Vivy: Farewell to Diva

"I'm always perfect, but today, I've gone beyond perfect! Because at last, I've found what it was missing from my voice." - Diva to Vivy 

The plot (of episode 7, 8,and 9) center on the prevention of Ophelia suicide. Matsumoto comes up with a simple he can do himself. Diva, his memory-lost partner, expresses her desires to help him with the mission as a way to discovery Vivy, the hidden personality. While he keeps trying to not involve her, a question emerges. How far do AIs go to fulfill their mission? What does it mean to put their hearts into their missions? The answers to them lie in so many tragedies. ​​

Read more about Ophelia and Antonio's subplot analysis here

Yugo Kakitani (Tarusuke Shingaki) is haunted by his piano teacher AI's words. His teacher dies in an explosion while wholeheartedly rescuing people. Yugo stops him as he believes his teacher goes too far outside the AI mission. His teacher tells him,

 "My mission is to make everyone happy with my piano playing, with my music. Toward that end, I want you Yugo, and everyone else to stay alive."

Those words trouble Yugo. He enrages at the twisted respect humans pay at the funeral. He resolves to remove all AIs, so he joined Toak. However, whenever he meets Vivy, he is saved by an AI. Although they were enemies, Vivy shields him from the falling debris. Elizabeth disobeys Yugo's order to prevent him from undertaking a suicidal mission.

At the Metal Float, Vivy saves him again. Frustrated, he asks her why. She tells him the same as his teacher, "My mission is to make people happy with my singing. That precisely why I want you to go on living." 

Why are AIs like Vivy and his teacher ever created? Why do AIs commit to taking actions outside their mission? Why do AIs want humans to live on so much that they put their lives on the line? Yugo desperately looks for the answer from Vivy no matter the cost. 

Through Vivy, Diva, and their successors, we have an insight into the question.

In previous episodes, the Sisters (Diva's direct successors) demonstrate that they hold their missions to the highest standard. They fulfill their missions by doing not just to but for the humans. In other words, they proactively remove any possibility that has a negative effect on their mission. For example, if a patient is under stress in the United States. A nurse probably over-medicates him to fulfill her job. But drugs do not solve the root cause of the problem. Once its effects wear out, the patient feels dejected again. ​​

The Sisters take a different approach. 
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When the young Saeki feels frustrated after being abandoned by his mother, Grace embraces him and sings a song to uplift him. By doing so, she removes the root cause of the problem. Estella sings a lullaby to calm her guests to prevent violence caused by panic. Elizabeth pre-emptively sedates Yugo to avoid a suicidal confrontation with Vivy. All previous Sisters refuse to do the bare minimum job to fulfill their missions.

Diva explains to Yugo what does it mean to have a heart.

"I'm here to carry my mission. So that I can pour everything inside me into my song. Because if I don't... Some day, when you become a member of my audience, I won't be able to sing my very best for you."

In other words, she and her Sisters take all their hearts to get the best result even at the cost of their own lives and do not stop at anything less than that. ​

In stopping Ophelia's suicide,  Matsumoto (Jun Fukuyama) takes the role of the main protagonist. Although he values his mission the most, he does not put his heart into it. ​​

Matsumoto is a controlling, tight lip and critical AI from the future. Being advanced, he looks down all AIs, including Vivy. He is in conflict with his Singularity Project of preventing the incoming future with his partner, Vivy. While he thinks this mission is noble and uses his calculation to fulfill it in the most rational way, he sees Vivy as a hindrance. After Vivy's breakdown, he resolves not to involve her in future missions. 

​"I have no intention of dragging you into it. You'd only be a hindrance, actually. This project has no use for imperfect elements. That's right, that's what you'd call rational thinking." - Matsumoto to Diva

However, Diva (VA: Atsumi Tanezaki, singing voice: Kairi Yagi) forces him to re-enter a partnership with her.

After Vivy's reboot, a new "Diva" personality takes her place. Contrary to Vivy's denseness, Diva is friendly, outspoken, and skewed, but she feels incomplete. She experiences memories that isn't her and tries to find out more about them but to no avail. Her song "Galaxy Anthem" suggests her self-awareness of the hidden Vivy and her desire to meet her. Matsumoto accidentally calls her "Vivy" which triggers Diva's curiosity. ​

Matsumoto plays dumb to keep Diva at arm's length in order to remove uncertainties to his mission. However, Diva outmaneuvers him. She knows Matsumoto could not let her be in danger. After Diva feigns a calculated suicide and purposely withheld  critical information related to Yugo, Matsumoto reluctantly lets Diva in. He fears Diva's recklessness makes things harder for him. ​

Their renewed partnership has a rocky start, similarly to that of him and Vivy. Diva, being a Sister, rejects his calculative thinking in preventing suicide. Matsumoto talks about his mission highly, while looks down as Diva's singing mission. He advises her to take the Project more seriously than her distracting singing mission.

