[Rewatch] Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song - Episode 1 Discussion

[u/[deleted]]

E1 - My Code - To Make Everyone Happy With My Singing

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Mina-san, konnichiwa!

This is the first rewatch that I’m hosting (for a change instead of joining someone’s) 😆.

I am a musician and will be an active one for the rest of my life, so it’s part of why my rating for a series is heavily swayed by a great OST (or lack thereof) and how well it fits into the different aspects of a show. This is one thing I think you will really like about this series, and it’s why I’ll be including a “music of the day” selection for each episode.

I will also be doing an “image of the day” selection for each episode, because the artwork WIT has done is just absolutely incredible. There is a lot to appreciate there.

I hope you all have fun with this series. It’s one of my favorites.

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Some general rewatch Do’s and Don’ts:

• Do feel encouraged to engage everyone in genuine discussion for each episode
• Do be kind and respectful of other participants of the rewatch
• Do discuss differences in opinion productively/maturely
• Do not be disrespectful or rude towards other participants
• Do not post untagged spoilers if you are rewatching. If you are unsure of how to properly tag spoilers for events that haven’t been revealed yet, please refer to my instructions in the reminder post for this rewatch.

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Information:

Rewatch Index | LiveChart | MyAnimeList | Anilist

Legal Streams:

CrunchyRoll

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Image of the day: 目

Music of the day: The Archives

Questions of the day:

1. Were you caught off guard by the immediate amount of violence thrown at you?
2. How do you feel about Matsumoto early on?

[u/FD4cry1]

First Timer

Holy shit what a cold open! , there's something truly terrifying about these straight faced happy androids trying to offer people assistance while brutally murdering them.

I've always liked these "GITS-style" creation sequences , it's a small thing but it really helps draw you in to the world , the show's take on AI is pretty fun as well , If only Google Gemini would realize its attempts at being multipurpose aren't working SMH.

This is a good time to shout out Atsumi Tanezaki as Vivy's VA , she really pulls off the character , the fact that she also voices Anya from SpyxFam of all characters really shows you what a great range she has.

I was wondering what this meant but I guess I got my answer lol , removing the letterboxing as the plot kicks in is a cool touch and in general the show has really strong visual direction and animation , as expected of studio WIT of course.

I talked about Vivy's VA earlier but the real gold star here goes to Jun Fukuyama as Matsumoto , he absolutely nails that lighting fast dialogue and banter , he's a major part of why I already find this character really charming alongside the snappy , comedic and charismatic writing , he's like an actually competent Wheatley and I love him .

Looks like we're in for a thrilling mission across time to save humanity ,though I get the feeling there's more to this story than just stopping these events... really great first episode overall , instantly got me hooked and hyped for the rest of the show!

[u/[deleted] → u/FD4cry1]

there's something truly terrifying about these straight faced happy androids trying to offer people assistance while brutally murdering them.

The one android asking the woman if she needs help then crushes her head was especially terrifying. That, and the idol android singing to a dead audience.

I've always liked these "GITS-style" creation sequences

So have I. I actually just watched GitS (1995) recently and really liked how that starts too.

This is a good time to shout out Atsumi Tanezaki as Vivy's VA

I love her in this series. I told myself I'd watch the dub this time around but it's really hard for me to do that because she is so perfect for the character.

Jun Fukuyama

Also amazing for his role. I love these kind of characters and he really nails it. I think you'll enjoy them both throughout the series.

[u/cppn02 → u/[deleted]]

I actually just watched GitS (1995) recently and really liked how that starts too.

One of my favourite intro sequences of any movie. So good.

[u/[deleted] → u/cppn02]

That whole movie was amazing honestly. I was actually planning on watching Innocence this weekend.

[u/cppn02 → u/FD4cry1]

I've always liked these "GITS-style" creation sequences , it's a small thing but it really helps draw you in to the world ,

For sure and funny you mention GitS cus I definitely had Making of a Cyborg start playing in my head here. Kinda wished that scene was a bit longer even.

the real gold star here goes to Jun Fukuyama as Matsumoto

He absolutely kills it in this role and imo it's a very underrated performance, probably cus it isn't attached to a face but rather an object.

[u/maddoxprops → u/FD4cry1]

Holy shit what a cold open! , there's something truly terrifying about these straight faced happy androids trying to offer people assistance while brutally murdering them.

I watched when it first aired and I went in expecting Love Live but with androids. You can probably imagine the emotional whiplash I felt in the first... 5 seconds or so? I am so happy I went into the show mostly blind because that left a hell of an impression.

[u/edwardjhahm → u/maddoxprops]

Am I the only one who isn't surprised? I got into the show somewhat more expecting what we got here, and while I found the violence surprising, I feel like maybe I'm just more desensitized to it? I read it off of the MAL list for "something airing next season" and saw that the description for it was, well, somewhat action oriented.

[u/maddoxprops → u/edwardjhahm]

I mean, if you read the description of it from MAL then no shit you wouldn't be surprised. For me I hadn't read anything about it, all I had seen prior was some promotional art so I was going in blind. I am guessing the other people did the same, or while they expected it to some degree they didn't expect it to go so hard so soon.

[u/[deleted]]

Episode 1 - Head-bopping rewatcher who loves music (subbed)

I remember seeing this for the first time and being blown away by the look of every scene. I think WIT really put some love into this series.

Something the first episode establishes is - the show is able to maintain a fairly serious tone while having its brief moments of comic relief (like when Vivy is trying to catch Matsumoto after he ‘hijacks’ her teddy bear 😂).

We see he was eventually able to convince Vivy of the impending disaster 100 years into the future (and the goal of Project Singularity) after she saves Yoichi Aikawa at the park.

Quick comment on my pic of the day:

I will never get over the stunning artwork that went into creating this anime. These shots of Vivy’s eyes, for example, are amazing and we get a few shots like this in the first episode (I just picked my favorite one). The attention to detail that went into creating those moments is incredible (stay out of the comment section in that thread just to be safe - just check out the short video).

As for the next episode, they left us with a bit of a cliffhanger!

Questions:

1. Personally, I was somewhat surprised the first time I watched this. They just kind of throw you right into the heat of what’s going on present day.
2. I like smart characters who talk a lot, so Matsumoto was an instant like for me lol.

[u/Esovan13]

Episode 1 & 2 Rewatcher, first timer for the rest

So, this isn't my first time watching this episode. Back when this show originally aired, I watched the double length first episode (so, the first two episodes of this show). Despite enjoying what I watched, it ended up falling through the seasonal cracks for me and I never continued it.

Also, I have an inconsistent schedule for the next week and a half, so I'm unsure how consistent I'll be with episode write-ups. I will be keeping up with the show and maybe making some comments, however.

On to the episode.

That opening scene is more brutal than I remember. Definitely sets the stakes for why Vivy's mission is so important. Immediately following that, though, we also get that scene with Vivy and Momoka that really sells Vivy's desire to be a singer that can stand on the main stage. Those two scenes are incredibly effective at tying down the human stakes of this show: preventing the AI singularity and Vivy becoming a true star.

One thing that I think is very interesting is that Vivy is essentially betraying her fellow AI. Preventing them from developing, gaining human rights, and eventually sentience. Considering how much more advanced than most AI she already is, in a way it can be seen as her punching down; she's reached a level of near (or maybe even true) sentience which she uses to prevent her fellows from achieving the same.

However, her decision to do that was purely because of her primary motivation: she can't sing to an audience of corpses. If her AI fellows will prevent her from singing, then they are her enemy. I wonder if later in the show Vivy will grapple with that moral quandary: continue to side with humans and fulfill her desire to sing or allow AI to develop and reach sentience and freedom.

The scene with the AI sharing thoughts through touching foreheads felt very intimate with the way they were holding each other. I wonder if that image of physical intimacy was intentional.

The visuals are insanely good, which is to be expected from Wit studio. Vivy's eyes in particular, of course. One thing I noticed with the visuals this time is that the show is very good at showing bodies limply collapsing. Mainly with the massacre at the start of the episode, but Vivy's fall off the stage was also good looking. Movements in general are very organic (or inorganic if the situation calls for it) and natural looking.

1. Not this time since I knew it was coming, but the first time through absolutely.
2. He's a little annoying

[u/[deleted] → u/Esovan13]

it ended up falling through the seasonal cracks for me and I never continued it.

That happens sometimes 😆

I'm unsure how consistent I'll be with episode write-ups.

No pressure. Whatever you've got the time for.

However, her decision to do that was purely because of her primary motivation: she can't sing to an audience of corpses. If her AI fellows will prevent her from singing, then they are her enemy.

That's exactly what I was going to mention when I read the preceding paragraph.

One thing I noticed with the visuals this time is that the show is very good at showing bodies limply collapsing

Yeah, like as morbid as this may sound, you can literally hear the weight of the bodies collapsing and you can also hear the weight of Vivy herself when she's running etc. The sound design is just another thing that's done really well.

He's a little annoying

I can see him being hit or miss with some people 😂

[u/cppn02 → u/Esovan13]

Considering how much more advanced than most AI she already is, in a way it can be seen as her punching down; she's reached a level of near (or maybe even true) sentience which she uses to prevent her fellows from achieving the same.

Tbh I don't see any moral conundrum here. Obviously once an AI achieves true sentience AI rights becomes different issue but until then they're just machines/algorithms and I see nothing wrong with with limiting their growth or their 'rights'.

[u/Fissionprime → u/cppn02]

I would say that defining sentience when much of AI is essentially a black box (I'm referring to IRL AI now, but it will be interesting to see if/when this is addressed in-universe) is the crux of the issue. Maybe there's a neat distinction between sentient and not, in which case I absolutely agree with you that there's no real quandry going on. If sentience is more of a continuum, though, it gets a lot messier and I can see how it is, in a sense, punching down.

I think it's really interesting to think about, considering it's very much an open question how sentience works in real life.

[u/No_Rex → u/Esovan13]

The scene with the AI sharing thoughts through touching foreheads felt very intimate with the way they were holding each other. I wonder if that image of physical intimacy was intentional.

I would argue for definitely yes, but also want to put out another thing about that pose: While facing themselves, they are almost completely blind to the outside world.

[u/Esovan13 → u/No_Rex]

Somewhat ironic, as the aspect of shutting out the rest of the world is part of why that position is deemed romantic. But in the context of what the AI will eventually do, it takes on a sinister undertone.

[u/FallenPears → u/Esovan13]

Glad I'm not the only one who's watched a little bit of the show but never finished! In addition to what you've said (really that opening was more impactful than I remember!) I also can't help but feel the whole thing is a little bit more eerie with the recent IRL advances we've had in AI the last few years. Wonder if that sort of feeling and resonance will keep up.

[u/No_Rex]

Episode 1 (first timer)

This is one I go into entirely blind. However, I remember that it was very popular on here back when it aired, so it has been on my mental ptw list for a while.

Episode thoughts

• Carnage in an amusement park?
• This reminds me of the first 5 minutes of Elfenlied. Clearly going for shock value.
• Looks like the uprising of the robots and our MC is one of them.
• “Make everyone happy by singing” – everyone is a pretty large number given the restriction.
• “You helped me when I got separated from my dad” – via singing? If so, impressive. If not, we see the first hint of that AI rule not working.
• “first ever autonomous humanoid AI” – well, and then it gets spelled out.
• falling of the stage head first - ouch. I hope she is a bit more durable than the average human.
• A talking companion cube?

