I remember seeing Vivy on anime lab and watching it on a whim and it was by far one of the best decisions I've made. Everything you've said about the show I wholeheartedly agree with. It's an absolute masterpiece.
Ever since I watched it in 2021 Vivy became one of my 3 all time favourite anime, it's just so beautiful, so full of emotions, and one of the few anime that made me cry💜
Amazing video that perfectly encapsulates everything I loved about the show and this arc in particular! Metal Float is peak anime storytelling in the way it handles indirect characterization, worldbuilding and how it unifies the show's thematic elements. "For me your song was Grace" is such a great line that it never fails to give me the chills; along with your interpretations, I'd like to add mine: that phrase has a lot of meaning not only for Saeki, but also for Vivy, as her song, something extremely relevant into the lives of Saeki and Grace, was supposed to bring people happiness; instead, this time it only brought loss and tragedy, further cementing the idea that Vivy has failed to fulfill her mission. Another interpretation that I want to add is about the final moment, when it shows us Vivy's hands covered in both Saeki's and Grace's blood; not only it represents the weight of Vivy's actions towards both humans and AIs, but it also symbolizes the kind of relationship that both species have with each other throughout the whole story, something that Kakitani brings up in episode 9 and that further explains the Archive's way of thinking by the time we reach the final arc: they keep hurting each other, both directly and indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, and keep holding each other back, demolishing the idyllic facade that this world's society tries to keep up. Overall, an absolutely loaded arc, can't stress enough how good it is. Tappei and Umehara certainly don't miss! Shoutout to the Ophelia arc as well, which, while apparently weaker, relies more heavily on parallels and subtext than the arcs before it. Thanks for the video!
That's really true, especially the stuff with Kakitani. I remember the Ophelia arc not being too great, maybe I should rewatch that arc and make a video on that too?
@@MrHunteru I really hope so, I found that arc to be underrated as hell. The surface plot might not have as much of a payoff as the Metal Float arc did, but the amount of subtextual details and characterization is crazy. Plus, Diva was a lovable temporary protagonist and Matsumoto turned full badass, and I really loved both of them.
Im glad this vid is finally up because I missed it. After watching the scene in episode 6, I needed to pause and process what I just saw. It's so emotional and groundbreaking that I rewatched it multiple times. 86 was supposed to be my best 2021 anime but Vivy took that spot.
This was a very well done deep dive, one of the only clues from the Dr I recognized was his disgust at Vivy not feeling anything about killing Elizabeth. And I just took that as general disgust due to him seeing AI as people (like how someone would react to a soldier saying they feel nothing). Never connected it with what might happen to his wife, even after the fact. Love this whole thing! I am curious about M205's naming... its not SUPER close but the phonetics are close to Metal Float (M Two Oh Five, Me20L 5loat). It just seems oddly close to the name of the whole place, and we see M205 as the representation of the float throughout the episode
I feel like you looked at only surface level things for Vivy's development and completely ignored that she's a robot and emotions can be acted out. Her development is tied to how ai are supposed to only have one mission and her own(make people happy with her singing) was inherently clashing with the new mission matsumoto dragged her into with his ends justify the means point of view. Especially the ending of episode six: in the entire thing, she changes her name to say no she has to put her mission out of mind, there's no saving Grace, they have to destroy the metal float, stop the marriage and the growth of the arayashiki tower for the sake of humanity. And when he kills himself as a result of her decisions that means she's failed her core programming. It's not about them becoming human but developing as their own different existences. Smiling more, singing for a bigger stage are all things the anime added to the prototype light novels to reflect their actual growth which is based more on ideological struggles...
Yeah honestly when I watched mother's basement on what Anime to watch and saw Vivy (Along with Mars Red, Odd taxi, those snow white notes, etc.) I just said welp it's worth a shot. And dang best decision ever cause I just saw some great gems out there without even looking for it. To be frank I just stumbled into it because it just appeared into my recommendations lelz. But yeah Vivy as a Whole was a great show glad its getting some attention (I hope the same on Odd Taxi as well lelz) Because AI as a story theme is interesting within itself because AI can both be Human while still be a Incomprehensible being at the same time. Depending on circumstances, decisions and the likes. Plus in general always liked Time travel-esk type stories which gives Vivy an edge but still The songs were fcking fire for a Show in this situation you can say. Not to mention as you said the story itself was well done/made and Amazing and couldn't agree more from what it is to be human to I guess in a sense A machine making an Aritificial soul in a sense. (Maybe I'm wrong but yeah can't really put it into words properly) From each story on its own can mean one thing because Humans are Humans while Robots thinks like Human but in a way always has a straightforward path of sorts unlike humans where one emotional bad day or good day then everything can just go off course. But yeah for now I guess that's what I gotta share cause my mind in jumbled tbh. But yeah as per parting words of sorts keep up the good work and again do it at your own pace you're doing a great job.
Thank you!!! This anime is a master piece and it left me wrecked. Such beautiful art and music and just everything ugh thank you for talking about it!!!
As far as your theory for grace singing for the bots to calm them down.... she was singing since before the rampage, since the float was finished. So it didnt seem to be to calm them, i think it was just a bit of data that didnt belong. There was no task to overwrite her love of singing, so its the last part of her that remains independent of her new task
the only issue I had with Vivy was it's ending, everything leading up to it was a banger but like Wonder Egg Priority I feel like it didn't quite stick the landing that it wanted too
I have to disagree here. WEP seemed like it didn’t have the slightest idea on how to tie its threads together and went full nonsense in the end. I feel like Vivy’s ending was the most fitting, as it made the characterization, character development and themes go full circle (as cliche as it sounds).
