, we hope everyone is keeping safe, wherever you are in the world!
We’ve got lots of great anime to choose from this season, including great 2D waifus, great anime boobies, and mind-blowing stories with lots of feels. And we’ve got…an idol anime, with a girl who kind of looks like Hatsune Miku? That’s what I expected when I started Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s one of the darkest and best-executed time-travel/sci-fi stories I could have asked for.
Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song is Vocaloid Meets The Terminator
In the future, humans live side-by-side with AIs who entertain them and fulfill their every need. There’s even an AI amusement park called NiaLand where humans can go to experience a higher level of interaction with these artificial beings… until that is, the day the AIs rise up and kill all the humans. To stop this tragedy, a scientist sends an advanced computer program back 100 years to the year 2156.
Our heroine is Diva, who is given the nickname Vivy, the first fully automatic AI created. She’s a singer, and her “mission” — every AI has one in this universe, a core goal they’re compelled to strive for constantly — is to make the world smile through her songs. One day she’s visited by a strange cube (who later inhabits a stuffed teddy bear so he can interact with the world more easily) who takes the name of the scientist who created him, Matsumoto. He tells her that 100 years from now all humans will be killed in an AI uprising, and he has a plan to help avoid this dark future, which he will execute with Vivy’s help over the next century. Thus begins Vivy’s dark century-long journey to change the destiny of humanity.
An Original Anime Story That’s Well-Written
Whenever I start a new anime series, I try to guess whether it’s something based on an existing manga, an existing light novel series or is a totally original story written just for the anime. I often find I enjoy the last category the best, without the non-endings that plague anime works based on still-ongoing manga series, or the tendency of light novels to meander without a proper story structure because the writers apparently get paid by the page. Also, there can be no spoilers since none of us but the writers know where the original story is going.
Vivi: Fluorite Eye’s Song was written by Re:Zero novelist Tappei Nagatsuki, so we know we can expect a quality story going forward.
Vivy is Visually Gorgeous and Well-Structured
It’s animated by Wit Studio, who has brought us such works as Attack on Titan, The Ancient Magus’ Bride and After the Rain. Visually it’s a treat to look at.
For a story that’s set to take place over 100 years, I’m finding I really like the story structure so far, which is comprised of intense two-episode arcs which are resolved beautifully, with Matsumoto the teddy bear from the future going into hibernation and Vivy waiting for the next important historical event that she must intervene in so she can change the future.
A Satisfying Exploration of Sci-Fi Themes
One of the most mind-blowing anime films of my youth was 1987’s Robot Carnival, a collection of eight short films by various animators telling different kinds of stories about robots. Overseen by Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo, it really blew our minds at what kinds of story-telling could be possible when animation was combined with Japan’s innate creativity.
In this grand tradition, I like the way Vivy takes the philosophical themes that any story about AIs and humans must deal with and brings them in thoughtful new directions.
Thanks for reading this post about the new Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song anime, which I recommend highly. Got any other shows you’d like us to cover, or topics we should write about? Tell us below, or on Twitter!
J-List’s sister company J18 Publishing continues to push the boundaries of what fans thought uncensored + translated doujinshi were possible, with their first futa work! We think you’ll love The Class Chairwoman’s Girlfriend, which is up for preorder now. Ships out of San Diego soon!