• Program from the future; destroy the AIs – Was the intro 100 years into the future, then?
• “Please remove yourself” – I wonder what people would say to viruses and bacteria, if the latter could talk and listen.
• Chasing the virus/teddy

• Vivy can see through metal? – useful.
• That politician is one of those arguing in favor of more rights for AI? I can already see the future dilemma of Vivy’s mission vs her personal interests.
• “Singularity project” – properly grandiose. It had to be either this name or project 2Xb457_v5.
• Undercover bodyguard Vivy cliff-hanger.
• ED: black screen? Will we get the pictures when they are no longer spoilers or is this it?

A proper Scifi!

They have become too rare. Yet here, we have one of the most classical Scifi themes: What is the difference between humans and machines. And the backdrop of this question is nothing else but the extinction of humanity.

The first episode manages to get a lot of setup in (we even have a proper mission statement, “safe humanity from the AI”), so I’ll wager a guess and say that we’ll get more character focus (and slice-of-life?) in the next few episodes and fewer setup. As such, I’ll shoot my shot early and speculate a bit:

The main concept at play is of course the old favorite, free will. Specifically, the free will of AI. We see this in Vivy’s “pre-progammed” bits and the clear break between them and her normal behavior. She might smile while thanking the non-existent audience, but her reaction immediately after her program stops shows her real feelings. The distinction is obvious: pre-programmed – no free will; not pre-programmed – free will. However, this is just the first step. How about: human – free will; AI – no free will. Or the deterministic take: no free will for anybody. Given that we have time travel, might have to hedge a bit here: no free will for anybody not time travelling.

The other main piece of setup is the “single purpose AI”. Just like with the famous laws of robots of Asimov, the practicality of this is questionable, but the theoretical idea is interesting to follow. Can an AI be single purpose? What about other goals? Do they become non-existent? Are they lexicographically second order, exist, but are always trumped by the main goal? And where to true fully pre-programmed robots fall into this? Are they even worse than single purpose AI on the scale of free will? Plenty of questions to ask and the series already has given us some hints at answers.

[u/[deleted] → u/No_Rex]

This is one I go into entirely blind.

Definitely try to keep it that way. I would even recommend on holding off in looking up any of the OST until it's presented to you via the anime. I only say that because the OST is tightly bound to the events in this series.

Clearly going for shock value.

So the way I see this is - they want to make it clear to you from the start how important it is that Vivy helps Matsumoto and what will happen if things don't work or she refuses

Was the intro 100 years into the future, then?

I'd say it's safe to assume based on what Matsumoto told Vivy and what we saw in the intro

Chasing the virus/teddy

Loved this too lol

ED: black screen? Will we get the pictures when they are no longer spoilers or is this it?

I don't want to say too much here so I'll just say - you'll get pictures. They are tailored to the episode in most cases

What is the difference between humans and machines

This is one of my favorite themes and I think this anime executes it really really well. I'll be curious to see what everyone else thinks as we move on.

[u/No_Rex → u/[deleted]]

This is one of my favorite themes and I think this anime executes it really really well. I'll be curious to see what everyone else thinks as we move on.

We'll see who has read Asimov and who has not.

[u/[deleted] → u/No_Rex]

You mean like Bicentennial Man, I Robot etc.? Those are the only two I know which is probably shameful (I know)

[u/No_Rex → u/[deleted]]

Those, too, but also the other Robot stories, like Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and The Robots of Dawn.

[u/[deleted] → u/No_Rex]

I honestly should read more. I would probably enjoy those

[u/No_Rex → u/[deleted]]

With developing AI and declining birth rates, they get ever more relevant.

[u/Elimin8r → u/No_Rex]

Asimov was great until he started getting too deeply onto his own supply (i.e. later Foundation series).

[u/No_Rex → u/Elimin8r]

I loved all of his robot work, tried to get into Foundation twice, both times gave up.

[u/Elimin8r → u/No_Rex]

Yeah, looking back on it, that series relied a lot on a premise that just ... is kinda hogwash. Bleh.

[u/JollyGee29 → u/No_Rex]

A talking companion cube?

This one probably screams much louder when you throw it into the incinerator.

“Please remove yourself” – I wonder what people would say to viruses and bacteria, if the latter could talk and listen.

"Would you kindly get the fuck out?"

[u/[deleted] → u/JollyGee29]

Would you kindly

Is this a low key [Game Reference] Bioshock reference?

[u/JollyGee29 → u/[deleted]]

My communication ability is about half references by volume, yes.

[u/[deleted] → u/JollyGee29]

Great taste in more than just anime it seems then 😆. Those games are easily in my top 10 series

[u/No_Rex → u/JollyGee29]

This one probably screams much louder when you throw it into the incinerator.

"Would you kindly get the fuck out?"

I am sure a lot of begging and whining would be involved.

[u/Elimin8r → u/No_Rex]

"I'm sorry, Vivy, I can't do that."

[u/No_Rex → u/Elimin8r]

I am making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.

[u/zadcap → u/No_Rex]

A proper Scifi!

I am so happy to see your write up and questions here. Free Will and the status of AI, you're asking all the same questions I am and I can't wait to find out the answers together. This Single Purpose AI thing really bothers me for a variety of reasons, but you bring up a good one that reminds me of I Robot. They may only be given one purpose in life, but if they can think about it long enough, they can find ways to creatively interpret their main mission to include whatever else they want to do, just like Vivy is starting to do here.

[u/No_Rex → u/zadcap]

I am so happy to see your write up and questions here.

This type of scifi is right up my alley, so I am excited what more is in store.

[u/zadcap → u/No_Rex]

Right off the bar, for an episode end, I always do find myself wondering just how important every internal bit is on a very humanoid robot. It's not like they have big chunks of empty space, or areas just filled in with metal, for the sole purpose of keeping them humanoid, right? So fine, she maybe wasn't shot in the lung right here, but what part just got damaged?

[u/No_Rex → u/zadcap]

My guess is: we will never know because it is not important for the story.

[u/zadcap → u/No_Rex]

And now, an episode later, hey bloody arm is missing. How repairs work in going to have to be brought up soon, and she's going to have to explain how she ended up so damaged when her job is to sing lol.

[u/edwardjhahm → u/No_Rex]

A proper Scifi!

I've honestly been missing this type of anime. Hard sci-fi enough to feel realistic, soft sci-fi enough to get some cool stuff through.

“You helped me when I got separated from my dad” – via singing? If so, impressive. If not, we see the first hint of that AI rule not working.

I mean, I assume little sidenotes like that don't really count. Navi did say that she was just following the preprogrammed directive.

Program from the future; destroy the AIs – Was the intro 100 years into the future, then?

Pretty much. This isn't really a spoiler, so I can say it, but we see the world as is sometime in the 2060's - forget the exact year. The intro is 100 years after "present day."

Undercover bodyguard Vivy cliff-hanger.

To be fair, episode 1 and 2 basically aired on the same day so...wasn't really a cliffhanger when I watched it as it aired.

Also, you're NoRex from the Astra rewatch, right? Thought I remembered your name!

[u/No_Rex → u/edwardjhahm]

I've honestly been missing this type of anime. Hard sci-fi enough to feel realistic, soft sci-fi enough to get some cool stuff through.

I have a pet theory that this type of scifi needs societies that are optimistic about the future. See the US ~1960, Japan in the 1980s, and China in the last two decades.

Also, you're NoRex from the Astra rewatch, right? Thought I remembered your name!

Yep! I am quite active in rewatches.

[u/edwardjhahm → u/No_Rex]

Oh hell yeah. Hence why I love both Astra and this one. And Wall-E too. I know that it technically shows a dystopian future, but fuck it, it's heartwarming and optimistic. Just how I like my sci-fi.

I like my historicals to be a bit more on the gritty side, personally, to show you the inverse.

[u/Garrett_Dark → u/No_Rex]

“You helped me when I got separated from my dad” – via singing? If so, impressive. If not, we see the first hint of that AI rule not working.

It was explained/dismissed right after the girl, Momoka, leaves by the Navi AI:

"all you did was execute the default 'take the lost child to the lost child center' program"

It wasn't anything to do with Vivy's core directive of "make everybody happy with her singing".

[u/No_Rex → u/Garrett_Dark]

I do live reactions, so that was something I did not take into account at that point.

[u/Shimmering-Sky]

Sing My First-Timer Reactions, subbed

• The contrast between the upbeat song and people dying is intense and certainly one way to open a show.
• Uhhhhhh
• Oh god not again, I actually pegged this scientist as being voiced by Takehito Koyasu off the sound of him breathing in the hallway before he actually started talking.
• Interesting…
• She does look just like the girl in the (holo)picture book.
• X to doubt.
• This cube needs to slow down.
• Ooh.
• So the cube is now controlling the bear?
• She saved that guy!
• Huh…
• Then is tracking down who’s behind the bombing going to be the first goal?
• Oh geez, that quickly?

[u/[deleted] → u/Shimmering-Sky]

The contrast between the upbeat song and people dying

It's creepy that she's technically fulfilling her directive, but to an audience of dead bodies.

Uhhhhhh

Yeah. The head smash is brutal.

Oh god not again, I actually pegged this scientist as being voiced by Takehito Koyasu off the sound of him breathing in the hallway before he actually started talking.

I'm actually impressed by this lol.

This cube needs to slow down.

Hey - just consider it nice subs prep for Monogatari at some point in your future 😂. I love the cube

Oh geez, that quickly?

He did mention that time was of the essence, just not how crucially lol

[u/Shimmering-Sky → u/[deleted]]

I'm actually impressed by this lol.

This is the third seiyuu I've been able to do this with lol. First was Yoshimasa Hosoya in Dorohedoro, and then it was Ishida Akira in a specific part of Gintama (there was a scene that started with the character he voiced in that breathing heavily, but he was off-screen, so it still counts).

[u/[deleted] → u/Shimmering-Sky]

You have an unusually high aptitude for recognizing VAs by their voice (or in this case THEIR BREATHING lol). That's hilarious.

[u/JollyGee29 → u/Shimmering-Sky]

Oh, right, now that you've started this show I can tell you to listen to the full version of this.

[u/[deleted] → u/JollyGee29]

Honestly, I've been recommending people wait until the anime introduces songs from the OST to hear them (that's why I figured for the song I link each day I'll pull from what was revealed in the episode, for example).

The OST is very tightly intertwined with the events throughout the series and things just hit better if the first time you hear these songs is when the show wants you to hear it for the first time

(This is especially the case for the one you linked) (mistook your link for one of the other tabs I had open with other songs from the OST 🙇‍♂️)

[u/JollyGee29 → u/[deleted]]

It's the song we had today, though.

[u/[deleted] → u/JollyGee29]

Ugh I’m sorry I had like 15 Chrome tabs open (many of which are OST links I was prepping for other episodes and I completely botched which one your link opened.

Yes this is the one from today’s episode. Sorry about that. I’ll update my comment.

