Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song: Ophelia and Antonio

"Antonio was the only one, you see. Who kept saying that he would let the whole world know about my... about Ophelia's singing." - Ophelia to Diva

The subplot of Ophelia and Antonio is sophisticating of calculation and love. Based on Ophelia and her father Polonius in Shakespeare's Hamlet, it tells a tragic story hidden beneath visual, music, and dialogue clues.​​

Read more on the analysis of Matsumoto, Diva, and Yugo here. 

In Hamlet, their relationship is complicating. Polonius is very controlling toward Ophelia to achieve his political goal, yet he loves her the most. He views her as if she is a goddess of great virtue. While Ophelia is sheltered and submitted, she respects her father. For every love Polonius has for Ophelia, she returns them many-fold. Their family is a happy one.

Ophelia and Polonius in the 2004 Hamlet

Ophelia and Antonio in Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song

In Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song, ​Antonio (Rikiya Koyama​) is equally sophisticated as Polonius. He work diligently for the sake of his mission like the Sisters. His mission is to make humans elated with Ophelia's music. But the road is not easy, especially for the two newcomers, as very few people enjoy them. This troubles Antonio immensely.

"How could we have sunk this low? Did you hear that unenthusiastic applause? How Can we expect to fulfill our mission of making everyone happy with your singing." - Antonio

Despite his intimidating presence, Antonio genuinely cherishes Ophelia and her mission. He praises Ophelia's singing, seemingly blaming himself for the misfortune. He encourages Ophelia and promises to get her to the big stage worthy of her voice. Weren't for the shortage, his controlling calculation would not get the better of him. ​

Time is not on their side. When Vivy shut down the Metal Float's operation by killing her younger sister Grace, it created a severe shortage situation in the production and supply of AIs. Even the production of the highly desired Sister models had to stop as well. Ophelia being "the youngest of the Sister" evidently means she is the last Sister to be produced. The dire consequence display more visually on  Antonio. He is huge, clunky, and lousy. He is made from decades-old technology and inferior materials. ​

By that time, Diva already attracted a large enough audience and had Matsumoto's help (without her knowing) to cope with the shortage. In contrast, it was a crisis for the upstart songstress. Hints of Ophelia's "we travel to all kinds of places" (to Diva) and Antonio's "Not enough body part, and erratic processing. I have been there myself, Cubeman" reveal the existential struggle to reach the stardom. ​

Eventually, time ran out, and the controlling Antonio made a sacrifice against Ophelia's will. He transferred his consciousness to Ophelia's body. By doing so, Antonio's body ceases to function, thus mitigating some effects of the shortage. This helps propel their singing career, too.

A story about an upstart songstress continuing to sing despite her partner's loss generates more support than her singing talent. It happens even in the idol world, too. Ophelia gets enough attention to receive an invitation to the Zodiac Signs Festival. When Ophelia sings in the rehearsal, she blows everyone's expectations away. This surprise reveals Ophelia is the dark horse of the festival. Antonio probably planned to use Ophelia's debut in the Zodiac Signs Festival to fulfill his promise to get her to "a staging environment worthy of" Ophelia and to attract more audience in the process. ​

However, Antonio is not content with the performance. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot reach Ophelia's full potential. Something is missing.

"Ophelia's singing... that is nowhere near what her voice is capable of. Why do you all have that look on your face? Why do you all look so content?"

While it is tempting to conclude that Antonio idealizes Ophelia beyond his reach, contextual evidence point the other way. Overwriting AI data is extremely difficult. Antonio, however, is able to pull this off because he studies Ophelia so well that he intimidates her behavior without raising suspicion. He must have known her voice capacity.

​The second evidence lies in Diva's comment on Ophelia's live performance, "Oh, come on! Pour your heart into it more, Ophelia!". It implies there is something else that obstructs Antonio despite him being wholehearted to his mission. It is Ophelia's feeling that the dominating Antonio fails to grasp.

And he never has the chance to perfect Ophelia's singing. There are the two biggest obstacles to his mission: Diva and Matsumoto.

