English Dub Review: Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song- “A Tender Moon Tempo – A Pleasant Chat with the Stars”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After singing for a crowd, Vivy reunites with Matsumoto after fifteen years of silence. The evolution of AIs appears to have grown from her perspective. After reviewing the result of their actions with the AI Naming Law, Assemblyman Aikawa Matsumoto once again asks for her cooperation in the next turning point: The Sunrise incident. The space hotel, Sunrise crashed after a defecting AI crashed it into the ocean with the human guests still onboard.

Diva under her alias Vivy works undercover at the Sunrise Hotel. She meets Estella and doesn’t believe that the hospitality AI could crash the hotel. Despite Matsumoto’s simplistic plan to destroy Estella before she crashes the hotel into the earth Vivy decides to investigate further. Then the alarm blares leading to the guests becoming anxious. However, Estella reassures them that everything is alright and that it was an error. Diva then runs into a human, the little sister of Momoka.

Our Take:

This week’s episode sets up another incident that leads to the AI apocalypse. We got two new songs and they’re beautiful with the soft tone to the lyrics. I’m glad the translated lyrics are there for the audience to connect with the story. The setting for this turning point is interesting with the space hotel and its various events. The kids’ playroom with the removal of gravity was a fun concept.

We see the aftermath of Momoka’s passing leading to Diva (Cristina Vee) backing out of their agreement. On top of it, there’s the new law that passed leading to the growth of AIs because of Diva’s words that inspired the assemblyman. The episode also introduces Estella (Erika Harlacher) a gorgeous AI with a beautiful voice from the Sister series. They’re a group of AIs that are a direct successor to Diva and they’re technically her younger sisters. It is interesting to see Estella encouraging Diva who is technically her older sister to smile more. It works well to blur the boundary of humans and AIs with the family distinction between Estella and Diva.

In the former timeline, Estella was the most grievously defective AI in history. Matsumoto (Max Mittelman) explains how her part in crashing the hotel led to tensions rising and anti-AI groups forming. However, from what we’ve seen, Estella is a caring AI who loves her role and home. She understands her guest’s worries about space and beauty of the cosmos from the previous owner of the hotel.

Then there is the rumor about Estella and the previous owner’s death. Later on, the previous owner’s accident is confirmed by Matsumoto to be just an accident. However, Matsumoto considers the two incidents completely separate. He considers the fact that she had control over the hotel and the data recorded in the previous timeline as proof they need to destroy her. On the other hand, Diva/Vivy thinks more with her opinions based on her interactions with Estella. I do enjoy how the anime keeps us in suspense on whether or not Estella is truly responsible for the Sunrise hotel crash.

The episode throws around the question of what it means to put your heart into something. From Diva’s maintenance doctor looking forward to her answer to Diva asking Estella the very same question. It’s ironic but at that the same time meaningful for AIs to be discussing elusive concepts like the heart. It seems like a common vague question that Diva might ask others to learn and understand their responses. It might just make her more human than a robot, and I look forward to that growth in her character.

Overall this episode is great especially with that cliffhanger of Diva meeting Momoka’s sister and Estella decapitating Leclerc. I can’t wait to see how this dynamic duo stops the hotel from crashing down.