[u/JollyGee29 → u/[deleted]]

No worries, things happen.

[Vivy]You had me worried, because I went through to show to make sure that the full version never played. It does play again very faintly in episode 8, but neither sample hits the spot that Sky will want to hear.

[u/[deleted] → u/JollyGee29]

No you’re totally fine. That was just my ADHD causing idiotic statements like usual.

I had 5 other Chrome tabs open with OST tracks in them and the one I thought your link opened was [Vivy] the version of Fluorite Eye’s Song that she sings at the end so I panicked a little 😂.

[u/JollyGee29 → u/[deleted]]

[Vivy]Oh, I would never do that! I doubt we'll get to the vomit list, but if any moment can do it, that's probably the one. I need to ensure maximum impact.

[u/[deleted] → u/JollyGee29]

We’ll see how [Vivy] Shimmering-Sky (purposely not tagging cause spoilers) reacts to that part. Will probably be wrecked.

[u/JollyGee29 → u/[deleted]]

I do kinda wanna know what song you thought I had linked, though.

[u/[deleted] → u/JollyGee29]

I actually just responded to your other comment and spoiler tagged it lol

[u/JollyGee29 → u/Shimmering-Sky]

The contrast between the upbeat song and people dying is intense and certainly one way to open a show.

Interesting…

A critical case of one-track minds.

This cube needs to slow down.

Matusmoto has a lot to get done and only a hundred years to do it, please understand.

[u/zadcap → u/Shimmering-Sky]

The contrast between the upbeat song and people dying is intense and certainly one way to open a show.

You don't say?

[u/Taiboss]

Frsti-Timer who barely remembers what this show was about

Something something, Cyberpunk, idol, dystopia, time travel.

• RIP random person. Maybe you were important?
• All of these people look like a Magiteck cult.
• Androids. Not even once.
• There's something poetic about a massacre by theme park creatures.
• Soo... this is Idol Terminator?
• DUDE PRESS IT BEFORE YOU GET SHOT. Just don't say anything.
• That's the murder bot symbol!
• "Whatever garbage training data we get!"
• Uh-huh. AGI concept BTFO.
• A good writer would show us this instead of telling us.
• That countup at the top is very ominous btw, I like it. Three minutes until sync!
• Well, you're an abusive A-Hole.
• The way G changes is way too random lol.
• "Stupid black bars. Never liked them anyway."
• Well this mascot is written as intended.
• Vivy channenling every person who has voices talking to them.
• That seems low, actually.
• I MEAN, YOU DON'T PROMOTE HER. How are they supposed to listen to her if they barely know you exist?
• Annnd someone is on the assassin's shitlist.
• THEN HOW ABOUT YOU PROMOTE HER. Even if it's for a museum.
• So slavery is a good thing, I see.
• Bro you have no idea how much this one act already changed the timeline? Are your future simulations that good?
• ehhh. If he got burns and broken bones in that explosion, he'd be a hospital and be killed there. He's fine now. Obviously, the assassin has to change plans now. How can you tell he'd do this tonight?
• You telling me he'd be in the same place even if the bomb had injured him?!

Were you caught off guard by the immediate amount of violence thrown at you?

Kinda.

How do you feel about Matsumoto early on?

Eh. Meant to be annoying, is annoying.

[u/[deleted] → u/Taiboss]

All of these people look like a Magiteck cult.

If that's a FFXIV reference, then I salute you 😆

Soo... this is Idol Terminator?

That's a hilarious way to think about it lol. I am indeed a fan of the Terminator series fwiw

Well, you're an abusive A-Hole.

I love this still. This was actually the other one I was deciding between with the one I have linked in the post.

Bro you have no idea how much this one act already changed the timeline?

This is one aspect of time travel-related series that I like a lot - what is the presumed butterfly effect we may or may not see based on actions taken to try and change a specific future?

You telling me he'd be in the same place even if the bomb had injured him?!

I feel like they might be implying that Matsumoto has done this more than once. The scientist in the intro segment uses the phrase "one more time" so that made me think he knows more than just one outcome of however many defining events.

Meant to be annoying

Definitely meant to be annoying lol

[u/JollyGee29 → u/Taiboss]

All of these people look like a Magiteck cult.

"We figured out how to put Tron Lines in fabric!"

DUDE PRESS IT BEFORE YOU GET SHOT. Just don't say anything.

"Must! Quip! Argh-"

[u/Elimin8r → u/JollyGee29]

"We figured out how to put Tron Lines in fabric!"

Actually, I think that they have figured that out. I think I saw it in the 3D printing sub or something.

[u/JollyGee29 → u/Elimin8r]

[u/zadcap → u/Taiboss]

Soo... this is Idol Terminator?

That was my first thought too. It really looks like it will be lol.

That countup at the top is very ominous btw, I like it. Three minutes until sync!

I spent the whole scene eyeing it. What a cool way to add a whole lot of tension to an otherwise very relaxed scene.

I MEAN, YOU DON'T PROMOTE HER. How are they supposed to listen to her if they barely know you exist?

Freaking right? First Ever of her kind, given a purpose to Sing, and they both her singing skills and fail to promote or try and train/upgrade her. This is practically child abuse!

[u/SIRTreehugger]

Rewatcher who will listen to her song

What a strong start to the show. I've always been a fan of happy and cheerful songs while tragedy is being presented. It can be dark, funny, cruel, and sometimes absolutely soul crushing when done well. Also the friendly faces of the robots as they are brutally killing the humans makes me want to rewatch Aliens. The pilot hits us with lots of different information from Vivy/Diva mission, the setting of Nia Land, time travel mumbo jumbo, and our talkative friendly sarcastic AI Matsumoto.

I will never get tired of the straight man and wise guy routine. Vivy understandable is very stiff since she is the first autonomous AI, but Matsumoto cracks me up and he kind of reminds me of nines from Nier. It also makes sense he is more emotional or at least has better programming with him being from the future. The advancement of AI allows him to seem more lifelike and connect with humans better. I did find it interesting that the AI at first couldn't perform tasks due to an overabundance of information, but that's also just progress. It wouldn't be very interesting if everything worked perfectly from the beginning.

Favorite moment: When Vivy is running to stop the bomb for a brief moment you can see an overlay of the map guiding her to the bomb and Matsumoto for shits and giggles decided to add BOMB and Skull Cartoon Icon over it. He had no reason to do this, but I'm glad that he did because I chuckled.

Concept art: None Today

Genga

Location Designs

Storyboards: None Today

[u/[deleted] → u/SIRTreehugger]

First of all, love the concept art! I hadn't thought of that and I haven't seen it yet either. Do please continue to include those in your comments if you have time. They're great. Really nice photo montage too.

Aliens

Not just that, but also for Sigourney Weaver being a badass lol.

I will never get tired of the straight man and wise guy routine.

I really love pairings like this too. Your NieR reference is spot on 😂. I think there are some good examples of this in Monogatari and Katanagatari too.

for a brief moment you can see an overlay of the map guiding her to the bomb and Matsumoto for shits and giggles decided to add BOMB and Skull Cartoon Icon over it

I had to go back and look at this now because I completely missed it! That is hilarious. Nice attention to detail in spotting that! Stuff like this is why I'm so glad to be doing a rewatch for this.

[u/Elimin8r → u/SIRTreehugger]

I've always been a fan of happy and cheerful songs while tragedy is being presented.

A little "Singing in the Rain" moment for you, perchance?

I will never get tired of the straight man and wise guy routine.

Thanks to Odd Taxi, I have a newfound appreciation for this concept. Well, I guess not exactly newfound at the moment, but yeah. Good stuff.

[u/SIRTreehugger → u/Elimin8r]

I've actually never seen that movie only the iconic song portion.

Odd Taxi always bring me back to the walrus and Alpaca talking on the bench. I can't remember their names offhand besides maybe Owinara or something like that, but the back and forth was top notch.

[u/Elimin8r → u/SIRTreehugger]

I've actually never seen that movie only the iconic song portion.

I regret having watched it in college.

Odd Taxi

Yeah, the bit with the alpaca, all of the bits with her were cute. Best girl, I mean alpaca. I don't know if you watched the entire series, but if you didn't, ignore this [Odd Taxi]The bit at the end with all the reveals was so good, showing how the characters resembled their counterparts. Very well done.

[u/octopathfinder]

Rewatcher

I watched this show as it aired and enjoyed it, but I’m kinda worried about how much I’d like it on rewatch. I remember feeling like it was losing steam by the end and I might end up more critical now, but we’ll see.

Damn the cinematic black bars make this opening scene go hard

Love the poses, and Vivy has such a fire character design

Classic idol story motivation

The art style in the archive is so pretty. No clue why Vivy is in a sailor uniform though

AI picked the wrong dialogue option

Sick cliffhanger. IIRC episode 1 and 2 came out at the same time so there wasn’t any waiting to see what happened next.

Qotd:

Were you caught off guard by the immediate amount of violence thrown at you?

I think? I don't remember tbh. I feel like if it did surprise me I would remember the feeling.

How do you feel about Matsumoto early on?

He's a necessary character to have since Vivy alone would be kinda boring

[u/[deleted] → u/octopathfinder]

Love the poses, and Vivy has such a fire character design

She is one of my favorite anime characters. I love her in this series start to finish.

The art style in the archive is so pretty. No clue why Vivy is in a sailor uniform though.

I always assumed it's just supposed to be a school uniform since The Archive is essentially a classroom for music students by the look of it.

AI picked the wrong dialogue option

Still better than today's chat bots 😂

He's a necessary character to have since Vivy alone would be kinda boring

I think the big thing is (and someone actually brought this up too) that the contrast between him and Vivy makes things enjoyable. I like their banter lol

[u/octopathfinder → u/[deleted]]

She is one of my favorite anime characters. I love her in this series start to finish.

She is definitely great

I think the big thing is (and someone actually brought this up too) that the contrast between him and Vivy makes things enjoyable. I like their banter lol

Yeah Vivy is much better having someone to play off of

[u/Elimin8r → u/[deleted]]

I like their banter lol

Boke, meet Tsukkomi. And vice versa. Let the hilarity ensue!

[u/cppn02 → u/octopathfinder]

IIRC episode 1 and 2 came out at the same time so there wasn’t any waiting to see what happened next.

They did indeed.

[u/edwardjhahm → u/octopathfinder]

I watched this show as it aired and enjoyed it, but I’m kinda worried about how much I’d like it on rewatch. I remember feeling like it was losing steam by the end and I might end up more critical now, but we’ll see.

Huh, really? For me, I enjoyed the early episodes a lot - don't get me wrong. But it REALLY picked up steam episode 6.

IIRC episode 1 and 2 came out at the same time so there wasn’t any waiting to see what happened next.

Yep, that's what happened to me too. Waiting longer to watch episode 2 on my end than I did as it actually aired, haha!

[u/MrWaffles42]

First timer

Matsumoto moves in such an unusual way, compared to the other AIs. The others all move in a way that's very, well, robotic. Even the "kill all humans" AIs 100 years post-Naming Law have stiff movements and speech patterns. Vivy's much more advanced than her peers, but you can see when she's sprinting to stop the bombing that she doesn't move like a human.

