As a cute girl sings an upbeat song on stage, we settle in for a classic performance scene and only wonder what the audience’s reaction will be. We have little time to consider this before the scene shifts focus to a massacre nearby where humans are being hunted down by something. People die so fast it’s hard to tell what exactly is going on. Once a woman’s face is crushed by a smiling android, we start to understand the severity and darkness of the setting. We’re shown what looks to be a whole city under attack before turning back to the happy performer singing her heart out to numerous mutilated corpses. The stark contrast is somehow creepier than just the initial deaths of terrified people we saw before. Why is this so normalized? We have to know more!

Of course, a singing robot would have songs but Vivy has already done a great job of utilizing music in a way that both blurs and defines the differences between androids and people. In the first couple of episodes, Vivy is praised for her lovely singing voice and her songs are pleasant to hear. But they lack heart and impact which Vivy finds difficult to define. Once Estella, a ‘little sister’ to Vivy’s Diva model, sings her song to calm the guests aboard her ship, you can really hear and feel a difference. It’s like a beautiful lullaby where you can just feel the singer’s desire to comfort. Even knowing Estella is too an AI, it becomes harder to see the gap between her and humans when the emotions feel so raw.

Neither the character designs nor backgrounds are inspiring as they are somewhat dull and lack intricacies to draw the eye. Yet some scenes seem to be out of a different anime with their exquisite colors and details. Fight scenes are done well enough to let you know what’s going on yet Vivy’s Archive and occasionally her fluorite eyes are shockingly detailed which usually indicate some greater level of importance. As of now, it’s hard to tell if this is purposeful or just a lack of budget forcing cuts in places.

Vivy’s character is very much an unfeeling AI only concerned with following her program. We’re prepared for her to eventually develop feelings for people as is the human-AI formula. However, the AI start to show their humanity more through their pride and dedication to upholding their program. Their steadfast devotion rather than blind obedience is what makes them feel more like humans with conviction rather than robots.

Music, of course, plays an important role as it’s used so adeptly to further illustrate the plot. It’s too early to tell if they’ll try to use Vivy’s songs as an important plot point later on or if the songs will continue to help set the scene. And with no humans driving Vivy’s development, we’re left wondering how two AI who don’t even like each other will fare together in the upcoming 100 years before the war. Matsumoto may be funny and charming but he cares nothing for individual human life in contrast to Vivy.

This could be a hit or miss depending on your tastes, but there’s a surprising lack of nudity considering AI wouldn’t have reason to be embarrassed of their bodies. Changing clothes would be a normal thing the anime could choose to focus on but Vivy is almost always fully clothed. Even when she is mid-changing in episode 3, she’s still mostly covered and her boobs are not the focus of the scene either in visibility or in detail.