Vivid suffers from the same problem a lot of shounen does late in the franchise: actions no longer have consequence, and the characters are no longer faced with any interactions that would change their outlooks or goals. Ein and Vivio were interesting back when their fights were underscored by the circumstances of Saint Kaiser and Hegemon Ingvault, each fight gave us an idea of what motivates them and what experiences they've based their values on.
These days, Vivio wants to be strong not out of lingering regret for a past she can't change, but because... you know... strength and stuff. Protect things. Sure.
There are no stakes in this any of these fights. If Vivio loses it proves she's not strong enough, and she continues training. If Vivio wins it proves she's strong, and she continues training anyway. Ein won't die dramatically in a lost logia implosion like Fate might have, Ix won't fade away like Reinforce, Muira won't have to rescue a brainwashed Corona from an evil scientist.
I get that it's a slice of life, but the majority of it is action. And actions have no weight when they don't have consequences.
I get that I'm mostly reiterating points that were already made, but I wanted to point out that we did have a plot back at the start of this, and I dislike the idea that 'slice of life shounen' can get away with lazy development by taking two disparate genres and taping them awkwardly together. You can't have your cake and punch it, too.
last edited at Jun 10, 2018 11:21AM