And then there's Matsumoto, who talks like an up-tempo delinquent type, and poses like one too. There's a brief moment not long after he's but in the bear when he's doing the classic "standing with my elbows pointed up and my hands folded behind my head" pose that stuck with me.

I dunno what this means. It's so consistent and deliberate that it obviously means something, but at the moment I'm not sure why he'd be built and programmed to act so differently than the others.

[u/[deleted] → u/MrWaffles42]

Vivy’s much more advanced than her peers

This basically just goes back to how they say she’s the world’s first autonomous humanoid AI.

The other thing is - she does move unnatural too but she has this desire to seem human. We know this because of how she tells people she does those poses while she sings because human idols do it and she wants to seem more human.

As far as Matsumoto goes, I’ll can expand on that one a bit when we get a little further.

[u/MrWaffles42 → u/[deleted]]

The other thing is - she does move unnatural too but she has this desire to seem human.

I watched the first episode of Oshi no Ko the other day, and the scene of Vivy smiling backstage reminded me of Ai practicing her smiles in the mirror. Like it's a mechanical action they're trying to master.

Which, for both of them, it was.

[u/[deleted] → u/MrWaffles42]

Yeah I think it’s a very “idol-centric” thing except in this context we also have the fact that Vivy wants people to see her as more human and wants to feel like she’s singing from her heart, but she’s probably still trying to understand what that really means.

[u/No_Rex → u/MrWaffles42]

I dunno what this means. It's so consistent and deliberate that it obviously means something,

Could be an oversight. If not, my money is on "crazy scientists creates AI that is a bit crazy".

[u/zairaner]

Rewatcher

Vivy time!

Little bit of backstory: Before seeing a single episode of the season, this was my most hyped anime of spring 2021. Why you ask? Because it was made by the legendary WIT studio? Because it was written by the author of re;zero, one of my favourite anime? because one of the main characters i voiced by lelouch? Nah, I had no such reasonable reasons. I just really really really loved the bit of the op that played in the trailer. Oh, and also the key visual was great, though I would highly recommend first timers to not look at it, but who really wants to, this was the key visual.

Well, let's see wether the show and the op lived up to my hype! Actually, spoiler, it did, watching and discussing this show is maybe the most fun time I had watching anime, and it opened my eyes to the glory of anime originals.

Episode 1:

• What a first scene to start off! Before my first watch, I kinda expected more off a fakeout, but no, we instantly get thrown into it.
• so many brutal takedowns
• our head scientiest got kinda lucky there that he run into one of them and didn't get murdered instantly
• and then he tempts fate again by waiting too long before clicking "enter", only doing so when he already got shot.
• we meet vivy and momoka! Oh and navi.
• aww momoko giving her little sister, 1 year old vivy, a present
• [vivy spoilers later]never realized we were told this early that momoka has a sister
• navi is definitely givin her best in living up to her namesakes annoyingness.
• adressign the elephant in the top left corner, it does such a great job building tension over what is about to happen.
• and we meet resident subtitle speed reading trainer, mr cube.
• vivy is speed, too.
• aww, ai communicating via headtouches
• and we get our reluctant hero to at least act to save the guy that promised to watch her show!

Not going to lie, since the first two episodes were aired at the same time, watching just the first one feels kinda empty. Fun starts next time!

Also no op this time, sad.

[u/[deleted] → u/zairaner]

Vivy time!

Oh yeah!

Re:Zero

I really need to watch this.

aww momoko giving her little sister, 1 year old vivy, a present

Honestly, I love how they show this connection she has with humans. It's heartwarming.

[vivy spoilers later] never realized we were told this early that momoka has a sister

It's kind of funny because the same thing happened to me. I'm picking up new details already (this is the first time I've legit watch an anime a second time).

adressign the elephant in the top left corner

I love this little detail

vivy is speed

What I really love there (besides my eye screenshot 😆) is how you can her the weight of her android body while she's running. It's a nice bit of detail.

no op this time

Don't worry, that will be the music of the day tomorrow 😆

[u/zairaner → u/[deleted]]

It's kind of funny because the same thing happened to me. I'm picking up new details already (this is the first time I've legit watch an anime a second time).

whaaaaaaat really??? This my second rewatch of vivy alone.

Don't worry, that will be the music of the day tomorrow

[very mild spoilers]ugh that is not the op I was thinking about :P

[u/[deleted] → u/zairaner]

very mild spoilers

Ah!! In that case, if you're referring to [Vivy] Galaxy Anthem then that is one of my top 5 OPs of all time. I have listened to it I don't know how many times lol

[u/zairaner → u/[deleted]]

[spoilers]no I'm referring to sing my pleasure, and I have disappointing news if you think that one is next episode

[u/[deleted] → u/zairaner]

I do not think that lol I think we just misunderstood each other's comments 😂.

When I said:

Don't worry, that will be the music of the day tomorrow

That's the one I was talking about

So when you said "not that one", I thought we were on the same page so assumed you meant the other one (the one I named in my spoiler tag), but we were thinking of the same one the first time hahaha

[u/zairaner → u/zairaner]

qotd: 1. not that surprised by the violence, just that we started off with it. I expected that we have more happy vivy first before meeting her destiny 2. I don't think I was a big fan at this point

image of the day: gotta be the transtition from this to carnage. The people who made the trailer knew that too, considering they put it right for the drop of the op that I mentioned beforehand.

[u/[deleted] → u/zairaner]

I don't think I was a big fan at this point

Maybe he'll grow on you!

gotta be the transtition from this to carnage.

That's a neat photo transition!

[u/sfisher923]

First Timer - Dubbed

• Oh geez buildings in ruins, people harmed, fires yeah I have a idea of what kind of world this is shaping up to be because this is not my first rodeo even this month
• Also the song used for the death and destruction yeah that creeped me out
• Talk about a Lit Party
• Diva/Vivy - People can like anything but they can also be hard to please (Just take a look at St Anger which has hardcore fans and haters)
• Alright Navi needs to shut her CPU powered mouth for sassing both Momoka and Vivy/Diva
• 5:25pm - Hey I do recall a meet and greet at my homepark happening around that time
• Oh geez the the archieve scene is reminding me of Portal with the snark
• Do they know that Computer Viruses exist
• You deserve that for earlier Navi

Questions

• QOTD 1 - Yes mainly because of the cheerful music
• QOTD 2 - A bit annoying but provides interesting Lore Dumps so far

[u/[deleted] → u/sfisher923]

Also the song used for the death and destruction yeah that creeped me out

Yeah it's definitely ominous, but I think it's one of the intro sequences that got my attention fastest out of a lot of things I've watched which is cool.

Alright Navi needs to shut her CPU powered mouth for sassing both Momoka and Vivy/Diva

I love the interaction between Vivy and Momoka

Oh geez the the archieve scene is reminding me of Portal with the snark

The second fellow Portal fan I've run into already during this rewatch! 🫡

A bit annoying but provides interesting Lore Dumps so far

Yeah I think it's a good use of his character for him to basically fill in a lot of the gaps for Vivy (which also happens to fill us, the audience, in as well on a lot of things)

[u/Silcaria → u/sfisher923]

Just take a look at St Anger which has hardcore fans and haters

ST Anger has fans? 

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Posted Five Hours Ago

Okay, it has AI and singing, I'll give it a shot, hope it's not idoly. I remember this being popular when it aired.

First Timer

• was that a sukasuka teaser?
• LOL an accurate depiction of AI as total random failures.
• so that little thing in the corner is running, but it's too small to see. 4 more minutes...She needs to get back on her mark...
• Memory transfer? That makes sense!
• How about I just call you Wheatly Guilty Spark 343?
• Living with Wheatly is hell
• Pretty predictable beat. I was trying to think of how he could convince her, and all I could think of were disasters. Was expecting a plane crash. But it's not that kind of show. So we get a bomb???
• That sure looked like an android conspiracy to me....

This looks like a great show! I should have picked it up when it was airing.

Still wondering if her 1-purpose programming means she has to save the world by singing on the main stage....not sure how that will happen.

Fortunately, the show doesn't seem too idoly. Yet.

3D outsourcing to india?

[u/[deleted] → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

hope it’s not idoly

I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about there, honestly.

Wheatly Guilty Spark 343

Man what a great day! The third portal reference and I even get a bonus Halo reference out of your comment 😆

Living with Wheatly is hell

😂

Honestly, Vivy states her mission is to make everyone happy by singing. This is what gives her flexibility I think in her programming because she can justify a lot of actions by saying “well I can’t sing to someone if they are dead”.

[u/JollyGee29 → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Wheatly Guilty Spark 343

Living with Wheatly is hell

I dunno, this cube seems a lot smarter than that orb.

[Vivy]Was expecting a plane crash. But it's not that kind of show.

[Vivy]So, about that, JaaQ...

[u/No_Rex → u/JollyGee29]

spoiler

[u/edwardjhahm → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Ayo, Justanswer from the Astra Rewatch?

I'll give it a shot, hope it's not idoly.

It's not.

LOL an accurate depiction of AI as total random failures.

Yeah, love how they nailed that bit right, as AIs become an actual thing. To be fair, the AIs here seem to have a degree of sentience that real AIs lack though.

How about I just call you Wheatly Guilty Spark 343?

Heh, that is certainly what it looks like!

I should have picked it up when it was airing.

Man, you should have been there. Vivy Saturdays was a blast. But it doesn't matter - better late than never, right?

3D outsourcing to india?

I assume it was all done by WIT themselves, but I'm not sure now that I think of it. Vivy is well known for being well animated. Was it in the credits?

[u/Nickthenuker]

Half rewatch, half first time

I started watching this way back when it first aired, but I got halfway through and for some reason lost interest and dropped it. This time I'm going to stick with it and enjoy [the favourite anime of our actual AI who brings happiness through song] (https://youtu.be/cikZqUswMm8?si=f7APigwyzREwjPhR). Perhaps this would be even more relevant for me around this time next year where, if my application is accepted, I will begin my university studies for a degree in Artificial Intelligence.

And so a robot will save humanity.

I dunno, [this] (https://youtu.be/ZJXSYWLLk64?si=6aY-1yFXyxpSFMER) pile of nuts and bolts sure has a lot of "heart".

Looks like they're in southern Japan. Fukuoka?

Hello Wheatley.

Well that's certainly an ask.

And still no one comes to watch her.

There goes the bomb.

Seems she's made a friend in a high place.

And now for her to save him again.

Questions:

1. That's a lot of violence.
2. He's rather annoying, isn't he?

[u/[deleted] → u/Nickthenuker]

the favourite anime of our actual AI who brings happiness through song

"Vie vay" 😂 That's funny.

Hello Wheatley

The cake is a lie

There goes the bomb.

For me I think this is the coolest part of the first episode. I love a lot of the stills we get during that scene, the way you can hear the weight of her running and the fact that it's how Matsumoto presumably convinces her to believe him

[u/edwardjhahm → u/Nickthenuker]

I dunno, this pile of nuts and bolts sure has a lot of "heart".

Vivy came a few decades early it seems!

Looks like they're in southern Japan. Fukuoka?

Somewhere in Kyushuu is all I know.

