Vivy: Fluorite Eyes Song Review

“My mission is to bring happiness to everyone with my singing.”

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Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song is a 2021 original anime series produced by Wit Studio, written by the author of Re:Zero, Tappei Nagatsuki. The story follows an A.I. songstress named Vivy, also known as Diva, who has a job as an amusement park singer. She gets hacked by another A.I. who came from 100 years in the future, named Matsumoto. He warns her that a war against A.I. and humans will occur in 100 years, causing catastrophic results and the extinction of humanity unless Vivy helps to stop it.

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My Mission

Matsumoto and Vivy work together to interfere in various future singularity events to prevent A.I. from overdeveloping and changing the course of history. This project takes 100 years, being known simply as the Singularity Project. The concept of Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song is not a new one; it is in fact very reminiscent of the iconic action blockbuster Terminator 2: Judgement Day. However, it adds so much emotion and depth to the concept itself so instead of feeling like a copy it instead improves and adds a new spin on a beloved idea.

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To Make Everyone Happy with My Singing

Vivy is the first autonomous A.I., as her mission and code is to make everyone happy with her singing. This code is programmed as the one thing she was meant to do. Every A.I., including Matsumoto, is designed for one singular purpose and programed to that individual purpose. Vivy is able to break away and have her own free will, making her a sympathetic and kindhearted character who focuses on helping anyone she can even if it's a risk to the greater mission at hand. Vivy knows she's an A.I. but it doesn't stop her from doing her best to act and relate to other humans. Throughout her journey Vivy impacts the lives of the individuals she meets whether it be saving their lives or on the other hand inadvertently causing others harm due to the stakes of her mission.

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On the other hand, Matsumoto is more cold and calculating as his programming is focused more on the mission rather than saving individual lives. Vivy initially is annoyed and skeptical about Matsumoto but after a lot of convincing he gains Vivy’s support as the two eventually find common ground and begin to understand each other in a partnership that grows and develops throughout the series. The Singularity Project spans 100 years, and every two to three episodes of the anime is an arc for a major singularity event that the duo has to interfere with. One of these missions includes traveling to a luxurious space hotel known as The Sunrise, which is run completely by A.I., and preventing it from crashing, which would result in hundreds of human casualties and cause extreme tension between humans and androids. Another is shutting down an A.I. controlled, self-sustaining island to prevent their future advancements. These events all take place years apart and cause drastic changes and development to Vivy’s character while shaping her identity across her 100-year journey.

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Singing From My Heart

Throughout the series Vivy asks other characters and herself what it means to pour your heart into something and for humans, this question may be easy to answer: find what you’re most passionate about and pursue it wherever it takes you. But for an A.I., this question is a lot more difficult. She still performs as the songstress Diva while also doing her best to save lives as Vivy. She’s still aware throughout the series of her goal to make everyone happy with her singing but she also wants to find a deeper meaning in herself as an A.I. and experience new emotions along with being able to express them through her singing. Vivy's journey throughout the series is one of tragedy and pain. There are sacrifices and even choices she has to make that go against her very programming. Vivy often questions herself and her own existence as she is a character who wants to help everyone and yet her actions while having a positive difference still cause harm and pain to people.

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As the series progresses, she looks more inwards to find an answer to what it means to pour your heart into something. Even when she doesn’t have an answer, she still tries to form and comprehend the question over the next 100 years as her memories and experiences allow her singing and personality to become more emotional and human. The answer to her question comes from her own personal journey, including both the struggles and successes she’s dealt with as she slowly figures out that there’s not a concrete answer. She finds and expresses the answer to her question through her art as art and music is the way Vivy can truly express herself. The way her feelings and thought process evolve and grow makes Vivy, by the end of the series, the most human character here.

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A Tender Moon Tempo with the Stars

The themes of Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song also come through by way of the beautiful music and breathtaking visuals that are present in every part of the series. The songs here are not only gorgeous and well-written but are also incorporated as plot points in the story. A beautiful piano piece, for example, that’s played at the end of every episode gains a whole new meaning as the series gets near closing, making it something far more significant and beautiful to the overall plot. Many of these songs also have a high emotional factor as they’re used perfectly in the scene they’re placed in, such as songs like Ensemble for Polaris. The visuals and animation are also stunning as both compliment each other so well. The fluidity of the animation is showcased at its finest during the breathtaking action sequences. There are not a lot of action scenes that occur so when a fight takes place, it not only feels monumental and important but is animated to perfection as every move, kick, jump and punch all feel so fluid.

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Vivy: Fluorite Eyes Song

Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song is a phenomenal and breathtaking anime that makes you think and doesn’t present every single answer on the screen. It requires your attention and it rewards the people that go through this journey with Vivy and Matsumoto. By the end, you really feel in such a short runtime that you’ve spent an entire lifetime with these lovable and developed characters. It’s a bittersweet journey, and with all the pain and sadness involved there’s a lot of beauty and light too. It’s an anime experience, an emotional roller-coaster, and leaves you touched and thinking about what it truly means to pour your heart into something.