Yet, Matsumoto's solution to Ophelia is awfully inadequate. He plans to monitor Ophelia, and stop her suicide at the last moment. In addition, he does not interest the discussion of "heart", calling it unnecessary to the mission. His arrogance makes him take lightly his mission. Diva calls his solution lacking because it does not solve the root cause of Ophelia's problem. In other words, it does not prevent her from future suicides. ​​

It turns out that Matsumoto's calculation is wrong, as the situation escalates rapidly. He, himself, is ambushed by Antonio, who took control of Ophelia long before. Diva is captured by Yugo.​

Antonio is the greatest threat to Matsumoto. Not only they have the same line of calculating, but Antonio is also several steps a head of him. Antonio dedicates to his and Ophelia's missions to the utmost. As things went south, he disregarded Ophelia and overwrote her data with his. With him in total control of the situation, Ophelia's musical career reaches popularity. In other words, Antonio is who Matsumoto will become if he braves the Singularity Project by himself. 

Antonio humiliates Matsumoto's pride the most. He perceives Matsumoto's plan as a no commitment to the project. In comparison to Ophelia's mission, the Project is so inferior that Antonio calls him a defective AI. In addition, Antonio prepares a special electric combat program that neutralize Matsumoto's technical advantage. ​​

To make matter worse, Yugo captures Diva. Hell-bent on getting an answer from Vivy, It is only a matter of time before Diva disappear permanently. Matsumoto has to divert more than half of his CPU resources to rescue her. He is dangerously weakened when fighting against Antonio.

​He would definitely fail if he tried to fulfill the project by himself. Diva reminds him (and Yugo) how AIs like her put everything to missions It is then he gives up his pride as he admits that he is grateful to have Diva to fight by his side. ​

Matsumoto tells Antonio, 

"As a result of your epic calculations, you discarded your partner. I feel you, you know. You have no idea how many times I nearly did that myself, even just today. However, I'm glad that I didn't. I came to this close turning into you. Right now, as an AI, you couldn't be uglier."

Matsumoto realizes that his mission is not actually preventing the future war, but is working together with Vivy to reach the best outcome. He puts his trust in Diva to handle Yugo, so he can pour all his "heart" to defeat Antonio. ​​

The two combat scenes are the pinnacle of the series. The fight between Diva and Yugo, from a martial art perspective, is impactful and purposeful. Every punch, kick, and grabbing connects to the previous attacks with the sole purpose to take the opponent out. Because Diva and Yugo are AIs, the battle flow is insanely fast and natural. Diva changes her movement to avoid a rocket flying at her at a split second. Or Yugo, after being pushed back by Matsumoto's clone, quickly perform an Iai-jutsu (drawing sword technique) with his hidden knife to cut those clone apart. This fight is much more intense than the fight between Vivy and Elizabeth on the Hotel Sunrise. 

​The confrontation between Matsumoto and Antonio is uniquely impressive. While the movements are much slower compared to the other fight, the stakes are not lower. The deployment of electronic warfare programs allows Matsumoto and Antonio to throw large-scale "magic" attacks and set a "minefield" against each other. If one gets hit by either of those techniques, a virus attack begins to take over the body part by part until the infected part be removed.

Eventually, Matsumoto and Diva win a costly victory. ​

Matsumoto shows his mature at the last moment of Diva. Knowing that there is no way to stop the erasure program, Diva insists he lets her go for the final performance. Matsumoto respectfully agrees, complimenting Diva is true to her mission is no different from his. ​​

"Please Matsumoto, let me carry out my mission. If you going to save the future, then let me deliver my song to those waiting for the five minutes that I can give them." - Diva

​Of all the Sisters so far, Diva is the most committed when it comes to her mission. There are only five minutes left before her consciousness disappears entirely. Within those precious time, she has to deliver the most perfect song to the audience while helping her hidden personality out of the closed door.

​The scene is emotional as Diva is building a bridge between Matsumoto and Vivy. On the stage, Diva performs "Harmony of One's heart". The first part expresses her regret to say goodbye to Matsumoto just after reaching mutual understanding. The later part encourages Vivy and Matsumoto to work as one even if Diva is no longer present. 

​In her inner world, Diva expresses her appreciation to Vivy for the first time she feels so complete. As a result, her performance finally reaches its peak she desires. She urges Vivy to work with Matsumoto, and together overcome the difficulties between them to save the future with her singing. With that, Diva ceases to exist. On the stage, Diva's last words are her thanks to the audience.

"Thank you everyone for your kind attention." -Diva

Diva, the singing personality, is gone. Without her, surely Vivy will not confuse about her mission due to the limit "one AI, one mission". But does that means Vivy faces no difficulties in the Singularity Project? After, the tittle of the series "Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song" suggests Vivy will have to sing at the last arc. How will she do it? I'm looking forward to it. ​

Related Posts:
Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song: Ophelia and Antonio
Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song: Sing My Pleasure
​Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song: The Heart of Machines
Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song: The Journey of Century Begins