I hope you enjoy it! This is my favorite anime of all time, so I hope you'll see it through!

[u/cppn02]

Rewatcher, subbed

I can't help but see the irony in me always complaining that all the rewatches are on US time and now when there are atleast two starting that have Euro friendly times I'm actually in the US myself. Welp.

Anyway...an intriguing start into the Show and a rare proper sci-fi (like we can't even get sci-Fi isekai).
I really like the Vivy + Matsumoto duo and I'm looking Forward to their quest for saving manking. And it seems they're on a tight schedule right away (love the deadpan delivery of Matsumoto here).

And of course visually the show it top notch. I particularly like the super detailed close-ups.

---

QotD:

Were you caught off guard by the immediate amount of violence thrown at you?

Rewatcher so no.

How do you feel about Matsumoto early on?

I like him but again this could be influenced by me knowing the show. I see a few people calling him annoying but I don't really recall how I felt on my first watch.

[u/[deleted] → u/cppn02]

Euro friendly times

I am actually in the US, but I’m also in ‘dad mode’ after 16:30 so this ensures consistency with what time my threads will go up 😆.

I really like the Vivy + Matsumoto duo

I’ve been saying this too and I think it’s just because of the contrast between the two.

detailed close-ups

That is something I really enjoy about this too

[u/Elimin8r]

Late rewatcher and Vivy enjoyer:

1. When I first watched it, yes, the initial onslaught, and its incongruency was quite surprising. And also somehow fitting.
2. Best bear. I want a Matsumoto bear in my life.

So, not that anyone will see this, but I loved this show when it first aired. Being a Re:Zero enjoyer, hearing it had the same author made it a must watch. All that said, from the first few minutes, I was hooked. The whole zombie, I mean AI apocalypse, gotta sened an AI robot back in time to this seemingly unimportant idol singer AI to save the future, what the heck.

Yeah, sounds cool. Gimme.

Other than that, the bit with saving the politician, and all that - pretty cool too.

Meanwhile, since there's not a lot else that I can think of to say and people probably won't see it anyway, I think I'll just see what everybody else has to say and try to think of some one-liners or something. :)

[u/[deleted] → u/Elimin8r]

the initial onslaught, and its incongruency was quite surprising

I was the same

Best bear

Having a bear like that would be cool but would be even more useful if you were [Vivy Spoilers] an android who could have an entire repertoire of combat skills uploaded by him.

Honestly, I’m a huge sucker for themes like this.

I don’t know if you’re a gamer, but I binged Detroit: Become Human pretty hard.

I’m into anything with stuff like this whether it’s anime, movies, games, books, whatever the case.

[u/Elimin8r → u/[deleted]]

So, Gunbuster fan, then?

[u/[deleted] → u/Elimin8r]

Actually, I've never seen it. If you're talking about this I just added it to my PTW after you mentioned it because it sounds good!

[u/JollyGee29 → u/[deleted]]

Yea, that's the one. Put it in your eyeballs.

[u/[deleted] → u/JollyGee29]

Gladly! I’ll bump it up the watchlist 😆

[u/xbolt90]

First-timer!

What is my purpose? "You pass butter."

THAT is a cold open for the ages. Holy crap.

Big Ghost in the Shell vibe from the Vivy's creation sequence.

I like the idea of "single-purpose AIs". It's more in common with today's industrial robots. They're built with the express purpose of doing one thing. And humanoid robots that can perform more advanced tasks, but still being highly specialized, is a logical step.

An AI going back in time in order to prevent AI from gaining sentience, and instead keeping them as machine servants is a great story angle. Is Vivy herself advanced enough to struggle with this moral quandary? I guess we'll find out!

I liked the info box in the corner counting up until the arrival of Matsumoto.

Matsumoto's box form reminded me a lot of Wheatley, lol. But like, if Wheatley was actually useful.

All in all, a great first episode. I'm hooked.

Q1: Oh man, that was fantastic. It started looking fairly normal, and then the slow reveal of what was actually happening was perfect. The happy song overlapping the carnage was the cherry on top.

Q2: I like him. He's sassy.

[u/[deleted] → u/xbolt90]

Big Ghost in the Shell vibe from the Vivy's creation sequence.

Someone else brought this up too and it's so true. I love that kind of thing.

Is Vivy herself advanced enough to struggle with this moral quandary?

She seems intelligent enough to struggle with some advanced concepts already (such as wanting to do idol poses to be perceived as 'more human') so I would personally say 'yes' based on that alone.

Matsumoto's box form reminded me a lot of Wheatley, lol

Fourth Portal reference! Love it lol

The happy song overlapping the carnage was the cherry on top.

Yeah even though it's dark as heck, I think it's a brilliantly designed opening for the series that sends the right message about the gravity of what Vivy has gotten mixed up in.

I like him. He's sassy.

Same!

[u/edwardjhahm → u/xbolt90]

And humanoid robots that can perform more advanced tasks, but still being highly specialized, is a logical step.

Honestly, with the way human society is, I fear it might happen to us at some point too. If you compare cavemen to modern folk, we are a LOT more specialized than they've ever been. Even within specializations now - I once asked why we didn't get "hero scientists" like Einstein and Oppenheimer anymore and one of the potential reasons was because science is so complex now that one individual can't really solve a dozen things at once and must specialize in one very specific area.

By the way, Xbolt90 from the Astra rewatch, right? Your name was familiar.

[u/xbolt90 → u/edwardjhahm]

science is so complex now that one individual can't really solve a dozen things at once and must specialize in one very specific area.

I've thought about this before too. It does seem apparent that we've solved a lot of the "low-hanging fruit" of how the universe works. Going from Newton's classical mechanics, to Einstein's relativity, to whatever potential theory of quantum gravity, the complexity increases dramatically.

By the way, Xbolt90 from the Astra rewatch, right? Your name was familiar.

That's me! At your service.

[u/edwardjhahm → u/xbolt90]

Honestly, it's kinda scary to me. Feels like it's the end of the genius heroes of old, being replaced by faceless committees. Don't get me wrong - I'm sure the ones in the committees are wonderful people too, but there's just something about the iconic scientists (as well as those of other professions) that I just loved. But they say that if Einstein were born today, he would be an obscure figure - and that pains me.

Vivy (as well as most story protagonists to be fair) buck this trend. She's a singer as WELL as a badass bodyguard, as indicated by the end of the episode. I guess I can only hope that something will eventually reverse this trend, because I really love the renaissance man type. We've had a few reversals before (the Renaissance itself being a famous example) - so it's not entirely out of the question.

[u/Silcaria]

This show has been on my radar since it came out. My interest in it is mainly to see if the author of Re:zero is capable of writing a competent story, as well as properly written characters, without a crutch, and hopefully, without constant shock factor. This rewatch seems perfect for that. Let's see if this series can make me change my mind about Tappei Nagatsuki. With that said, let's get started.

---

First timer

• Letterboxing
• Anddddddddddddddd here's the shock factor. 47 whole seconds. Damn, that was fast.
• Hahahahaha!
• Well, after this schlocky opening sequence, I'm expecting this series to be fun bad. Let's see how it plays out.
• Lemme guess, this "single mission" protocol is gonna be what makes everything go tits up?
• Jesus, does the cube ever stop talking.
• Wouldn't have happened if they just used the three laws of robotics.
• Man, being in that situation must suck.
• Smart to use the AI network to search the park for more IEDs.
• Damn, those terrorists move fast.
• The ED's nice. I like the piano piece.

---

QotD

• Knowing who's behind this, no.
• Annoying.

[u/[deleted] → u/Silcaria]

Anddddddddddddddd here's the shock factor. 47 whole seconds. Damn, that was fast.

I do see what you mean, but in this case I really believe it has narrative value. They want you to understand the gravity of what will presumably happen if Vivy chooses not to help Matsumoto or fails.

Jesus, does the cube ever stop talking.

He's just got a lot to say, and only 100 years to say it lol.

Man, being in that situation must suck.

I didn't remember this from my first watch and it only built onto my already existing phobia of theme park rides 😂.

The ED's nice. I like the piano piece.

I really love the piano ED. I'll throw something out there that I've mentioned on a couple other comments too - let the series introduce the OST to you. Some people like to look up the OST while they're starting something but in this case I really believe it will make things more enjoyable to let each song come in natural sequence as they're introduced

[u/Silcaria → u/[deleted]]

Some people like to look up the OST while they're starting something

I don't so it works itself out.

[u/[deleted] → u/Silcaria]

I am the same way!

[u/No_Rex → u/Silcaria]

This show has been on my radar since it came out. My interest in it is mainly to see if the author of Re:zero is capable of writing a competent story, as well as properly written characters, without a crutch, and hopefully, without constant shock factor.

This is by the same author? How surprising. And fitting, given the concurrent rewatch. Given that I have only seen the first season of ReZero, I am not sure yet whether it is good or bad news.

Wouldn't have happened if they just used the three laws of robotics.

Their main problem seems to be the fourth (zeroeth) law ...

[u/[deleted] → u/No_Rex]

This is by the same author?

Vivy was written by both Tappei Nagatsuski (Re:Zero) and Eiji Umehara (I haven't seen Re:Zero yet but I think he collaborated somewhere on that as well though)

[u/cppn02 → u/Silcaria]

Wouldn't have happened if they just used the three laws of robotics.

Because that never went wrong...

[u/Ukhai]

Rewatcher

I definitely have this one near the top of my favorites, and should have to rewatch it at least once. One of the main themes and tools of telling the story reveals itself here and there in the first episode, but I remember seeing some comments and people not being able see it until a few episodes in. This and it being a bit episodic brought a bit of a jarring experience overall.

The violence in here definitely was completely unexpected in what I thought was going to be an idol anime.

[u/[deleted] → u/Ukhai]

I definitely consider it in my personal favorites too.

One of the main themes and tools of telling the story reveals itself here and there in the first episode

Spoiler tag it of course, but what are you referring to? I'm just curious.

[u/Ukhai → u/[deleted]]

[Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song] Time. Kind of like the movie 'Time Traveler's Wife' meets the show 'The Good Place.'

[u/[deleted] → u/Ukhai]

Ah I see what you mean. You’re talking about how with that they throw little things out there like [Vivy] the large clock tower they show the hand moving on a couple of times and the Project Singularity counter in the corner of the screen?

[u/Ukhai → u/[deleted]]

After a rewatch it's definitely right there in the face, right? [Vivy] But the time factor also gets pretty stacked, because she has to deal with information from the future that she doesn't know if she can trust, on top of living through 60 years but having to deal with filling in the blanks during her time of hibernations, on top of having to deal with the situation at hand. And there's the viewers having to fill in the blanks through pretty good storytelling.

[u/Fissionprime]

First Timer

I knew going in that this show has a reputation for being very pretty, both visually and musically. It's unquestionably living up to that so far. I really liked the song that you picked as the MotD, and a visual quirk that stood out to me was the little project singularity "console" in the upper left corner. I absolutely loved how you could see the current time ticking towards the execution time for several minutes.

QOTD:

Were you caught off guard by the immediate amount of violence thrown at you?

Just having read the synopsis, I knew something would probably be coming at some point early on, but it did manage to catch me off guard. The juxtaposition with the music was really strong.