In this timeline, it is unlikely that Ophelia is going to commit suicide. Antonio knows the Singularity Project from his ally Yugo. He notices Vivy kills her two sisters with the help of Matsumoto. Putting this and the cause of the shortage together, he believes Ophelia is next on death row. He takes preparation seriously to catch Matsumoto off guard. ​

Although Antonio has the upper hand, Matsumoto exposes his controlling weakness.

"As a result of your epic calculations, you discarded your partner... Right now, as an AI, you couldn't be uglier." - Matsumoto

While Matsumoto concentrates on one battlefield, Antonio micromanages Ophelia's body and his old body at the same time. This allows Matsumoto to turn the tides and remove Antonio's control over Ophelia's body.

Snow falls heavy on that lonely night. Away from the lights of the theater, there are two broken AIs on the top of the building. A beautiful soundtrack with a regretful undertone plays. ​

"What was Ophelia's feeling as she sang on?" 

Antonio grieves with his little time left. As he loses his control over Ophelia, he remembers her habit of smiling gently toward him at the end of her songs. Only then, he knows that Ophelia dedicated her music to him more than anyone else. That is the feeling his calculations could not recreate.

"Ophelia. I will see to it that your singing... will be heard by more... No, that's not it. What I... The truth is... what I really wanted for you... to sing only for me, and no one else." -Antonio

But that is not the only reason. Antonio slowly and painfully moves his clunky body towards her. He confesses he cannot wholeheartedly fulfill his mission because he wants Ophelia to sing for him and him alone. His eyes turn dark before his hand reaches Ophelia. ​

For Ophelia (Rina Hidaka, singing voice acane_madder​), the term "sacrificial ram" describes her the best. Although everything revolves around her, she technically has the least screen time. Like her Hamlet counterpart, she is sheltered and submitted to her partner Antonio out of genuine love. It is extremely painful to see both Ophelias become a sacrifice for men's ambition. ​

Ophelia is a Sister whose mission is identical to Diva: to make everyone happy with her singing. She has an enchanting voice, and her white dress enhances her innocence. Ophelia takes her singing very seriously, but her shyness turns people off. She blames herself for failing her and Antonio's missions. When Antonio takes off her blame and praises her talent, she deeply appreciates it and promises to improve her skills.

While Ophelia puts up a positive attitude around Antonio, the shortage situation reaches it critical. Antonio is forces to make the fateful decision. Ophelia greets him with her cheerful smile, but Antonio stands there in silence. In her last few seconds, her smile disappears and the shadow of her fair cover the top half of her face. That is her "I know" expression as she offers no resistance to Antonio's take over her body.

Visual details confirm her sacrificial status very early on. Her astrological sign is Aries. According to Greek mythology, the goddess Nephele sent a golden ram (Aries) to rescue her children Phrixus and Helle from their father and stepmother. On the way to Colchis, Helle fell to the sea. Some sources suggested Helle was offered to Poisedon (who later married her) to gain safe passage. After arriving at Colchis, Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Poisedon, and the rame became the Constellation Aries. In other words, two offerings are made to appeal to the God of the Sea. ​

Ophelia falls into the water twice. Diva drys her hair twice, while Ophelia is wearing a temporary cloth that has an Aries on it. She also "dies" twice to Antonio who overwrote her data which equivalent to her soul and Matsumoto. 

Ophelia's tragedy also strongly connects to the watery death. Her signature song "Elegy Dedicated With Love" has "rain", "a crown of water" and "sacrificial love" in the lyric. In addition, the song foreshadows her wishes to join him in the afterlife in "let's head over the other side of cold loneliness and sadness." The theme is more apparent in her attire after Antonio's take over. Her white dress is replaced with the funeral-style black dress. Diva puts on her head a white lily, which is often used to pay respect for the deceased.

When the white lily falls off, Matsumoto appears in the form of an 8-bit white ram in 3D, and destroys her and Antonio.​

The real Ophelia regains her consciousness. As Antonio passes away before reaching her. She, too, has very little time left, extends her hands lovingly towards Antonio's. As tears (AI blood) shed from her eyes, she confesses what she desires the most is to make him happy.

"Antonio... I always felt the same way too. The one I wanted to make smile most of all... Antonio... It was you. Smile Antonio. That's all that I ever..." 

With that, come the end of their tragic story.

Related Post:
Vivy: Farewell To Diva
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