English Dub Review: Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song- “My Code – To Make Everyone Happy with My Singing”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Diva is the first automated humanoid AI and her mission is to make everyone happy with her singing. On her birthday after falling off the stage at NiaLand Park she meets an AI called Matsumoto. He speaks to her about a hundred-year project to stop AIs from killing humans in the future. At first, she doesn’t believe him and asks him to remove himself. However, he takes control of a friend’s birthday gift: a teddy bear and he continues to try to persuade her. He shows her images of the future and how NiaLand was no exception to the violence.

The next day Matsumoto tells her about an assemblyman, Aikawa, visiting NiaLand and the assassination that will hurt him. Diva rushes to save the assemblyman and successfully saves him. The amusement park goes into a state of emergency and Diva talks with the assemblyman. She stands on the main stage after checking for suspicious activity. Matsumoto convinces her to save her audience’s descendants and she agrees to help. Then she finds out that assemblyman Aikawa will be murdered tonight.

 

Our Take:

Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song- is off to a great start showing an AI apocalypse and the start of Diva’s journey. Wit Studio has really set my expectations high with the animation, especially with Diva’s beautiful eyes. Tappei Nagatsuki, known for his work Re: ZERO and Eihi Umehara is writing the script for this anime. I’m excited to see how tragic this show will get if the first episode kicks off like this.

Let’s talk about the beginning of the disastrous future. The AIs killing every human they see to the happy song in the background is disturbing and wonderfully effective. The songstress AI on stage surrounded by the bloody corpses of her audience was terrifying. I’m glad Funimation has a translation for the cheerful song which contrasts the violence towards humans. Hopefully, Funimation will continue to add the translated lyrics. It looks like songs will be important as Diva sings about shaping the future as her first song.

A developer, Dr. Matsumoto in the AI apocalypse launches a program sent to Diva a hundred years in the past. I’ll admit I have to suspend my disbelief on the time-traveling program. His words to Diva foreshadow the tragedies to come, saying that Diva can hate him for what he’s going to put her through with the project. It’s clear that he met her before and I hope we’ll see that moment if the anime shows that spark to this journey. The anime briefly shows glimpses of women that could be important to the events leading to the AI apocalypse.

The creation of AI humanoids is interesting as Diva rises from a pool. On a side note, I like how at the top left corner we see the countdown to the Singularity Project. The anime establishes a few things like AIs only having one mission per AI. There are also AIs using their foreheads to exchange information and it’s an intimate gesture. Furthermore, they have limited movement as Diva can’t move to the main stage under normal circumstances. Perhaps Diva is going to be the exception to that rule with Matsumoto’s mission?

Diva/Vivy (Cristina Vee) is a songstress AI that sounds robotic and emotionless. She tries to mimic humans with a human idol pose and eating “food” like Momoka. However, she fails to grasp how to put her heart into her songs. Momoka Kirishima (Lizzie Freeman) is a cute kid. She gives Diva another name, Vivy since the AI looks like the character from her picture book. I do like her interaction with Diva as it gives us a peek into what Diva can do as the first automated humanoid AI. Momoka’s comment about Diva having a kind heart shows the potential for her to grow from her robotic phase.

Matsumoto (Max Mittelman) is a talkative AI from the future. He asks Diva to join him in his one hundred-year mission a.k.a the Singularity Project. His first appearance is symbolic as he literally crashes into Diva’s Archive space and disrupts her life. Despite her requests to remove himself from her system, he persists with facts from the future. For example the lack of people in her audience the next day. Furthermore, he mentions that he also has no choice in choosing his partner and refuses to answer why.

Now Matsumoto sounds more human in comparison to Diva which is good. From the start, he jokes around with her responses to his appearance. However, on the flip side, he’s serious about his mission and getting her cooperation. On the other hand, Diva sounds emotionless but cares for humans in her actions. It was amusing to see Diva chasing Matsumoto in his bear form in her room. It looks like their partnership is going to be rocky with their personalities.

Similarly enough, Navi (Marin Miller) is another AI that is more human-sounding than Diva. I’m enjoying her sassy remarks to Diva and Momoka. She points out Diva’s inability to sing better because she’s a robot. It further helps emphasize Diva’s actions of mimicking humans to reach the main stage. Then there’s the assemblyman, Aikawa, and the bomb warning that Diva saves him from. The AI Naming Law he is lobbying for is the catalyst for blurring the lines between AIs and humans. It essentially gives AI rights like humans with their names. At first glance, he appears to be kind, but like any politician, it looks like he’s just after votes.

Overall the first episode sets up the dire circumstances from Matsumoto’s future to Diva’s present. We’ll have to wait and see if Diva and Matsumoto have failed before they start.

 

Score: 9/10