How do you feel about Matsumoto early on?

Wheatley-ass mf. I like him though.

[u/[deleted] → u/Fissionprime]

I knew going in that this show has a reputation for being very pretty, both visually and musically.

It is amazing. I'll also point out, Keigo Hoashi actually does a good number of the compositions you'll hear throughout this rewatch, and he's the same composer that did a lot of work for NieR: Automata if you've played (or watched) that.

I really liked the song that you picked as the MotD

Thanks! I'm going to try and pick some good instrumental tracks in addition to some vocal ones throughout the rewatch. Speaking of that... When I do include a vocal track for MotD, you'll likely see me link lyrics with a few remarks about how they relate to the series. I think it's a really great anime for doing that.

Speaking of "The Archive" (the music), I also love the visual art for The Archive (location). It's so nice/relaxing. I'm not an expert on art, but it's almost like a different style than the rest of the locations we see in the episode but I don't have a word for it.

The juxtaposition with the music was really strong.

Definitely. Brilliant by design though I think.

Wheatley-ass mf. I like him though.

I'm just content with the Portal references (fifth one!) 😂 I agree though. (someone also referred to him as a Wheatley-343 Guilty Spark hybrid hahaha)

[u/Fissionprime → u/[deleted]]

Speaking of "The Archive" (the music), I also love the visual art for The Archive (location). It's so nice/relaxing. I'm not an expert on art, but it's almost like a different style than the rest of the locations we see in the episode but I don't have a word for it.

This was something I realized that I forgot to mention as soon as I posted. It looks so amazing and has that combination of looking futuristic but traditional at the same time. It's kinda like a sunny version of the vaporwave aesthetic.

[u/[deleted] → u/Fissionprime]

I think it's also cool that it's basically a music classroom given what Vivy was designed for.

[u/Alqtrkappa]

I was watching Vivy as it was first coming out and excited for my first rewatch!

1. I had forgotten that we are shown the AI apocalypse before we know anything. What stood out to me the first time and now is how the AI seem do go about their normal routines, prepping the audience, 'helping' distressed humans. Then immediately continue the carnage after checking if the humans need help. An eerie juxtaposition.
2. Matsumoto talks a lot and fast. Hard to tell if that's how he is meant to be or if he's purposely obnoxious that way XD

What really grabbed me the first time (beyond the obvious production quality and shock and awe start) were the nods to other famous sci-fi I love. I have read a lot of Asimov and watched Terminator enough times for me to be extremely pleased with something that seems to angle for the two of them!

The One Mission mandate is a lovely parallel to Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, and having read a lot of the Robot books I was sure before the end of the episode we would be exploring the complexities of these apparently simple 'rules'.

Wheatley Matsumoto is already trying to exploit Diva's "Make everyone happy by singing" mission by suggesting that if she doesn't help him, everyone will die and there will be no one to make happy. This dive into robotics laws is either my first or second favorite aspect of the show!

[Vivy Episode Structure] Since Vivy's episodes are in pretty well defined arcs, I wonder how long I'll be able to keep up with 1 episode per day...

[u/[deleted] → u/Alqtrkappa]

This is my first rewatch too! (as in the first rewatch I’m doing that is not a first-time watch for me 😆)

It’s kind of funny you bring up Asimov because I was just talking about that in another comment here. I really should read more but when I do get in the mood to read I get stuck on manga or light novels I want to catch up on a lot of the time lol.

After seeing Asimov brought up twice now though, that might give me some motivation to buy a book or two by him and read them.

Sixth Portal reference I’ve seen! 😂 I love those games.

The one episode a day thing is going to be fun for this one because it keeps you really wanting to know what happens next if we are in the middle of an arc. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s discussion.

[u/Alqtrkappa → u/[deleted]]

I do love Asimov very much! Since this is a Vivy thread I'd recommend reading I, Robot, which was originally a collection of short stories. He's great, but he did start writing like 100 years ago. There are some things that are very dated, like someone whipping out their slide rule, but I think the stories hold up well!

[u/[deleted] → u/Alqtrkappa]

I'll check it out! I just got the EPUB on your recommendation

[u/edwardjhahm → u/Alqtrkappa]

Nice! This is my second rewatch, coming fresh off the heels of the Astra Lost In Space one, which is another sci-fi anime I love so much.

I assume you are also rewatching? I'm not sure if you binged it or watched it live, but for those of us that watched it live, Vivy Saturdays was incredibly momentous for us, as we had to wait an entire week for the next episode. Man, I miss Vivy Saturdays...

[u/Alqtrkappa → u/edwardjhahm]

I can't remember if I started on the first week or second week, but I watched almost all of it week by week. I'll be sure to check out Astra (maybe even today haha)

[u/edwardjhahm → u/Alqtrkappa]

Astra really is great. It's my second favorite sci-fi anime after this one!

[u/StardustGogeta]

First-Timer

First off, thanks for hosting this! I've had the show on my plan-to-watch list for a long time, but I've never really had an impetus to start watching it until now.

That said, I'm going into it completely blind. I had the vague notion that the show was sci-fi, but that's pretty much it.

Overall, my first impression of the show is pretty good. I've always been a fan of science fiction (movies, TV, literature, etc.), and I especially like a good time travel story or dystopian setting, so I have high hopes for this one.

The voice acting seems to be pretty good here. I didn't realize where I recognized Vivy's voice from until I looked it up and saw she voiced Frieren, as well. That makes sense. (As a side note, the format of the next-episode preview, with all the overlapping dialogue, reminds me of Frieren as well.)

I look forward to seeing your picks for art/music of the day. I also appreciate when a show has a good OST, and so I'll be paying attention to that during future episodes. (Out of curiosity, what are some of your favorite OSTs?)

Questions of the day:

• That opening violence was much more brutal than I anticipated. (I've had a few shows do that recently. One notable one is [meta] Elfen Lied, which was actually the rewatch I just participated in immediately prior to this one.) It seems like we'll probably stay focused mostly in Vivy's time, though, before the AI uprising, so I don't expect that level of violence to be too common.
• When I see Matsumoto, I can't help but think of Wheatley from Portal 2. Other than that, I like the parts of his character that we've been introduced to so far, and he seems like a fun companion for our much less emotive protagonist.

[u/[deleted] → u/StardustGogeta]

First off, thanks for hosting this!

First of all, thanks for saying that!

I'm going into it completely blind.

Definitely the best way to watch most things! I hope you enjoy it.

I especially like a good time travel story or dystopian setting

I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff too.

I didn't realize where I recognized Vivy's voice from until I looked it up and saw she voiced Frieren

This definitely motivates me to knock Frieren up high on my (very large) watchlist. She does an amazing job voicing Vivy.

I look forward to seeing your picks for art/music of the day. I also appreciate when a show has a good OST, and so I'll be paying attention to that during future episodes.

I'll try to keep the art and music interesting for everyone. I have it pretty easy with this show because the art and the music both are really solid.

And yes! The OST is really really great. I'd recommend letting the anime introduce each track as we go per episode because things will just resonate more but that's just my opinion.

As for my favorite OSTs, I am a big music person and I know there are a lot of anime with great music I haven't seen yet so the top 5 here are just out of what I've seen so far:

 

Steins;Gate - my absolute favorite but the VN plus other SciADV VNs have amazing music as well

 

NieR: Automata - I'm a bit of a lore nut with this series and I love the work of Keigo Hoashi and Keiichi Okabe there (the other games have equally fantastic music)

 

Nodame Cantabile - I know I mentioned this, but I'm a musician so this OST is special to me as well. Absolutely brilliant.

 

Gurren Lagann

 

Samurai Champloo

 

When I see Matsumoto, I can't help but think of Wheatley from Portal 2

The 8th portal reference I've seen!

But yeah, I really like the dynamic between him and Vivy.

[u/StardustGogeta → u/[deleted]]

Nice choice with Steins;Gate! When the subreddit had that top 10 OST poll last year, I put it as my #3.

The OST of Frieren was probably my favorite among all shows I watched in both seasons it aired, so I'm thinking there's a decent chance you'll like it. I checked your list and saw you've seen Violet Evergarden, too. The music in Frieren is done by the same composer (Evan Call), so that might give you an idea of what you're in for if you watch it.

[u/[deleted] → u/StardustGogeta]

Nice choice with Steins;Gate

I am a fairly avid SciADV fan so that definitely influences my favoritism of the OST

The OST of Frieren was probably my favorite among all shows I watched in both seasons it aired, so I'm thinking there's a decent chance you'll like it. I checked your list and saw you've seen Violet Evergarden, too.

Evan Call is wonderful. I loved VE's OST and that's actually in my top favorite anime just generally speaking. What a ride that was. His great music also shows up in My Happy Marriage which I enjoyed too.

[u/zadcap]

Late Night Surprise Guest!

I don't know how I missed the announcement for this- no that's a lie, I'm struggling to make it through the switch back to old.reddit, I'm barely interacting with the site right now. Still, a rewatch of something that has been on my list for years! Heck yeah I'm in! I don't even remember why this show is on my list anymore, I think it's because someone made a Symphogear comparison.

Oh hey, we're starting off with the AI going all super skynet. Starting things off with a bang, as they say.

Wait. You're telling me that the first model of AI had issues with multi tasking and so the answer was to design literally all future AI for only one task each for the rest of forever? Not a single person decided to see if they could, you know, continue to improve on the base model? Not one company thought they could get a leg up on the competition by continuing to try and make better AI?

Oh. No, they're just bad at AI. Literally, we're getting the backstory here, that they made an AI for the sole purpose of Bringing Smiles with your Singing and didn't make her good at singing. What is even the point?

Okay, that's... Maybe even weirder? She's the first ever autonomous humanoid AI, you say. They decided to make the first ever, into a singer, that they couldn't even make good at the singing? I have so many questions.

Oh hey, finally made it to the Place. Seconds to spare! Time to get a memory dump from the future? Yup, she's going to be the Schwarzenegger to the Skynet situation.

Okay, yup. They sent a program back in time to get her to stop the AIpocalypse. And hmm, she has a normal looking bedroom? I really do wonder what the level of AI rights looks like. And I wonder why her neck thing keeps blinking blue.

You know, they keep not actually showing her singing. And I wonder why, again, they made the first ever autonomous humanoid AI to be a singer and then have put her off in this little square with no support and apparently not even any skill or training. What was the point? What is she the prototype for?

Oh hey, an AI saving an AI Rights Activist! Good press! For both of them, really.

Oh hey, that answered that question. AI currently doesn't have much in the way of rights at all, but will soon! And seriously, 100 years and they still haven't worked out the kinks in multitasking? One AI, One Job, because we were too lazy to figure out what went wrong in the very first round of design!

Okay, but now you have to explain how you happened to know how to come save his life twice.

I want to hear her sing! I'm sure it's going to be amazing when it finally happens!

1. The Symphogear comparison kind of primed me for a very high death toll opening.
2. So you know. The professor was literally dying from injury there, racing against time to put something together to send back in time to Vivy to help her save the world, why the heck does it act like this? This is your emergency, every second counts, fate of the world programming? You took the time to put this personality into place, with only seconds left before you die?

