The show was awful. That I couldn’t agree more. The animation was literally all over the place. In one scene the characters are extremely detailed and in another, they’re comparable to stick figures. It looked as if the art director was popping a different kind of pill for each and every scene. Visual consistency simply didn’t exist. Oh, then the plot. It was so full of plot holes. And then the world-building. Ah, and what about setup designing. There isn’t a word in the language to describe how unreal and artificial the interiors and building architecture felt. I know the show was trying to go the sci-fi route but at least make it seem realistic. This is a show trying and failing to be ‘high-concept’.
Vivy really made angry. It felt like it could’ve been so much more. If the story were thought of just a bit more. The set scenes thought of a little more. It could’ve very well have been the next Akudma Drive but with a better plot. Like hell, robots gaining consciousness. Tell me that isn’t a buzz word in and of itself. It was as if the whole series’ budget was spent on fight scenes and not the drama scene. To me, as a person who adored darma. The whole ordeal felt as if it was mocking me. You can’t even compare the level of detail through out the world when robots are fighting each other to two characters just talking. You’d even take it for two whole different shows. I’ve only been this angry at a show once before. It was for the second season of Nisekoi. It wasn’t a great series but it had some really good comedy. And to see it’s story head the place it did in the second series from a slice of life harem to whatever the fuck it turned out to be really dissapointed me. I’m dissapointed at Vivy too in this sense. Hell, just look at all the machines the cube bot Matsumoto came up with. Don’t tell me they don’t look like crap. When it first made it. I was like, give a 5 year old only one type of lego and tell them to make a plane and that’s what they’d make. It was that awful. I know I shouldn’t put my expectations onto a show itself. Mainly because it’s the work of it’s directors and writers. They didn’t make this for my sake. They made it for their own sakes. But… all in all I’m just angry.
Even then, I couldn’t let the show go. It was like a lingering memory of a past tragedy in the corner of your mind. You always plead for them to disappear. But in the corner of your mind, you know you don’t want it to disappear. Even its existence is comforting in its own way. As a remnant of a past, you’ve deviated from. A time of old you wish only to learn but never visit.
The show was beautiful. If only in its own way. Which I believe many would hate it for. For once, I’m in love with the imperfections of a show rather than the perfections. During the first couple of episodes, I was thinking that this was what it was to fail at Violet Evergarden. But the more I watched it. The more I saw it as its own entity. A show that wasn’t foreshadowed by another that came before it.
Because of all its flaws. Vivy to me felt like a look into my past. Back when I first started watching anime. Where each and every scene felt thrilling to watch. You didn’t care if what you were watching was good or bad. You didn’t even know what good was. You just watched it for what it was. Not really expecting anything. Crappy show or not.
As bad as the show was, it managed to somehow make me feel… nostalgic. Like listening to a soundtrack from Minecraft. The show made me feel like I was lost. Like, I’ve changed. Not many people like change. Including me. Alas, change is certain. It happens every day and like a circle, its path always wanders from the imaginary straight line ahead.
Now that I’ve grown to identify what’s good and what’s bad. I’ve begun to prioritize shows based on what they appear to be before getting into them. Compared to when I first started off. I’ve found myself some bearings in the whole world of anime. If I were to look at Vivy from such a point of view, it’s pure and utter garbage. However, putting technicality doesn’t really describe what the show made me feel. Even in life, sometimes it’s the unexpected and mundane things we remember the most from our past. And now, a show I never would’ve given a second glance at if I had known what I was going to see has managed to etch itself into my mind in ways I’m still having trouble processing.