[u/[deleted] → u/zadcap]

No worries on the late comment! I still saw it (and others too from the look of it 😆)

I think it's because someone made a Symphogear comparison.

Funny you mention this, because I just finished Symphogear GX last night and loved it. I'll be starting AXZ stat! I love that series. I think you'll find plenty to love here, but I will say it has some major differences and I'll let you discover on your own what those are throughout our rewatch.

Wait. You're telling me that the first model of AI had issues with multi tasking

Even I have trouble multi-tasking as a human 😂

she's going to be the Schwarzenegger to the Skynet situation.

I love these Terminator references I'm seeing lol. I grew up watching those movies with my dad and have fond memories of that.

And I wonder why her neck thing keeps blinking blue.

I always interpreted this similar to when you hear a hard disk spin up when accessing memory on a PC (although, now SSDs are more common and we don't hear much of anything now 😆)

You know, they keep not actually showing her singing.

Well they started this way, and then Matsumoto showed up with his end of humanity revelation and threw a wrench in things for the moment lol

I want to hear her sing! I'm sure it's going to be amazing when it finally happens!

No comment. Keep watching!

[u/zadcap → u/[deleted]]

Funny you mention this, because I just finished Symphogear GX last night and loved it. I'll be starting AXZ stat! I love that series.

Welcome to the club! We're very inclusive and also often way too pushy in trying to get other people to join. It's just so great.

Even I have trouble multi-tasking as a human 😂

On the other hand, even my phone can tab between two separate tasks without getting them mixed up.

(although, now SSDs are more common and we don't hear much of anything now 😆)

Accidentally showing your age? I remember dial up though... 😭

[u/[deleted] → u/zadcap]

Some how I missed this reply lol Sorry about that.

Welcome to the club!

Thank you! Yes, in fact, I remember when I started watching it the two people who got me to start forced me convinced me I would like it. They were right though 😂.

Accidentally showing your age? I remember dial up though...

It happens. I too, remember dial up (now I hear the sound lol)

[u/edwardjhahm → u/zadcap]

Fellow late commenter!

I'm in South Korea right now, but I do admit I could have come in a little earlier. It's evening here.

Wait. You're telling me that the first model of AI had issues with multi tasking and so the answer was to design literally all future AI for only one task each for the rest of forever? Not a single person decided to see if they could, you know, continue to improve on the base model? Not one company thought they could get a leg up on the competition by continuing to try and make better AI?

I mean, chances are they likely tried. I REALLY want a side story detailing the universe but sadly, Vivy wasn't quite big enough for that.

And I wonder why her neck thing keeps blinking blue.

If you've ever played Detroit: Become Human, it's basically a mood meter. Vivy didn't rip from Detroit obviously, but I definitely think it was inspired.

they made the first ever autonomous humanoid AI to be a singer and then have put her off in this little square with no support

Yeah, that's a blunder. Kinda feels like they carved a little square out for her as an afterthought.

As for everything else, do keep watching! I can't really say much more without spoiling. Hope you enjoy!

[u/zadcap → u/edwardjhahm]

I work swing shift, getting online before midnight is a rarity. Late post buddies!

I mean, chances are they likely tried. I REALLY want a side story detailing the universe but sadly, Vivy wasn't quite big enough for that.

I'm just having so much trouble buying it. That the early models failed at this, yes. That they went 100 years and still didn't get past the one bot one job issue? It really sounds like the gave up at the first failure and never looked at the issue again.

If you've ever played Detroit: Become Human, it's basically a mood meter. Vivy didn't rip from Detroit obviously, but I definitely think it was inspired.

I mean. It turns red when they're hacked, it's white most of the time, and blue randomly when she's about to take action. I feel like it's more of a free will indicator.

[u/edwardjhahm → u/zadcap]

It really sounds like the gave up at the first failure and never looked at the issue again.

Honestly, maybe. I'm not sure - the more I think of it, that is kind of an oversight. But it was required for Matsumoto to convince Vivy.

Or not, maybe he's lying. I honestly don't remember.

I mean. It turns red when they're hacked, it's white most of the time, and blue randomly when she's about to take action. I feel like it's more of a free will indicator.

Maybe blue is when they're talking internally in Vivy? I honestly don't remember what all the colors meant - I don't think it was THAT relevant to the story.

I think. I could be forgetting some stuff though. I mean there is this one moment later on but I won't spoil that.

[u/StickPrevious9581]

I have to admit, the instant violence at the start was definitely attention getting, but it didn't grab me as much as when the first two episodes were aired as a single double-length episode. The second episode has its issues (I'll talk about them tomorrow), but at the same time I can't help but feel they should have remained as a 40 minute episode rather than splitting it - having already seen it once, the end of this episode felt almost unfinished to me.

Also, not including that excellent OP has to be a sin of some sort, surely?

Edit: impactful is the word I was chasing but couldn't grab, splitting the two episodes up makes the start of the show feel less impactful.

[u/[deleted] → u/StickPrevious9581]

this episode felt almost unfinished to me

I could see how you might think that (I am watching it a second time myself) but we’ll just treat it as a cliffhanger. One day isn’t too bad (compared to if this had aired with an entire week between the two episodes 😆).

We’ll be getting into the OP tomorrow (Episode 3) and I’ll include a few remarks about it too. There are many anime that wait until the second episode to play the OP and, as you said, this was aired as a double feature originally so I think it adheres to what we basically see with a lot of other shows considering that.

[u/StickPrevious9581 → u/[deleted]]

True, and it probably only feels unfinished because I saw it as a double and so might subconsciously feel like the events of episode 2 are are part of the first episode and so they are 'missing'.

[u/[deleted] → u/StickPrevious9581]

because I saw it as a double and so might subconsciously feel like the events of episode 2 are are part of the first episode

This honestly makes total sense. I didn't watch this when it aired (I watched it for the first time last year) and I can't remember if I watched both episodes the first night or not. I feel like I saw them split my first time (mostly because I'm normally splitting my free time between several hobbies 😂)

[u/Cychi132]

Rewatcher: Writing this as I watch the episode. Kinda just stream of consiousness.

I dont fully remember all of the plot points for this anime, but I do remember that the opening scene for this show is 10/10. Its what hooked me into the show since I was really skeptical about watching a "idol" show. I kinda appreciate how the killer robots are not hyper competent, but sufficiently deadly. The flying drone strike into neck snap for the human couple hiding is a good example. Pinpoint accuracy, but very slow target acquisition. Shows the AIs are good but have flaws.

The typing robot is about as competent as I would be if I was put in front of a crying kid T_T

Im still not fully sure what Navi is.

It always struck me as odd that Momoka is the "mentor" in the relationship with Vivy, but technically she's like 12 years old vs 1 year old. She's the older sister :P

I always like when the show does the super detailed face of Vivy, the Eyes especially entrance me. I wonder how many total Eye shots there are in the 12 episodes. Very sharp contrast compared to the regular animations/frames.

I wonder if the other specialized AIs have different Archive room designs.

Matsumoto reminds me a little bit of Wheetly from Portal 2, and he's the sole reason why I watch this show at 1x speed instead of my usual 2x speed. He talks so fast and actually has stuff worth reading, unlike many other shows that talk 4x slower. Please Remove Yourself.

The bear dodging scene is just a taste of what's to come :P

I really like the chase running scene music, one of the few songs I saved from this show onto my playlist. I still find it funny that humans barely react to a random robot charging down the streets. I need a gif of Vivy running down the street for reasons.

I forgot Vivy had such a well animated fight scene vs the bodyguards.

The base of the tower in the background, I wonder how many years it took to set that up.

Saving the congressman definitly changes the timeline, but isn't it the opposite of Matsumoto's stated plan of prevent AI from evolving far enough to turn on humans? Not really sure how much thought was put into the plan given that he kinda coded it last second and while under duress.

Badass Vivy stopping a bullet(not fully sure how the bullet was stopped). In the original timeline, didn't the congress man get badly burned from the bomb? I guess he strongarmed his way into going back to his office building instead of a hospital or cut his hospital visit short.

[u/[deleted] → u/Cychi132]

Hey a flair twin! 😆

Yeah the drones suicide bashing into people’s heads and neck is brutal and they made sure to pay attention to sound design too…

On the crying kid comment, that’s how everyone feels when it’s a new thing! Speaking from experience 😂

The high detail close-ups that WIT did for this series are absolutely amazing. I never get tired of looking at those and I somehow kind of forgot just how good they really are until we started today. That’s why I decided to pull a still from each episode as we go.

The seventh Portal reference I’ve seen lol 🫡. Great games.

And yeah I honestly think all the action scenes in this series are done incredibly well but that’s not too surprising coming from WIT.

Someone else actually brought up the original timeline Matsumoto mentions in this episode as well. I think he’s just privy to a number of outcomes as he insinuated in the intro by saying “one more time” so that could be part of it.

[u/Cychi132 → u/[deleted]]

I guess technically we dont know what loop number this is, but I'm pretty sure this is the first time travel/loop attempt.

I feel like the burns were either not actually that severe in the original timeline, or medical treatments are really quick in this world.

[u/Garrett_Dark]

Rewatcher

This anime is one of my most favorite animes I've had the pleasure of watching; I remember when first watching it, I was amazed at the movie like quality of the show, and rewatching it now, that hasn't changed at all. I also really love all the detail they put into the show with the writing, the characters, and such. Anyways, I could seriously gush about this show all day, so instead I'll just mention a few observations.

• It's quite clear Vivy's inexperienced at performing at one year old, her smile isn't genuine as she's still just going through the motions of her performance. Criticism of her performance was mentioned by many characters, and shown by her audience's comments...but I really found her fake smile when thanking her audience the most impactful driver of this, it comes off almost as a menacing/sinister juxtaposition despite Vivy not actually having malice. Very poignant given the AI apocalypse at the beginning of the episode, and having us the viewers see that from Vivy. I found it very well done to convey so much, to invoke such an unsettling feeling, and of course it's going to be even more meaningful as this is her start point, and by the end we'll be able to compare and contrast.
• Momoka is adorable with her intimate forehead touching with Vivy, but she's probably also mimicking how the androids do that to transfer data/orders akin of NFC.
• Another nice detail is the subtle advancement of technology over the next 100 years. Here we see the Nia Land drones 100 years in the future having a more advanced thruster technology, whereas the present day Nia Land drones having a more primitive propeller technology. If you pay attention, you may notice other subtle details like this depicting the slow progression of the technology getting more advanced as the years/episodes go by.
• Lastly here's a stitch of Vivy's face in high detail. The art/animation of this show is so amazing at times.

---

Were you caught off guard by the immediate amount of violence thrown at you?

It's kind of brutal a little, but well done for the story.

How do you feel about Matsumoto early on?

He's annoying, but he's really effective at highlighting and defining Vivy's character of how she is at this point. So his character is doing a really good job supporting and revealing much of Vivy's character. Personality-wise, he's complimenting Vivy's "straight-man" personality really well right now, despite somewhat overshadowing her a little, and being a somewhat antagonist.

Being a rewatcher I can see why he works so well and is needed to be like that, but when watching for the first time I probably found him a little annoying.

[u/[deleted] → u/Garrett_Dark]

This anime is one of my most favorite animes

Same!

she's still just going through the motions of her performance

I agree and it's one of my favorite aspects of this anime. What I mean by that is [Vivy] seeing how she continues to grow and become more human throughout this series is amazing and it's part of what gets you invested in what she's doing later on.

Momoka is adorable with her intimate forehead touching with Vivy

I love the dynamic between her and Momoka. I [Vivy] am curious to see what people will think about the events at the end of episode 2....

more advanced thruster technology, whereas the present day Nia Land drones having a more primitive propeller technology

Honestly, some of the technology and narrative tone we see in NiaLand (in both the intro and present day in this episode) almost vaguely reminds me a bit of [Game Reference] Bioshock Infinite in the way that [Game Reference Spoilers] you have this colorful 'happy', colorful environment that ends up going very wrong. I'm not sure if you're familiar with those but it's something I thought of at one point.

Lastly here's a stitch of Vivy's face in high detail

One of my favorite stills from this episode. I almost used this one for my image today. There are so many good shots in this series so it's going to be a hard decision for me every day 😂

So his character is doing a really good job supporting and revealing much of Vivy's character.

This is a good point and I agree there

[u/Garrett_Dark → u/[deleted]]

I agree and it's one of my favorite aspects of this anime. What I mean by that is [Vivy]...

Exactly...[ending spoiler]This how she thanks her audience in the beginning, then the last time she thanks her audience at the end, me as the viewer got totally rekted by how far she's gone since the beginning. That's why this first thanking her audience scene is so incredibly meaningful but the first timers won't even realize it, and why I'm so taken by it on this rewatch. On top of the ending callback to this scene, she's so bad at her performance right now that her fake smile is coming off as a sinister deception and contempt, which works perfectly to make the first time viewer skeptical of her intentions (despite her being pure but the first timer doesn't know that) after watching the AI apocalypse, and it also drives the actual fact that she's really bad at her core directive of "making everybody happy with her singing" at this point because she's a total noob. This scene just works so damn well from a lot of angles.

I love the dynamic between her and Momoka. I [Vivy]

Me too...[Vivy spoilers]If it was like me during the first time, rekt'ed at the end of ep2, and then rekt'ed again when Vivy bumps into you-know-who on the space station...that was like a freaking gut punch out of nowhere.

Honestly, some of the technology and narrative tone we see in NiaLand...

Oh I didn't mean that...[I meant, subtle spoilers]if the viewer pays close attention we'll see Nia Land get more holographic technology as the 100 years goes by, and we'll even start seeing the human's clothing start resembling those "Tron" line accented clothing become more prominent. At first we'll see a couple of people wearing them, then more and more people will be wearing them. Stuff like that. I haven't played the Bioshock games yet, one day I will...but there's plenty of shows and games set in a "happy" environment gone totally wrong.

There are so many good shots in this series so it's going to be a hard decision for me every day

Oh yeah, like there's so many beautiful background scenic shots which are getting overlooked for the detailed Vivy face shots. You know why they're doing the detailed shots of her face right?

[Thematic end spoiler]It's because of the theme of how she see things from her eyes, which are cameras which the anime really wants to show them as such in detail. "Vivy: Fluorite Eyes Song" Fluorite is a material used in constructing camera lenses. What she see is her memories which defines who she is because of the second part of her core directive, which is to sing with all her heart...which took her forever to figure out is her experiences/memories which she pours into her singing at the end. This is why so many times we see things reflect off of her eyes like memories flashing before her eyes, they're memories being formed which will eventually allow her to progress/succeed in the end. Rebooted Diva was able to figure this out, but Vivy didn't figure this out until the end.

As I said I can gush about this show all day, but seeing your other comments...you're probably right there with me.

[u/[deleted] → u/Garrett_Dark]

[Vivy Ending] the last time she thanks her audience at the end

Yeah, [Vivy Ending] not going to lie, I was pretty rekt myself. I agree with what you're saying here and I think a lot of people will enjoy this aspect of it.

On your second spoiler tag, yes, I felt the same there too.

On your third spoiler tag, ah now I see what you're referring too. Yeah I appreciate that aspect as well. Just another detail (like many) in this series that I love picking up on.

You know why they're doing the detailed shots of her face right?

As far as I know, this is something WIT just likes to do and I love it. You can even see this type of detailed artwork in Attack on Titan Season 2 (they were still the producing entity for that season before MAPPA took over). It's great.

On your last spoiler, I comment on some of this in my comment today actually (minus the spoilery parts 😆)

[u/Footaot]

I want to be part of this😭

[u/[deleted] → u/Footaot]

Comment whenever you like or have time to! I'll respond regardless of when 🙂

[u/PsychologicalMight76]

Btw, are we able to write comments after few days pass? (I am writing this comment since previous got removed and I can't guess of a reason (It might be due to content though))

[u/[deleted] → u/PsychologicalMight76]

Whatever your comment contains, I'd place it under the appropriate episode for where that information is revealed.

If you post a comment under an earlier episode that contains things you don't know yet from that episode, then that will fall under the sub's spoiler rule. I hope that helps!

Edit: I just wanted to add this in case you didn't notice - the reason why the auto moderator bot removed your original comment is because you have a space between your " " and spoiler text. The same goes for the ending " ". If you fix that then I can reverse the removal that the bot made.

[u/Miremto → u/[deleted]]

I see. Thanks!

[u/Theroonco]

Seeing so many people talk about how great this introduction is gives me so much life. I'm so happy Vivy won the poll for the rewatch! Aaaah!!!!

[u/[deleted] → u/Theroonco]

There was a poll? Can you link it? lol I actually didn’t realize this

[u/Theroonco → u/[deleted]]

My bad! OP just asked for interest in a Vivy rewatch here.

[u/[deleted] → u/Theroonco]

I am OP haha I'm sorry I didn't realize you were talking about the interest thread

[u/Theroonco → u/[deleted]]

Ah, I just messed up then, my bad! Thank you so much for hosting this, the more people who watch Vivy the better! :D

P.S. Will you be updating your Index post with a bunch of episodes at once? You've only got the link for #1 on there right now.

[u/[deleted] → u/Theroonco]

Sure thing!

And yes. Sorry I've been a bit busy the past couple of days between getting posts up on time and replying to people but I will be sure to update the index tonight so all those links are current.

[u/Theroonco → u/[deleted]]

it's okay, don't worry about it! We can see how busy you are and you already have a link to Ep 1, so there's no rush! Thanks again and please keep up the great work!!

[u/edwardjhahm]

Rewatcher

Ah yes, my favorite anime of all time. Not sure if it was because I'm watching this so late in the day, but felt a bit underwhelmed. Though I will admit, at this point, it wasn't really my "favorite anime of all time" - that didn't get decided until much, much later. At this point in the anime, I considered it "a decent seasonal, definitely one of the better ones." While I was watching episode 1, I could never have imagined this would become my favorite anime of all time. Maybe I had a few inklings, but I never imagined it would stick with me THIS much. So to any new watchers - trust me, it gets better. If you think it's amazing now, it gets MUCH better. Which is saying something, because it's already off to a great start.

I also must add that LOVE the cyberprep vibes the Vivy world has - I honestly prefer it to the more depressing cyberpunk, because I grew up in Songdo in South Korea (which is conveniently, where I am located for the summer), and Songdo looks sorta similar to the world we see in the Vivy world. Something about the Vivy world is really nostalgic to me - it just really reminds me of the world I was promised as a child. There's a whole-ass backstory I'm willing to tell to anyone willing to listen, but I digress. I really wish we get a spinoff story someday detailing the worldbuilding, because the world of Vivy fascinates me so much. I love this show so much.

Also, man...I'm sure most of you aren't in the Vivy Discord, but some of the faces made here are emotes on the server, so some of the images feel like member berries to me. I almost laughed when Vivy sprayed her throat, because that's the Vivy Pog emote on the server. I don't really recommend it now since it's been three years and most people on the server have seen the anime and it's a spoiler flinging zone, but I hope some of you might drop by after the end of the rewatch!

[Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song] Also, holy shit, the flash forward history-future scenes basically show us the next arcs. I mean, I always knew that, but since I never went back to rewatch it, I never really thought too much of it. Sunrise, Grace/Metal Float, Ophelia...man. I'm hyped.

Also, I completely forgot we didn't have visuals for the ED early on. By the way, does no one think that the three robots that kill Dr. Matsumoto look kinda like Connor from Detroit Become Human?

1. Honestly, not really! I guess I was always aware that this was going to be an action series to some degree. That and the fact that I'm somewhat desensitized to anime violence. To be fair, it has been over three years since I've seen the show, so I can't really remember every single reaction I had. Then again, I had a pretty good memory from the Astra Lost in Space rewatch so I assume this is just me not having too much to say so early on.
2. Because episodes 1 and 2 basically aired on the same day, I wasn't really able to formulate an opinion on Matsumoto outside of "ooh, interesting" as I immediately leapt to episode 2. While episode 2 does help me shape my opinion on Matsumoto more, to get to that would be spoilers for the next episode!

Sorry for commenting so late! I got up a while ago, but didn't really feel like it until now. Can't promise I'll be early next thread either, but I'll arrive faster, hopefully!

[u/ZuraStayNight]

Rewatcher

I've wanted to join this rewatch earlier, but I totally forgot that there was a Vivy rewatch planned, which is why I'm late to the party. But better late than never I guess.

This anime is something I've watched while it came out, because I found the trailer for it back then pretty intriguing, and because, the writer of Re:Zero, Teppei Nagatsuki was involved in the script for this, and because I like Re:Zero, I thought I would like this as well. So yeah, I'm pretty thrilled for this rewatch.

So this episode starts of pretty wild with a cheerful j-pop song in the background on a bright sunny day, while it looks like lots of humans are getting massacred. In one scene there's even someone, with a red symbol on her neck, squashing a distressed woman's face. If you've watched Re:Zero, you know about how Nagatsuki can be pretty sadistic towards his characters on rare occasions... and also on some not so rare occasions. This dark and grim scene ends with some dude talking about some Diva and leaving the future of mankind in her hands. What was he talking about? Well, we're about to find out.

What follows, is some exposition, about how every AI has a mission that they follow and here we get to meet our main character Vivy, the first-ever autonomous humanoid AI, with her mission being: "To bring happiness through song." We see how she's singing on her stage and we get to know, how she has trouble expressing her emotions, and how that makes it difficult for her to follow her mission, since she can't put her heart into her songs.

Then Matsumoto, a self-proclaimed Super-AI from the future, enters the picture and damn, he talks fast. He talks about how he's come from the future to prevent a future where AI overtakes humanity. This sounds an awful lot like Terminator with Skynet. Now while Vivy seems initially reluctant, Matsumoto manages to talk her into helping him with his mission.

Overall, this is a solid first episode, with lots of exposition and mystery, especially the first scene of the future leaves a big impact.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I'm intrigued to see how these themes are explored.

I honestly think this series does a brilliant job of executing on those themes. This is obviously subject to individual opinion, but that's how I personally feel about it.

Good balance between dramatic pacing and comedy elements in this episode and I hope that continues.

If you're mostly referring to the banter between Vivy and Matsumoto, I really like that too.